219
PRISON LISTS
No. III .
OFFICIAL LISTS OF CATHOLIC PRISONERS DURING THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH Part II (Continuedfrom Vol . , page 72).
I
1581 to 1602.
THE Government of Queen Elizabeth, in its zeal to suppress the Catholics, gathered amongst its papers a large amount of information concerning them. Of this some is reliable, some untrustworthy . Thereports of spies are ofall sources the most profuse and the least worthy of credit ; for to say nothing of other reasons , they neither were nor could be verified, and were handed in for the most sordid motives. The official lists of prisoners on the other hand are the most reliable of the papers, though even here the carelessness of the prison keepers and of the scribes is sufficiently striking , as any one will discover who tries to follow out the fate of this or that prisoner. Nevertheless these lists cer, especially as the tainly form one of the most important sources for this period prisoners were often the most heroic confessors of the faith . It has been explained in the last volume that the lists do not give any complete or regular account of the inhabitants of the prisons. Their existence among theState Papers in fact only indicatesthat the prisons were overcrowded, and that the officers of the crown were forced to have recourse to extraordinary means to relieve the pressure . It will be seen from the lists here published that this pressure was very great between the years 1582 and 1587 , and that it afterwards greatly diminished. The portion here published continues the series of prison lists during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
XII .
THE NAMES
OF CERTAYNE
PAPISTS , AND THE PLACES WHERE
THEY ARE COMMITTED .
[ 1581.]
Record Office , Domestic Elizabeth, vol. CXLIX, no . 83.
Two other redactions of this paper nos. 81 and S2 in the same volume
-
will be called B .and C ; our paper A. All seem to be of similar value , but A is much the fullest are omitted here.
The others give the bare names, but add one or two which
Watson [Doctor Douctor Young
C. Eden] * Gatehouse Polidore Morgan Marshalsea Thomas Cottam Jesuite now in the Tower Gatehouse Lucas Kirkby priest now in the Tower Thomas Vavasor , discharged upon repentance promise of conformitie , band not to goe ten myles from London. Gatehouse Edw Pole Moore Dibdale Comptar in Henrie Orton now in the the Pultrie Robert Johnson priest Tower
* Added in B and C.
Erased in C.