Act to Retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in their Due Obedience
The English statute of 1581 that made it high treason to draw the queen’s subjects from their obedience, or for that purpose from the established religion to that of Rome, or to be so reconciled. It also set heavy fines for hearing mass and for staying away from church.
The act extends the Act against the Bringing In and Putting in Execution of Bulls from the See of Rome to those who, it says, work “by other means than by bulls”. Anyone who seeks to withdraw the queen’s subjects from their natural obedience, or to withdraw them “for that intent” from the established religion to the Roman, is to be judged a traitor, and so is anyone who is willingly so reconciled.
It also sets money penalties. Saying mass costs two hundred marks and a year in prison; hearing it, one hundred marks and a year. Everyone over sixteen who stays away from church forfeits twenty pounds for every month of absence. The act was passed in the session of January to March 1581.
Cited in
- 1559, firm date