DOCSLIB.ORG

Catholicism, Kinship and the Public Memory of Sir Thomas More

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Catholicism, Kinship and the Public Memory of Sir Thomas More Jnl of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. , No. , July . # Cambridge University Press DOI: .\S Printed in the United Kingdom Catholicism, Kinship and the Public Memory of Sir Thomas More by MICHAEL QUESTIER Historians are now particularly aware that kinship had political and social resonances in the early modern period. Historians of English Catholicism in this same period have always stressed that a web of family networks helped to sustain the English Catholic community within its harsh post- Reformation environment. But how exactly did this happen, particularly when Catholicism in England was so diverse, and when Catholics were often deeply divided over key political and religious issues? In this essay I examine how these relationships worked for one significant kinship group, a set of people descended from or related to the Henrician Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, and thus how they affected Catholicism’s political and ecclesial expressions of itself. I argue that in doing this, we can begin not only to reveal how far religious continuity depended on or was influenced by kinship, but also to describe some of the ways in which post-Reformation Catholicism was defined and perceived. here has long been a consensus that post-Reformation Catholicism in England was something which was nurtured and sustained by Tand within Catholic families. The flame of the faith, we are told, was kept alive, during the harsh times of persecution, by those Romish families which point blank refused to conform to the religion of the Church of England. In several of them we find a continuous tradition of resistance to the introduction of Protestant ideas into the English Church from the time of the first reform measures during the reign of Henry . What became an increasingly tightly-knit and intermarrying group of gentry families was the last redoubt of the Catholicism which came to be served by the new seminary-trained clergy who appeared in England " from the s onwards. Historiographically, this has been an issue of some importance. For it AAW l Archives of the archdiocese of Westminster; CRS l Catholic Record Society; HMC l Historical Manuscripts Commission I wish to express my thanks to Dr Peter Marshall, Professor Peter Lake and Professor Conrad Russell for commenting on a previous version of this essay, and particularly to Dr Thomas Freeman for many invaluable references and discussions on this topic. " J. C. H. Aveling, ‘Catholic households in Yorkshire –’, Northern History xvi (), –; A. Fletcher, A county community in peace and war: Sussex –, London , –. has served as a crucial explanatory mechanism to describe how Catholicism retreated, towards the end of the sixteenth century, into a minority gentrified household religion of the kind depicted by, for # example, the famous Jesuits William Weston and John Gerard. This has, indeed, become one of the central topics in our narrative of the course of the Reformation in England, as historians have tried to describe how the Catholicism which emerged in opposition to the settlement, at one time the religion of ‘the people’, became the preserve of a distinct, small, gentrified and interrelated Catholic community; and how the continuity of English Catholicism was preserved by the passing of the faith from one generation to the next within this same small number of families. Family and kinship, then, were clearly central to Catholicism’s fortunes in this period. But Alan Davidson, for one, has questioned Lawrence Stone’s dictum that the Catholic gentry simply pursued a policy of religious ‘apartheid’. Davidson observes how, the moment that the family trees of the Catholic gentry are extended beyond the immediate family, $ patterns of religious allegiance can become very complex indeed. As William Sheils has demonstrated through a longue dureTe study of Catholic families in North Yorkshire, once one has detected Catholicism within early modern family networks, there are quite a lot of questions to answer about how it was received and transmitted. His painstaking reconstruction of the Catholicism of the Egton area shows that kinship was not necessarily just a bastion behind which Catholicism could shelter. There was certainly no guarantee that all the members of the kin would share the same religion. In fact, kinship ‘was just as effective in breaking down confessional barriers within generations as it was in sustaining them % between generations’. The work of scholars such as Davidson and Sheils suggests that the ‘continuity’ of Catholic religious allegiances within ‘Catholic’ families may not have been as straightforward as historians have sometimes assumed. Yet if kinship was, as scholars such as David # William Weston, ed. P. Caraman, London ; John Gerard, ed. P. Caraman, London . $ A. Davidson, ‘Roman Catholicism in Oxfordshire from the late Elizabethan period to the Civil War c. –’, unpubl. PhD diss. Bristol , –; L. Stone, The crisis of the aristocracy –, Oxford , . It should be noted, however, that Stone’s remarks applied primarily to the ‘great’, i.e. ennobled, Catholic families. % W. Sheils, ‘Catholics and their neighbours in a rural community: Egton chapelry –’, Northern History xxxiv (), – at p. and passim. See also his ‘Household, age and gender among Jacobean Yorkshire recusants’, in M. Rowlands (ed.), Catholics of parish and town –, London . See also Ralph Houlbrooke’s overview of the workings of kinship and cousinage which stresses that simply because people were related did not guarantee that they would agree about everything or anything: ‘political alliances between kinsmen were as fragile and volatile as any other sort, and often flawed by additional suspicions and resentments’: The English family –, London , . There were quite as many forces within the family likely to break up family unity as to cement it. Cressy have argued, a dynamic early modern social institution, and if ‘affinal and consanguinal ties alike provided a basis for sympathy, linkage & and collaboration’, it may be worth asking again – how far did ‘clan solidarity’ affect Catholics’ religious opinions, and did their religious opinions contribute to their attachment to family and kin? As is well known, Margaret Spufford and other students of Dissent have tried to trace, over a long time-scale, ‘family and linear linkages’ among Protestants, even to the extent of trying to make connections between Lollardy and post-Restoration Dissent. Spufford cites the work of, among others, R. J. Acheson to argue that ‘the family played a crucial role in the perpetuating of dissenting attitudes over a number of generations, although there is clearly much research [required] before this can be ' established reasonably firmly’. It is easy to think of families which were Catholic across several generations. But simply to trace continuity of religious tradition is not the same as saying what it means. In fact, several scholars have expressed grave doubts about the methodology of the Spufford school. In particular, Patrick Collinson has opined that ‘whether family tradition, dissent in the blood, provides’ a good answer to the continuity of this form of religion ‘is a large question posed rather than fully and satisfactorily answered’ by ( Spufford and her team in the World of rural dissenters. Collinson asks, even more critically, ‘what does it actually mean to speak … of the ‘‘continued strength of the dissenting tradition’’? Was there such a ‘‘tradition’’? If blood-lines can be established … connecting Lollard surnames with Quaker surnames, known ancestors with known descendants, what does that signify?’ And, he says, in the Spuffordians’ work this is often far from clear anyway. For the Spuffordians have not always thought to trace what filled the gap between Lollardy and later Dissent and how these ) ideas were passed down within the same families. & D. Cressy, ‘Kinship and kin interaction in early modern England’, Past and Present cxiii (Nov. ), – at pp. , , . ' M. Spufford, ‘The importance of religion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, in M. Spufford (ed.), The world of rural dissenters – , Cambridge , . The Spuffordians’ enquiries and methodology have, however, never been extended to the study of early modern Catholicism; see Sheils, ‘Catholics and their neighbours’, –; P. Collinson, ‘Critical conclusion’, in Spufford, World of the rural dissenters, . Perhaps this is simply because the Spuffordians’ principal concern is dissent in specific regions and among certain social status groups which were not, primarily, the gentry. But Collinson rightly points out that the Spuffordians’ dissenters ‘display a cross-sectional profile not much out of line with society as a whole’, and ‘almost anyone could be a dissenter’: Collinson, ‘Critical conclusion’, –. The Spuffordian themes of family tradition and dissent in the blood are of concern for more than just the history of a socially exclusive and excluded rural Protestant dissent; cf., however, Houlbrooke, The English family –, ( . Collinson, ‘Critical conclusion’, . ) Ibid. , . William Sheils notes that, even when a genealogy can be reliably constructed linking a Lollard ancestor with a dissenting descendant, there is often so much Obviously, this is in part because the Spuffordians simply do not have adequate source material to pursue the study of familial continuity from heresy to Dissent. (Spufford herself admits that it is one thing to trace, within a single family, progression from Lollardy ‘through four or five generations’ to early Baptists or Quakers, and another to explain how this * happened. ) But Collinson makes another point. If we try to track dissent genealogically over several generations, there is always a danger that we will forget that the tradition is not static. If, for example, we want to follow a line of Dissent from Lollardy to the civil war sects, at some point that line has to go through the thing we call Puritanism, and, as Collinson has stressed, that was something which could at times be regarded as "! virtually coterminous with English Protestantism. Now all of these problems are ones which are encountered when we trace post-Reformation English Catholicism across the generations during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • William Roperroper----2267622676 6 Feb 2011 Page 1
    Descendants of William RoperRoper----2267622676 6 Feb 2011 Page 1 1. William RoperRoper----2267622676 (b.1498(b.1498----Canterbury,,Kent,England;d.4Canterbury,,Kent,England;d.4 Jan 1577/15781577/1578----Canterbury,,Kent,England)Canterbury,,Kent,England) sp: Margaret More-22678 (b.1505-Chelsea,,Kent,England;m.2 Jul 1521;d.Abt 25 Dec 1544-Butclose,,Kent,England) 2. Margaret Roper-22683 (b.Abt 1523-Eltham,,Kent,England;d.Aft 1577) sp: William Dawtrey-25482 (b.Abt 1526-Petworth,,Suss,England;m.Abt 1547;d.Abt 1590-Petworth,,Suss,England) 3. William Dawtrey Jr-25483 (b.Abt 1548-Petworth,,Suss,England;d.16 Sep 1589) sp: Dorothy Stanley-35949 (b.Abt 1553-Warwick,,England;m.20 Aug 1574) 4. Henry Dawtrey-35950 (b.Abt 1578-Petworth,,Suss,England) sp: Anne Dunne-35953 (b.Abt 1580-Theydon Gernon,,Essex,England;m.Abt 1620;d.23 Feb 1623/1624) 5. Henry Dawtrey-35956 (b.30 Apr 1621-Petworth,,Suss,England) 5. William Dawtrey-35957 (b.1 Jan 1623/1624-Petworth,,Suss,England;d.Abt 4 Nov 1679) sp: Amy Strutt-35967 (b.Abt 1626-Great Warley,,Essex,England;m.25 Apr 1650) 6. Thomas Dawtrey-35968 (b.Abt 1652-Petworth,,Suss,England;d.Abt 11 Oct 1732) sp: Sarah Bright-35970 (m.28 Nov 1677) 7. William Dawtrey-35971 (b.8 Nov 1678-Petworth,,Suss,England;d.26 Aug 1758-Petworth,,Suss,England) 7. Sarah Dawtrey-35972 (b.Abt 1679-Petworth,,Suss,England) sp: Edward Luther-35973 8. William Luther-35974 8. Richard Luther-35975 (d.28 Dec 1767-Vicars Hill,,,England) sp: Charlotte Chamberlen-35976 (d.1 Feb 1776-Bath,,,England) 9.
    [Show full text]
  • OPENING of the ROPER VAULT in St. Dunstan's Canterbury and Thoughts on the Burial of William and Margaret Roper
    OPENING OF THE ROPER VAULT in St. Dunstan's Canterbury and thoughts on the burial of William and Margaret Roper. by Hugh O. Albin From Saturday 15 July until Wednesday 26 July 1978, the vault of the Roper family remained open in St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury, for the purpose of making a complete record of its contents. This first archaeological survey ever made was arranged by me to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Sir Thomas More. The work was carried out by members of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust under their director Tim Tatton-Brown in conjunction with the church architect Peter Marsh, whose Dutch assistant, Henk Strik made detailed drawings of the Chapel and vault, as well as a complete photographic record. The archaeological report tells us that the present Roper chantry chapel attached to the south-east side of St. Dunstan's Church is almost entirely the building that was erected circa 1524. Of the first chapel, built in 1402, there probably remain only the three arches, one on the west and two on the north, which join the chapel to the main church building. The pilgrim looking at the outside of the Roper Chapel should notice that it is made of fine red bricks with Caen stone quoins and window surrounds. The windows are all typical of the early 16th century. The bricks are large (6.5 x 12 x 25 cms) and each laid entirely in an English bond. Red brickwork of this type does not occur commonly in Canterbury until the late 15th century.
    [Show full text]
  • THE ACTS and MONUMENTS of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH by JOHN FOXE
    THE ACTS AND MONUMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH by JOHN FOXE Commonly known as FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS Volume 12 The Reign of Queen Mary I. – Part IV. Published by the Ex-classics Project, 2010 http://www.exclassics.com Public Domain VOLUME 12 Portrait of Thomas Cranmer as a Young Man -2- FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS CONTENTS 329. Thomas Whittle, Bartlet Green, John Tudson, John Went, Thomas Browne; Isabel Foster, and Joan Warne, alias Lashford. 5 330. John Lomas, Anne Albright, Joan Catmer, Agnes Snoth, and Joan Sole. 49 331. Thomas Cranmer 52 332. Agnes Porter and Joan Trunchfield. 149 333. John Maundrel, William Coberley, and John Spicer. 151 334. Robert Drakes, William Tyms, Richard Spurge, Thomas Spurge, John Cavel, George Ambrose 154 335. The Norfolk Supplication 176 336. John Harpole and Joan Beach 188 337. John Hullier. 190 338. Christopher Lyster, John Mace, John Spencer, Simon Joyne, Richard Nichols and John Hamond. 203 339. Hugh Laverock, John Apprice, Katharine Hut, Elizabeth Thackvel, and Joan Horns 206 340. Thomas Drowry and Thomas Croker. 211 341. Persecution in Suffolk 214 342. Sailors Saved Through the Power of Faith. 217 343. Other Martyrs, June 1556. 221 344. Thirteen Martyrs Burned at Stratford-Le-Bow. 223 345. Trouble and Business in the Diocese of Lichfield and Elsewhere, June-July 1556 230 346. John Fortune, Otherwise Cutler. 235 347. The Death of John Careless, in the King's Bench. 240 348. Julius Palmer, John Gwin and Thomas askin 291 349. Persecution in Ipswich. 312 350. Katharine Cawches, Guillemine Gilbert, Perotine Massey, and An Infant, the Son of Perotine Massey.
    [Show full text]
  • Thames Valley Papists from Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829
    Thames Valley Papists From Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829 Tony Hadland Copyright © 1992 & 2004 by Tony Hadland All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission in writing from the publisher and author. The moral right of Tony Hadland to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0 9547547 0 0 First edition published as a hardback by Tony Hadland in 1992. This new edition published in soft cover in April 2004 by The Mapledurham 1997 Trust, Mapledurham HOUSE, Reading, RG4 7TR. Pre-press and design by Tony Hadland E-mail: [email protected] Printed by Antony Rowe Limited, 2 Whittle Drive, Highfield Industrial Estate, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QT. E-mail: [email protected] While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss or inconvenience arising from errors contained in this work. Feedback from readers on points of accuracy will be welcomed and should be e-mailed to [email protected] or mailed to the author via the publisher. Front cover: Mapledurham House, front elevation. Back cover: Mapledurham House, as seen from the Thames. A high gable end, clad in reflective oyster shells, indicated a safe house for Catholics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Beginnings of English Protestantism
    THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH PROTESTANTISM PETER MARSHALL ALEC RYRIE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge ,UK West th Street, New York, -, USA Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, , Australia Ruiz de Alarc´on , Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town , South Africa http://www.cambridge.org C Cambridge University Press This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Baskerville Monotype /. pt. System LATEX ε [TB] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library hardback paperback Contents List of illustrations page ix Notes on contributors x List of abbreviations xi Introduction: Protestantisms and their beginnings Peter Marshall and Alec Ryrie Evangelical conversion in the reign of Henry VIII Peter Marshall The friars in the English Reformation Richard Rex Clement Armstrong and the godly commonwealth: radical religion in early Tudor England Ethan H. Shagan Counting sheep, counting shepherds: the problem of allegiance in the English Reformation Alec Ryrie Sanctified by the believing spouse: women, men and the marital yoke in the early Reformation Susan Wabuda Dissenters from a dissenting Church: the challenge of the Freewillers – Thomas Freeman Printing and the Reformation: the English exception Andrew Pettegree vii viii Contents John Day: master printer of the English Reformation John N. King Night schools, conventicles and churches: continuities and discontinuities in early Protestant ecclesiology Patrick Collinson Index Illustrations Coat of arms of Catherine Brandon, duchess of Suffolk.
    [Show full text]
  • SOME NOTES on the FAMILY HISTORY of NICHOLAS LONGFORD, SHERIFF of LANCASHIRE in 1413. the Subject of This Paper Is the Family Hi
    47 SOME NOTES ON THE FAMILY HISTORY OF NICHOLAS LONGFORD, SHERIFF OF LANCASHIRE IN 1413. By William Wingfield Longford, D.D., Rector of Sefton. Read March 8, 1934. HE subject of this paper is the family history of T Sir Nicholas Longford of Longford and Withington, in the barony of Manchester, who appears with Sir Ralph Stanley in the roll of the Sheriffs of Lancashire in the year 1413. He was followed in 1414, according to the Hopkinson MSS., by Robert Longford. This may be a misprint for Sir Roger Longford, who was alive in Lan­ cashire in 1430, but of whom little else is known except that he was of the same family. Sir Nicholas Longford was a knight of the shire for Derbyshire in 1407, fought at Agincourt and died in England in 1416. It might be thought that the appearance of this name in the list of sheriffs on two occasions only, with other names so more frequent and well known from the reign of Edward III onwards Radcliffe, Stanley, Lawrence, de Trafford, Byron, Molyneux, Langton and the rest de.ioted a family of only minor importance, suddenly coming into prominence and then disappearing. But such a con­ clusion would be ill-founded. The Longford stock was of older standing than any of them, and though the Stanleys rose to greater fame and based their continuance on wider foundations, at the point when Nicholas Long­ ford comes into the story, the two families were of equal footing and intermarried. Nicholas Longford's daughter Joan was married to John Stanley, son and heir of Sir John Stanley the second of Knowsley.
    [Show full text]
  • Speakers of the House of Commons
    Parliamentary Information List BRIEFING PAPER 04637a 21 August 2015 Speakers of the House of Commons Speaker Date Constituency Notes Peter de Montfort 1258 − William Trussell 1327 − Appeared as joint spokesman of Lords and Commons. Styled 'Procurator' Henry Beaumont 1332 (Mar) − Appeared as joint spokesman of Lords and Commons. Sir Geoffrey Le Scrope 1332 (Sep) − Appeared as joint spokesman of Lords and Commons. Probably Chief Justice. William Trussell 1340 − William Trussell 1343 − Appeared for the Commons alone. William de Thorpe 1347-1348 − Probably Chief Justice. Baron of the Exchequer, 1352. William de Shareshull 1351-1352 − Probably Chief Justice. Sir Henry Green 1361-1363¹ − Doubtful if he acted as Speaker. All of the above were Presiding Officers rather than Speakers Sir Peter de la Mare 1376 − Sir Thomas Hungerford 1377 (Jan-Mar) Wiltshire The first to be designated Speaker. Sir Peter de la Mare 1377 (Oct-Nov) Herefordshire Sir James Pickering 1378 (Oct-Nov) Westmorland Sir John Guildesborough 1380 Essex Sir Richard Waldegrave 1381-1382 Suffolk Sir James Pickering 1383-1390 Yorkshire During these years the records are defective and this Speaker's service might not have been unbroken. Sir John Bussy 1394-1398 Lincolnshire Beheaded 1399 Sir John Cheyne 1399 (Oct) Gloucestershire Resigned after only two days in office. John Dorewood 1399 (Oct-Nov) Essex Possibly the first lawyer to become Speaker. Sir Arnold Savage 1401(Jan-Mar) Kent Sir Henry Redford 1402 (Oct-Nov) Lincolnshire Sir Arnold Savage 1404 (Jan-Apr) Kent Sir William Sturmy 1404 (Oct-Nov) Devonshire Or Esturmy Sir John Tiptoft 1406 Huntingdonshire Created Baron Tiptoft, 1426.
    [Show full text]
  • II. Its Effect. in 1558, William Allen, One Time Canon of York Ancl
    2t2 Il terzo Convegno degli Archivistr Ecclesiastici II. THE ARCHIVES IN fHE KEEPING OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER Rev. BnnNanD FrsHER, Archivista dell'Archidiocesi di Westminster The Archives in the keeping of the Archbishop of Westmin- ster, or what are more usually called the Westminster Archives, form a unique collection of ecclesiastical documents of the first importance. Owing to the break in our Catholic history with the coming of the Reformation in England, there are however very few medi- aeval documents in this collection. There is a fairly extensive collection of papers relating to Selby Abbey in Yorkshire dating from the 13th to the 16th century. There are some presentments for heresy in the diocese of Norwich in the later half of the 15th century and an early manuscript copy of the Charter of the Chap- ter of rvl/ells Cathedral. The collection becomes a coherent body of docrments from 1558. On November 17th 1558 Elizabeth I imprisoned all the Cath- olic bishops, with the exception of Bishop Kitchin who conform- ed to the State religion. No attempt was made to appoint any- one to replace the bishops and the religious history of the early years of Elizabeth's reign is largely one of drift. Rome was wait- ing perhaps in the hope that Elizabeth might be won over while the vacillating Philip II of Spain was striving successfully to dis- suade the Pope from any action which might offend Elizabeth. Very soon .< the starvation policy,, of Elizabeth began to show its effect. In 1558, William Allen, one time Canon of York ancl Principal of St.
    [Show full text]
  • CHURCH: Dates of Confirmation/Consecration
    Court: Women at Court; Royal Household. p.1: Women at Court. Royal Household: p.56: Gentlemen and Grooms of the Privy Chamber; p.59: Gentlemen Ushers. p.60: Cofferer and Controller of the Household. p.61: Privy Purse and Privy Seal: selected payments. p.62: Treasurer of the Chamber: selected payments; p.63: payments, 1582. p.64: Allusions to the Queen’s family: King Henry VIII; Queen Anne Boleyn; King Edward VI; Queen Mary Tudor; Elizabeth prior to her Accession. Royal Household Orders. p.66: 1576 July (I): Remembrance of charges. p.67: 1576 July (II): Reformations to be had for diminishing expenses. p.68: 1577 April: Articles for diminishing expenses. p.69: 1583 Dec 7: Remembrances concerning household causes. p.70: 1598: Orders for the Queen’s Almoners. 1598: Orders for the Queen’s Porters. p.71: 1599: Orders for supplying French wines to the Royal Household. p.72: 1600: Thomas Wilson: ‘The Queen’s Expenses’. p.74: Marriages: indexes; miscellaneous references. p.81: Godchildren: indexes; miscellaneous references. p.92: Deaths: chronological list. p.100: Funerals. Women at Court. Ladies and Gentlewomen of the Bedchamber and the Privy Chamber. Maids of Honour, Mothers of the Maids; also relatives and friends of the Queen not otherwise included, and other women prominent in the reign. Close friends of the Queen: Katherine Astley; Dorothy Broadbelt; Lady Cobham; Anne, Lady Hunsdon; Countess of Huntingdon; Countess of Kildare; Lady Knollys; Lady Leighton; Countess of Lincoln; Lady Norris; Elizabeth and Helena, Marchionesses of Northampton; Countess of Nottingham; Blanche Parry; Katherine, Countess of Pembroke; Mary Radcliffe; Lady Scudamore; Lady Mary Sidney; Lady Stafford; Countess of Sussex; Countess of Warwick.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Libera Nos Domine'?: the Vicars Apostolic and the Suppressed
    ‘Libera nos Domine’? 81 Chapter 4 ‘Libera nos Domine’?: The Vicars Apostolic and the Suppressed/Restored English Province of the Society of Jesus Thomas M. McCoog, SJ It would have been much to the interests of the Church if her history had not included the story of such difficulties as those which are the subject of this chapter. Her internal dissensions, whether on a large or small scale, bear the same relation to the evils inflicted on her from without, as diseases do to wounds won in honourable fight. Thus did Edwin H. Burton open the chapter ‘The Difficulties between the Vicars Apostolic and the Regulars’ in his work on Bishop Challoner.1 The absence of such opposition may have made the history of the post-Reforma- tion Roman Catholic Church in England more edifying, but surely would also have deprived subsequent scholars of fascinating material for dissertations and monographs. In his doctoral thesis Eamon Duffy remarked that, although tension between Jesuits and seculars was less than in previous centuries, ‘the bitterness … which remained was all pervasive … No Catholic in England escaped untouched’.2 Basil Hemphill, having noted that ‘most unfortunate jealousies persisted between the secular and the regular clergy … and with an intensity which seems incredible to us today’, considered their explication essential if history wished to be truthful ‘and if it be not truthful it is of no use at all’.3 A brief overview of uneasy, volatile and tense relations between Jesuits and secular clergy in post-Reformation England will contextualize the eigh- teenth-century problem. 1 Edwin H.
    [Show full text]
  • “Mary Roper Clarke Bassett and Meredith Hanmer's
    Mary Roper Clarke Bassett and Meredith Hanmer’s Honorable Ladie of the Lande Eugenio OLIVARES MERINO University of Jaén ABSTRACT In his 1577 English translation of Eusebius’ History of the Church, Meredith Hanmer makes reference to “an honorable Ladie of the lande,” whose identity still remains unknown. My design here is to gather the scarce and scattered available evidence, so as to propose a name that is rather reasonable. In order to contextualize the conclusions, reference will also be made to such issues as women’s literacy and religious controversies in Elizabethan England. KEYWORDS: Mary Roper Clarke Bassett, Meredith Hanmer, translation, Greek, Eusebius Mary Roper,1 Sir Thomas More’s granddaughter by his beloved Margaret, is especially known for an English translation of her grandfather’s Latin book about Christ’s Passion, written while prisoner in the Tower of London.2 This work was included in William Rastell’s edition of More’s English Works (1557), pp. 1350- 1404, and it was the only text by a woman to appear in print during the reign of Mary Tudor (Demers 2001: 5). The editor was enthusiastic about the chance he had to include Mary’s translation, for it seemed to be no translation at all: “so that it myghte seme to have been by hys [Thomas More’s] own pen indyted first, and not at all translated: suche a gyft hath she to followe her grandfathers vayne in writing” (Rastell 1557: 1350). But it is Mary’s partial translation of Eusebius’ History of the Church that I will bring forth into the readers’ consideration, both for it and for the light it might 1 The date of Mary’s birth is not known.
    [Show full text]
  • California Virtual Book Fair 2021
    Bernard Quaritch Ltd 50 items for the 2021 Virtual California Book Fair BERNARD QUARITCH LTD 36 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4JH tel.: +44 (0)20 7297 4888 fax: +44 (0)20 7297 4866 email: [email protected] web: www.quaritch.com Front cover image from item 20. LALIEU, Paul and Nicolas Joseph BEAUTOUR. P[hiloso]phia particularis Inside cover background from item 8. [CANONS REGULAR OF THE LATERAN]. Regula et constitutiones Canonicorum Regularium Last page images from item 13. [CUSTOMARY LAW]. Rechten, ende costumen van Antwerpen. and item 29. MARKHAM, Cavalarice, or the English Horseman Bankers: Barclays Bank PLC 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP Sort code: 20-65-90 Account number: 10511722 Swift code: BUKBGB22 Sterling account: IBAN: GB71 BUKB 2065 9010 5117 22 Euro account: IBAN: GB03 BUKB 2065 9045 4470 11 U.S. Dollar account: IBAN: GB19 BUKB 2065 9063 9924 44 VAT number: GB 322 4543 31 ALDROVANDI'S QUADRUPEDS IN FIRST EDITION 1. ALDROVANDI, Ulisse. De quadrupedibus solidipedibus volume integrum … cum indice copiosissimo. Bologna, Vittoria Benacci for Girolamo Tamburini, 1616. [with:] Quadrupedum omnium bisulcorum historia … ucm indice copiosissimo. Bologna, Sebastiano Bonomi for Girolamo Tamburini, 1621. [and:] De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis libri tres, et de quadrupedibus digitatis oviparis libri duo … cum indice memorabiliumetvariarumlinguarumcopiosissimo. Bologna,NicolaoTebaldiniforMarcoAntonioBernia,1637. 3 vols, folio, pp. 1: [8], 495, [1 (blank)], [30], [2 (colophon, blank)], 2: [11], [1 (blank)], 1040, [12], 3: [8], 492, ‘495-718’ [i.e. 716], [16];eachtitlecopper-engravedbyGiovanniBattistaCoriolano,withwoodcutdevicestocolophons,over200largewoodcutillustrations (12, 77, and 130 respectively), woodcut initials and ornaments; a few leaves lightly foxed and occasional minor stains, a little worming to early leaves vol.
    [Show full text]