Recusancy fines rose from pennies to massive land seizures within decades

Evidence

In 1559 non-attendance at church cost twelve pence a Sunday. By the 1580s the fine had risen to twenty pounds a month, and since only a handful of rich men could afford such a sum month after month an Act of Parliament authorized seizing the land and chattels of those behind in their payments. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 141

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 141
• XREF: connects to: Recusancy fines rose from pence to seizing landowners’ estates — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 141

Library Connections

• Recusancy fines rose from pence to seizing landowners’ estates #expands (0.95) — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 141