In the summer of 1615, a newly discovered Catholic conspiracy prompted William James, bishop of Durham, to vigorously correspond with the archbishop of Canterbury. On 3 August, in the midst of the crisis, the bishop incarcerated a professional dancer, Robert Hindmers (b. 1585). Together with his wife Anne, Robert was associated with the Newcastle-based secular priest William Southerne and involved in Catholic evangelising in the diocese of Durham. This article discusses the biography and career of Robert Hindmers, and speculates about the role of dancing within the Durham Catholic community. It also analyses how the activities of the Hindmers were perceived by the ecclesiastical authorities. The case of Robert Hindmers traverses and links many related issues, such as Counter-Reformation culture, traditional festivity, religious politics, and the interconnectedness of elite and popular cultures. But above all, it expands our understanding of Catholic missionary strategies in post-Reformation England by suggesting that dance instruction might have been used by Catholics to access households and assist the mission.
The survival of a Roman Catholic minority in post-Reformation England did not
depend merely upon social separation and isolation. By analysing missionary
activities and patterns of hospitality at St Anthony’s Hall in Northumberland and
Naworth Castle in Cumberland, I demonstrate how regulation of human motion
in respective households shaped and displayed the social behaviour of their
owners. I argue that religion was as much a driving force behind the seclusion of
the Catholic home as an incentive for its accessibility. The permeability of Catholic
houses and social integration of Catholics was encouraged through missionary
mobility, indiscriminate charity, and Christmas hospitality. Examining human
motion in Catholic houses further challenges the notion of the English Catholic
community as an introverted social group.
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