Catholic Gentry in English Society

This volume advances scholarly understanding of English Catholicism in the early modern period through a series of essays addressing aspects of the history of the Throckmorton family. Despite their persistent adherence to Catholicism over several centuries, leading members of the family continued to be involved in politics on the national stage in the face of overt Protestant hostility. Leading historians of Catholic England investigate the strategies the Throckmortons employed in this difficult balancing act, and reflect on what this tells us, about both English Catholicism and wider English society. In so doing the volume contributes to recent efforts to integrate the study of Catholicism into the mainstream of English social and political history, transcending its traditional status as a 'special interest' category, remote from or subordinate to the central narratives of historical change.