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29 March 1673
Charles II gives royal assent to the Test Act, an Act of Parliament aimed at prohibiting Catholics from holding military or civil office. Like the Clarendon Code (1661-79), which aims to end the toleration of Puritan sects instituted by Cromwell, this marks a stage in the re-establishment of the Anglican Church. Both the Clarendon Code, named after Edward Hyde, Lord Clarendon, and the Test Act are used to persecute religious minorities. One of the Test Act's most prominent victims is Charles's Catholic brother James, Duke of York, the future king. — • — Whereas the 2% of the population who were Catholics had been able to offer a quiet semblance of conformity by their occasional presence at a Protestant church, now they must take the Anglican wafer on their tongue and the wine in their mouths, which for a Catholic was damnable heresy. From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books) |
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