Catholic emancipation

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Politischer Bilderbogen, Boston 1779 (detail): English Catholics forging plans according to the Relief Act of 1778
Ibid: Scottish Presbyterians attack Catholics' homes

The Catholic Emancipation was a process of legislation in the United Kingdom in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, during which the restrictions of civil rights of the remaining Roman Catholic population, especially to freedom of religion and access to public office, gradually reduced and finally abolished were. It took place under strong opposition.

prehistory

Ever since Henry VIII and Elizabeth I separated the English Church from Rome and placed it under the king's supremacy, Catholicism in England was synonymous with opposition to the king and was suspected of treason . Whoever aspired to church or state office had to take the oath of supremacy . Legal restrictions such as the Act of Uniformity and the Test Act were intended to induce the Catholic population to renounce the primacy of the Pope and the belief in transubstantiation . This led to serious conflicts of conscience for a minority; not a few suffered martyrdom because of it , such as the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales .

emancipation

Relief Acts

The first relief achieved on the road to emancipation was the Catholic Relief Act of 1778 . He deleted the actually religious content of the oath required of the state officials and reduced it to the rejection of the Stuarts' claims to the throne and the civil jurisdiction of the Pope. On this basis, he allowed Catholics in Great Britain to own property, inherit land and join the army. In response, the Gordon Riots of 1780, a revolt of about 50,000 Protestants, 285 of whom were killed by the army.

Restrictions were further lifted by the Catholic Relief Act of 1791 , which allowed Roman Catholics, among other things, to hold public worship, erect inconspicuous church buildings, give Roman Catholic religious instruction, serve as priests or belong to a Catholic religious community .

The Irish Parliament enacted similar enactments between 1778 and 1793. The vast majority of the population there remained Catholic, despite the state church established and privileged by the crown.

Since the right to vote at the time depended on property, this gave some Catholics the right to vote. In addition, they could now work in professions from which they were previously excluded.

Act of Union

The unification of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland by the Act of Union in 1801 was decisive for the further course , even if the Catholic emancipation was not expressly mentioned in the text, as larger protests of the Irish Protestant opposition were feared. At this stage, because of the faith of King George III. , who felt bound by his oath taken at the coronation, took no further action.

Movement in Ireland

1823 Irish Catholic launched Daniel O'Connell a campaign to repeal the Act of Union and used it "Catholic Emancipation" ( Catholic Emancipation ) as a slogan. In 1828 he stood for election in County Clare and was elected, even if he could not take his seat in the British Parliament. In 1829 he stood again and was re-elected. The ensuing turmoil prompted Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , contrary to his earlier views, to enact another Catholic Relief Act , which lifted many of the significant restrictions on the Roman Catholic population in Great Britain. The royal approval for the law passed by Parliament on March 24th was granted on April 13th, 1829.

1829 is commonly given as the year of Catholic emancipation, even if numerous small improvements were introduced later.

consequences

Civil equality was followed by an internal and external strengthening of British Catholicism. Many Irish Catholic came to England and planted churches as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the great famine . In addition, there were often wealthy converts from the movement around John Henry Newman . Numerous, partly representative churches were built. In 1850 Pius IX decreed . the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England - not without renewed protests.

Individual evidence

  1. Article on the Roman Catholic Church in England on the Surrey County Council website, accessed on November 17, 2011 ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.surreycc.gov.uk
  2. Article on the Roman Catholic Church in England on the Surrey County Council website, accessed on November 17, 2011 ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.surreycc.gov.uk

Web links

Wiktionary: Catholic emancipation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations