Childhood, Youth, and Religious Dissent in Post-Reformation England

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 1-7

3. Making Catholics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 9-10

      PDF

   2. Call Yourself a Catholic? Methods of Forming Identity

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 11-30

   3. Calling Their Souls Their Own: Converting and Claiming

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 31-50

   4. Children, Catechesis and Religious Practice

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 51-71

4. The Protestant State and Catholic Children

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 73-74

      PDF

   2. The Court of Wards

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 75-91

   3. Notable Stratagems: Control of Catholic Children Outside the Court of Wards

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 92-112

5. Youth and Catholicism

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 113-114

      PDF

   2. Speaking to the Young

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 115-127

   3. Encountering and Participating

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 128-141

   4. Authority and Agency

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 142-161

   5. Writing Catholic Childhood

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 162-183

   6. Coda: A Catholic Household in the 1660s

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 184-192

   7. Conclusion

      • Lucy Underwood

      Pages 193-198

6. Back Matter

   Pages 199-275

   PDF

This book explores the role of children and young people within early modern England's Catholic minority. It examines Catholic attempts to capture the next generation, Protestant reactions to these initiatives, and the social, legal and political contexts in which young people formed, maintained and attempted to explain their religious identity.

• childhood
• children
• England
• Protest
• reform
• youth

“An ingeniously and exhaustively researched study of a subject which we had thought was largely irrecoverable, collecting some very scattered and fragmentary evidence to do so. … Many of the book’s themes come together in a delightful coda, which leads us through a pair of interludes written as family entertainments … .” (Alec Ryrie, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 68 (2), April, 2017)

“Lucy Underwood makes a significant contribution towards answering the pertinent question of what it meant to be catholic, and to live as a member of the most ‘controversial minority’ in post-Reformation England. … she fills a notable gap in the burgeoning field of the history of early modern youth andchildhood. … Underwood paints a vivid picture of the multifaceted experiences of early modern English catholic children and young people, and has paved the way for future research.” (Emilie K. M. Murphy, English Historical Review, Vol. 131 (552), October, 2016)

“Underwood has provided an excellent narrative and analysis of children and young people’s encounters with the challenging religious landscape of Tudor-Stuart England. She succeeds in bringing English religious history and English childhood history fruitful conversation. … Scholars of children and youth constantly wrestle with similar tensions and questions about autonomy; Underwood provides a good working model for analyzing those tensions.” (Amy Harris, The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol. 9 (1), 2016)

Lucy Underwood received her doctorate from the University of Cambridge, UK. She has held research fellowships at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Durham University and the British School at Rome.

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