Tower of London, Post Five

Edmund Campion (1540-1581)

Background: Campion was born in London, near St. Paul’s Cathedral, to a bookseller. He was raised Catholic and attended Christ’s Hospital school; at thirteen, he was invited to make the welcoming speech when Queen Mary visited. Campion went on to attend St. John’s College, Oxford, when he was fifteen and became a fellow at seventeen.

Occupation and Lifestyle: Campion took the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging that Queen Elizabeth I was the head of the Church of England and he then became an Anglican deacon in 1564. He welcomed Queen Elizabeth I to the university and won her favor (“St. Edmund Campion”). Five years later, having had doubts about Protestantism, Campion left England for Ireland where he converted back to Catholicism.  When Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I, persecution of the Catholics began to increase. Campion went on to be ordained at the college of Prague and shortly after, in 1580, the Jesuit mission to England began. Because of his publications and missionary activities, he became a target of the crown, was captured, and subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Circumstances of Incarceration: Campion was arrested by priest hunters while conducting an underground ministry near Oxford and was convicted of high treason. The priest was kept in the Tower of London for four days in a cell called “little-ease” before he was taken out and questioned as to whether he acknowledged Queen Elizabeth to be the true Queen of England and therefore the Supreme Head of the English Church; to which he replied that he did. He was offered his freedom and a position as archbishop of Canterbury, but because of his conscience he couldn’t accept and was imprisoned for four months more (“St. Edmund Campion”). During this period, he was tortured on the rack (a device that stretched a victim’s body until their cartilage and bones began to separate and crack) multiple times, and had multiple disputes over his Catholic publications. He was finally tried on the grounds of treason on the accusation that he helped to conspire a plot to dethrone the queen. On December 1, 1581, Campion was hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Importance of Narrative:  Edmund Campion’s story illustrates the political climate and discourse of the 16^th century in that it brings to light the problem Queen Elizabeth I faced in attempting to dichotomize religion and politics. Because Queen Elizabeth I was both the queen and the head of the Church of England, any open religious activity that wasn’t Protestant was also treason and a threat to her power. Therefore, the state’s “standoff with Catholicism” forced decisions to be made upon maintaining distinctions between religion and politics and conscience and treason (Lake, 1). The martyrs that were executed at this time period weren’t convicted and executed for being Catholic, but for high treason, and Edmund Campion was one such martyr who was ultimately canonized. In the “The Flower of Oxford,” McCooge asserts that the government sought to persuade citizens that treason was the reason for persecution, not religion (902). Nevertheless, this illustrates the complexity of the relationship between politics and religion in 16^th century England. At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign, she said, “I have no desire to make windows into men’s souls” meaning that she didn’t intend to persecute anyone on their religious beliefs; essentially, what they practiced in their own homes was their own business. However, Elizabeth couldn’t adhere to this policy for long because of her position as the head of the English Church and she soon had to enforce Protestantism in order to protect herself and her reign.

Further Information: Edmund Campion was beatified by Pope Leo XIII five years after his execution and was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970. His feast day is December 1, the anniversary of his death. It is said by some that parts of his body were displayed at the city gates as a warning to other Catholics, but this isn't confirmed. The ropes used to hang Campion, however, remain intact; they are on display at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.

Links of Interest:

Campion’s Bragge

List of the Jesuit Martyrs of England and Wales

Talk on Campion, Fr. Bernard Basset

Works Cited:

             Lake, Peter, and Michael Questier. "Puritans, Papists, and the “Public Sphere” in Early Modern    England: The Edmund Campion Affair in Context." The Journal of Modern History J MOD HIST 72.3 (2000): 587-627. Web. 8 July 2015.  
       McCoog, Thomas M. ""The Flower of Oxford": The Role of Edmund Campion in Early Recusant        Polemics." Sixteenth Century Journal 24.4 (1993): 899-913. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 8 July 2015.

       "Edmund Campion." Catholic Online; Saints and Angels. Web. 8 July 2015.

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