Editing Ben Jonson (section)

==Religion==
Jonson recounted that his father had been a prosperous [[Protestant]] landowner until the reign of "[[Mary I of England|Bloody Mary]]" and had suffered imprisonment and the forfeiture of his wealth during that monarch's attempt to restore England to Catholicism. On [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth]]'s accession, he had been freed and had been able to travel to London to become a clergyman.<ref>Donaldson (2011: 56).</ref><ref>Riggs (1989: 9).</ref> (All that is known of Jonson's father, who died a month before his son was born, comes from the poet's own narrative.) Jonson's elementary education was in a small church school attached to [[St Martin-in-the-Fields#Medieval and Tudor|St Martin-in-the-Fields]] parish, and at the age of about seven he secured a place at [[Westminster School]], then part of [[Westminster Abbey]].

Notwithstanding this emphatically Protestant grounding, Jonson maintained an interest in Catholic doctrine throughout his adult life and, at a particularly perilous time while a religious war with Spain was widely expected and persecution of Catholics was intensifying, he converted to the faith.<ref>Donaldson (2011: 176).</ref><ref name=R51>Riggs (1989: 51–52).</ref> This took place in October 1598, while Jonson was on remand in [[Newgate Prison|Newgate Gaol]] charged with [[manslaughter]]. Jonson's biographer Ian Donaldson is among those who suggest that the conversion was instigated by Father Thomas Wright, a [[Jesuit]] priest who had resigned from the order over his acceptance of Queen Elizabeth's right to rule in England.<ref name=D134>Donaldson (2011: 134–140).</ref><ref>Harp; Stewart (2000: xiv).</ref> Wright, although placed under [[house arrest]] on the orders of [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|Lord Burghley]], was permitted to minister to the inmates of London prisons.<ref name="D134" /> It may have been that Jonson, fearing that his trial would go against him, was seeking the unequivocal [[Absolution#Catholic Church|absolution]] that Catholicism could offer if he were sentenced to death.<ref name="R51" /> Alternatively, he could have been looking to personal advantage from accepting conversion since Father Wright's protector, the [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex]], was among those who might hope to rise to influence after the succession of a new monarch.<ref>Donaldson (2011: 143).</ref> Jonson's conversion came at a weighty time in affairs of state; the royal succession, from the childless Elizabeth, had not been settled and Essex's Catholic allies were hopeful that a sympathetic ruler might attain the throne.

Conviction, and certainly not expedience alone, sustained Jonson's faith during the troublesome twelve years he remained a Catholic. His stance received attention beyond the low-level intolerance to which most followers of that faith were exposed. The first draft of his play ''[[Sejanus His Fall]]'' was banned for "[[Papist|popery]]", and did not re-appear until some offending passages were cut.<ref name="ID2008"/> In January 1606 he (with Anne, his wife) appeared before the [[Consistory Court]] in London to answer a charge of [[recusancy]], with Jonson alone additionally accused of allowing his fame as a Catholic to "seduce" citizens to the cause.<ref>Donaldson (2011: 229).</ref> This was a serious matter (the [[Gunpowder Plot]] was still fresh in people's minds) but he explained that his failure to take [[Eucharist|communion]] was only because he had not found sound theological endorsement for the practice, and by paying a fine of thirteen [[Shilling (British coin)|shilling]]s (156 [[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|pence]]) he escaped the more serious penalties at the authorities' disposal. His habit was to slip outside during the sacrament, a common routine at the time—indeed it was one followed by the royal consort, Queen [[Anne of Denmark]], herself—to show political loyalty while not offending the conscience.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maxwell |first=Julie |year=2010 |editor=Sanders, Julie |title=Ben Jonson in context |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |isbn=978-0-521-89571-2 |page=231 |chapter=Religion}}</ref> Leading church figures, including [[John Overall (bishop)|John Overall]], [[Dean of St Paul's]], were tasked with winning Jonson back to Protestantism, but these overtures were resisted.<ref name=D228>Donaldson (2011: 228–9).</ref>

In May 1610 [[Henry IV of France]] was assassinated, purportedly in the name of the Pope; he had been a Catholic monarch respected in England for tolerance towards Protestants, and his murder seems to have been the immediate cause of Jonson's decision to rejoin the Church of England.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Anita |year=1995 |author2=Dickerman, Edmund |title=Mind of an Assassin: Ravaillac and the Murder of Henri IV of France |journal=Canadian Journal of History |location=Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=201–229|doi=10.3138/cjh.30.2.201 }}</ref><ref name=D272>Donaldson (2011: 272).</ref> He did this in flamboyant style, pointedly drinking a full chalice of [[communion wine]] at the [[eucharist]] to demonstrate his renunciation of the Catholic rite, in which the priest alone drinks the wine.<ref>[[John Morrill (historian)|Jon Morrill]], quoted in Donaldson (2011: 487).</ref><ref name=R177>Riggs (1989: 177).</ref> The exact date of the ceremony is unknown.<ref name=D272/> However, his interest in Catholic belief and practice remained with him until his death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=van den Berg |first=Sara |editor=Harp, Richard |editor2=Stewart, Stanley |title=The Cambridge Companion to Ben Jonson |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |isbn=0-521-64678-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00harp_0/page/10 10] |chapter=True relation: the life and career of Ben Jonson |date=30 November 2000 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00harp_0/page/10 }}</ref>