ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



to Henry Ballinger, lo August, 1571, describes their refractoriness and 

 dissensions, and states that at last he had, much against his will, to deal 

 severely with them.^ The archbishop of Canterbury had previously written 

 to the archbishop of York, that he feared the bishop had prejudiced his own 

 jurisdiction by disclaiming oversight.^ 



These strangers had been invited to dwell in the city of Norwich after 

 they had fled from the persecutions of the duke of Alva, at the suggestion of 

 the duke of Norfolk, who had been waited on by the city to find some 

 remedy for the decay of the worsted manufacture. The Dutch congregation 

 had the choir of the church of the Black Friars, and the Walloon, or French, 

 the church of St. Mary the Less, near Tombland, assigned to them.^ At first 

 the Dutch were much more numerous than the Walloons, but later the Walloons 

 became of great importance.* They had to pay double taxes or subsidies on 

 the value of their personal property ; to pay their own ministers, by whom 

 they had to be furnished with a voucher before permission to reside in the 

 city was granted to them, all their names being registered ; to pay all the 

 expenses of their churches and the entire support of their poor, beside lod. 

 in the pound on their rentals towards the pay of the parish clergy.^ But, in 

 spite of heavy taxation, they flourished exceedingly, and roused much 

 jealousy. The duke of Norfolk was extremely popular in the county, and his 

 imprisonment in the Tower led to a rising in the summer of 1570 in favour 

 of Mary queen of Scots and Norfolk, and against these refugees.' It resulted 

 in the execution for high treason and contempt of John Throgmorton, 

 Thomas Brooke of Rollesby, and George Redman.^ 



The year 1570 marked a turning point in the treatment of Roman 

 Catholic recusancy, which could no longer be overlooked after the bull of 

 excommunication and deposition of the queen. Norfolk, which was the 

 home of so many sects, furnished a considerable number of important recusants. 

 The college of Douai was founded in 1568, and by the year 1578 had sent 

 over fifty priests as missionaries to England ; a marked increase in recusancy 

 was followed by determined efforts to deal with it, and in August, 1578, the 

 Council sat at Norwich and dealt with batches from several counties, includ- 

 ing Norfolk. In a note of the names of such as were committed for papistry 

 in the county, 1578, endorsed 'such as have been dealt withal by my Vicar 

 General this progresse for refusynge to come to church,'* Sir Henry Beding- 

 field, knt., Edmond Windeham, doctor of the civil law, Robert Grey, esquire, 

 John Drury of Godwitt, gent., Humfrey Bedingfield, gent., John Downes, 

 gent., Ferdinando Parris, esqre., Thos. Lovell, esqre., and Robert Lovell, esqre., 

 remain in Norwich to be conferred w'^ all by the bishop, or such as he 

 shall appoint between this and Michaelmas next ; William Gibbon, gent., 

 is contented to come to the church and conform himself, and is bownd by his 

 bond to bring certificate thereof to the bishop ; James Hubberd and Philipp 

 Awdeley, conformed themselves and were dismissed with favour. . . . 

 Rucwood and Robert Downes appear to have been committed close prisoners 

 to the gaol of the county of Norfolk, By act of the Privy Council, 



' Zurich Letters (Parker Society), 256. ' Mogns, Hist, of the Walloon Congregation, 63. 



' iiorf. Arch, iv, 74. 



* 'Norf. Antiq. Misc. L. Toulmin-Smith. Account of the Walloon Church at Norwich, ii, 91. 

 ' Moens, Hist, of the Walloon Church, Pref. i. ' Stephens, Hist, of the Engl Ch. v, 153. 



' Blomefield, iii. 284. ' Cott. MS. Titus B. III. fol. 61. 



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