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Chelsea Reutcke, Catholics during the English Revolution, 1642–1660: Politics, Sequestration and Loyalty. By Eilish Gregory, Journal of Church and State, Volume 64, Issue 3, Summer 2022, Pages 532–534, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csac025
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In Catholics during the English Revolution, Eilish Gregory successfully tackles the complex and constantly evolving topic of sequestration during one of the most fractious periods of early modern England. In a continuation of the work of Michael Questier, Alexandra Walsham, and Gabriel Glickman, and finally addressing the mid-seventeenth century, the book shows Catholics as more than passive recipients of Protestant fears. Through underscoring their agency in responding to sequestration, Gregory presents Catholics not as isolated, but rather as fully immersed with and embedded in seventeenth-century English social, political, and religious life. In doing so, the book also highlights the multifaceted expressions of both Catholic and Protestant identities.
The book begins by addressing the initial structure of sequestration and compounding and its early expansion from a short-term means to bring in revenue to a core method of maintaining cash influx. This chapter also explores the role played by the mercantile community, particularly Goldsmith Hall. The book continues, chronicling the continual changes made to the sequestration process and the Republic’s centralization of it to better target specific enemies of the Commonwealth. Gregory shows how this constant attempt at improvement revealed sequestration, like many other early modern laws, to be “an imperfect and defective fiscal mechanism” (p. 68). Chapter 3 shifts to look at how the public used print to remain informed of the changes to or strategies for sequestration. Printed ordinances, parliamentary debates, newsbooks, and critiques of the system are addressed, including a close reading of John Austin’s Christian Moderator series. At times, the boom in print, especially newspapers, in the 1650 s feels glossed over. However, it is a testament to how well-grounded the context is throughout the rest of the book.
