When the Pope Declared War on England’s Queen: The 1570 Papal Bull That Changed Everything
On a cold January day in 1570, a document that would reshape the religious landscape of England was secretly distributed throughout the realm. Pope Pius V’s papal bull Regnans in Excelsis didn’t merely criticise Queen Elizabeth I; it declared her a heretical ‘pretended Queen’ and formally released all English Catholics from their allegiance to her. This wasn’t just ecclesiastical posturing, it was a declaration of spiritual war that would redefine what it meant to be both English and Catholic for generations to come.
The papal bull of January 11th, 1570, represents one of the most audacious challenges ever mounted against English royal authority. By excommunicating Elizabeth I and encouraging her subjects to rebel, Pope Pius V transformed English Catholics from loyal subjects into potential traitors in the eyes of the state. This single document would trigger decades of persecution, plot, and political intrigue that would echo through the remainder of the Tudor era.
Understanding this pivotal moment reveals not only the religious tensions that defined Elizabethan England but also the international dimensions of Tudor politics. The story of Regnans in Excelsis illuminates how religious conviction, political ambition, and personal loyalty collided in ways that would determine the fate of a nation.
The Players and the Stage: Understanding the 1570 Crisis
Pope Pius V, born Antonio Ghislieri, was no ordinary pontiff. A former Dominican friar and Grand Inquisitor, he embodied the militant spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Elected in 1566, Pius V viewed Elizabeth I’s Protestant settlement not as a political necessity but as a direct affront to Catholic authority. His decision to excommunicate the English Queen stemmed from years of mounting frustration with her religious policies and her refusal to acknowledge papal supremacy.
Elizabeth I, by 1570, had been on the throne for twelve years and had established what historians call the ‘Elizabethan Religious Settlement.’ This compromise sought to create a broad church that could accommodate most of her subjects whilst maintaining Protestant doctrine. However, recent events had pushed religious tensions to breaking point. The Northern Rebellion of 1569, led by Catholic nobles seeking to replace Elizabeth with Mary, Queen of Scots, had demonstrated that religious dissent could translate into political insurrection.
The timing of Regnans in Excelsis was particularly significant. The papal bull was issued on 25th February 1570, but had been secretly distributed in England from 11th January. According to the Calendar of State Papers, Rome, the bull’s clandestine circulation was carefully orchestrated to maximise its impact whilst protecting Catholic sympathisers from immediate retribution.
The document itself was uncompromising in its language. It declared Elizabeth ‘the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime’ and proclaimed that ‘We do out of the fullness of our apostolic power declare her to be deprived of her pretended title to the aforesaid crown.’ More dangerously still, it released her subjects from ‘all manner of duty, dominion, and obedience’ and forbade them from obeying her laws or commands.
The Shockwaves: Immediate and Long-term Consequences
The impact of Regnans in Excelsis on English society was both immediate and profound. As historian John Bossy noted in his analysis of Elizabethan Catholicism, the bull fundamentally altered the relationship between the English state and its Catholic subjects. What had been a matter of religious preference suddenly became a question of national loyalty.
For English Catholics, the papal bull created an impossible dilemma. Loyalty to their faith now appeared to require disloyalty to their monarch, whilst loyalty to the Crown meant defying the Pope’s explicit command. Many Catholics found themselves trapped between competing allegiances, forced to choose between their religious convictions and their civic duties.
The government’s response was swift and severe. Parliament passed increasingly harsh recusancy laws, imposing heavy fines on those who refused to attend Protestant services. The bull provided justification for treating Catholic missionaries not as religious figures but as agents of foreign sedition. This legal framework would later enable the persecution of Catholic priests and the execution of those deemed to be plotting against the Crown.
Perhaps most significantly, Regnans in Excelsis internationalised the English religious question. The bull effectively invited foreign Catholic powers to intervene in English affairs, providing a religious justification for political interference. Spain, France, and the Papal States could now frame any action against Elizabeth as defending the faith rather than pursuing territorial ambitions.
Connections to the Wider Tudor Narrative
The 1570 papal bull cannot be understood in isolation but must be seen as part of the broader religious upheaval that characterised the Tudor era. Henry VIII’s break with Rome in the 1530s had initiated a religious revolution that each subsequent monarch had interpreted differently. Edward VI had pushed England towards Protestant extremes, Mary I had violently restored Catholicism, and Elizabeth I had sought a middle way.
The bull’s timing coincided with other significant developments that would shape Elizabeth’s reign. The same year saw the completion of the Ridolfi Plot, a Catholic conspiracy that sought to assassinate Elizabeth and place Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne. The papal bull provided both inspiration and justification for such schemes, demonstrating how religious documents could translate into political action.
Mary, Queen of Scots, remained a constant threat throughout this period. As a Catholic with a legitimate claim to the English throne, she represented the alternative that Pope Pius V envisioned. The bull’s declaration that Elizabeth was a ‘pretended Queen’ implicitly endorsed Mary’s superior claim, making the Scottish queen’s eventual execution in 1587 almost inevitable.
Hidden Details and Lasting Fascination
One of the most intriguing aspects of Regnans in Excelsis is how it was actually delivered to England. The bull was secretly brought to the country by John Felton, a Catholic gentleman who daringly nailed a copy to the gates of the Bishop of London’s palace. Felton paid for his courage with his life, becoming one of the first martyrs to the papal cause and demonstrating the deadly serious consequences of the religious divide.
Did you know that the papal bull technically remained in effect until 1929? Whilst practically meaningless after the Reformation settlement, no pope formally revoked Regnans in Excelsis until the Lateran Treaty between Pope Pius XI and various Protestant nations. This legal curiosity meant that, technically speaking, Elizabeth I remained excommunicated for centuries after her death.
The bull’s influence extended far beyond the Tudor period, providing a template for papal interference in national politics that would be referenced in later conflicts. When Pius IX issued the Syllabus of Errors in 1864, critics explicitly compared it to Pius V’s bull, arguing that the papacy had learned nothing about the dangers of mixing religious authority with political power.
Modern historical fiction has frequently explored the dilemmas created by Regnans in Excelsis. Authors like Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory have depicted the impossible choices faced by Catholics torn between faith and loyalty, whilst popular culture continues to be fascinated by the court intrigue and international espionage that the bull inspired.
Why This Moment Still Matters
The story of Regnans in Excelsis remains relevant today because it illuminates timeless questions about religious freedom, political loyalty, and the relationship between spiritual and temporal authority. In our contemporary world, where questions about religious identity and national belonging continue to generate debate, the dilemmas faced by Elizabethan Catholics resonate across the centuries.
The papal bull also demonstrates how religious documents can have profound political consequences, transforming abstract theological disputes into matters of life and death. The careful language of Regnans in Excelsis shows how seemingly spiritual pronouncements can reshape entire political landscapes, a lesson that remains relevant in our interconnected world.
Understanding this pivotal moment in Tudor history helps explain not only the development of English Protestant identity but also the complex relationship between England and continental Europe that would influence British politics for centuries to come. The bull’s legacy can be traced through the Gunpowder Plot, the Jacobite risings, and even modern debates about sovereignty and supranational authority.