English Reformation and English catholic historians, 1790-1940

Abstract

The aim of this work is to trace the development of Roman Catholic historical writing on the English Reformation from the years 1790 to 1940. This period embraces consecutive extremes in the experience of the English Catholic community: Cisalpinism in the first place, followed by Ultramontanism.. Catholic histories written during this period reflect the transition between the two, and show which issues in the sixteenth century excited the concern of later generations of Catholics.

For them the English Reformation was not only the most important event in English history, but a touchstone for problems in their own day, providing reasons why these problems had arisen and suggesting possible solutions. Cisalpine historians, writing in the early part of the nineteenth century, concerned themselves with the English Reformation for its implications for the cause of Catholic Emancipation. They therefore turned their attention almost exclusively to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and were anxious to show that the issues which had provoked accusations of disloyalty and the penal legislation of the reign were no longer an obstacle to improved relations. Elizabeth was perceived by these writers as a benign monarch who had been forced to repress Catholicism because of the belligerent stance of both the pope and the Society of Jesus.

Once Catholic Emancipation was granted in 1829, this conciliatory tone began to be replaced by a more assertive approach, which saw the pope as an innocent victim and Elizabeth as a calculating tyrant. In addition, other contemporary issues arose which caused Catholic historians to look elsewhere in the Reformation for explanatory factors. The Romantic revival brought about a re-examination of the state of the monasteries at the time of the dissolution. The Oxford Movement resulted in a closer look at the Reformation in terms of continuity; and for the Oxford converts the Reformation became a theological rather than a political revolution. Symptomatically the Anglican liturgy of the reign of Edward VI became the focus of the debate on Anglican Orders and the possible reunion of churches. The restoration of the Jesuits in England in 1829, and their subsequent growth, resulted in a re-interpretation of the role of the Jesuits in Elizabethan England.

Catholic historical writing between 1790-19^0 reveals as much, if not more, about the period in which it was written than it does about the English Reformation. Yet, if Christopher Dawson is correct, we will not know the Catholicism of the nineteenth century until we know the history that it has written.