Arrest Under Elizabeth's Rule
Mary and Pole died within hours of each other on the Feast of St. Hugh of Lincoln, November 17, 1558. Elizabeth and Cecil lost no time in consulting with Protestant dissidents. In March 1559, the bishops were summoned to the Westminster Conference to dispute with them over the future of the English Church. When it became obvious that the outcome was already determined, the bishops could not proceed. It was then alleged that White and Watson had urged them to consider the Queen's excommunication. The two bishops were arrested and sent to the Tower on 3 April 1559.
By early May fresh Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity had been passed, and the Protestant Book of Common Prayer reintroduced. The bishops were once more cut off from Rome, stripped of their authority and "extinguished" as a hierarchy. On 25 June Watson was tried, found guilty, deprived of his bishopric, and given a life sentence. One by one Elizabeth replaced the Catholic bishops with Protestants.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Watson (bishop Of Lincoln)
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