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Robert Southwell

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Robert Southwell (c. 1561 – 21 February 1595), also Saint Robert Southwell, was an English Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order. He was also a poet, hymnodist, and clandestine missionary in post-Reformation England.

Quick facts: Born, Died …
After being arrested and imprisoned in 1592, and intermittently tortured and questioned by Richard Topcliffe, Southwell was eventually tried and convicted of high treason for his links to the Holy See. On 21 February 1595, Father Southwell was hanged at Tyburn. In 1970, he was canonised by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Early life in England
He was born at Horsham St Faith, Norfolk, England. Southwell, the youngest of eight children, was brought up in a family of the Norfolk gentry. Despite their Catholic sympathies, the Southwells had profited considerably from King Henry VIII's Suppression of the Monasteries. Robert was third son of Richard Southwell of Horsham St. Faith's, Norfolk, by his first wife, Bridget, daughter of Sir Roger Copley of Roughway, Sussex. The hymnodist's maternal grandmother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Shelley; Sir Richard Southwell was his paternal grandfather, but his father was born out of wedlock.

Enters the Society of Jesus
In 1576, he was sent to the English college at Douai, boarding there but studying at the Jesuit College of Anchin, a French college associated, like the English College, with the university of Douai. He studied briefly under Leonard Lessius. At the end of the summer, however, his education was interrupted by the movement of French and Spanish forces. For greater safety Southwell was sent to Paris and studied at the College de Clermont under the tutelage of the Jesuit Thomas Darbyshire. He returned to Douai on 15 June 1577. A year later he set off on foot to Rome with the intention of joining the Society of Jesus. A two-year novitiate at Tournai was required before joining the Society, however, and initially he was denied entry. He appealed the decision by sending a heartfelt, emotional letter to the school. He bemoans the situation, writing, "How can I but wast in anguish and agony that find myself disjoined from that company, severed from that Society, disunited from that body wherein lyeth all my life my love my whole hart and affection" (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Anglia 14, fol. 80, under date 1578).

His efforts succeeded as he was admitted to the probation house of Sant' Andrea on 17 October 1578 and in 1580 became a member of the Society of Jesus. Immediately after the completion of the novitiate, Southwell began studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit College in Rome. During this time, he worked as a secretary to the rector and writings of his are to be found among the school's documents. Upon completion of his studies, Southwell was granted the BA in 1584, the year also of his ordination. He was appointed "repetitor" (tutor) in the Venerable English College at Rome and after for two years became the prefect of studies there. It was in 1584 that an act was passed forbidding any English-born subject of Queen Elizabeth, who had entered into priests' orders in the Catholic Church since her accession, to remain in England longer than forty days on pain of death.

On the English mission
In 1586 Southwell, at his own request, was sent to England as a Jesuit missionary with Henry Garnet. He went from one Catholic family to another. The Jesuit William Weston had previously made his way to England; but he was arrested and sent to Wisbech Castle in 1587. The Garnet–Southwell Jesuit English mission is considered the third; the first such mission was that of Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion of 1580–1581.

A spy reported to Sir Francis Walsingham the Jesuits' landing on the east coast in July, but they arrived without molestation at the house at Hackney of William Vaux, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden. In 1588 Southwell and Garnet were joined by John Gerard and Edward Oldcorne. Southwell was from the outset closely watched; he mixed furtively in Protestant society under the assumed name of Cotton. He studied the terms of sport, and used them in conversation. For the most part residing in London, he made occasional excursions to Sussex and the North.

In 1589 Southwell became domestic chaplain to Anne Howard, whose husband, the First Earl of Arundel, was in prison convicted of treason. Arundel had been confined to the Tower of London since 1585; but his execution was postponed, and he remained in prison till his death in 1595. Southwell took up his residence with the countess at Arundel House in The Strand, London. During 1591 he occupied most of his time in writing; although Southwell's name was not publicly associated with any of his works, his literary activity was suspected by the government.

Arrest and imprisonment
After six years of missionary labour, Southwell was arrested at Uxendon Hall, Harrow, He was in the habit of visiting the house of Richard Bellamy who lived near Harrow and was under suspicion on account of his connection with Jerome Bellamy, who had been executed for sharing in Anthony Babington's plot. One of the daughters, Anne Bellamy, was arrested and imprisoned in the gatehouse of Holborn for being linked to the situation. Having been interrogated and raped by Richard Topcliffe, the Queen's chief priest-hunter and torturer, she revealed Southwell's movements and he was immediately arrested.

He was first taken to Topcliffe's own house, adjoining the Gatehouse Prison, where Topcliffe subjected him to the torture of "the manacles". He remained silent in Topcliffe's custody for forty hours. The queen then ordered Southwell moved to the Gatehouse, where a team of Privy Council torturers went to work on him. When they proved equally unsuccessful, he was left "hurt, starving, covered with maggots and lice, to lie in his own filth." After about a month he was moved by order of the Council to solitary confinement in the Tower of London. According to the early narratives, his father had petitioned the queen that his son, if guilty under the law, should so suffer, but if not should be treated as a gentleman, and that as his father he should be allowed to provide him with the necessities of life. No documentary evidence of such a petition survives, but something of the kind must have happened, since his friends were able to provide him with food and clothing, and to send him the works of St. Bernard and a Bible. His superior Henry Garnet later smuggled a breviary to him. He remained in the Tower for three years, under Topcliffe's supervision

Southwell Jesuit English College Robert Richard Catholic Arrested