BattlefieldsElizabethan Suppression — Raid on Braddocks Essex 1591
Tudor

Elizabethan Suppression — Raid on Braddocks Essex 1591

1591
Essex, England
Also known as: Braddocks Saffron Walden priest search 1591 · Essex recusant raid Braddocks 1591
Era
Tudor
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
Essex, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Catholic recusant network
Forces
Wiseman household
VS
Victor
Crown (partially)
Forces
Elizabethan pursuivants and constables
Outcome
Braddocks House near Saffron Walden searched for priests by pursuivants; priest hole concealed Father John Gerard; Gerard escaped detection
The Battle

History & Significance

Braddocks House in Essex was a centre of Elizabethan Catholic resistance in the southeast. The Jesuit Father John Gerard was hidden in its priest hole during a twelve-hour search in 1591 and survived to record the experience in his autobiography. The raid and Gerard narrow escape provide the most detailed first-hand account of what it was like to be hidden during an Elizabethan pursuivant search — a vivid military-intelligence action in miniature.

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