Heresy and Forfeiture in Marian England

Abstract

The work of the martyrologist John Foxe ensures that the burnings dominate modern accounts of the campaign waged again Protestantism in the reign of Mary I (1553–8). Drawing on other sources, this article examines forfeiture of property, a less noticed but more common penalty imposed upon Protestants. It describes the types of forfeiture that occurred and analyses their legal basis; it considers the impact of the penalty and highlights means of evasion. By examining forfeiture, the article extends and enhances the debate about the effectiveness of Marian religious policy and about the degree of support that the regime could command. Forfeiture, it is shown, could be a powerful form of coercion, but depended upon popular politics to be effective. Subsequent efforts in Elizabeth I’s reign to obtain restitution substantiate the article’s thesis that a deep-rooted belief in the rule of law constrained the penal religious policies of early modern England.