Transcript of Colepeper's Account of troubles undergone for the Catholic religion

A transcript of part of a manuscript in the Bodleian Library described as a note of all such troubles as I sir, Alexander Colepeper of Bedgeburie had for the catholic religion since the second year of queen Elizabeth, with the names of knights and gentlemen committed to prison for recusancy in 1588, 1590, 1592 and 1593/4. The original manuscript is divided into sections, each devoted to a single period of imprisonment. Each section begins with a list of his fellow prisoners, which for 1590, 1592 and 1593/4 include John Towneley of Towneley.

This transcript is in an unknown hand and is undated. The paper is watermarked 1858.

Alexander Colepeper was born in the 1530s and died on 16 January 1600. He was a prominent papist and was incarcerated for recusancy six times between the 1550s and 1594. Colepeper wrote an account of his incarcerations, a manuscript of which is held in the Bodleian Library.

Transcript from part of a manuscript in the Bodleian Library (GB 0161 Tanner MS 118 , folios 127-135v). The first part of the manuscript has been printed by Christopher Buckingham in Kent Recusant History, no. 1 (1979), pp. 20-4.