[CW: violence & religious intolerance] In Sept 1850, Pope issued a Bull re-establishing the dioceses in England which had not existed since Reformation. Responses in periodicals were visceral e.g. in Household Narrative, the editors id as ‘Protestant’ & claim… #VPFAReligion 1/6

…that “the rights of such a church [RC] are incompatible with the equal rights of every other”; Fam Herald correspondence responses of 1850 = hostile to RC but say that mass RC conversion was as likely as mass conversion into ‘man-bats’. #VPFAreligion 2/6

V few works of pop fiction from 1850 deal with C19th English Catholicism but many stories = set in RC parts of Europe, often in past, & also in Catholic England, usually in reign of Mary. Stories often bloody eg ‘The Brothers’ in ‘man-bats’ issue of Fam Herald… #VPFAReligion 3/6

… rival Medici-linked lovers both killed, & object of affection in convent; Dec 1850 F. Hrld has ‘Gertrude’, gothic story set amid C16th ‘bigotry’ of Queen Mary. Philip II often = villain. Stereotype of foreign = violent & immoral not uncommon in C19 pop fic… #VPFAReligion 4/6

…but these stories = unusually violent & gory for Fam Herald. In Reynolds’s Miscellany, violence continues (surprise!) in stories set in RC Europe – ‘Pope Joan’ set in C9th, L. James notes story is pro-Muslim Spain but I think at expense of RCs… #VPFAReligion 5/6

… Joan->Pope @ end & immediately dies (peacefully, after she's literally exposed as female) in violent Rome riot. L.James says GWMR poss. wrote cos he's v. CofE, but I feel effect is still anti-RCath; v widespread in press at time, uniting pop fic & editorial. #VPFAReligion 6/6