George Godsalf

George Godsalf or George Godsalf (died 1592), of the diocese of Bath was a convert to Catholicism by John Payne.

He had gained the B.A. at Oxford and been ordained a deacon in the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary, but had then become a Protestant on Elizabeth I's accession. Paine re-converted him back to Catholicism shortly after Paine's arrival in England in April 1576. Paine then sent Godsalf to Douai, where he arrived on July 15 1576 to be prepared for the Catholic priesthood, which he then received at Cambrai on December 22 before coming to England in June 1577. Early in July, 1581, Paine and Godsalf were arrested in Warwickshire whilst staying on the estate of Lady Petre (widow of John Petre, 18th Baron Petre), through the efforts of the informer George "Judas" Eliot (a known criminal, murderer, rapist and thief, who made a career out of denouncing Catholics and priests for bounty). After being examined by Walsingham at Greenwich, they were committed to the Tower of London on July 14. Godsalf did not give in but spent several years in prison, after which he was released from the Marshalsea in September 1585 and banished, dying in Paris in 1592.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)