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John Crosse of Liverpool and Recusancy in Early Seventeenth-Century Lancashire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

R. G. Dottie
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Extract

John Crosse of Liverpool has been hailed by several historians (see below, p. 37) as an example of a ‘Roman Catholic actively opposing Ship Money’ in part because Catholics typically were financially stretched by the demands of compositions. Few individuals have been identified in that role, thus assuring Crosse a permanent place in history. But how justified is this assessment of a man whom recent research reveals as a more complex character than is allowed by the convenient stereotype allotted to him? Who exactly was he?

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , May 1990 , pp. 31 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1973

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References

Notes

1 R. G. Dottie, the People of Childwall in the Stuart Period, Liverpool University M.Phil., 1981.

2 Anstruther, G., ‘The Lancashire Clergy in 1639’, Recusant History IV (1957–8)Google Scholar.

3 Stonor, R. J., Liverpool’s Hidden Story (Wigan, 1957), p. 49.Google Scholar

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5 Public Record Office, London (hereinafter P.R.O.). Duchy of Lancaster Special Commissions DL44/671.

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7 F. R. Raines, Visitation of the County Palatine of Lancaster in 1567 by William Flower, Norroy King of Arms, Chet. Soc. LXXXI (1870); p. 28. Liverpool City Record Office (hereafter City R.O.) Moore Deeds and Papers 920M00 365.

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9 Ibid.;, Twemlow, J. A., Liverpool Town Books (Liverpool, 1918 and 1935), I p. 448n., II p. 379, p. 494.Google Scholar

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11 Gibson, T. E., Lydiate Hall and its Associations (Edinburgh, 1876), p. 245.Google Scholar

12 Such as George Ireland of Hutte, Edward Tarbock of Tarbock, John Harrington of Huyton Hey, John Maynwaring of Liverpool, Lawrence Breres of Walton.

13 Stewart Brown, Inhabitants of Liverpool, p. 178; L. Hall, ‘Toxteth Park in the Seventeenth Century’. Transactions of the Unitarian Historical Society 5 (1931–4).

14 Gibson, T. E., Lydiate Hall, p. 244 Google Scholar. ‘Well affected in religion but… useth bad company”.

15 Lancashire Inquisitions Post Mortem, Stuart Period, Part I, R.S.L.C. 3 (1879).

16 Stuart Brown, Inhabitants of Liverpool;, Chandler, G. and Saxton, E. B., Liverpool under James I (Liverpool 1960), p. 172.Google Scholar

17 Lancashire County Record Office (hereinafter L.C.R.O.) Probate Records: Richard Crosse of Liverpool, 1619.

18 Lancashire Inquisitions.

19 L.C.R.O. Probate Records: Richard Crosse.

20 Lancashire Inquisitions.

21 Stewart Brown, Inhabitants of Liverpool.

22 Picton, J. A., Selections from the Municipal Archives and Records from the 13th to the 17th century (Liverpool 1883), p. 217 Google Scholar; Gardiner, S. R., History of England 1603–42, Vol. IV 1621–23 (London 1888), pp. 31–33 Google Scholar for the circumstances surrounding the two subsidies.

23 Chandler, and Saxton, , Liverpool under James I, p. 245.Google Scholar

P.R.O. Records of the Court of Wards, Feodaries Surveys WARDS 5/2. His lands at Liverpool valued at £4 comprised 60 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture and 1 acre of wood, in addition to 30 messuages and burgages, 1 dovehouse and 1 windmill.

It is difficult to imagine on what grounds Crosse and Seacombe argued that the burden of payment should be transferred from them to the townspeople—precedent was not on their side. John Crosse and Thomas Seacombe had paid subsidies based on the ownership of land valued at £4 and £2 respectively in 1571, 1572, 1581, 1585 and 1587, and John Crosse and Ralph Seacombe had done likewise in 1594 and 1599. Twemlow, Liverpool Town Books I p. 577, II p. 816, pp. 1068–1070.

24 Chandler, and Saxton, , Liverpool under James I, pp. 245–246.Google Scholar

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29 Ibid., p. 14.

30 Rolls of Burgesses at the Guilds Merchant of the Borough of Preston, 1397–1682, R.S.L.C., 9 (1884), p. 79.

31 Stonor fails to associate John Crosse with John Crosse of the Park.

32 Havran, , Catholics of Caroline England, p. 92.Google Scholar

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34 Ibid., pp. 390–391.

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36 British Library, Additional Charters 52755.

37 Chandler, G. and Wilson, E. K., Liverpool under Charles I (Liverpool, 1965), p. 153.Google Scholar

38 Ibid., p. 158. It is interesting that the Mayor appears to have invited Richard Mather as one of these ‘conformable ministers’ and that he agreed to lecture in April and August. Mather was suspended from Toxteth Chapel in 1633 and 1634 for his Puritan tendencies. Hall, ‘Toxteth Park’.

39 Stewart, Brown, Inhabitants of Liverpool, p. 9.Google Scholar

40 Miscellanies, relating to Lancashire and Cheshire, R.S.L.C. 33 (1885), p. 213.

41 Chandler, and Wilson, , Liverpool under Charles I, p. 183.Google Scholar

42 Morrill, J. S., The Revolt of the Provinces (London, 1980), pp. 24–25 Google Scholar. Despite the later opposition to Ship Money, Morrill has pointed out that the King’s right to levy the rate was rarely questioned. He also points out that opposition in 1636–8 came from yeomanry, not courtly leadership, since ‘only 3 gentlemen can be found who were actively opposed to ship money’.

43 P.R.O. State Papers Domestic SP12/336/38.

44 Morrill, , Revolt of the Provinces, p. 25.Google Scholar

45 Ibid.

46 Blackwood, B. G., ‘The Cavalier and Roundhead Gentry of Lancashire’ Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society 77 (1974), p. 88.Google Scholar

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48 Dures, A., English Catholicism 1558–1642: Continuity and Change (London, 1983), p. 73 Google Scholar.

49 City R.O. 920M00 955.

50 Chandler, and Wilson, , Liverpool under Charles I, pp. 182–3.Google Scholar

51 P.R.O. WARDS 5/21.

52 P.R.O. SP23/77 fo. 378 and WARDS 5/21.

53 Chandler, and Wilson, , Liverpool under Charles I, p. 254.Google Scholar

54 P.R.O. SP23/77 fo. 381; L.C.R.O. Probate Records: John Crosse of Liverpool, 1640.

55 See, for example, Registers of the Parish Church of Walton On-The-Hill, ed. A. Smith (Wigan, 1900), Lancashire Parish Register Society 5, pp. 31, 35, 102, 116; L.C.R.O. Probate Records: John Crosse.

56 See note 5.

57 Richardson, R. C., Puritanism in North-West England: A regional study of the diocese of Chester to 1642 (Manchester, 1972), pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

58 Hall, ‘Toxteth Park’.

59 Anstruther, , ‘Lancashire Clergy in 1639’, p. 42 Google Scholar; Birt, H. R., Obit Book of the English Benedictines from 1600–1912 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 22 Google Scholar; Lunn, D., The English Benedictines 1540–1688 (London, 1980), p. 229.Google Scholar

60 Rushworth, J., Historical Collections (London, 1721), Vol. II, p. 820.Google Scholar

61 Ibid., p. 822.

62 Ibid., p. 823.

63 Miscellanea: Recusant Records, p. 356.

64 Ibid., p. 425.

65 L.C.R.O. Probate Records: John Crosse.

66 Hibberd, C. M., Charles I and the Popish Plot (North Carolina, 1983), p. 104.Google Scholar

67 Ibid., pp. 121–122.

68 Lunn, , English Benedictines, pp. 23–26.Google Scholar

69 Ibid., pp. 147–148.

70 Dolan, G., ‘Lancashire and the Benedictines’ T.H.S.L.C. 49 (1898), p. 127.Google Scholar

71 Lunn, , English Benedictines, pp. 150–151.Google Scholar

72 Ibid., pp. 154–155.

73 L.C.R.O. Probate Records: John Crosse.

74 Stonor, , Liverpool’s Hidden Story, p. 81 Google Scholar. Lunn also records his residence at Mossborough. Stonor claims him as ‘Provincial’ in charge of all Benedictine missionaries working in the north of England. William Latham died 15 December 1640.

75 Miscellanea III, , Catholic Record Society 3, 1906, p. 108.Google Scholar

76 Lunn, , English Benedictines, p. 157.Google Scholar

77 Ibid., p. 156.

78 Anstruther, G., The Seminary Priests (Durham, 1968), pp. 155, 217.Google Scholar

79 P.R.O. Exchequer King’s Remembrancer: Subsidy Rolls E 179/131/328 and E 179/132/340.

80 A study of the documents grouped together as Eng. Mss. 736 and 737 reveals a number of errors in Anstruther’s work and some of these will be referred to in this paper. However, I would unreservedly support the claim made in another context that ‘those who are ready to point out details which Fr. Anstruther got wrong must never forget how much he got right’, McGrath, and Rowe, , ‘Anstruther Analysed’ Recusant History 18, 1986 Google Scholar. I acknowledge the debt owed to Anstruther, but see a need to correct errors which are otherwise perpetuated by the very magnitude of his reputation.

81 Lunn, , English Benedictines, p. 156.Google Scholar

82 Anstruther, , Seminary Priests, pp. 347, 374.Google Scholar

83 John Rylands Library, English Manuscripts 737 f. 13.

84 Ibid., ff. 14, 49.

85 Ibid., f. 52.

86 Ibid., f. 61.

87 Ibid., f. 10.

88 Hibberd, C. M., ‘The Contribution of 1639: Court and Country Catholicism’, Recusant History, XVI (1982)Google Scholar.

89 Eng. Mss. 737 f. 9.

90 Eng. Mss. 736 f. 11.

91 Lunn, , English Benedictines, p. 156.Google Scholar

92 Anstruther, Seminary Priests, passim.

93 See note 72.

94 C.S.P.D. 1633, p. 7.

95 Quintrell, B. W., ‘Lancashire Ills, the King’s Will and the Troubling of Bishop Bridgeman’ T.H.S.L.C. 132 (1983), p. 68.Google Scholar

96 Anstruther, ‘The Lancashire Clergy in 1639’. Anstruther claimed to have ‘modernised the spelling’ but he has apparently failed to recognise a number of place names using, for example, Horsall and Alber instead of Halsall and Altear.

97 Eng. Mss. 737 f. 8; Kirkham and Lytham, Poulton and Bispham, Brindle and Penwortham, Halsall and Altear.