The history of English recusancy calls out to every educated person.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – Santayana.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain.
Anna Belfrage wrote about a recusant, Philip Howard 1557 – 1595.
“At the time of his father’s execution for treason, Philip Howard was fifteen. His father’s vast estates were attainted and fell to the crown, but … he [Philip] became the Earl of Arundel ….
“Philip began developing an affection for his wife – and for her religious preferences. He witnessed a debate at the Tower between Jesuits and Protestants in the early 1580’s that definitely swung him in matters of religion, but for some years more he sat on the fence. Not so his wife [Anne], who converted in 1582. When the queen found out, Anne was placed under house arrest, a whole year of solitude during which she gave birth to a daughter ….
“The queen relented. Anne was released and rushed into her husband’s arms. No longer the foppish courtier of his early youth, Philip had developed a serious—and devout—side. The queen’s treatment of his wife had not served to deter him from conversion, instead it made him all that more determined to become a Catholic, just like Anne. Philip probably never had the intention of going public with his conversion, but he lived in an age where every major household had a bevy of servants, and quite a few of those servants also acted as informers on their masters, which was how Queen Elizabeth found out ….
“... Philip Howard was … found guilty and was attainted. For the coming years, he lived in constant fear that this would be the day he was dragged out to be beheaded, but in actual fact Queen Elizabeth never signed his execution order – even if no one had the charity to tell him so ….
“Some of his despair shines through in the inscription he carved on the stone above the chimney in Beauchamp Tower. In a spidery handwriting it reads “quanto plus afflictions pro Christo in hoc saeculo, tanto plus gloriae cum Christo in future” which translates as, “the more affliction we suffer in the name of Christ in this world, the greater the glory at Christ’s side in the next” ….
“… Philip Howard always had a “Get out of jail” card at his disposal. All he had to do was recant, embrace the Protestant faith, and he would be forgiven, his estates restored to him. But he never did. Not even when he lay dying and yet again begged the queen to allow his wife and children to visit him, did he ever consider denying his faith. It must have been a terrible temptation for the ailing man.
“Some people are an unknown quantity until life throws them into the fires of fate. Some emerge strengthened by the experience, some crumble to ashes. Philip Howard belonged to the former, which is why he refused to give in. In a last burst of inspiration, he had the following message conveyed to the queen: “Tell Her majesty if my religion be the cause for which I suffer, sorry I am that I have but one life to lose.” And so Philip Howard died, alone in his tower on a cold October day of 1595. He had spent more than ten years behind the walls of the Tower for the single sin of being a Catholic ….”
Belfrage 2-25-17 [edited for brevity] https://www.annabelfrage.com/2017/02/25/a-catholic-recusant-in-the-court-of-elizabeth-i/
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – Santayana.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain.
Anna Belfrage wrote about a recusant, Philip Howard 1557 – 1595.
“At the time of his father’s execution for treason, Philip Howard was fifteen. His father’s vast estates were attainted and fell to the crown, but … he [Philip] became the Earl of Arundel ….
“Philip began developing an affection for his wife – and for her religious preferences. He witnessed a debate at the Tower between Jesuits and Protestants in the early 1580’s that definitely swung him in matters of religion, but for some years more he sat on the fence. Not so his wife [Anne], who converted in 1582. When the queen found out, Anne was placed under house arrest, a whole year of solitude during which she gave birth to a daughter ….
“The queen relented. Anne was released and rushed into her husband’s arms. No longer the foppish courtier of his early youth, Philip had developed a serious—and devout—side. The queen’s treatment of his wife had not served to deter him from conversion, instead it made him all that more determined to become a Catholic, just like Anne. Philip probably never had the intention of going public with his conversion, but he lived in an age where every major household had a bevy of servants, and quite a few of those servants also acted as informers on their masters, which was how Queen Elizabeth found out ….
“... Philip Howard was … found guilty and was attainted. For the coming years, he lived in constant fear that this would be the day he was dragged out to be beheaded, but in actual fact Queen Elizabeth never signed his execution order – even if no one had the charity to tell him so ….
“Some of his despair shines through in the inscription he carved on the stone above the chimney in Beauchamp Tower. In a spidery handwriting it reads “quanto plus afflictions pro Christo in hoc saeculo, tanto plus gloriae cum Christo in future” which translates as, “the more affliction we suffer in the name of Christ in this world, the greater the glory at Christ’s side in the next” ….
“… Philip Howard always had a “Get out of jail” card at his disposal. All he had to do was recant, embrace the Protestant faith, and he would be forgiven, his estates restored to him. But he never did. Not even when he lay dying and yet again begged the queen to allow his wife and children to visit him, did he ever consider denying his faith. It must have been a terrible temptation for the ailing man.
“Some people are an unknown quantity until life throws them into the fires of fate. Some emerge strengthened by the experience, some crumble to ashes. Philip Howard belonged to the former, which is why he refused to give in. In a last burst of inspiration, he had the following message conveyed to the queen: “Tell Her majesty if my religion be the cause for which I suffer, sorry I am that I have but one life to lose.” And so Philip Howard died, alone in his tower on a cold October day of 1595. He had spent more than ten years behind the walls of the Tower for the single sin of being a Catholic ….”
Belfrage 2-25-17 [edited for brevity] https://www.annabelfrage.com/2017/02/25/a-catholic-recusant-in-the-court-of-elizabeth-i/
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