History in Action: The Case of Pedro de Ribadaneyra's Historia ecclesiastica del scisma de Inglaterra

Abstract

In 1588, Spanish Jesuit Pedro de Ribadeneyra published his Historia ecclesiastica del scisma de Inglaterra. The book was the most important polemic against England and in favour of the Armada to be published in the Spanish world. Although the book was popular and of indubitable political import, it has often been ignored. This article will suggest that while the Scisma was derivative, and although we might be tempted to classify it as mere propaganda, it is worthy of sustained attention. It, and books like it, deserve careful readings if we want to have a more textured understanding of the period's polemical battles, and a better sense of the complexities that often lay hidden just beneath the surface. This article will demonstrate that the Scisma was ‘doing’ several things. I will suggest that it was much more than anti-English propaganda, but, among other things, was meant to counsel Spaniards as well.