IMAGES OF FEMALE PIETY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF POST-REFORMATION CATHOLICISM IN THE DIOCESE OF CHESTER, c.1558 - c.1625 Volume One CHRISTINA MICHELLE BRINDLEY A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History, Politics and Philosophy Manchester Metropolitan University March 2014 Abstract Christina Brindley Manchester Metropolitan University Images of Female Piety and the Development of Post-Reformation Catholicism in the Diocese of Chester, c.1558 - c.1625 This thesis demonstrates that Catholic gentrywomen were central to the direction and evolution of post-Reformation Catholicism in the Diocese of Chester. It was women who ensured that the traditional beliefs and practices of the medieval Church were continued, but adapted by post- Reformation Catholics. In taking primary responsibility for sheltering recusant and missionary priests in their houses, gentrywomen also acted as gatekeepers to the clergy. By providing access to priests, women ensured that the Catholic laity were able to continue partaking in sacramental devotion. The use of gentry households as Mass centres provided opportunities for local communities to engage in group worship. By their choice of confessor, gentrywomen guided the confessional direction of Catholicism within the diocese. A woman’s choice of priest determined the routines of personal piety that they constructed for themselves, their families, and their local community. Through their examples of female piety, these women inspired subsequent generations to preserve and rejuvenate Catholic beliefs and practices. ii A key component of this personal piety was the use of devotional and polemical literature. Some girls were so inspired by these pious female role models that they chose to pursue religious vocations. The types of literature that children had access to was as instrumental in ensuring that they grew up to be Catholic as the religious education provided by their mothers. The popularity of religious vocations can be observed in the great numbers of Catholic gentrywomen from the Diocese of Chester who left their homes to join the exiled English convents. There was regular contact between enclosed sisters in continental Europe and their female relatives in the Diocese of Chester that created a symbiotic Catholic kinship network. Female piety in the diocese was shaped and moulded by its contact with post-Tridentine, Counter- Reformed Europe. Female kinship networks greatly altered the direction in which Post-Reformation Catholicism developed in the Diocese of Chester. iii Contents Page List of Tables v List of Maps and Figures vii List of Appendices ix Acknowledgements xiii List of Abbreviations xvi Introduction 1 Chapter One 31 Catholicism and the Enforcement of Religious Conformity in the Diocese of Chester Part One: Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Administrative 35 Confusion in the Diocese of Chester Part Two: The Duchy of Lancaster, the Palatine Counties 60 of Chester and Lancaster, and Temporal Jurisdiction Part Three: Identifying and Counting Catholics 74 Chapter Two Women, the Clergy, and Catholic Communities 94 Chapter Three Catholicism, Religious Experience, and Personal Piety 134 Chapter Four Religious Education, Catholic Literature, and the Consolidation 162 of Catholic Belief Chapter Five Catholic Gentrywomen from the Diocese of Chester 216 and the Exiled English Convents Thesis Conclusion 262 Appendices 271 Bibliography 294 iv List of Tables Page Table One 240 Number of English nuns professed before 1650 by county of origin (by number) Table Two 280 Number of English nuns professed before 1650 by county of origin (in alphabetical order) Table Three 246 Number of English nuns associated with each convent, calculated using those who professed before 1650. Some nuns were members of more than one convent, often leaving to found or join daughter- houses at a later date (by order). Table Four 283 Number of English nuns associated with each convent, calculated using those who professed before 1650. Some nuns were members of more than one convent, often leaving to found or join daughter- houses at a later date (by number). Table Five 249 Number of Lancashire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) v Table Six 250 Number of Yorkshire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Seven 286 Number of Suffolk nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Eight 287 Number of Kent nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Nine 288 Number of Essex nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Ten 289 Number of Oxfordshire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Eleven 290 Number of Staffordshire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) vi List of Maps and Figures Page Map One 37 Map of the Diocese of Chester, showing deaneries and archdeaconries Map Two 39 Map showing the hundreds of the Diocese of Chester Map Three 53 Map showing deaneries and parishes of Lancashire Map Four 56 Map of Standish and Wigan Parishes Map Five 79 Map plotting numbers of recusants presented from Lancashire parishes in 1613, as listed in British Library, Lansdowne 153/10 (1613) Map Six 80 Map plotting numbers of non-communicants presented from Lancashire parishes in 1613, as listed in British Library, Lansdowne 153/10 (1613) vii Figure One 291 Lancashire nuns professed before 1650, highlighting those who professed with the Poor Clares at Gravelines and the Augustinians at Louvain Figure Two 253 Diagram showing the familial relationships between Lancashire nuns - Andertons, Bradshaighs, Blundells, Gillibrands and Tyldesleys Figure Three 254 Diagram showing the familial relationships between Lancashire nuns - Allens and Worthingtons viii List of Appendices Page Map One 272 Map of the Diocese of Chester, showing deaneries and archdeaconries Map Two 273 Map showing the hundreds of the Diocese of Chester Map Three 274 Map showing the deaneries and parishes of Lancashire Map Four 275 Map of Standish and Wigan Parishes Map Five 276 Map plotting numbers of recusants presented from Lancashire parishes in 1613, as listed in British Library, Lansdowne 153/10 (1613) Map Six 277 Map plotting numbers of non-communicants presented from Lancashire parishes in 1613, as listed in British Library, Lansdowne 153/10 (1613) ix Table One 278 Number of English nuns professed before 1650 by county of origin (by number) Table Two 280 Number of English nuns professed before 1650 by county of origin (in alphabetical order) Table Three 282 Number of English nuns associated with each convent, calculated using those who professed before 1650. Some nuns were members of more than one convent, often leaving to found or join daughter-houses at a later date (by order). Table Four 283 Number of English nuns associated with each convent, calculated using those who professed before 1650. Some nuns were members of more than one convent, often leaving to found or join daughter-houses at a later date (by number). Table Five 284 Number of Lancashire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) x Table Six 285 Number of Yorkshire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Seven 286 Number of Suffolk nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Eight 287 Number of Kent nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Nine 288 Number of Essex nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Ten 289 Number of Oxfordshire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) Table Eleven 290 Number of Staffordshire nuns in residence at each convent, calculated using those professed before 1650 (some women were members of more than one convent) xi Figure One 291 Lancashire nuns professed before 1650, highlighting those who professed with the Poor Clares at Gravelines and the Augustinians at Louvain Figure Two 292 Diagram showing the familial relationships between Lancashire nuns - Andertons, Bradshaighs, Blundells, Gillibrands and Tyldesleys Figure Three 293 Diagram showing the familial relationships between Lancashire nuns - Allens and Worthingtons xii Acknowledgments Thanks to all the staff at: the Borthwick Institute, University of York; the British Library, London; the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds; Chester Record Office, Chester; Chetham’s Library, Manchester; Douai Abbey Archives, Reading; the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; the John Rylands University Library, University