Book Description

John Donne published Pseudo-Martyr in 1610, at a moment of extreme political tension between London and Rome. It was an attempt to convince English Roman Catholics that they could remain loyal to the spiritual authority of Rome and still take the oath of allegiance to the British Crown and avoid persecution. Donne, brought up as a Catholic and trained as a lawyer, argued his case by appealing to precedents from the body of canon and civil law in existence since the beginning of Christian civilization. Pseudo-Martyr is thus a vast survey of relations between church and state from the days of the early church to 1600. Donne also drew detailed historical parallels between crises in medieval and contemporary times and the particular dilemma of Catholics in England to prove that a compromise of loyalties was possible and acceptable.