De persecutione Anglicana by Robert Persons S.J.


Book Description

Presenting the text of a notorious Jesuit attack on Queen Elizabeth I's treatment of her Catholic subjects, this volume highlights the European context of the English Reformation and Robert Persons's role as propagandist. In De persecutione Anglicana, Robert Persons (1546–1610) graphically describes the conditions in prisons, the harassment of Catholics at home and the gruesome manner of execution for treason. The work culminates in the arrest of the famous Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion, with rapidly revised versions bringing the narrative up to date after Campion's execution on 1 December 1581. Written in Latin to appeal to readers throughout Europe, it was translated into French, Italian and German, making it arguably the most important Latin martyrological work by an English Catholic of the Elizabethan period. This critical edition comprises the Latin text, English translation and commentary, and a textual history, appending additional material from the revised versions. Persons was actively involved in the drive to restore Roman Catholicism in England, as missionary strategist, controversialist and founder of English colleges abroad. He worked closely with the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Claudio Acquaviva, negotiating with Philip II of Spain, the Duke of Guise, the Duke of Parma and successive popes. Thanks to the growth of early modern British Catholic studies, his prolific and provocative English writings attract increasing scholarly attention, but his Latin texts have often been glossed over.




De persecutione Anglicana by Robert Persons S.J.


Book Description

Presenting the text of a notorious Jesuit attack on Queen Elizabeth I's treatment of her Catholic subjects, this volume highlights the European context of the English Reformation and Robert Persons's role as propagandist. In De persecutione Anglicana, Robert Persons (1546–1610) graphically describes the conditions in prisons, the harassment of Catholics at home and the gruesome manner of execution for treason. The work culminates in the arrest of the famous Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion, with rapidly revised versions bringing the narrative up to date after Campion's execution on 1 December 1581. Written in Latin to appeal to readers throughout Europe, it was translated into French, Italian and German, making it arguably the most important Latin martyrological work by an English Catholic of the Elizabethan period. This critical edition comprises the Latin text, English translation and commentary, and a textual history, appending additional material from the revised versions. Persons was actively involved in the drive to restore Roman Catholicism in England, as missionary strategist, controversialist and founder of English colleges abroad. He worked closely with the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Claudio Acquaviva, negotiating with Philip II of Spain, the Duke of Guise, the Duke of Parma and successive popes. Thanks to the growth of early modern British Catholic studies, his prolific and provocative English writings attract increasing scholarly attention, but his Latin texts have often been glossed over.




De Persecutione Anglicana by Robert Persons S.J.


Book Description

"De Persecutione Anglicana has been described as the most famous martyrological work by an English Catholic during the Reformation period and is presented here for the first time in an accessible authoritative edition. Robert Persons (1546-1610) was a Jesuit activist, controversialist, missionary strategist and educationist whose importance has become increasingly appreciated over the past decades thanks to the rapid growth of early modern British Catholic studies. His prolific work is well known and widely studied but his Latin writing is neglected as inaccessible to many scholars"--




Robert Persons S.J., The Christian Directory (1582): The First Booke of the Christian Exercise, Appertayning to Resolution


Book Description

This volume presents a critical edition of the immensely influential and popular first version of The Christian Directory, by the notorious Elizabethan Jesuit leader, Robert Persons. It was written during and immediately after the English Mission of 1580-1, which ended with the martyrdom of his companion Edmund Campion. Persons's work, originally entitled The First Booke of the Christian Exercise, appertayning to Resolution, attempts to persuade the reader to be resolved in the service of God. It deals with the motives and obstacles to such resolution. This edition includes a full apparatus of the alterations made to Persons's work by the Edmund Bunny, whose Protestant edition became an Elizabethan bestseller. It will be particularly useful to historians of the Catholic reformation and students of early modern English prose.




Catholic Resistance in Elizabethan England


Book Description

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 Societatis Iesu'.




The Arts of Remembrance in Early Modern England


Book Description

The early modern period inherited a deeply-ingrained culture of Christian remembrance that proved a platform for creativity in a remarkable variety of forms. From the literature of church ritual to the construction of monuments; from portraiture to the arrangement of domestic interiors; from the development of textual rites to drama of the contemporary stage, the early modern world practiced 'arts of remembrance' at every turn. The turmoils of the Reformation and its aftermath transformed the habits of creating through remembrance. Ritually observed and radically reinvented, remembrance was a focal point of the early modern cultural imagination for an age when beliefs both crossed and divided communities of the faithful. The Arts of Remembrance in Early Modern England maps the new terrain of remembrance in the post-Reformation period, charting its negotiations with the material, the textual and the performative.




De Persecutione Anglicana by Robert Persons S.J.


Book Description

Presenting the text of a notorious Jesuit attack on Queen Elizabeth I's treatment of her Catholic subjects, this volume highlights the European context of the English Reformation and Robert Persons's role as propagandist. In De persecutione Anglicana, Robert Persons (1546-1610) graphically describes the conditions in prisons, the harassment of Catholics at home and the gruesome manner of execution for treason. The work culminates in the arrest of the famous Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion, with rapidly revised versions bringing the narrative up to date after Campion's execution on 1 December 1581. Written in Latin to appeal to readers throughout Europe, it was translated into French, Italian and German, making it arguably the most important Latin martyrological work by an English Catholic of the Elizabethan period. This critical edition comprises the Latin text, English translation and commentary, and a textual history, appending additional material from the revised versions. Persons was actively involved in the drive to restore Roman Catholicism in England, as missionary strategist, controversialist and founder of English colleges abroad. He worked closely with the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Claudio Acquaviva, negotiating with Philip II of Spain, the Duke of Guise, the Duke of Parma and successive popes. Thanks to the growth of early modern British Catholic studies, his prolific and provocative English writings attract increasing scholarly attention, but his Latin texts have often been glossed over.







Radicals in Exile


Book Description

Facing persecution in early modern England, some Catholics chose exile over conformity. Some even cast their lot with foreign monarchs rather than wait for their own rulers to have a change of heart. This book studies the relationship forged by English exiles and Philip II of Spain. It shows how these expatriates, known as the “Spanish Elizabethans,” used the most powerful tools at their disposal—paper, pens, and presses—to incite war against England during the “messianic” phase of Philip’s reign, from the years leading up to the Grand Armada until the king’s death in 1598. Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez looks at English Catholic propaganda within its international and transnational contexts. He examines a range of long-neglected polemical texts, demonstrating their prominence during an important moment of early modern politico-religious strife and exploring the transnational dynamic of early modern polemics and the flexible rhetorical approaches required by exile. He concludes that while these exiles may have lived on the margins, their books were central to early modern Spanish politics and are key to understanding the broader narrative of the Counter-Reformation. Deeply researched and highly original, Radicals in Exile makes an important contribution to the study of religious exile in early modern Europe. It will be welcomed by historians of early modern Iberian and English politics and religion as well as scholars of book history.




De Persecutione Anglicana


Book Description

"De Persecutione Anglicana has been described as the most famous martyrological work by an English Catholic during the Reformation period and is presented here for the first time in an accessible authoritative edition. Robert Persons (1546-1610) was a Jesuit activist, controversialist, missionary strategist and educationist whose importance has become increasingly appreciated over the past decades thanks to the rapid growth of early modern British Catholic studies. His prolific work is well known and widely studied but his Latin writing is neglected as inaccessible to many scholars"--




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