Catholicisms, c.1450–c.1800 – serie

Demonstrates how, far from being peripheral, the stable communities of conventual religious in mainland Europe acted as important centres of religious and secular activity in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation.This collection aims to explore new perspectives on the British and Irish conventual, mendicant and monastic movements in mainland Europe and rediscover their roles and wider impact within early modern European Catholicism. Building on recent scholarship, the book addresses a historiographical imbalance, which has led to an over-emphasis being placed on the role of the Society of Jesus in the development of British and Irish Catholicism following the Protestant Reformation. The stable communities of religious in mainland Europe also acted as important centres of religious and secular activity. This volume explores the ways in which British and Irish conventuals and monastics, both men and women, engaged with the seismic religious and philosophical developments of the early modern period, such as the Catholic Reformation and the Enlightenment in mainland Europe, as well as important political developments at 'home', exploring the connections between centres and peripheries. Building on recent movements within the field to 'decentralise' the Catholic Reformation and recognize the international nature of Catholicism, the volume aims to change the perception that the activities of British and Irish religious were 'peripheral', bringing the islands' experience in line with work on their European confreres and the broader global network of the religious orders.

A vivid exploration of how Catholicism endured far longer into the Elizabethan era and continued to shape the very identity of early modern England.This compelling study delves into the complexities of religious and political power during Elizabeth I's reign, presenting a further, important challenge to the traditional narratives of a swift and uncontested Protestant triumph. Here, Wilfred Hammond explores why Catholic aristocrats, despite wielding significant regional power and Court influence, failed to block or reverse the emerging religious revolution. Focusing on the Stanley earls of Derby, the dominant noble family in Lancashire - a county described by the Elizabethan government as "the very sink of popery" - the author reconstructs their role in obstructing Protestant reform. Using the State and Cecil Papers, as well as foreign ambassadorial reports , the study re-evaluates the Stuart party-building efforts of Lady Margaret Douglas and Mary, Queen of Scots. Hammond re-examines the context of the papal bull of deposition, and uncovers the Stanley-Gerard conspiracy of 1570 with its links to the Ridolfi Plot.This richly detailed analysis of the Stanleys positions them at the heart of a network of nobles, including the Percies and Nevilles, who were opposed to the religious change presented by Protestantism. As such, this vibrant case-study unfolds to offer fresh insights into the slow, fraught transformation of England's religious landscape during one of its most turbulent periods.

A ground-breaking study that unveils, for the first time, the entirety of a founding Jesuit's theology.Revered as a founder of the Jesuit order, an accomplished preacher, a papal theologian at all three sessions of the Council of Trent, and the provincial of Naples, Alfonso Salmerón was a significant figure in the intellectual life and ecclesiastical affairs of the sixteenth century. His Commentaries represent one of the most ambitious theological-exegetical endeavours of the post-Tridentine period.Fr. Sam Zeno Conedera, SJ, brings long-overdue recognition to a foundational figure and key theologian of the order. Here, presented for the first time, is a detailed overview of Salmerón's writings and theology. It explores the author's creative use of history, his endeavour to integrate Scripture and tradition, and his exposition of the mysteries of the Christian faith. As Conedera shows, Salmerón's approach to controversial Reformation issues, such as the veneration of Mary, justification, the sacraments, and the nature of the Church, combined respect for tradition with innovation. Furthermore, his moral teachings offer profound insights into significant societal issues of the period, including public worship and the relations between the sexes.Salmerón's brief yet carefully crafted discussion of the Society of Jesus provides invaluable insight into the self-perception of the first generation of Jesuits. This book highlights the ways in which this exceptional figure enriches our understanding of early modern Catholicism and Jesuit history.

Uncovers the hidden networks behind Catholic publishing in Restoration London, where politics, religion, and print intersected in unexpected ways under Charles II, James VII/II, and Queen Catherine of Braganza.In the politically volatile decades following the Restoration, the Catholic book trade in London remained a vibrant and adaptive force. This study reconstructs the networks-commercial, familial, and religious-that sustained the production and circulation of Catholic texts between 1660 and 1688. These networks operated within and across confessional boundaries, drawing in Protestants and Catholics alike, and were shaped by shifting legal frameworks, urban patronage, and the ambiguities of what constituted a 'popish' text.Focusing on the lived experience of printers, booksellers, and readers, the book challenges the notion of Catholic isolation in Protestant England. It reveals how Catholic print culture was embedded in the broader English print economy and public sphere, often sharing tools, spaces, and strategies with dissenting and loyalist traditions. From Somerset House to the streets of London, Catholic actors navigated censorship and suspicion with ingenuity, contributing to a paradoxical print culture that was both illicit and integrated.Engaging with the fields of Catholic history, book history, and Restoration studies, this monograph offers a new framework for understanding religious identity, toleration, and the mechanics of clandestine publishing. It brings to light the agency of overlooked figures and repositions Catholic print as a central, rather than marginal, feature of early modern English society.

A groundbreaking volume that radically refocuses our study of early modern Catholicism within a wider geographical and cultural context.The intricate relationship between the Roman Church and the Christian East has long been underestimated in shaping early modern Catholicism. Similarly, scholarship on the Inquisition has largely overlooked how it interacted with members of the Eastern branch of Christianity. Yet these groups frequently faced the scrutiny of the judges of the faith, who were, in turn, exposed to alternative disciplinary and doctrinal models that questioned Catholic certainties. This volume delves into the debates surrounding the compatibility of Eastern norms and traditions with the principles of the Counter-Reformation, focusing on Greek, Arab, and Slavic communities, as well as Armenians, Ethiopians, and Syriac Christians from the Ottoman Empire and India, among others. The essays examine topics such as the confessional surveillance of Eastern Christians in Catholic territories and the responses of Roman theologians to thorny questions posed by missionaries around the globe.Through a meticulous study of rich, untapped archival resources in a wide array of languages, this collection reveals how the interaction with Eastern Christianity exposed some of the contradictions and unresolved problems of Tridentine Catholicism, while providing the Inquisition with a set of cultural tools and interpretive lenses that would eventually be applied in the missionary and theological controversies that shook the Catholic world from the seventeenth century onwards.Chapters 1, 2, 7 and 12 are available here as Open Access under the Licence CC BY-NC-ND

Reveals the hidden world of ephemeral Catholic print in the so-called Dutch Golden Age, reconstructing lost works to discover the lived experience of a religious community marginalised within a multi-confessional society.Emerging from the turbulent politico-religious landscape forged by the Eighty Years' War (1566/8-1648), the rich and increasingly accessible print culture of the Dutch Republic generated a vast Catholic repertoire that sustained the identity and practice of a minority faith. Reconstructed from archival traces and contemporary references, and using innovative methods derived from digital humanities, this material reveals how clergy and laity created and used print to navigate their political and social marginalisation, as well as the demands of overlapping Catholic and Reformed regimes of censorship. Print, in both licit and illicit forms, acted as a lifeline, a tool for education and conversion, and even an instrument of religious controversy.By integrating insights from novel research on early modern Catholicism, lived religion, and the history of communication, Elise Watson demonstrates how the Dutch Catholic experience can be reinterpreted when the full spectrum of printed materials is placed at the centre. Typologies developed for Catholic books and printed ephemera illuminate how these objects structured memory, education, devotion, and community. The result is a nuanced portrait of a thriving minority whose religious life was continually made and remade through print, shaped by local conditions and yet connected to a wider European world.