The British Government published the following from the British National Archives on the state of the country in the 16th Century:
“During this period, religious unity was thought necessary to keep a country together. Religious tolerance was therefore out of the question. Furthermore, the religion of the country depended on the religious views of the monarch. Disagreement with the monarch’s religion was inseparable from treason, and many paid the price as England in the 16th century went through a series of religious about-turns.
“Henry VIII took the Church in England away from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s. Several people who disagreed with this change were executed, including the king’s former friend and minister, Sir Thomas More. Under Henry’s son, Edward VI, 1547-1553, England became more Protestant, leading to protests and rebellion from Roman Catholics. From 1553 to 1558, England was ruled by Henry’s daughter Mary I. She was determined to restore Roman Catholicism. Aided by such supporters as Bishop [Edmund] Bonner[1] of London, Protestants were arrested, tried as heretics and about 280 of them burnt.
“When Elizabeth became queen in 1558 a new, Protestant, religious settlement was made. Elizabeth herself was unwilling to persecute people for their beliefs, and many Roman Catholics continued to worship freely for a while. However, by the 1580s relations between England and Roman Catholic Spain were moving towards open war. The Pope authorized Roman Catholics to rebel against Elizabeth. Her ministers, some of whom, such as Sir Francis Walsingham,[2] were determined Protestants, became worried about the danger to the queen and the country. Roman Catholics were arrested and about 250 were executed, not for heresy, but for treason.
“Roman Catholics hoped for greater tolerance from King James when he became king in 1603. When this did not happen a small group of Catholics set out to assassinate him and most of the rulers of the country by blowing up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th, 1605.”[3]
[1] Edmund Bonner (1500? – 1569). At first Bonner defended Henry’s attempts at divorce and acted as his agent in Rome, and was rewarded with numerous benefices, took the Oath of Supremacy and was schismatically consecrated bishop of London in 1540. In this post he tried many who were brought up on charges of heresy under the king’s Six Articles. After Henry’s death, Bonner proved to be less subservient, refused to use the new Book of Common Prayer, and as a result of unapproved sermons was imprisoned until the accession of Mary in 1553. Restored to freedom, he obtained absolution from Reginald Cardinal Pole (1500 –1558) the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, from 1556 to 1558) and set about restoring the celebration of Mass through the diocese of London. When Elizabeth became queen, Bonner was arrested and tried frequently between 1560 and 1568, but successfully defended himself. Confined, supposedly for his own safety, he died in the notorious Marshalsea prison on September 5. Marshalsea (1373–1842) was the main holding prison for Roman Catholics suspected of sedition (treason) during the Elizabethan era.
[2] Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1532 –1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I from December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her “spymaster”.
[3] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/candp/crime/g04/g04cs2.htm