Notable Stratagems: Control of Catholic Children Outside the Court of Wards

Abstract

In 1591, Robert Southwell, the Jesuit missionary, compiled a report summarising the persecutions of his flock in England. Southwell noted that, amongst other enormities, ‘the children of Catholickes have bene somtimes taken from their parents and forced against their concieunces, as Mr. Price’s were’. Another report also complained that ‘Catholics’ children, besides dif- ficulty of christening [are] taken from their parents’.¹ Whether it happened frequently or not, the idea — and the fear — of this kind of thing was current; the Catholic child taken from his/her parents and re-educated was part of Catholic mythology. A Catholic newsletter of 1633 reporting the sale of Sir Charles Shirley’s wardship to his Protestant uncle (see Chapter 4) creates a vivid story.