The Counter-Reformation

• This was an attempt by the Catholic Church to bring many Protestants back to the old faith
• William Allen established a seminary at Douai in the Netherlands to train Catholic priests in 1568. Allen aimed to send these priests to England as missionaries, with full backing from the Pope
• Jesuits:

  • Society of Jesus established in 1540 and began to send missionaries to England by 1580
  • Wanted to convert Protestants to Catholicism
  • E saw Jesuits as a threat
• Key Jesuits in England:

  • Edmund Campion and Robert Parsons arrived in 1580
  • Campion became a wanted man for fear he would incite rebellion