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o some in the era of Elizabeth I,
the Jesuit priest Edmund Campi-
on was an evil Catholic “traitor”.
To others, he was an inspirational martyr.
It was under Elizabeth that Roman
Catholics were increasingly seen as traitors
within the state, for in 1570 the pope had
excommunicated the queen as a Protestant
heretic. This showed English Catholics that
they no longer owed the queen any alle-
giance. It also spurred on Elizabeth’s
government to create a raft of new treason
laws to shore up her security.
By the 1580s, treason law was veering
in a sharply anti-Catholic direction due
to an influx of Jesuit priests into the
country. With the blessing of the pope,
their mission was to lead England back
to the Catholic faith.
In June 1580, Edmund Campion,
disguised as an Irish jeweller, slipped
secretly into England from France. For
a year he said masses in Catholic houses
around the country, but the authorities
were in hot pursuit and finally he was
arrested, discovered hiding in a priest-hole
in Berkshire. Escorted to the Tower, he was
tortured on the rack to try to secure a
confession of treason.
For those preparing Campion’s trial inWestminster Hall in 1581, it was vital to
display him as a common traitor, not a reli-
gious martyr. They therefore based their
charges on the 1351 Treason Act, claiming
that his real goal was to destroy Elizabeth
and stir up rebellion.
Campion, like Thomas More, put up a
strong defence. His mission, he said, was
purely pastoral and could not be interpret-
ed as political or treasonous. Once on the
scaffold he again adamantly denied that
Catholicism equalled treason, but it was
exactly that conclusion that Elizabeth’s
regime was reaching. The public debate
over whether Campion was a traitor or a
martyr was long-lasting: in 1970 he was
canonised by Pope Paul VI.T
udor England saw a sharp rise in
cases of treason. The Tudor
monarchs introduced 68 new
treason laws in order to bolster the dynas-
tic succession, but also to uphold the
religious break with Rome. This process
began in the 1530s with Henry VIII keen
to strengthen his position after marrying
Anne Boleyn. Henry saw the 1351 Treason
Act as inadequate for punishing new types
of traitor. In 1533, a nun named Elizabeth
Barton prophesied that the king would die
if he married Anne. Henry wanted Barton
tried for treason, but his judges disagreed
and finally an Act of Attainder was passed
to convict and execute her.
However, it was Sir Thomas More
(pictured below on the day of his execution)
who most famously fell foul of the Trea-
sons Act of 1534, which pronounced it
“treason” to abuse the king by calling him
a heretic or tyrant through use of “mali-
cious words”. More was a fierce opponent
of the Reformation and, as lord chancellor,
refused to take an oath acknowledging
Henry as supreme head of the English
church over the pope. It was a stance that
would land More in the Tower of London.
It was while in the Tower that More
received a visit from Richard Rich, the
solicitor-general. Rich tried to trick the
prisoner into confessing his treason, later
claiming that More had denied Henry’s
supremacy. Significantly, Rich and More
were the only two present at the exchange.
When More appeared in court in 1535,
he refuted the idea that he had spoken
“maliciously”, asserting that Rich was lying
and adding: “I am more concerned for your
perjury than my own danger.”
This did not save More. The jury took
just 15 minutes to find him guilty of
“treason by words” and he was beheaded.
The case showed the dangerous potential
of the 1534 Treasons Act. It was
repealed after Henry’s death
and, from then on, any
charge of treason required
two witnesses as proof.3 The making of a martyr
In 1581, the Jesuit priest Edmund Campion denied that
Catholicism equalled treason. The authorities disagreed
2 The talk
of the Tower
Words, not deeds, sent
Thomas More to the
block in 1535
Treason law veered
in a sharply anti-
Catholic direction
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Jesuit priests into
the country
Men of faith
Edmund Campion shown
(right) with fellow Jesuit
priest Robert Parsons. The
authorities secured Campion’s
conviction by portraying him
as a common traitor