Raids

"On the evening of Friday 15 March 1594 Richard Topcliffe, apparently acting on his own authority, organized a raid of all known or suspected Catholic houses in London. 'The uproar was such that Hannibal himself might have been at the gates or the Spanish fleet in the river Thames,' wrote Garnet to Aquaviva in the months following. Local magistrates were called in to assist the priest-hunter and overnight the city's churches were drafted into use as holding pens to contain all those arrested in the raids." -- Alice Hogge, God's Secret Agents

Baddesly Clinton

Fascinating account of a clandestine general meeting of Catholic missionaries that nearly ended in disaster at Baddesly Clinton. Authorities had somehow gotten word of the secret meeting and raided the house just moments after many of the attendees had left, leaving others to hide in a safe room created by Nicholas Owen. Ironic that Owen himself was hiding in his own creation.

Richard Topcliffe

Enjoying Alice Hogge's God's Secret Agent, if that's how you can describe reading about a fellow, Richard Topcliffe, who was Queen Elizabeth's personal priest-hunter and torturer. Rather lurid stuff, and it's the bit of British history that I've read about many times before. But Hogge's account is as engaging as it is well-documented, which is really saying something as this is reportedly only her first book. I look forward to reading whatever else she might have in store for us.

God's Secret Agents

Just started reading Hogge's book yesterday. Just the thing for these cold winter days and nights.