Christopher Holywood [SEP] religious order
Christopher Holywood
Christopher Holywood (1559 – 4 September 1626) was an Irish Jesuit of the Counter Reformation. The origin of the Nag's Head Fable has been traced to him.
Roman Catholic and Irish.
His family, which draws its name from Holywood, a village near Dublin, had long been distinguished both in Church and State. Christopher Holywood studied at Padua, entered the Society of Jesus at Dôle in 1579, was afterwards professor of Scripture and theology at Pont-a-Mousson, Ferrara, and
holding papists.
In 1580 the bishop was enjoined to put the castle 'in order and strength' to receive prisoners and the first were received in October. In 1583 a prisoner Dr Andrew Oxenbridge is recorded as taking the oath of supremacy. In 1584 it was suggested that the number of prisoners be limited to twenty.
In the last years of the 16th century there were 33 Catholics held prisoner in Wisbech Castle, almost all of them priests, including the Jesuit priests, Christopher Holywood, William Weston and lay brother