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57-506: Law at the time, such as the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 , made it treason to be a Catholic priest in England and therefore Catholic priests were typically hanged, drawn and quartered . Laymen convicted of assisting priests were usually sentenced to the lesser punishment of execution by hanging. The Lancaster Martyrs include the following individuals: The last Abbot of Whalley Abbey , John Paslew and

114-607: A crowd of several hundred people. It is located in what is now recreation ground (opposite Williamson Park and North of Quernmore Road) on a hillside above the Catholic Cathedral of St Peter and St Thomas More, looking out towards the panorama of Morecambe Bay and the mountains of the Lake District. The Lancaster Martyrs' Memorial Stone is dedicated "to the memory of those Martyred for their faith in Lancaster" . It includes

171-561: A dead letter, until the outbreak of the Popish Plot in the autumn of 1678 led to its unexpected revival. Despite the King's known Catholic sympathies, the public atmosphere of hysteria was such that he had no choice but to revert to strict enforcement of the Penal Laws. Under a Proclamation of 20 November 1678 all priests were to be arrested. They were to be denied the usual 40 days of grace to leave

228-465: A memorial." Oath Traditionally, an oath (from Anglo-Saxon āþ , also a plight ) is a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity . A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths is to give an affirmation instead. Nowadays, even when there is no notion of sanctity involved, certain promises said out loud in ceremonial or juridical purpose are referred to as oaths. "To swear "

285-507: A person swearing an oath to hold a raised hand in a specific gesture. Most often the right hand is raised. This custom has been explained with reference to medieval practices of branding palms. The Scout Sign can be made while giving the Scout Promise . In Scouting for Boys the movement's founder, Robert Baden-Powell , instructed: "While taking this oath the scout will stand, holding his right hand raised level with his shoulder, palm to

342-536: A priest in England and to celebrate Mass . The execution of a Catholic priest under the Act in 1594 became the subject of a court case 401 years later. In 1995 a church applied to the consistory court in Durham for a faculty (planning permission) to display a memorial plaque on the church door, in memory of the dead priest. Even though the 1584 Act had been repealed long ago, the priest's conviction had not been quashed, and so

399-599: A proper burial. After the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 the statute gradually fell into disuse. The Stuart dynasty which succeeded her was in general disposed to religious toleration , and the Treaty of London of 1604 which ended the Anglo-Spanish War removed one obvious justification for persecution, as it could no longer be argued that English Catholics were potential agents for a hostile foreign power. Although James I felt it politically prudent to give his assent to

456-1236: A quotation from the Gospel of Matthew (20:22): "Can you drink the Chalice that I am about to drink? They said to Him, we can." Numerous men and women killed during the reformation period have been officially recognised as martyrs of the English reformation by the Catholic Church. Two of the Lancaster Martyrs, Edmund Arrowsmith and Ambrose Barlow, were among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales canonised by Pope Paul VI as saints on 25 October 1970. James Bell, John Finch, and Richard Hurst were among one hundred and thirty seven martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope Pius XI on 15 December 1929. Edward Bamber, John Thules, Robert Nutter, Thurstan Hunt, Robert Middleton, Thomas Whitaker, John Woodcock, Edward Thwing and Roger Wrenno were among eight five martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 November 1987. Lawrence Bailey has not been canonised as

513-467: A saint or beatified. However he has been declared as "venerable", a lower status in the canonisation process. Abbot John Paslew, Abbot William Trafford and Richard Estegate have not had their cause advanced to the Holy See. The Catholic church marks the feast of the Lancaster Martyrs on 7 August. This feast is usually celebrated in the Catholic Cathedral of Lancaster on that day. A specific collect for

570-615: A solemn affirmation instead of an oath. The United States has permitted affirmations since it was founded; it is explicitly mentioned in the Constitution . Only President Franklin Pierce has chosen to affirm rather than swear at his inauguration. As late as 1880, Charles Bradlaugh was denied a seat as an MP in the Parliament of the United Kingdom because of his professed atheism as he

627-427: A written statement, only if the author swears the statement is true. This statement is called an affidavit . This is in contrast to a statutory declaration , where no sworn oath or affirmation is involved. The oath given to support an affidavit is frequently administered by a notary , who will certify the giving of the oath by affixing her or his seal to the document. Willfully delivering a false oath (or affirmation)

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684-475: Is a verb used to describe the taking of an oath; to make a solemn vow . The word comes from Anglo-Saxon āþ : "judicial swearing, solemn appeal to deity in witness of truth or a promise"; from Proto-Germanic *aiþaz ; from Proto-Indo-European *oi-to- : "an oath". Common to Celtic and Germanic, possibly a loan-word from one to the other, but the history is obscure and it may be non-Indo-European, in reference to careless invocations of divinity, from

741-554: Is celebrated on 25 October. Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 An act against Jesuits, seminary priests, and such other like disobedient persons , also known as the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 , ( 27 Eliz. 1 . c. 2) was an Act of the Parliament of England passed during the English Reformation . The Act commanded all Roman Catholic priests to leave the country within 40 days or they would be punished for high treason , unless within

798-537: Is little evidence that the 1698 Act was enforced strictly. Kenyon suggests that the obvious decline in numbers of the English Catholic community in the eighteenth century was due to financial penalties, such as the double land tax imposed on Catholics in 1692, rather than to overt persecution. The "bounty" provisions of the 1698 Act were repealed by the first Catholic relief measure, the Papists Act 1778 . However,

855-550: Is mentioned that people would give up their lives, but not break a vow. Due to this, King Dasharatha took an oath for his Queen Kaikeyi (on her maid, Manthara 's insistence) and thus had to exile his favorite son, Lord Rama along with his wife Devi Sita and brother Lakshmana for fourteen years in the forest. In the Mahabharata, Devrata took an oath of celibacy so that Satyavati 's father would marry her to Devrata's father, King Shantanu . He also took an oath to not rule

912-500: Is the crime of perjury . There are some places where there is a confusion between the "oath" and other statements or promises. For example, the current Olympic Oath is really a pledge , not properly an oath, since there is only a promise but there is no appeal to a sacred witness. Oaths may also be confused with vows , but vows are really just a particular kind of an oath. Instead of, or in addition to, holding one's hand upon an object of ceremonial importance, it can be customary for

969-627: The English Civil War , only two more were executed between 1646 and 1660. Following the Restoration of Charles II , under the tolerant rule of a monarch who was himself inclined to the Catholic religion, the Government was content to periodically issue orders for all priests to leave England, without any expectation that the orders would be complied with. The statute of 1584 was regarded as effectively

1026-551: The Glorious Revolution of 1688 caused the Government to pass one final Penal Law , the Popery Act 1698 . This sought to strengthen the statute of 1584 by providing that anyone who apprehended a Catholic priest should receive a reward of £100: in effect, this was a bounty for catching priests. The severity of this provision was mitigated by Section III, commuting the death sentence for priests to perpetual imprisonment. There

1083-504: The Jesuits etc. Act 1603 , which strengthened the statute of 1584, and as a result, a number of priests were put to death, of whom probably the best known is Father John Sugar , the King by his own admission was opposed to the execution of priests. There was a brief revival of anti-Catholic sentiment caused by the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, but it seems to have largely died away by 1612. Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury ,

1140-417: The bragarfull . Hedin vowed that he would have Sváva, Eylimi's daughter, the beloved of his brother Helgi; then such great grief seized him that he went forth on wild paths southward over the land, and found Helgi, his brother. Such Norse traditions are directly parallel to the "bird oaths" of late medieval France, such as the voeux du faisan (oath on the pheasant) or the (fictional) voeux du paon (oath on

1197-455: The canonisation process of the Catholic church. The executions were not carried out on the same spot and their precise sites on Far Moor, to the East of the city, were never formally recorded in order to avoid any future veneration of martyrs by Catholics. However, a memorial standing in the approximate vicinity of at least some of the executions was eventually erected in 1996 and blessed in front of

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1254-425: The justices of the peace of Northamptonshire remarked casually that due to their high regard for Sir Thomas Brudenell (later the 1st Earl of Cardigan ), they had repeatedly dismissed charges of recusancy against him and numerous other members of his family. No priests were executed in the period 1618–1625, only one was executed in the period 1625–1640, and after a brief revival of stringent persecution during

1311-426: The kingdom and remain loyal to the king, who would be a descendant of Satyavati. Thus, Devavrata got the name Bhishma , which means someone who has taken a terrible oath. Many others also took oaths that they fulfilled. Walter Burkert has shown that since Lycurgus of Athens (d. 324 BCE), who held that "it is the oath which holds democracy together", religion, morality and political organization had been linked by

1368-615: The 1778 Act produced a revival of anti-Catholic feelings which erupted in the Gordon Riots of 1780, in which hundreds of people died. This reaction may have delayed further relief measures, but by 1791 the Government felt it safe to finally legalise the Catholic priesthood. Under the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 the Elizabethan Laws were repealed, and it became lawful, although under strictly controlled conditions, to act as

1425-553: The 40 days, they swore an oath to obey the Queen. Those who harboured them, and all those who knew of their presence and failed to inform the authorities, would be fined and imprisoned for felony , or if the authorities wished to make an example of them, they might be executed for treason. Anyone who was brought up as a Jesuit overseas (i.e. if they were educated abroad in a Jesuit seminary ) had to return to England within six months, and then within two days of arriving swear to submit to

1482-572: The Jupiter Stone located in the Temple of Jupiter , Capitoline Hill . Iuppiter Lapis was held in the Roman tradition to be an Oath Stone , an aspect of Jupiter in his role as divine law-maker responsible for order and used principally for the investiture of the oathtaking of office. According to Cyril Bailey, in "The Religion of Ancient Rome" (1907): We have, for instance, the sacred stone ( silex ) which

1539-682: The King, not the Pope . These priests, known as the Remonstrants, were left in peace even at the height of the Plot hysteria. Although it was not technically a defence under the statute of 1584, a priest who could prove that he had taken the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown was unofficially entitled to a reprieve : Charles Carne, Andrew Bromwich and Lionel Anderson were among those who successfully pleaded that they had taken

1596-495: The Oath. During the Plot pleas for clemency were generally rejected out of hand, but in a few cases, such as David Kemiss and William Atkins, the accused was spared the death penalty on the grounds of extreme old age. Even the vehemently anti-Catholic Lord Chief Justice Sir William Scroggs approved of the Crown showing mercy in such cases, in order "that the world may not say that we are grown barbarous and inhumane". No serious effort

1653-480: The Queen and also take the oath required by the Act of Supremacy 1558 . Failure to do so was treason. Any person who did take the oath was forbidden from coming within 10 miles of the Queen for 10 years unless they had her personal written permission. Again, failure to observe this requirement was treason. Priests already within England had 40 days to depart, although this was by grace, not a right, and could be withdrawn, as it

1710-591: The Rabbis, a neder (usually translated as "vow") refers to the object, a shâmar (usually translated as "oath") to the person. The passage distinguishes between a neder and a shvua , an important distinction between the two in Halakha : a neder changes the status of some external thing, while a shvua initiates an internal change in the one who swears the oath. In the Roman tradition, oaths were sworn upon Iuppiter Lapis or

1767-607: The biblical tradition to take an oath is held to be Eliezer , the chief servant of Abraham , when the latter requested of the former that he not take a wife for his son Isaac from the daughters of Canaan, but rather from among Abraham's own family. The foundational text for oath making is in Numbers 30:2: "When a man voweth a vow unto the Lord, or sweareth an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth." According to

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1824-461: The country: instead, they were to be held in prison "in order to their trial". As J.P. Kenyon remarks, these five simple words launched a vicious pogrom against the Catholic priesthood which continued for the next two years. Priests who had been working undisturbed in England for decades suddenly found themselves facing the death penalty. In theory, Scots and Irish priests were exempt from the statute, if they could show that their presence in England

1881-401: The court could not permit it: in the absence of a posthumous pardon the court could not properly sanction a memorial to a person lawfully convicted of high treason; and that, accordingly, since no question had been raised as to the legal propriety either of the priest's conviction as a traitor or his execution and there had been no pardon, the faculty sought could not be granted, notwithstanding

1938-509: The dominant figure in the English government from 1603 to 1612, detested the Jesuits, but admitted that he had qualms about enforcing the statute of 1584 against other priests, most of whom he thought were loyal enough at heart. King James shared these scruples, saying that he thought banishment a sufficient punishment. Prosecutions of members of the Catholic laity for harbouring priests ceased after about 1616. Protestant sheriffs and justices of

1995-434: The eddic poem Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar relates: Hedin was coming home alone from the forest one Yule -eve, and found a troll -woman; she rode on a wolf, and had snakes in place of a bridle. She asked Hedin for his company. "Nay," said he. She said, "Thou shalt pay for this at the bragarfull ." That evening the great vows were taken; the sacred boar was brought in, the men laid their hands thereon, and took their vows at

2052-594: The feast day reads: "Almighty Father, may those who died on the hill above Lancaster, grieving for England which they prayed God soon to convert, be our patrons now in heaven that our lives may witness to the faith they professed. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lvies and reigns with you in unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen" The feast of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, which include Edmund Arrowsmith and Ambrose Barlow among their number,

2109-477: The great majority were priests, despite the Government's protests that no one was being persecuted solely on account of their religion. The justification for rigorous enforcement of the statute was that during the war with Spain , the loyalty of all English Catholics, and especially priests, must be regarded as suspect. However, the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 did not, as might have been expected, lead to

2166-562: The last Abbot of Sawley Abbey , William Trafford along with a monk by the name of Richard Estegate are also believed to have been executed at Lancaster on 10 March 1537 after being tried for complicity in the Pilgrimage of Grace , although there are some claims that Paslew was taken back to Whalley for execution. Whilst there is a tradition of considering them among Catholic martyrs of the English reformation, they are not formally listed among those martyrs that have had their cause advanced through

2223-586: The late 12th century. The concept of oaths is deeply rooted within Judaism . It is found in Genesis 8:21, when God swears that he will "never again curse the ground because of man and never again smite every living thing". This repetition of the term never again is explained by Rashi , the pre-eminent biblical commentator, as serving as an oath, citing the Talmud Shavous 36a for this ruling. The first personage in

2280-540: The more, as thou art greater and stronger." Here no doubt the underlying notion is not merely symbolical, but in origin the stone is itself the god, an idea which later religion expressed in the cult-title specially used in this connection, Iuppiter Lapis . The punisher of broken oaths was the infernal deity Orcus . In Hindu epics , like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , oaths, called pratigya , are taken seriously. It

2337-423: The oath, and the oath and its prerequisite altar had become the basis of both civil and criminal, as well as international law. In traditional Greek folk songs, such as The Dead Brother's Song, the significance of the oath is highlighted. The power of an oath is such that it transcends death, as the deceased brother arises from the grave to fulfill his oath to his mother. Various religious groups have objected to

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2394-521: The peace were notably unwilling to enforce the law against their Catholic neighbours, even in such blatant cases as the Welsh squire Thomas Gunter of Gunter Mansion , Abergavenny , who, in 1678, told the local vicar cheerfully that "he had kept a priest in Oliver Cromwell 's time, and would keep one now". This tolerant attitude made it impossible to enforce the Penal Laws against the upper classes: in 1613

2451-536: The peacock). Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages (ch. 3); Michel Margue, "Vogelgelübde" am Hof des Fürsten. Ritterliches Integrationsritual zwischen Traditions- und Gegenwartsbezug (14. – 15. Jahrhundert) In the modern law, oaths are made by a witness to a court of law before giving testimony and usually by a newly appointed government officer to the people of a state before taking office. However, in both of those cases, an affirmation can usually be replaced with

2508-433: The provinces where many of the priests who died were venerable and respected local figures. In June 1679 the King issued an order that all priests condemned under the statute of 1584 after 4 June should be reprieved until his further will was known. Kenyon suggests that the Government at this point simply had no idea what to do next. In the event, the reprieve for priests condemned after that date became permanent. This however

2565-400: The relaxation of the persecution, as the war with Spain dragged on into the next reign. Of the laity who suffered under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584, probably the best known is Margaret Clitherow of York . Charged in 1586 with harbouring priests, (among them Francis Ingleby ) she refused to plead to her indictment (probably to shield her children from being interrogated or tortured), and

2622-419: The same food you offer to your own family, or clothing them, or by freeing a slave. If you cannot afford this, then you shall fast three days. This is the atonement for violating the oaths that you swore to keep. You shall fulfill your oaths. God thus explains His revelations to you, that you may be appreciative. Germanic warrior culture was significantly based on oaths of fealty. A prose passage inserted in

2679-660: The subsequent repeal of the Act of 1584. In 2008 the Oxford Consistory Court (presided over by the same judge) declined to follow that case as a precedent, on the grounds that "that decision had failed to take account of the commemoration of English saints and martyrs of the Reformation era in the Church of England's calendar of festivals. As such a commemoration was permitted in an authorised service, it would have been inconsistent not to permit commemoration of similar persons by

2736-814: The taking of oaths, most notably the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and Anabaptist groups, like Mennonites , Amish , Hutterites and Schwarzenau Brethren . This is principally based on Matthew 5:34–37, the Antithesis of the Law . Here, Christ is reported as having said: "I say to you: ' Swear not at all ' ". James the Just stated in 5:12 "Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your 'Yes' be yes, and your 'No', no, or you will be condemned." Beyond this scriptural authority, Quakers place importance on being truthful at all times, so

2793-631: The testimony opposing oaths springs from a view that "taking legal oaths implies a double standard of truthfulness" suggesting that truthfulness in legal contexts is somehow more important than truthfulness in non-legal contexts and that truthfulness in those other contexts is therefore somehow less important. Not all Christians interpret this reading as forbidding all types of oaths, however. Opposition to oath-taking among some groups of Christian caused many problems for these groups throughout their history. Quakers were frequently imprisoned because of their refusal to swear loyalty oaths . Testifying in court

2850-464: Was also difficult; George Fox , Quakers' founder, famously challenged a judge who had asked him to swear, saying that he would do so once the judge could point to any Bible passage where Jesus or his apostles took oaths — the judge could not, but this did not allow Fox to escape punishment. Legal reforms from the 18th century onwards mean that everyone in the United Kingdom now has the right to make

2907-433: Was executed by the gruesome process of peine forte et dure (being pressed to death). Such severity towards a lay person, especially a woman, was unusual. For example, there is no record of any legal proceedings being taken against Anne, Lady Arundell, widow of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne , for harbouring the Catholic martyr Father John Cornelius , who was executed in 1594: Lady Arundell retrieved his body to give him

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2964-564: Was for example during the Popish Plot. The Act was enforced with great severity in the last decades of Elizabeth's reign. It may be that at first, the English Government believed that deporting priests would be an adequate solution to the Catholic problem (this was certainly to be King James I's view later): if so they quickly decided that harsher measures were necessary. About 200 English Catholics perished between 1584 and 1603, of whom

3021-445: Was judged unable to swear the Oath of Allegiance in spite of his proposal to swear the oath as a "matter of form". Islam takes the fulfillment of oaths extremely seriously, as directed by the Qur'an: God does not hold you responsible for the mere utterance of oaths; He holds you responsible for your actual intentions. If you violate an oath, you shall atone by feeding ten poor people from

3078-458: Was made to revive prosecutions of the laity for harbouring priests. The Government did issue two proclamations reminding the public that this was a felony which in theory rendered them liable to the death penalty, but no action was taken against those laymen, like Thomas Gunter, Gervaise Pierrepont, Sir John Southcote and Sir James Poole, 1st Baronet, in whose houses priests were arrested. Anti-Catholic sentiment gradually died away, more speedily in

3135-453: Was preserved in the temple of Iuppiter on the Capitol, and was brought out to play a prominent part in the ceremony of treaty-making. The fetial , who on that occasion represented the Roman people, at the solemn moment of the oath-taking, struck the sacrificial pig with the silex , saying as he did so, "Do thou, Diespiter , strike the Roman people as I strike this pig here to-day, and strike them

3192-544: Was temporary. Even during the Popish Plot, a number of priests were acquitted on that ground, although the Irish Franciscan Father Charles Mahoney was executed in 1679, despite his plea that at the time of his arrest, he was passing through England on his way to France. An Irish priest might also be able to plead that he had signed the Remonstrance of 1671, by which he gave his primary allegiance to

3249-470: Was too late to save those already condemned, and over the summer of 1679, despite mounting public unease, at least fourteen priests were executed or died in prison. Persecution continued to wane in 1680: at least ten more priests were prosecuted under the statute of 1584, but it seems that all of them were acquitted or reprieved. Under the openly Catholic King James II , all persecution of Catholics ceased early in 1685. A revival of anti-Catholic feeling after

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