Note: I wrote this earlier tonight, around 9, so the night is no longer young. I have, since then, ripped out the strap seams on the bodice
( Read more... )
I think you have two questions there; the Mass being said on English soil would have been incredibly unpopular just on the grounds that the English had been swinging that way since the break with the Church in the 1530s. 'Papistry' and 'idolatry' were two of the hate-words coined during that time.
At any rate, customarily, an ambassador is granted an embassy by treaty. When the treaty is formally ratified, the embassy is viewed as a bit of the Ambassador's country within another country. So even today if you visit, for example, the Spanish Ambassador's embassy in Washington D.C., you are stepping onto Spanish soil. What the Spanish do within the confines of the Embassy is up to them; we have little to do with what goes on within the gates unless we are called on to assist (all issues of espionage aside...).
Back to the 16th Century: The Spanish Ambassador is free to conduct his religion within the confines of his own Embassy. Once he leaves the grounds of the Embassy, he's on English soil-- and he's subject to the laws of England. If he hears a Mass on English land, then he's in violation of any number of laws with ugly penalties.
But-- all that was moot because Spanish Ambassadors didn't last long after Bernardino de Mendoza was booted out for the Throckmorton Plot in 1583, then Don Guerau de Espes was given the boot after his involvement in the Babington Plot in 1586 (which culminated in Norfolk's and Mary of Scotland's executions), there was no Spanish Ambassador until after Elizabeth's death; instead there was only a 'commercial agent,' one Don Antonio de Guaras. He, too, was caught plotting-- was imprisoned and thrown out of England, even though Elizabeth met with him multiple times and discussed her desire to be on better terms with such an old friend as Philip.
The Pope excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570, and once that happened, any good Catholic was duty bound to topple her from the throne and replace her with Mary Stuart.
Erm. I warned you about the junk littering my mind...
At any rate, customarily, an ambassador is granted an embassy by treaty. When the treaty is formally ratified, the embassy is viewed as a bit of the Ambassador's country within another country. So even today if you visit, for example, the Spanish Ambassador's embassy in Washington D.C., you are stepping onto Spanish soil. What the Spanish do within the confines of the Embassy is up to them; we have little to do with what goes on within the gates unless we are called on to assist (all issues of espionage aside...).
Back to the 16th Century: The Spanish Ambassador is free to conduct his religion within the confines of his own Embassy. Once he leaves the grounds of the Embassy, he's on English soil-- and he's subject to the laws of England. If he hears a Mass on English land, then he's in violation of any number of laws with ugly penalties.
But-- all that was moot because Spanish Ambassadors didn't last long after Bernardino de Mendoza was booted out for the Throckmorton Plot in 1583, then Don Guerau de Espes was given the boot after his involvement in the Babington Plot in 1586 (which culminated in Norfolk's and Mary of Scotland's executions), there was no Spanish Ambassador until after Elizabeth's death; instead there was only a 'commercial agent,' one Don Antonio de Guaras. He, too, was caught plotting-- was imprisoned and thrown out of England, even though Elizabeth met with him multiple times and discussed her desire to be on better terms with such an old friend as Philip.
The Pope excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570, and once that happened, any good Catholic was duty bound to topple her from the throne and replace her with Mary Stuart.
Erm. I warned you about the junk littering my mind...
Reply
Leave a comment