BattlefieldsElizabethan Raid on Catholic Press — Stonor Park 1581
Tudor

Elizabethan Raid on Catholic Press — Stonor Park 1581

1581
Oxfordshire, England
Also known as: Stonor Park secret press 1581 · Campion press Stonor raided
Era
Tudor
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
Oxfordshire, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Catholic recusant network
Forces
Stonor household
VS
Victor
Crown (Elizabeth I)
Forces
Elizabethan pursuivants
Outcome
Elizabethan pursuivants discovered and destroyed secret Catholic printing press at Stonor Park; press had printed Campions Decem Rationes; arrests followed
The Battle

History & Significance

The Stonor Park press was the most significant Catholic clandestine printing operation in Elizabethan England. Edmund Campion had used it to print Decem Rationes, distributed at the Oxford University encaenia before his arrest. The discovery and destruction of the press by Elizabethan agents was a major counter-intelligence success. It disrupted Catholic intellectual resistance at its most sophisticated point.

Casualties & Losses

Press destroyed; participants arrested

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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