This article examines questions of retributive justice and conflict resolution in early modern England. In particular, it focuses on Protestant demands for anti-Catholic vengeance in the aftermath of the Marian persecution. Following the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, some godly critics called for the execution of the Marian leadership, whom they blamed for the deaths of the Protestant martyrs. The Elizabethan government, however, was reluctant to launch a full-scale religious persecution, and so the surviving Roman Catholic dignitaries were imprisoned, remanded to house arrest, or released. The perception that the Marian leadership had gone unpunished would become a lingering point of resentment, especially as members of the godly community were themselves increasingly targeted for prosecution by the English church and state.