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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;talerman, post: 4188499, member: 89314&quot;]That isn&#039;t completely true and needs some context.&nbsp; Elizabeth had little interest in the doctrinal differences that were so important to Catholics and Protestants at the time and no sympathy for the hardliners in either camp. In the words of Francis Bacon, she did not seek to &quot;make windows into men&#039;s hearts&quot;.&nbsp; Nearly three hundred Protestant &quot;heretics&quot; were executed, mostly burnt at the stake, under Mary.&nbsp; Nobody was burnt at the stake under Elizabeth.</p><p><br /></p><p>She did, however, insist on outward conformity to her religious settlement, especially the Act of Supremacy recognizing her as head of the church.&nbsp; She dealt harshly&nbsp; with Catholics who rebelled against her or who secretly tried to spread Catholic doctrine with allegiance to the Pope.&nbsp; There was a rebellion in the pro-Catholic north of England in 1569; she had over 500 of the rebels executed. There was the so-called Ridolfi plot in 1571 with connections to Spain and the Pope; one of the leaders, the Catholic Duke of Norfolk, was executed.&nbsp; In 1580 a small papal-backed force landed in Ireland to help Irish rebels; the 500 men were captured and slaughtered. In the years after 1580 there was an influx of secret Catholic missionaries trained abroad, especially Jesuits, whose aim was not merely to minister secretly to uncompromising Catholics but to make converts and prepare a general Counter-Reformation. In response, Parliament in 1585 made being an ordained priest by papal authority after 1559 (i.e. after Mary&#039;s reign) treason and 123 priests were executed for this reason alone, out of a total of 146 executed between 1585-1603. A larger number not considered subversive - about 280 - were imprisoned or simply deported.&nbsp;&nbsp; Certain English Catholic nobles continued to plot with agents of Spain and the Pope and Mary, Queen of Scots, who was a restricted &quot;guest&quot; of Elizabeth after she was forced to flee Scotland.&nbsp; In 1586 Mary promised the English crown to Philip of Spain if he invaded. After a letter from Mary which appeared to give tacit assent to Elizabeth&#039;s assassination was intercepted, Elizabeth finally agreed to Mary&#039;s trial for treason and execution. </p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, this adds up to quite a number of executed Catholics.&nbsp; However, almost all</p><p>were executed not simply because of their beliefs but because of their actions to overthrow or undermine the government. This was very different from Mary&#039;s time. </p><p><br /></p><p>(Almost all this information comes from Robert Tombs&#039; excellent <i>The English and their History</i>).</p><p><br /></p><p>I apologise if this is too much history and not enough coins, but I find this a fascinating period.&nbsp; I will post one coin to make this legitimate.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coins of&nbsp; Philip and Mary are generally only found in poor condition. Their Irish issues are even worse. Here is a 1555 Irish shilling struck in Dublin. The silver content is only 0.25.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1075954[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1075955[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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