ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY to Henry Ballinger, lo August, 1571, describes their refractoriness and dissensions, and states that at last he had, much against his will, to deal severely with them.^ The archbishop of Canterbury had previously written to the archbishop of York, that he feared the bishop had prejudiced his own jurisdiction by disclaiming oversight.^ These strangers had been invited to dwell in the city of Norwich after they had fled from the persecutions of the duke of Alva, at the suggestion of the duke of Norfolk, who had been waited on by the city to find some remedy for the decay of the worsted manufacture. The Dutch congregation had the choir of the church of the Black Friars, and the Walloon, or French, the church of St. Mary the Less, near Tombland, assigned to them.^ At first the Dutch were much more numerous than the Walloons, but later the Walloons became of great importance.* They had to pay double taxes or subsidies on the value of their personal property ; to pay their own ministers, by whom they had to be furnished with a voucher before permission to reside in the city was granted to them, all their names being registered ; to pay all the expenses of their churches and the entire support of their poor, beside lod. in the pound on their rentals towards the pay of the parish clergy.^ But, in spite of heavy taxation, they flourished exceedingly, and roused much jealousy. The duke of Norfolk was extremely popular in the county, and his imprisonment in the Tower led to a rising in the summer of 1570 in favour of Mary queen of Scots and Norfolk, and against these refugees.' It resulted in the execution for high treason and contempt of John Throgmorton, Thomas Brooke of Rollesby, and George Redman.^ The year 1570 marked a turning point in the treatment of Roman Catholic recusancy, which could no longer be overlooked after the bull of excommunication and deposition of the queen. Norfolk, which was the home of so many sects, furnished a considerable number of important recusants. The college of Douai was founded in 1568, and by the year 1578 had sent over fifty priests as missionaries to England ; a marked increase in recusancy was followed by determined efforts to deal with it, and in August, 1578, the Council sat at Norwich and dealt with batches from several counties, includ- ing Norfolk. In a note of the names of such as were committed for papistry in the county, 1578, endorsed 'such as have been dealt withal by my Vicar General this progresse for refusynge to come to church,'* Sir Henry Beding- field, knt., Edmond Windeham, doctor of the civil law, Robert Grey, esquire, John Drury of Godwitt, gent., Humfrey Bedingfield, gent., John Downes, gent., Ferdinando Parris, esqre., Thos. Lovell, esqre., and Robert Lovell, esqre., remain in Norwich to be conferred w'^ all by the bishop, or such as he shall appoint between this and Michaelmas next ; William Gibbon, gent., is contented to come to the church and conform himself, and is bownd by his bond to bring certificate thereof to the bishop ; James Hubberd and Philipp Awdeley, conformed themselves and were dismissed with favour. . . . Rucwood and Robert Downes appear to have been committed close prisoners to the gaol of the county of Norfolk, By act of the Privy Council, ' Zurich Letters (Parker Society), 256. ' Mogns, Hist, of the Walloon Congregation, 63. ' iiorf. Arch, iv, 74.
- 'Norf. Antiq. Misc. L. Toulmin-Smith. Account of the Walloon Church at Norwich, ii, 91.
' Moens, Hist, of the Walloon Church, Pref. i. ' Stephens, Hist, of the Engl Ch. v, 153. ' Blomefield, iii. 284. ' Cott. MS. Titus B. III. fol. 61. 269
