Romances of No-Popery: Transnational Anti-Catholicism in Giuseppe Garibaldi's The Rule of the Monk and Benjamin Disraeli's Lothair

Through an analysis of Conservative British politician Benjamin Disraeli's Lothair (1870) and Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi's The Rule of the Monk (1870), this article highlights the connections between anti-Catholic literature and anti-Catholic politics in Victorian Britain and reveals how a diverse set of transnational actors simultaneously shaped and utilized British anti-Catholic discourses. It argues that not only did anti-Catholicism motivate British support for the Risorgimento, but the actors and events of the Risorgimento and the Papal response to it informed and reinforced popular anti-Catholic beliefs.