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A Group of Political Tracts, 1621–1623, By Richard Verstegan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

A. F. Allison
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Extract

IN AN ARTICLE on Joseph Creswell S. J. published in this periodical in 1979,’ I referred, in the section dealing with Creswell's activities as editor of books intended for the English mission, to a group of anonymous tracts which I said were written by the Catholic layman, Richard Verstegan. As these tracts had never before been claimed for Verstegan, such a statement clearly required justification. The article had already grown very long, however, and the question of the authorship of the tracts was only incidental to my main theme. I decided to publish the evidence for Verstegan in a separate article rather than try to cram it into an extended note. My object now is to redeem the pledge made in Note 202 of my earlier article.

Type
Articles
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , October 1986 , pp. 128 - 142
Copyright
© 1986 Trustees of the Catholic Record Society and individual contributors

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References

Notes

1 ‘The Later Life and Writings of Joseph, Creswell S. J. (1556–1623)’, Recusant History, 15, pp. 79–144.Google Scholar See especially p. 130.

2 This paragraph is based on Petti1-3 and Petti5.

3 Berkshire Record Office (Reading), Trumbull MSS, Alphabetical Series, vol. 16, no. 92.

4 In this article I use the word ‘Flemish’ to denote the people of the Southern Provinces and the word ‘Dutch’ to denote those of the Northern Provinces. This is purely for convenience of description and refers to religious and political allegiance, not to ethnic or linguistic differences.

5 De spiegel is Petti4 nos. 21a-b .

6 See Rogers, D. M. ‘Henry Jaye (157–1643)’, 1951, Biographical Studies (forerunner of Recusant History), 1, pp. 86–111.Google Scholar See also Petti’, p. 286.

7 Petti4 no. 15.

8 Petti’ p. 359.

9 Petti4 no. 6.

10 Petti4 Part Authorship no. a3.

11 For the incident, see Cal. S.P.D., 1619–23, pp. 243–44; A.P.C., 1619–21, p. 373; Cal. S.P. Venice, 1621–23, pp. 20, 31; Birch, T. The Court and Times of James the First, 1848, vol. 2, pp. 247–49.Google Scholar

12 The fable appears to have originated in the early 16th century. See O.E.D. under ‘Catsfoot’.

13 Frederick was crowned at Prague on 4 November 1618.

14 See The Prester John of the Indies … being the narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Ethiopiain 1520, Cambridge, 1961 (Hakluyt Society, 2nd series, vols. 114–115), vol. 1, pp. 148, etc. The original Portuguese was first printed at Lisbon in 1540. Versions in French, German and Spanish had appeared in the course of the 16th century but no English translation was published until 1881.

15 There is a copy in the University Library, Amsterdam. See Bibliotheek der Universiteit van Amsterdam, Boeken en brochures over de Roomsch-Katholieke Kerk, 1901, p. 7. The British Library has photocopies from Amsterdam both of the Anatomie and of the Placcaet which provoked it. I have tentatively identified the printer of the Anatomie as Guilliam Lesteens of Antwerp on the grounds of its typographical similarity to the Characteren which Lesteens printed for Verstegan in 1619 (Petti4 nos. 17a-b). Further work needs to be done before a firm conclusion can be reached.

16 See note 15.

17 I was mistaken in saying in my article on Creswell (p. 130) that the translator's preface is unsigned.

18 Petti4 nos. 4a-i.

19 See Anstruther, G. Vaux of Harrowden, 1953, pp. 431–36.Google Scholar

20 Petti5.

21 Petti4 no. 25. Petti’ (pp. 369–72).