Newsletters from the archpresbyterate of George Birkhead

This volume contains a series of Jacobean newsletters written by members of one of the most important Catholic clerical factions of the period. They shed light primarily on matters which most immediately affected the English Catholic community: the strife between different Catholic factions, the conflict between Catholics and the State (especially over the Jacobean oath of allegiance), and the possibility, nevertheless, of obtaining some form of toleration. They also give us Catholic glosses on other news which could be taken to have a bearing on the prospects of English Catholics, such as Court politics, the conduct of Jacobean foreign policy towards European Catholic states, and controversies within the Church of England. This previously unpublished material, extensively annotated by Michael Questier, provides highly illuminating source material for the study of early modern ecclesiastical politics.