Gulielmus Laurus, a recusant exile and neo-Latin poet from Yorkshire has left a variety of evidence for his existence from 1587 through to the late 1590s, mostly in published verse in which he reflects on his life and experience, protests against the Anglican settlement, and asserts his faith. The article attempts to piece together his biography from the meagre information he gives, and offers two alternative interpretations of the data: one in which he was born around 1565, and one, marginally preferable, which makes him about ten years older. His poems are highly personal documents which reveal his interactions with the ‘republic of letters’ in Belgium, Germany and France, and the intense practical and psychological pressures of life as a friendless exile.

This article examines the role of Protestant-Catholic conflict in the English town of Hartlepool, a hitherto unknown centre of religious conflict during the nineteenth century. It will demonstrate how a combination of unique structural forces and the conduct of religious ministers created a culture which, in terms of ferocity and longevity, rivalled other sectarian centres in Britain. It also provides an important case study for examining the role of Catholics themselves in generating anti-Catholicism. It therefore has important implications for understanding the nature of religious conflict, how it develops, and how it is sustained over the longue durée.