Old English Ballads, 1553-1625
Chiefly from Manuscripts (Classic Reprint)
Description:... Excerpt from Old English Ballads, 1553-1625: Chiefly From Manuscripts The position of Elizabeth's Catholic subjects extremely difficult. The writer of the epita evidently felt no fear of Elizabeth, and earliest utterances seemed to indicate that of religious intolerance and persecution had ended. Such, however, was far from being the case. The rebellion of 1569, led by Catholic nobles, and the bull Pope Pius V. Issued shortly thereafter, brought about distressing conditions. The bull itself declared' that never at any time had Elizabeth been the true Queen of England, absolved her subjects from their allegiance, and threatened with excommunication her adherents. John Felton, who had dared to nail the bull before the Bishop of London's palace, was promptly hanged, drawn, and quartered. His execution, like that of his pre decessor, the notorious Dr Story, formed the subject of many ballads, all bigoted and malicious to a degree. William Elderton, Stephen Peele, John Awdeley, and their crew of professional Smithfield bards, whatever their actual religious sentiments, gloated over the news value of Tyburn executions, and indulged in never failing adulation of the Queen who was responsible for them. Of the hundred ballads licensed at Stationers' Hall during the year 1569-70, fully three-fourths dealt with the Northern Rebellion, while nearly 'all of those registered in the following year were tirades against Dr Story, F elton, the Pope, or the Roman Church.
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