God's Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth's Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot

by Alice Hogge

One evening in 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young men landed in secret on a beach in Norfolk, England. They were Jesuit priests, Englishmen, and their aim was to achieve by force of argument what the Armada had failed to do by force of return England to the Catholic Church. Eighteen years later their mission would be shattered by the actions of the Gunpowder Plotters -- a small group of terrorists who famously tried to destroy the Houses of Parliament -- for the Jesuits were accused of having designed "that most horrid and hellish conspiracy." Alice Hogge follows "God's secret agents" from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and lonely lives in hiding, to, ultimately, the gallows. She offers a remarkable true account of faith, duty, intolerance, and martyrdom -- the unforgettable story of men who would die for a cause undone by men who would kill for it.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Biography, 16th Century, 17th Century, Royalty

488 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2005

Reviews

[Michelle Datiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is not enough room here to praise this book. I loved it: it was extremely difficult to put it down! Historically sound, well-researched, and written like the adventure-drama it portrays. Heroism has many faces and it is easy to dismiss 'martyr stories' as exaggerated, euphemistic melodramas but the quiet perseverance of the many ordinary people who became 'heroes' through no choice of their own is powerful. Oxford-educated Jesuits like Edmund Campion, staunch and bold priests like Cardinal Allen, brave artisans like Nicholas Owen (who created some of the most exquisitely clever priest holes throughout the English country house network--some of which have only been rediscovered recently, so well were they hidden), the list goes on.
Read this book if you are at all interested in good historical writing: you will not be disappointed!

[Baal Of · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the usual statements apply for when I read history like this - It is not my usual subject area, so I have a difficulty reading it, and difficulty retaining the information because I lack the background. This book is well written if a bit dry, and it appears to be impeccably researched as far as I can tell. The biggest lesson I think can be drawn from this book is that religion should never mix with government. There are plenty of people in this country who want to inject their religion into law, and that is fine with them as long as it is their religion, but reading this book might help them see how badly things can go when a government favors one religion over another.

My favorite parts of this book were the details about the punishments meted out to those who were convicted of various things Catholic/treasonous, and the processes by which people were convicted. I also enjoyed the sections that detailed the 'hides', especially those constructed by Nicholas Owen who crafted some amazingly ingenious ways to conceal hidden rooms and crawlspaces.

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“They had come home as missionaries, most fresh out of seminary college: young men yearning to save their country from the 'heresy' into which it was plunged, Rome's army of arguers, burning with the force of their rhetoric and the certainty of their beliefs.
Some were idealists; some unsure what else to do with themselves in a country bent on denying them advantage. Some were hope-ful; some disaffected. Some longed to die; some sought only the stability of tradition. Some were regarded as the most able men of their generation; some were plodders, whose quiet labours went entirely unrecorded.
Their Government had termed them spies and assassins, secret agents of the enemy, complete with the trappings of their dubious profession, false papers, aliases, disguises, and ciphers; and as such it had hunted them down.”
-Alice Hogge, God’s Secret Agents

This non-fiction history was written similar to a fictional account - in story form. It was a riveting read. When I finished I have been watching the television series Queen Elizabeth’s Secret Agents with the family.


Another powerful quote that I feel is applicable to us today.

“Queen Elizabeth, an astute judge of human nature, had summed the attitude up with painful accuracy. 'As children dream in their sleep after apples and in the morning when they awake and find not the apples they weep, so every man that bore me good will when I was [princess] ... imagineth himself that immediately after my coming to the crown every man should be rewarded according to his own fantasy and now finding the event answer not their expectation it may be that some could be content of new change?' Change: within months of James's succession this word had taken on fresh momentum.” -Alice Hogge, God’s Secret Agents

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. One of the more balanced looks at the Jesuits and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Alice Hogge gets some details wrong, Lady Jane Grey's relationship to Elizabeth and Mary being the one I noticed, but overall accurate as far as I can tell. Very well researched and based mainly on primary sources, Hogge gives a detailed account of the religious tensions in England throughout the Tudor era into the early reign of James I. The one draw back to her book is that she doesn't always tell things in chronological order. She understands how complicated the people on all sides of the conflict were. She doesn't vilify any of the men. In fact this book may have made me more interested in reading biographies on James I and Robert Cecil because she brings out aspects of their characters that makes me curious to know more about what shaped them beyond basic biographical information.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book. It explored a side not often shown, with history books tending to favour the issue of religion as experienced and controlled by the government and sovereign. Using letters from key players in the Jesuit mission it looks into the position and secret actions of Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth I and James I, culminating in the Gunpowder Plot. The only thing that slightly bothered me was that Hogge sometimes jumped back and forth in time with someone dying in a previous chapter and then alive and well in the next. It is however a great read for anyone with an interest in the period, particularly the religious and social history.

[Irene Headley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My feelings about this book can best be described as incredibly mixed. There are two things that I take issue with:

1) The author has made mistakes in biographical details (of how the Greys were related to Mary Tudor, and how Robert Carey and the Countess of Nottingham were related). If she's made mistakes about things that I know, what is wrong with things that I don't?

2) The author's decision to believe, unquestioningly, the priests' self presentation. I'm not saying they were all lying traitors! But she believes that they consistently told the truth, and I am genuinely not sure why. (For example, she thinks that John Gerard wasn't the priest when the Gunpowder Plotters swore an oath of secrecy, because he says he wasn't. Two of the plotters said he was there, but didn't know what they were doing.) There is also the question of whether every single one of them was genuinely apolitical, I just don't think we can say, and I don't think she should say. She's also decided that "if I was dealing with opinion, or with the day-to-day details of the missions, I tried to use sources like Gerard and Garnet, because it was their story I was telling, but if I was dealing with context, with anti-Catholic legislation, or with the events of the Plot for example, I tried to use the Government sources." She questions Government sources in a way she simply doesn't do with Garnet and Gerard.

With those caveats, a well told story about an interesting period. If nothing else, I now know more about priest's holes!

[Ken Eveleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into the rhythm of this book but once I did I enjoyed it. I knew from general reading and movies that the Catholic Church tried to wrest back power from the Prostestant Queen Elizabeth I during her long reign but I had no idea the lengths to which them went. God's Secret Agents documents this struggle in the finest of detail, sometimes excruciatingly so, but it is a fascinating story. The hardest part for me was keeping track of all the players; everyone in England seems to be named John, Robert, George and James or they are given some title that has nothing to do with their name, Duke of this, Earl of that, and I kept getting lost in the details. I was amazed at the sophistication of the spycraft used in the 16th and 17th centuries and at how thoroughly relentless and ruthless Walsingham was at uncovering all the plots. In the epiolouge the author draws some parallels to our current times in the aftermath of the 9/11 disaster. There is plenty to think about here.

[Mark Broughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a very interesting read, and while I like most (British)people could give a rough account of the gunpowder plot, I didn't really know what drove them to the point of blowing up the entire English establishment.

I did find the extensive footnotes distracting, some of them take nearly half a page, and while mostly they gave important background they did break the flow of the narrative.

[G. Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book. Well written, engaging, fascinating.

[Cheri Vause · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up with great, old black and white and color movies was a joy. But to judge history by films made by the hundreds in Hollywood would be a huge mistake. Many great actresses played Queen Elizabeth, such as, Bette Davis and Jean Simmons, but their portrayals do not accurately depict the evil Elizabeth and her nefarious cohorts perpetrated on her subjects. The Golden Age of Elizabeth I, even portrayed by the likes of Cate Blanchett today, is wholly inaccurate, and fails on so many levels that it is virtually a crime against history to be that inaccurate.

Catholics were not just arrested, put in prison, and tortured so severely that some lost the use of their hands by hanging from their shackles for hours on end, if they lived, but had their lands taken away from their families, and sometimes they were drawn and quartered. The worst was reserved for the priests. It's hard for us to understand that sort of brutality, let alone accept it as a deterrent to become Catholic, but just listen to the rhetoric on the social media sites today, and the news. How they portray the President and those who support him today, a mere fifty years ago would have been unthinkable. I can only see that sort of brutality on the horizon when hatred is spewed daily, and all based on specious reasons, just as the anti-Catholic fervor was in Elizabeth's day.

This book is about those who followed their conscience regarding their faith, and risked everything to become Catholic and a priest. It was only a war of words and the salvation of souls to the Catholics, but because of the number of attempts to kill Elizabeth by Catholic kings and Popes, it became a means to exterminate a religion they believed would put an end to Englishness. Though the priests came in peace, there were those who would have liked to see Elizabeth dead.

It was interesting to find that Elizabeth kept her Catholicness hidden, and eyewitnesses confirmed that she converted on her deathbed. Every page of this book is filled with a history that should be told to circumvent the many lies told throughout the years. Ms. Hogge remains neutral, which I appreciate, and just tells the story of the dozens of men who gave up their lives because they cared about men's souls.

[Miriam]

If you want to read about spying I suggest reading about real spying instead of fiction. This is about the events that followed Henry VIII's failed attempt to win his divorce from the Pope. The new order of Jesuits came to Elizabethan England and continued into James I's reign and became involved in/or not with the Gunpowder Plot.
I enjoyed most reading about the death and funeral of Elizabeth and the coronation of James I. I learned about the difference in using orange juice versus lemon juice as invisible ink. What hides or priest-holes were. Equivocation/dissimulation. Recusant/recusancy fines. How heads were prepared for display on London Bridge (and over Parliament House in the case of the Gunpowder Plot. Why clink is slang for jail. And references in Shakespeare's plays to these current events.

[Scott Sweet-Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the history beginner as it can be tedious at first, but well researched and the argument is well laid out. Would have liked to have seen more on Spain. Really enjoyed the background to the making of the hiding places for the priests.

[Cryssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent non-fiction account of the secret English Jesuit mission during the end of the 16th to 17th century. Alice Hogge is an excellent storyteller and brings this period to life.

[Phil Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting account of the terrible times endured by the Catholic community in England between the 1580s and 1620s. They were not just 2nd class citizens, they were not allowed to worship according to their faith, and were fined heavily on a weekly basis if they failed to attend an Anglican service each and every Sunday. For several years English Catholics wishing to join the priesthood had had to go abroad to be trained in France, the Low Countries or Rome. On returning to England to say Mass for the many remaining Catholics, they were technically guilty of High Treason the moment they set foot as priests on England's shores. The penalty for this was not just death: they were to be hanged, drawn and quartered, usually after being tortured to give up the names and whereabouts of other priests, and of those who harboured them. The courage of these men, and women, was remarkable.
The author takes pains to point out the reasons why Catholics were mistrusted as 'potential' 5th columnists, fear of invasion by Spain to restore a Catholic monarchy being the principal reason. It is interesting that Ms Hogge gives some credit to Robert Cecil, contrary to his reputation, and to James the First, for their occasional latitude in handling this perceived threat, but it is clear that they were responsible for persecution of a kind not associated with 'England' in the British readers' minds.
The style of writing was fluent and elegant, even though, at times, it could not avoid describing in shocking detail some of the most horrendous cruelty meted out to these alleged "traitors".

[Michael Bully · Rating 3 out of 5]

Understand that some readers have found the book a bit rambling in places and lost the thread,. Probably could have done with a final edit. But overall found the book a useful survey of the Jesuit Underground in England at the end of Elizabeth's reign, leading on toward the Gunpowder Plot. Fascinating to read how the network functioned, the dangers that it encountered, the country houses of the Catholic gentry with their priest holes and other hiding places. The role of women in practising the faith and supporting the priests in hiding, is also depicted well.
Certainly will be using as a reference work for the future.

[Mr Peter W Treasaden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the whole experience in reading this book quite enlightening and at the same time concerning with regard to our current situation with the immigration issues now facing is in 2018.


None needed.
I have finished my submission. I feel this requirement of information is unnecessary and overly prolonged. End of.

[JW · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, but somewhat dry, account of the Jesuit missionaries in Elizabethan England. This book could serve as a prequel to Antonia Fraser’s THE GUNPOWDER PLOT: TERROR AND FAITH IN 1605.

The Kindle version has numerous typos – no separation between adjacent words. The illustrations in the print edition are missing.

[George E Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched. Lots of details.

Reads easily. Lots of details with citing from sources. If you want to understand the history of the Catholics in England in the Elizabethan period this is the book.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking.

The authors note was an unexpected but insightful reality check. Puts a new light on the dross I was taught as a schoolboy about the gun powder plot.

[Frances Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of interesting information, it might have benefited from being more structured in its story telling, but the details contained within it more than compensate for that.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just fantastic, an amazing history, expertly researched. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wished she’d write another. This book will be a great resource for fiction writers for many years to come!

[Leif Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

What? You don't find 16th century religious disputes between Jesuits and Anglicans to be fascinating? Well, maybe you be entertained when you find yourself tied to a stake with a crowd of people throwing matches at the fagots.

Actually, the above was how Queen "Bloody" Mary dealt with the Protestants. The Jesuits found themselves staring at their own guts after spending a time dangling by their neck in front of a crowd. Ah, the good old days...

I really liked this book for the first 3/4. Hogg's descriptions of the Jesuits and their motivations is well presented and detailed w/o choking the reader. However when she moves to the reign of James and the Gunpowder Plot, it starts to feel rushed and it didn't seem to get across how deeply traumatic this event was for the dawning of Jacobin society.

The epilogue was just weird.

Still, it was a worthwhile read.

[Jane Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody knows the story of the Gunpowder Plot, but few know the context and the aftermath. In a meticulously researched and well-written book, Hogge starts with Henry VIII and describes the subsequent attempts by English priests, educated abroad, to maintain and spread Catholicism in the face of state persecution.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A captivating description of the lives of priests, recusants and priest-hunters and torturers during the time of royals Elizabeth and James. Her condoning and enabling of Richard Topcliffe's activities colors the success of Elizabeth's reign.

[Enso · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mark this as read but I only got halfway through it. It is very well researched but winds up being tedious after a few hundred pages. I just couldn't read any more. It is rare for me to not finish a book as well.

[Ed Dodson · Rating 2 out of 5]

First chapter starts off very well.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hogg paints an interesting picture of the secret priests in Elizabethan England. She even shows that it wasn't just men who took part. The book just felt a little too long.

[Nicola Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good