Newsletters From the Archpresbyterate of George Birkhead (review)

Newsletters From the Archpresbyterate of George Birkhead. Edited by Michael C. Questier. [Camden Fifth Series, Volume 12.] (New York: Cambridge University Press for the Royal Historical Society. 1998. Pp. xiv, 307. $64.95.)

George Birkhead was appointed Archpriest, in modern terms, the administrative head, of the English secular clergy in late 1608, following Rome's dismissal of George Blackwell, his predecessor, who had been coerced into taking the oath of allegiance imposed by King James. Until his death in early April, 1614, Birkhead and his assistant clergy wrote newsletters to their agent in Rome, who relied on this information to prepare reports and petitions to the Papal Curia on their behalf. Although these officials obviously had other sources, these newsletters retained a unique role as a guide to the state of English Catholicism and the outlook of its clergy's leadership. In his highly informed introduction, Dr. Questier noted that these writers rarely focused on routine polemical or ecclesiastical affairs. Instead they ranged widely in their choice, but normally "one obtains a Catholic gloss" on the items (p. 34), so that there is revealed "a great deal about the clerical network" behind the letters, as well as "how English Catholicism worked politically." For this edition, Questier has selected fifty-six very interesting letters written during Birkhead's tenure, which have been preserved in the archives of the Archdiocese of Westminster, fifteen of which are in Birkhead's own hand, though signed with an alias. It is clear that he regularly advised his priests to avoid the oath of allegiance and quietly advised them not to be optimistic about their petition to Rome for an English bishop at least during these years. Gratified by his diligent performance while enduring ill health, the Roman Curia raised him to the rank of protonotary. The agent in Rome, who was responsible from late 1610 to 1614 for relaying these reports, was Thomas More, a descendant of the martyred chancellor, and a relative of the 2nd Viscount Montague, who sheltered the archpriest at his Sussex estate. Father More's valuable summaries of this correspondence for the Curia do not survive, but readers will discover that an unusual variety of issues were touched upon. For instance, there was an animus among some (not all) of the clergy against the Jesuit presence in England which was the source of petitions to have Rome recall them from Britain. Other letters describe some secret diplomatic overtures at Catholic courts on the continent to find a consort for James's heir, Prince Henry, despite his known disapproval of a Catholic match. Others give bulletins about the little-known activities of Catholic diplomats at the courts of both Queen Anne and King James. Above all, the letters provided firsthand evidence of the martyrdoms which edified not only Rome but the Catholic reading public on the continent, for they stressed that the victims suffered for religion and not treason as English diplomats argued. This unwanted publicity remained an embarrassment to James and prodded him to have a more tolerant policy. With meticulous footnotes on every page to give the context, or the identities, of unfamiliar events Dr. Questier has produced a new primary source for the religious and social history of the Catholics in the first decade of James I.

Albert J. Loomie, S.J.
Fordham University

...