Chapter 16: .. (historical intermission)

Heyy, Ishca here (the author), I'm bringing you another informational chapter whilst you wait for the next upload:

I previously wrote a chapter titled "." discussing my story being fictional, though still partially reflecting the fact that oppression takes place in places around the world in our lives too. Today's chapter is going to be about other times where situations like the events of my book have occurred in the past.

Most people who’ve heard anything about English history have heard of Henry VIII, the Tudor Monarch who had six wives, however at the time of the Tudors, a far more significant point of Henry’s rule was England’s Break with Rome. As a result of this drastic religious reform, over the next 100 or so years, people would be persecuted according to heresy laws if they religiously opposed the monarch (eg Mary Tudor (colloquially known as "Bloody Mary") was a Catholic, and she burned protestants at the stake (one of her critics by the name of John Foxe even wrote a book about such Protestant Martyrs)). This led to the innovation of "Priest Holes" - people would shelter their local priest in an underground room such that when the monarch would send men to enforce religious acts the Priests could evade punishment.

(Priest Holes are mentioned in books such as "Miss Peregrine's home for Peculiar Children", and "The Executioner's Daughter", and a few have also been preserved in certain historic English buildings.)