Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Ontario, 1998. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009. / Title from screen (viewed on August 27, 2009). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Jason Kelly. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-113).

The role religion played in causing the English Revolution of 1688 has been examined. The Catholicism of the heir apparent to the English throne, James, Duke of York, later James II, had a direct impact on the social, political, and religious life of a predominately Protestant, anti-Catholic England in the latter decades of the seventeenth century. James's religion and the prospect of his accession to the throne led to the development of two unsuccessful attempts in the 1670s and 1680s, the Exclusion Crisis and the Rye House Plot, to keep him from ever taking the throne. Upon becoming king, James II's attempts to reestablish Catholicism as the dominant religion of the country alienated all the important institutions and segments of English society-—Parliament, the Anglican Church, the universities, the judiciary, local government, the aristocracy, and the gentry. James II's actions, which were a consequence of his adherence to the Catholic religion and were directly responsible for his downfall in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, are explored in detail. / Master of Arts

This dissertation examines the British Catholic community during the Age of Mercantilism. It opens with John Aylward's trade in the early 1670s and closes with the death of Bishop Richard Challoner in the late eighteenth century. By investigating the economic and financial strategies of these individuals, this work dispels the stereotype of idle Catholicism and shows how the Catholic community played a relevant role in the emerging Atlantic economy. The work starts with an analysis of John Aylward's dealings during outbreaks of international warfare. His papers prove that Catholicism was crucial in his business, allowing the adoption of various strategies and access to diverse markets. As a merchant Aylward defies the stereotype of religious minorities' communality in trade, by moving beyond religious and national borders. Moreover, he challenges the stereotype of Catholicism as estranged from capitalism. The dissertation further continues with an analysis of his widow Helena Aylward, as merchant and financier. Her skills and strategies allow the extension of the narrative of enterprise and Catholicism to women as well, by challenging the prevailing role of Catholic women as patrons or nuns. Finally, the last chapter analyses the business accounts of Bishop Richard Challoner, Vicar Apostolic of the London Mission. His dealings exemplify how Catholicism played a relevant role in finance, both individually and institutionally. In fact, the British Catholic Church fundamentally sustained itself through the stock market. Therefore, this work proves that Catholics were entrepreneurs: they built coherent trading zones and through a broad range of Atlantic connections, moved beyond the borders of the European Empires. They disregarded religious affiliations and nationalities, suggesting that the new economic and financial opportunities of the Age of Mercantilism allowed the Catholic Community to integrate into the British economy and eventually to achieve toleration.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Centered around the accounts of two women—Mary Aubry, a French Catholic midwife living in London, who was burned at the stake for murdering her abusive husband, and Queen Mary of Modena, the Italian Catholic wife of James II, who allegedly tried to pass off an imposter child as her legitimate heir in the so-called “warming pan scandal,” this is a study of murder, deceit, betrayal, paranoia, and repression in seventeenth-century England. The stories of the two Marys are both stories of palpable anxiety. Though the two women bear little resemblance at first glance, they were rumored to have conspired to guarantee a male heir for James II by any means necessary. According to the London gossips, these women were willing to betray, and even kill their husbands in the case of Mary Aubry, to protect their secret plot to perpetuate a line of Catholic princes in England. Though there was little evidence to substantiate this rumor and it quickly disappeared in media accounts, these two women continued to inspire vitriolic attacks from the London press that reveal strikingly similar public concerns. Their stories struck chords of fear within audiences in late seventeenth century England that knew their entire world was threatened. Endangered by a king, James II—who appeared determined to reinstitute Catholicism in England, who showed a penchant for absolutist policies, and who seemed to have fallen into the orbit of the domineering Louis XIV—the public’s apprehension and fear was only heightened by these stories. Just as unnerving as the fears about absolutism, Catholicism and foreign domination was the specter of internal collusion that endangered not simply the political and religious spheres of English Protestant society, but also social and familial hierarchies as well. To much of late seventeenth century English society, the two Marys represented all that was wrong with the world. They were traitors to their families, traitors to the nation, and traitors to the divine. / indefinitely