Catholic Resistance in Elizabethan England

Robert Persons's Jesuit Polemic, 1580–1610

Victor Houliston

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780754658405
• eBook ISBN: 9781317169178
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

During his lifetime, the Jesuit priest Robert Persons (1546-1610) was arguably the leading figure fighting for the re-establishment of Catholicism in England. Whilst his colleague Edmund Campion may now be better known it was Persons's tireless efforts that kept the Jesuit mission alive during the difficult days of Elizabeth's reign. In this new study, Person's life and phenomenal literary output are analysed and put into the broader context of recent Catholic scholarship. The book bridges the gap between historical studies, on the one hand, and literary studies on the other, by concentrating on Persons's contribution as a writer to the polemical culture of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. As well as discussing his wider achievements as leader of the English Jesuits - founding three seminaries for English priests, corresponding regularly with Catholic activists in England, writing over thirty books, holding the post of rector of the English College in Rome, and being a trusted consultant to the papacy on English affairs - this study looks in detail at what is arguably his greatest legacy, The First Booke of the Christian Exercise (more commonly known as the Book of Resolution). That book, first published in 1582, was to prove the cornerstone of Persons's missionary effort, and a popular work of Catholic devotion, running to several editions over the coming years. Although Persons was ultimately unsuccessful in his ambition to return England to the Catholic fold, the story of his life and works reveals much about the ecclesiastical struggle that gripped early modern Europe. By providing a thorough and up-to-date reassessment of Persons this study not only makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the polemical context of post-Reformation Catholicism, but also of the Jesuit notion of the 'apostolate of writing'. This book is published in conjunction with the Jesuit Historical Institute series 'Bibliotheca Instituti Historici

Index

• Acquaviva, Claudio 5, 25, 34, 36, 48, 72, 74, 86, 119, 122, 137, 177–8, 180–81
• Agazzari, Alfonso 25, 122
• Aldobrandino, Pietro 99, 180
• Allen, William Cardinal 1, 4, 6, 24–6, 35, 42, 47–50, 53, 63, 67, 71–4, 76, 91, 107, 118, 178–9, 181
• Andrewes, Lancelot 142–3
• Apostolate of letters 20
• Appellants see Archpriest Controversy
• Archpriest Controversy 6–7, 13–14, 107–108, 117–34
• Atkins, Richard 28

• Bacon, Sir Francis 53, 61
• Bagshaw, Christopher 3, 14, 17, 121, 124, 126–7, 129–30, 132–3
• Bancroft, Richard 122–3, 142, 144
• Barker, Robert 142
• Barlow, William 17, 143, 151, 153, 155–8, 161–2, 173–4, 177
• Baronius, Cesar 172–3
• Barret, Richard 117
• Baxter, Richard 44
• Becket, Thomas, St 150
• Bellarmine, Robert Cardinal 114, 142–6, 172–3
• Belloy, Pierre de 80, 82
• Benet of Canfield 44
• Beza, Theodore 27
• Birkhead, George 133
• Bishop, William 121, 124–5
• Blackwell, George 121, 123, 126, 133, 142–5, 173, 182
• Bluet, Th...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Publishers’ Note
• Series Editor’s Preface
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• The Legend of Father Parsons
• The English Mission: Writing The Christian Directory
• The Spanish Connection: Satirizing Burghley
• The Myth of England’s Catholic Destiny: Persons’s Political Vision
• Reclaiming the Past: Combating Foxe and Coke
• Jesuit Apologia: Appellant Abuse
• Making England Safe for Catholicism: Liberty of Conscience under James
• Mastering the Polemical Scene
• Appendix: A Chronology of Persons’s Printed Works, 1580–1622
• Bibliography
• Index