Devon Assize Records
Editor’s Note: Thank you to Susan Laithwaite, Archivist at the Devon
Record Office who translated the James Dowdall Assize Record entries.
The original Devon Assize Records are housed in the Devon Record
Office, Exeter, England.
The Devon Records Office has kindly granted permission to use a digitial copy of
James Dowdall’s Assize Records. James Dowdall is mentioned in three separate
Assize session in 1598 & 1599. (Q.S 1/1 Page 250; Q.S. 1/1 page 277)
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James Dowdall
In 1598 James Dowdall a merchant mariner from Drogheda, Ireland was returning from
a buying trip in France when due to bad weather his ship was forced onto the Devon coast
in southwest England. When questioned by William Bourchiers, Earl of Bath and
other local authorities, he refused to take the Supremacy Oath proclaiming
Queen Elizabeth’s spiritual supremacy over the authority of the pope. He was
imprisoned in Exeter Jail for one year and on August 13, 1599 he was hanged,
drawn and quartered.
James Dowdall was elevated to Venerable James Dowdall in the English Catholic Church with the intent of making him Blessed James Dowdall and eventually declaring him Saint James Dowdall
in the Roman Catholic Church.
Translation of Venerable James Dowdall 1598 & 1599 Devon Assize Records
1. At the end of the gaol calendar for the Midsummer Sessions (1598): ‘Jacobus Dowdall Rem. p. mandat. Counlii pr.vati’. (‘James Dowdall remains by order of the Privy Council’.).
There is no Assize calendar at the end of the Michaelmas (1598) sessions and no mention of James Dowdall in the minutes.
2. The gaol calendar at the end of the Epiphany session (1599)
has an entry: ‘Jacobus Dowdall rem. q. iudic. p. prod.’ (‘James Dowdall remains because condemned for treason’)
There is no calendar of Assize prisoners in the Easter session. (1599).
3. The last gaol calendar with James’ name on it was from the Midsummer term, dated the last day of July (1599): ‘Jacobus Dowdall S etc p. prodicoe.’. (‘James Dowdall let him be hung for treason’.)
Devon Assize Records
To view an enlarged image click on the thumbnail
These Records are courtesy of the Devon Record Office, Exeter England
To view an enlarged image click on the thumbnail
Scroll down on the left column, third line from bottom is the entry for Jacobus Dowdall
Q.S. 1/1 p 250
Scroll down on the left column, fourth line from bottom is the entry for Jacobus Dowdall
Q.S. 1/1 p 277
***This page is not complete, more will be added at a later date. To view the website for Venerable James Dowdall, please go to the following URL: www.jamesdowdallmartyr.com