The Layburnes and their world, circa 1620-1720: the English Catholic community and the House of Stuart
Abstract
This thesis concerns Catholics in north-western England in the late
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, in particular the Layburne family
of Cunswick, Cumbria. It examines their role in local society and at the courts
of the Stuart queens in London and St Germains. It traces their growing
commitment to the Jacobite cause and their hopes of thereby regaining
positions of influence at court and in the country.
The north-western Tory gentry's sympathy with their Catholic counterparts is
contrasted with the treatment given to the Quakers in the same area. The latter
were regarded as a danger to the fabric of society, representing an economic
and political threat to the government. As an example of how integrated the
Catholics were, the services in Kendal parish church were more Papist than
non-conformist, even under the Protectorate. At the Restoration the Catholics
continued to contribute to the upkeep of the church and were well-regarded in
the area.
The Layburnes occupied positions during the reign of James II, both in the
north-west and at court. Bishop John Laybume acted as James II's Catholic
bishop, and had also been involved in the Secret Treaty of Dover in 1670,
under Charles II. during James II's reign bishop Layburne had organised the
funding of Catholic chapels, clergy and education. This activity was
discovered and used in the prosecution of Catholic gentry in the trials
following the Lancashire Plot (1694). On acquittal, the Jacobites vigorously
renewed their plotting in Lancashire. Planning for a Jacobite invasion reached
its culmination in the 1715 Rising, only to end with the siege of Preston.
Despite some executions and the forfeiture of estates, many Catholic Jacobite
families survived the 1715 rising. Few rose in 1745 and many Catholic
families, with the exception of the Layburnes, prospered and continue to this
day.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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