The Scots College, Spain, 1767-1780: Memoirs of the Translation of the Scotch College from Madrid to Valladolid by John Geddes

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Scots College, Spain, 1767-1780: Memoirs of the Translation of the Scotch College from Madrid to Valladolid by John Geddes John Watts The Scots College, Spain, 1767-1780: Memoirs of the Translation of the Scotch College from Madrid to Valladolid. By John Geddes. Compiled by Michael Briody. (Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. 2015. Pp. 202. €17,00; £15.00 paperback. ISBN 978-84-16066-61-2.) The Catholic Church was almost wiped out in Scotland at the Reformation, surviving only as a tiny remnant, poor, illegal, and persecuted. Because of the dangers [End Page 596] at home Scottish seminaries were established in several Catholic cities abroad, whence priests could return to lead the slow rebuilding. One was in Madrid, where a property had been gifted to the Scots for this purpose in 1627. It was administered by the Jesuits, and when in 1767 that Society was expelled from Spain it passed into the custody of the Spanish Crown. Three years elapsed before the Scottish bishops sought to save their College, by which time it was about to fall into the hands of the Irish. The priest they sent over to Spain, Mr. John Geddes, had the delicate task of securing their right to the College against rival claimants, and at the same time to effect its transfer from Madrid to the more congenial climate of Valladolid. He was only 34 and had no knowledge of Spain or Spanish. But in every other respect he was an ideal choice—energetic, mature beyond his years, a consummate tactician, meticulous, patient yet dogged, and with a winning integrity and charm. Few could have picked their way through the labyrinths of bureaucracy and opposition that he encountered, but he succeeded: in spring 1771 the College re-opened in Valladolid with himself as rector. But it would take a further eight years before all the old College's possessions were recovered and every loose end tied up. In autumn 1779 John Geddes was appointed bishop for the Lowland District of Scotland, and a year later he returned home to take up his new post. The full story of the long negotiations between 1770 and 1779 is chronicled in Memoirs of the Translation of the Scots College from Madrid to Valladolid, which he penned during his last months in Spain for the benefit of future rectors and his fellow Scottish bishops. It is a remarkable document, running to almost 70,000 words and so detailed that one must assume that he had kept a diary of all his meetings, journeys, and correspondence throughout those years, on which he based the work. The text would probably prove somewhat "prolix and minute" for the casual reader, as he himself noted; but for the historian it provides an invaluable resource. And his fear that it might read like "coarse bulky ore," which he would have sifted and refined had time permitted, is quite unwarranted: in fact, it is fluently argued, measured, and written with authority and style, as one would expect of the man. Father Michael Briody, himself a Valladolid alumnus, has performed an important service in transcribing and editing the Memoirs. for publication. To accompany the text he provides an introduction, explanatory notes, and further useful information—including, for example, brief sketches of Geddes' first students, some of whom later became key figures in the Catholic Church both in Scotland and the New World. He does not offer a bibliography, but the footnotes include several published sources to which the reader may refer in order to fill out the religious and political background. The detailed "Summary of the Contents" of Geddes' text is especially helpful for finding one's way quickly to particular events or protagonists. The volume is most attractively presented and illustrated. It will be warmly welcomed as an excellent addition to the corpus of works now available on the [End Page 597] Scots Colleges in Europe, and will be required reading for every serious student of the Scottish Catholic Church in the Penal era. John Watts Addiewell, West Lothian, Scotland Copyright © 2017 The Catholic University of America Press