Andrew Bromwich
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Andrew Bromwich ( c.1640–1702 ) was an English
Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...
. He was a survivor of the
Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinat ...
, and the founder of the Oscott Mission in Staffordshire, which later became
St. Mary's College, Oscott St Mary's College in New Oscott, Birmingham, sometimes called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and one of two seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales in England, with Allen ...
.


Early career

He was born at
Old Oscott Old Oscott (originally Oscott) is an area of Great Barr, Birmingham, England (previously in the parish of Handsworth, Staffordshire). The suburb forms a triangle bounded to the north by Pheasey, to the west by Perry Beeches, and to the east ...
in
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
, to a Roman Catholic farming family which, according to local tradition, had already produced several Catholic priests. He entered the English College, Lisbon in 1668, was ordained about 1672, and returned to Staffordshire to take up his mission.Croft, Walter, Gillow Joseph, and Kirk, John ''Historical Account of Lisbon College'' St. Andrews Press Barnet 1902 p.49 His home county had one of the largest Catholic communities in England. It had for many years enjoyed a certain degree of immunity from the
Penal Laws Penal law refers to criminal law. It may also refer to: * Penal law (British), laws to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Catholicism * Penal laws (Ireland) In Ireland, the penal laws () were a series of Disabilities (C ...
due to the fact that Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar, a wealthy and influential local landowner, was a Catholic who made little attempt to conceal his beliefs, raised his children in the same faith, and was in general able to shield his Catholic tenants and neighbours from persecution. Bromwich took the crucial precaution, which ultimately saved his life, of swearing the
Oath of Supremacy The Oath of Supremacy required any person taking public or church office in the Kingdom of England, or in its subordinate Kingdom of Ireland, to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church. Failure to do so was to be trea ...
and the
Oath of Allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...
. Prior to the outbreak of the Popish Plot, it was understood that priests who could prove that they had taken the oaths were to be left in peace, and even at the height of the hysteria caused by the Plot judges were often disposed to be merciful in such cases.Kenyon p.203/4


Popish Plot

During the Popish Plot, Walter Aston, 3rd Lord Aston of Forfar, who had just succeeded to his father's title and estates in Staffordshire, and continued his father's unofficial role of protector of the local Catholic community, became a target of the informers. He had dismissed his steward, Stephen Dugdale, for
embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...
and
gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...
and Dugdale in revenge turned
informer An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...
against him. Dugdale's intelligence, charm and superior social standing were a marked contrast to the unsavoury earlier informers like
Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father was the Baptis ...
and William Bedloe, and as a result even King Charles II, who had previously been a complete sceptic on the subject, "began to think there was somewhat in the Plot". After some hesitation Dugdale directly accused Lord Aston of
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
, and as a result Aston went to the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, though he was never brought to trial and was released on
bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...
a year later. He did not return to prison. The removal of their patron exposed the Staffordshire Catholics to the full rigours of the Popish Plot: Kenyon notes that once the initial hysteria abated, Staffordshire was one of the few parts of England outside London where the Plot really took hold.


Trial

Bromwich was tried at the Stafford
Assizes The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...
in August 1679 with the Jesuit William Atkins (1601-1681) who was so old and frail that even the most ardent believers in the Plot must have had some difficulty in seeing him as a conspirator. In fact unlike earlier victims of the Plot, Bromwich and Atkins were charged only with acting as Catholic priests in England, but even so, they were liable to the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 ( 27 Eliz. 1. c. 2). They were tried before the
Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...
, Sir
William Scroggs Sir William Scroggs (c. 162325 October 1683) was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Chief Justice of England from 1678 to 1681. He is best remembered for presiding over the Popish Plot trials, where he was accused of showing bias agai ...
, who was a convinced believer in the Plot, and, though tolerant enough of the Catholic laity, violently prejudiced against the priesthood. In the event, he was prepared to be merciful to these particular priests, but not until the guilty verdict was in, and both the jury and the accused were subjected to his notorious bullying. Bromwich's plea that he had taken the oaths was dismissed as a lie: "you priests are full of tricks" – a most unjust remark since Scroggs himself later admitted that Bromwich was telling the truth. The jury was treated to a tirade by Scroggs on the evils of the Catholic priesthood: "It is to these sorts of men we owe all the troubles we are in, the threat to the King's life, the subversion of our government, and the loss of our religion." Not surprisingly both Bromwich and Atkins were found guilty. Having secured the required verdicts, Scroggs was now disposed to be merciful. Bromwich produced proof that he had taken the oaths, which unofficially entitled him to a reprieve, while Scroggs accepted that Atkins' age and frail health made him a suitable case for clemency. Atkins died in prison in 1681; Bromwich must have been released at the latest in February 1685 when James II announced that all persecution of his Catholic subjects should immediately cease.Kenyon p.272


Later career

Under the Catholic King James, Bromwich had nothing to fear from openly practising his faith, and he resumed his ministry in Stafford. It was in these years that he founded a small mission at Oscott for the shelter, and later training, of priests. Surprisingly he was able to continue work after the downfall of King James at the
Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...
: possibly he was protected by the strength of the local Catholic community. At his death, he bequeathed his old family home to the mission. The mission survived and grew in the eighteenth century, and was the origin of
St Mary's College, Oscott St Mary's College in New Oscott, Birmingham, sometimes called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and one of two seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales in England, with All ...
.


Death

Bromwich died in 1702. He was buried in the family vault at Handsworth.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bromwich, Andrew 1702 deaths 17th-century English Roman Catholic priests English College, Lisbon alumni Victims of the Popish Plot People from Great Barr Year of birth uncertain