Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, had led the Rising of the North, and Thomas Woodhouse had declared in a letter to William Cecil that Elizabeth "for her own great disobedience is most justly deposed". The threat of invasion by a Roman Catholic country assisted by English subjects led the Crown to try to repress Roman Catholicism. Responding to Pius V's action, Elizabeth I's government passed anti-Roman Catholic decrees in 1571 forbidding anyone from maintaining the jurisdiction of the pope by word, deed or act; requiring use of the Book of Common Prayer in all cathedrals, churches and chapels, and forbidding criticism of it; forbidding the publication of any bull, writing or instrument of the Holy See (the death penalty was assigned to this); and prohibiting the importing of Agnus Dei images, crosses, pictures, beads or other things from the Bishop of Rome. Later laws made illegal the drawing of anyone away from the state church; non-attendance at a Church of England church; raising children with teachers who were not licensed by an Anglican diocesan bishop; and attending or celebrating the Roman Catholic Mass. In 1585, a new decree made it a crime punishable by death to go overseas to receive the sacrament of Ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood. Nicholas Devereux (who went by the alias of Nicholas Woodfen) and Edward Barber (see below Edward Stransham) were both put to death in 1586 under this law. William Thomson and Richard Lea (see below Richard Sergeant) were hanged, disembowelled and quartered under the same law. In 1588, eight priests and six laymen at Newgate were condemned and executed under this law. 1570–1603 William Hambledon, priest, 1585 John MacMahon, Jesuit priest, 1594 1606–1680 James Brown, Benedictine, 1645 Died in prison Thomas Wood, priest, before 1588 See also Elizabeth Barton#Arrest and execution Carthusian Martyrs Pilgrimage of Grace#Those executed after the Pilgrimage Irish Catholic Martyrs Marian persecutions References Citations Sources Pendrill, Colin (2000), The English Reformation 1485–1558, Heinemann. Pallen, C.B.; Wynne, J.J., eds. (1929), The New Catholic Dictionary, New York: Universal Knowledge Foundation. External links "English Confessors and Martyrs (1534–1729)". article by Pollen, J.H. in The Catholic Encyclopedia (1909) List Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation Catholic martyrs Religiously motivated violence in England