Rookwood Family Papers, 1606–1761 ed. by Francis Young (review)

The Rookwood family papers give a significant insight into the economic, social, and political lives of a substantial Catholic family in early modern England. In the access it gives to many of those papers, this edited collection will prove helpful to a wide range of scholars of early modern Catholicism.

As Francis Young's introduction to the volume points out, the Rookwoods of Coldham Hall in Stanningfield, Suffolk, were a remarkable family who managed to maintain their Catholicism in spite of contemporary penal legislation and an association with treason that started with Ambrose Rookwood's involvement with the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, and was revived with his great-grandson's embroilment with an attempt on the king in 1696. On either side of these moments of political intrigue the family struggled and, through a combination of pleading, legal manoeuvring, and dedication to their religious practice, succeeded in maintaining their estate, religion, and position in local society with relatively little disruption. In the detail it gives of legal measures and estate matters this collection of papers will be of especial interest to those seeking to understand the practicalities of Catholic survival in this period. The collection also throws light on the local and domestic life of the family in the first half of the eighteenth century; this serves as a welcome encouragement to scholars to pursue the social and economic history of English Catholicism in this still under-studied period.

Of particular note are transcriptions of the 1737 inventory of the contents of Coldham Hall (document 31) and the list of English Catholic books and manuscripts in the library (document 32). The former is valuable as a presentation of both Catholic domestic devotional culture and of the use of domestic objects to display social status. The entries in the inventory are in some instances quite detailed, giving, in addition to the value of the objects, indications of how and where pictures were hung and framed, and of the materials, design, and location of purchase of some of the tableware and furniture recorded. Among these are a number of Japanned objects as well as fine china teaware, indicating engagement with the fashions and growing market for consumer objects in the first half of the eighteenth century. The substantial list of books recorded in the same year will also be of interest for historians of collecting, and Young's assignation of reference numbers to each book should greatly improve the ease with which scholars can use and refer to this collection as an example of Catholic reading practices. It should be noted that Young has transcribed only the names of volumes identifiable as English Catholic Books; there are nearly 1,400 more books and pamphlets listed in the original manuscript that cover themes such as contemporary politics, history, gardening, travel, and housekeeping which may be of interest to other scholars. Nevertheless, this transcription does a significant service to those researching Catholic reading practices and the book trade in this period.

In combination with Young's lively and detailed introduction to the family at the beginning of the volume, this collection of a large proportion of the papers pertaining to the Rookwoods over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is a rich resource that should provide a helpful stimulus to further scholarship on English Catholicism in this period.