Bellarmin wrote to him an admonitory letter on this subject, to which he replied. Being apprehended near Clerkenwell on 24 June 1607, he was committed prisoner to the Gatehouse in Westminster, and thence was removed to the Clink prison in Southwark, where he was frequently examined upon several articles, especially concerning the oath of allegiance. In fine, he took the oath, and several of the clergy and laity followed his example, notwithstanding the fact that the oath had twice been formally condemned by Pope Paul V in 1606 and 1607. Blackwell's conversion being despaired of, the sovereign pontiff deprived him of the office of archpriest in 1608, and appointed George Birket [q. v.] to supply his place.
Blackwell died on 12 Jan. 1612-13, persisting to the last in his approbation of the oath. On being taken suddenly ill some priests attended him, and he assured them that he deemed it to be a lawful oath, and that in taking it he had done nothing contrary to conscience (Widdrington, Disputatio Theologica de Juramento Fidelitatis, 393-5).
A large number of books were published against him, chiefly by Watson, Colleton, Dr. Bishop, Dr. Champney, and other catholic divines. The principal other works relating to the controversies in which he was engaged are: 1. 'The Hope of Peace, by laying open such doubts and manifest untruthes as are devulged by the Archpriest in his letter or answere to the Bookes which were published by the priestes,' Frankfort, 1601, 4to. 2. 'Mr. George Blackwel (made by Pope Clement 8, Archpriest of England), his Answeres vpon sundry his Examinations: together with his Approbation and taking of the Oath of Allegeance: and his Letter written to his assistants and brethren, moouing them not onely to take the said Oath, but to aduise all Romish Catholikes so to doe,' London, 1607, 4to. 3. 'A large Examination taken at Lambeth, according to his Maiesties direction, point by point, of M. George Blakwell, made Archpriest of England, by pope Clement 8. Vpon occasion of a certaine answere of his, without the priuitie of the State, to a Letter lately sent vnto him from Cardinall Bellarmine, blaming him for taking the Oath of Allegeance. Together with the Cardinals Letter, and M. Blakwels said answere vnto it. Also M. Blakwels Letter to the Romish Catholickes in England, as well Ecclesiasticall as Lay,' London, 1607, 4to; also printed in French at Amsterdam, 1609. 4. 'In Georgium Blackvellum Angliæ Archipresbyterum a Clemente Papa Octavo designatum Quaestio bipartita: Cuius Actio prior Archipresbyteri iusiurandum de Fidelitate prestitum, Altera eiusdem iuramenti Assertionem, contra Cardinalis Bellarmini Literas, continet,' London, 1609, 4to. 5. 'Relatio compendiosa turbarum quas Iesuitæ Angli, vna cum D. Georgio Blackwello Archipresbytero, Sacerdotibus Seminariorum populoq; Catholico cõciuêre ob schismatis & aliorum criminum inuidiam illis iniuriosè impactam sacro sanctæ inquisitionis officio exhibita, vt rerum veritate cognitâ ab integerrimis eiusdem iudicibus lites & causæ discutiantur et terminentur,' Rouen, 4to.
[Dodd's Church Hist. (1737), ii. 251-65, 366, 380, also Tierney's edit. iv. 70 et seq., App. 110. 142, 147, 148, 157, v. 8, 12; Wood's Athen. Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 122, Fasti, i. 162, 179; Berington's Memoirs of Panzani; Ullathorne's Hist. of the Restoration of the Cath. Hierarchy, 7; Flanagan's Hist. of the Church in England, ii. 265-69, 299, 301; Anatomie of Popish Tyrannie (1603), 177; Diaries of the English College, Douay; Morris's Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, 2nd ser. 23, 153, 154, 3rd ser. 116; MS. Harl. 6809, art. 190; MS. Lansd. 983 f. 123; MS. Cotton. Titus B. vii. 468; MS. Addit. 30, 662 f. 726.; Butler's Hist. Memoirs of the English Catholics (1822), ii. 204 et seq. 254; Lingard's Hist. of England (1849), vii. 91-95; Foley'& Records; Calendars of State Papers.]
BLACKWELL, JOHN (1797–1840), Welsh poet and prose writer, was born at Mold, in Flintshire, in 1797, and for many years followed the trade of a shoemaker in his native town. From an early age he showed the greatest avidity for books, and he carried off several prizes offered for poems and essays in the Welsh language. By the liberality of friends he was enabled to enter Jesus College, Oxford, in 1824, and he took the degree of B.A. in 1828. In the autumn of the latter year, at the Royal Denbigh Eisteddvod, a prize was adjudged to him for his beautiful Welsh elegy on the death of Bishop Heber. In 1829 he was ordained to the curacy of Holy well. During his residence there he contributed largely to the columns of the 'Gwyliedydd,' a periodical conducted on the principles of the established church, and in 1832 he was presented with a prize medal at the Beaumaris Eisteddvod. In 1833 he was presented by Lord-chancellor Brougham to the living of Manor Deivy, in Pembrokeshire. Soon afterwards he became editor of an illustrated magazine in the Welsh language, entitled 'Y Cylchgrawn,' and he conducted this periodical with remarkable ability. He died on 14 May 1840, and was buried at Manor Deivy. His poems and essays, with a memoir of his life, were edited by the Rev. Griffith Edwards of Minera, in a volume entitled 'Ceinion Alun,' Ruthin, 1851, 8vo.
