Dislocation and Record-Keeping: The Counter Archives of the Catholic Diaspora

Abstract

When early eighteenth-century English Catholics looked back on the first wave of exiles in the sixteenth century, they remarked specifically on the importance of writing and record-keeping. Though they were otherwise vicious opponents in their attempts to discredit the other's Catholic party, both the Jesuit Thomas Hunter and the secular priest Charles Dodd agreed that the sixteenth-century expatriate Robert Persons continued to participate in the mission through writing. Hunter celebrated the reputation of his predecessor in the Society of Jesus, stating that: He [Robert Persons] was look'd upon by all, as the chief Support of Religion in England; hence no Endeavours were wanting to apprehend him, and because the Means made use of for this End brought grevous Inconveniencies upon most Catholick Families, it was thought proper, he should withdraw for some Time out of the Nation. There was another Motive which hasten'd his Return into France, viz. That he might both find Time to Write, and Convenience to Print what was necessary for the Defence of Religion. 1 Even Dodd, whose assessment of Persons was generally negative, granted that Persons' contribution to the mission was not yet at an end when he left the country following Campion's execution. He stated that 'Providence might have a Design in this Flight of his to enable him to carry on the same Work with less Danger, yet equally contributing to the good work of Religion'. 2 Thus Dodd and Hunter were convinced that the written record allowed the expatriate Persons to continue his participation in English developments. The exchange between these two early eighteenth-century English Catholics highlights the point that the interpretation of the recent past was ? I am very grateful for thoughtful comments on earlier drafts by Jennifer Bishop, Tom Hamilton, Kate Peters, Tom Tölle and Alexandra Walsham. This essay has also benefited greatly from helpful audiences in Cambridge, Dublin, London, Oxford and Sheffield. 1 Thomas Hunter, A Modest Defence of the Clergy and Religious against R.C.'s History of Doway ([London], 1714), 16. 2 Charles Dodd, The Secret Policy of the English Society of Jesus: Discover'd in a Series of Attempts against the Clergy (London, 1717), 103. Past and Present (2016), Supplement 11 ß The Past and Present Society at Benedictine Archives, through the Eyes of Bro. Benet Weldon', Catholic Archives, vi (1986). Christopher Grene is extensively discussed by John Morris, The Troubles of Our Catholic Forefathers (London, 1872). The 'Collectanea' were recently the topic of research in Andrew Czaja, 'Catholic History and Memory in Christopher Grene's Collectanea' (Univ. of Cambridge M.Phil. thesis, 2013). John Knaresborough does not even have an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. His collections are mentioned in Alison F. Shell, Oral Culture and Catholicism in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2007), 119, 142. 4 Archives of the British Province of the Society of Jesus, London (hereafter ABPSJ),

"Flowers of Fathers": Resistance and Consolation in a Catholic Manuscript Compilation, Bodleian MSS. Eng. th. b. 1–2

“…As recent work has made clear, early modern Catholics were concerned with record-keeping and compiling materials to support present and future resistance to Protestant defamation, continuing a tradition of memorialization which had begun with the early Church. 95 In England, this tradition also supported the hope that the Catholic Church would be restored. That the marginalia on the subject of Antichrist are contained within one book in one volume and restricted to two leaves could suggest that the alphabetical structure served as a practical index, that this reader was interested in Antichrist on the day, or days, when he or she consulted the manuscript and made the annotations.…”

Writing Mobile Lives, 1500–1700

“…'Life-writing' could also be found, loosely defined, in the way text, objects, and images were put together as a collection, as if reinvented as material outcomes of the travellers' mobility (Nunn 2020). Further traces of travellers' mobile lives lurk in many places: in archives and court records, and in 'material texts' that do not at first glance seem to contain much about either travels or life writing, as demonstrated by recent work on early modern record-keeping practices and confessional mobility (Corens, Peters, and Walsham 2016;Corens 2016;Corens 2018;Corens 2022).…”

“… Moryson, An Itinerary (1617): III. 12-13.52 For studies of mobility, where practices of recording have been centred see for exampleCorens 2018, Corens 2016Williams 2019. …”

Arquivos deslocados

“…Arquivos que se encontram na custódia de instituições estrangeiras, especialmente junto das comunidades na diáspora (judias, exilados, emigrantes em geral), com maior incidência para arquivos privados. (Grimsted, 1993a;Wurl, 2005;Corens, 2016;Schenkolewski-Kroll, 2016;Niessen, 2018) Recuperação de arquivos/documentos públicos na posse de privados EUA Intranacional Mecanismos de recuperação de arquivos/documentos na posse de privados, por furto, roubo ou apropriação ilícita. (Rhoads, 1966;O'Neill, 1979;Mattern, 2016) (Boserup, 2005;Delva, 2018;Frick, 2015;Grimsted, 2010b;Heuman, 2013;Hilder, 2012;Hill, 2017;Iacovino, 2010;Kahunde, 2012;Lancefield, 1998;Maaba, 2008;Nannyonga- Treloyn et al, 2016;Vallier, 2010)…”