|
''Regnans in Excelsis'' ("reigning on high") was a papal bull issued on 27 April 1570 by Pope Pius V declaring "Elizabeth, the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime", to be a heretic and releasing all her subjects from any allegiance to her, even when they had "sworn oaths to her", and excommunicating any that 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." The bull, written in Latin, is named from its ''incipit'', the first three words of its text, which mean "ruling from on high" (a reference to God).〔(Text of ''Regnans in excelsis'', 1570 ).〕 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." The Papacy had previously reconciled with Mary I, who returned the Church of England to Catholicism. After Mary's death in November 1558, Elizabeth's Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy of 1559, which re-established the Church of England’s independence from papal authority. This bull can be seen as an act of retaliation for the religious settlement, but as it was delayed by eleven years it was most likely instigated by pressure from Philip II of Spain, the Duke of Norfolk or Mary, Queen of Scots, all of whom had a vested interest in overthrowing Elizabeth. The delay was caused in part by a number of royal Catholic suitors who hoped to marry Elizabeth, and because she had tolerated Catholic worship in private. The Bull was issued in support of, but following, the 1569 "Northern Rebellion" in England, and the first Desmond Rebellion in Ireland, with foreign Catholic support, and hardened her opinion against her landowning Catholic subjects. ==Aftermath of the bull== The bull provoked the English government into taking more repressive actions against the Jesuits, whom they feared to be acting in the interests of Spain and the papacy. This reaction soon seemed justified: it was the publication in England of Pius's exhortation that gave the impetus to the Ridolfi plot, in which the Duke of Norfolk was to kidnap or murder Queen Elizabeth, install Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne and then become ''de facto'' king by marrying her. A refutation of the Bull by Heinrich Bullinger of Zurich was published in 1571.〔''Bullae Papisticae ante biennium contra sereniss. Angliae, Franciae & Hyberniae Reginam Elizabetham & contra inclytum Angliae Regnum promulgatae, refutatio, orthodoxaeque Reginae, & vniuersi Regni Angliae defensio''. John Day, London 1571〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Regnans in Excelsis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|