| Regnans in Excelsis Latin for 'Reigning on High' Papal bull ofPopePius V | |
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| Signature date | 25 February 1570 |
| Subject | Excommunication ofQueen Elizabeth I |
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Regnans in Excelsis ("Reigning on High") is apapal bull thatPope Pius V issued on 25 February 1570. Itexcommunicated QueenElizabeth I of England, referring to her as "the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime," declared her a heretic, and released her subjects from allegiance to her, even those who had "sworn oaths to her," and excommunicated any who obeyed her orders: "We charge and command all and singular the nobles, subjects, peoples and others afore said that they do not dare obey her orders, mandates and laws. Those who shall act to the contrary we include in the like sentence of excommunication."[1][2]
Among the queen's offences, "She has removed the royal Council, composed of the nobility of England, and has filled it with obscure men, being heretics; oppressed the followers of the Catholic faith; instituted false preachers and ministers of impiety; abolished the sacrifice of the mass, prayers, fasts, choice of meats, celibacy, and Catholic ceremonies; and has ordered that books of manifestly heretical content be propounded to the whole realm and that impious rites and institutions after the rule ofCalvin, entertained and observed by herself, be also observed by her subjects."[2]
The bull, written inLatin,[1] is named from itsincipit, the first three words of its text.
Thepapacy had previously reconciled withMary I, who returned theChurch of England andChurch of Ireland toCatholicism. After Mary's death in November 1558, Elizabeth's Parliament passed theAct of Supremacy of 1559, which re-established the Church of England and Church of Ireland's independence frompapal authority. This bull can be seen as an act of retaliation for the religious settlement, but it was delayed by eleven years, caused in part by a number of royal Catholic suitors who hoped to marry Elizabeth, and because she had allowed Catholic worship in private.
Pius V issued the bull in support of, but following, the failedRising of the North of 1569, by which Catholic nobles attempted to depose Elizabeth and replace her withMary, Queen of Scots,[3] and the firstDesmond Rebellion in Ireland, which broke out in June 1569. Although the Desmond Rebellion's main goal was to preserve the independence of feudal lords from the English throne, it developed religious overtones asJames FitzMaurice FitzGerald sought support from Catholic Europe.
The bull declared Queen Elizabeth excommunicated and absolved her subjects from any allegiance to her. It also excommunicated any that obeyed her orders.[4] Its argument drew on thehierocratic theory of the papacy established by medievalcanonists.[5]
Pius did not consult any Catholic rulers. BothPhilip II of Spain and the Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian II disagreed with his approach. Philip thought, correctly, that it would only harden the Crown's treatment of English Catholics.[6] According toEvelyn Waugh, it provided a convenient pretext for those in Elizabeth's court, looking for an excuse to do so, to persecute Roman Catholics, and they took full advantage of it.[7]
To take effect in church law the bull had to be promulgated. This logistical effort relied on individuals such asJohn Felton.
The bull provoked the English government into taking more repressive actions against theJesuits, whom they feared to be acting in the interests ofSpain and the papacy. This reaction soon seemed justified: it was the publication in England of Pius's exhortation that gave the impetus in 1571 to theRidolfi plot, in which theDuke of Norfolk was to kidnap or murder Queen Elizabeth, installMary, Queen of Scots, on the throne, and then becomede facto king by marrying her.[8]
Heinrich Bullinger ofZürich published acritique of the bull in 1571.[9]
At the request of the Jesuits and to relieve the pressures on Catholics in England, it was said thatPope Gregory XIII issued a clarification or suspension in 1580, explaining that Catholics should obey the queen outwardly in all civil matters, until such time as a suitable opportunity presented itself for her overthrow.[10] How widely this was communicated to, and understood by, Catholics in England and Ireland is unknown. The evidence against any suspension of the Bull comes from the small invasion of Ireland in 1579 led byJames FitzMaurice FitzGerald that was supported by the Papacy. Then in 1580 Pope Gregory sponsored another abortive expedition to Ireland in support of theSecond Desmond Rebellion, that ended in the tragicSiege of Smerwick. Soon after the start of theAnglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), an English Act "against Jesuits, seminary priests and other such like disobedient persons" was passed into law.
In 1588,Pope Sixtus V, in support of theSpanish Armada, renewed the solemn bull of excommunication against Queen Elizabeth I, for theregicide of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587 as well as the previously catalogued offences against the Catholic Church.[11] During the threat of invasion by the Spanish Armada, it transpired that most of the Catholic residents in England remained loyal, and that those who were a real threat to the throne, likeWilliam, Cardinal Allen andRobert Persons, were already exiles.
While the bull had little impact in England, it caused a rift in Elizabeth'sKingdom of Ireland where most of the population remained Roman Catholic;Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, had used the bull as justification for theSecond Desmond Rebellion.[12] While divisions had existed before 1570, after the bull the officials based in Dublin conformed toAnglicanism while the majority of theParliament of Ireland were Catholics until 1613.[13]
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