Pedro de Ribadeneyra's 'Ecclesiastical History of the Schism of the Kingdom of England': A Spanish Jesuit's History of the English Reformation ed. by Spencer J. Weinreich

Abstract

Reviewed by: Pedro de Ribadeneyra's 'Ecclesiastical History of the Schism of the Kingdom of England': A Spanish Jesuit's History of the English Reformation ed. by Spencer J. Weinreich Victor Houliston Pedro de Ribadeneyra's 'Ecclesiastical History of the Schism of the Kingdom of England': A Spanish Jesuit's History of the English Reformation. Edited and translated by Spencer J. Weinreich. [Jesuit Studies, volume 8.] (Leiden and Boston: Brill. 2017. Pp. xxvi, 839. $253.00. ISBN 978-90-04-32395-7.) Spencer J. Weinreich describes his translation of Ribadeneyra's Historia ecclesiastica as a "labor of love" (p. 103), springing from a desire to commend its merits and interest to scholars. Some have dismissed the Historia as a rhetorical monstrosity, of little value in its own right, useful only as a source of information about Spanish attitudes to England, the run-up to the Armada of 1588, and curiosities and myths of English reformation history. Weinreich urges us not to raid the work but to read it as a whole. His fluent and readable translation is an admirable incentive. Why, then, should we read the Historia? Most English-language scholarship has treated the First Part (1588) as an adaptation of Nicholas Sander's De schismate Anglicano (1585; revised and expanded 1586) and an extension of William Allen and Robert Persons's project to raise awareness of the plight of Catholics in England and drum up support for the Armada. But, as Weinreich argues in the introduction, it is important to see it as a Spanish work in a Spanish context. It elaborates a Spanish vision of English tyranny and Catholic martyrdom, and its Second Part (1593) reflects on the failure of the Armada, complementing Ribadeneyra's Tratado de la tribulacion (1589). If we read it as a continuous narrative-cum-treatise, suspending judgment on historical accuracy and impartiality, we are able to engage with a compelling version of how the English reformation appeared to a devout continental observer. The perspective is largely shared with English exiles such as Sander, Allen, and Persons, but the eulogies of Catherine of Aragon, Mary Tudor, and Mary Queen of Scots, and the prefatory epistles to the future King Philip III, give it a Spanish edge. The description of Mary Stuart's sad end left Luis de Granada in tears. The First Part goes beyond even the English source in its anticipation of the Armada. It dramatizes the state of England on the brink of ruin, after all the folly, injustice, and profanation of reform. It is intended as a final snapshot before divine retribution overwhelms the kingdom—and so it stimulates the historical imagination, to see events through partial contemporary eyes and to envisage what might have been. The Second Part deserves more attention than it has received thus far. [End Page 550] It does not offer a continuation of the narrative from 1588 to 1593, but focuses on the royal proclamation of 1591 against seminary priests and Jesuits, defending the seminaries, excoriating Leicester and Burghley, commiserating Hatton, and portraying Queen Elizabeth at her worst. It is largely a recension of Persons's so-called Philopater (1592), a work that is also badly in need of translation. But what distinguishes Ribadeneyra's version is that the argument about the legitimacy of English Catholic resistance is embedded in a profound and often moving meditation on the experience of defeat. Weinreich's extensive introduction ranges widely from biography to textual history and the treatment of women. The account of the 1586 edition of Sander's De schismate Anglicano, Ribadeneyra's chief source, is particularly welcome, because so much writing about Sander's book focuses on the less influential 1585 edition. The treatment of historical, biographical, and bibliographical context is extremely thorough, in both the introduction and the annotations. Weinreich's diligence re-introduces an eloquent voice into the debate about late sixteenth-century European politics and religious history. Victor Houliston University of the Witwatersrand Copyright © 2018 The Catholic University of America Press