Apocalyptic Satire, James II and Transubstantiation: Pulpit, Polemics and the Declaration of Indulgence

Abstract

AbstractApocalyptic satire laments the collapse of a culture, a nation or a religion – or all of these. The speaker uses images of ruins, deluges and infectious diseases but fails to correct vice. The exception is Protestant, especially Anglican, resistance to James II's Declaration of Indulgence. Opponents focused on Transubstantiation as an emblem of James's absolutism, savaged Catholic convert John Dryden and feared that James might also demand that priests ‘read an Homily for Transubstantiation’. To avoid apocalypse, the satirists sought to change the king's behaviour, as in this rare case they did by changing the king.