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William Leslie, Henry Howard and Lord Arlington 1666–67

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

T. A. Birrell
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Extract

In a previous article in Recusant History (Jan. 1958), passing reference was made to two substantial documents by William Leslie (about 20,000 words in all) in Public Record Office: ‘A Relation of the Cardinals of the Court of Rome’ and ‘Concerning the affairs of Rome in relation to England’ (PRO SP 9/203/7, 8 and 9). They are part of the archives of Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, Secretary of State 1662-74, and have been endorsed by Arlington's secretary, Joseph Williamson, in the form: ‘This was a copy of a paper written to Mr Henry Howard of Norfolk 1667 by one Leslie, a Scottish priest at Rome, and by him for his own discharge communicated to my Lord Arlington, with renunciation of all such correspondences for the future.’

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , October 1989 , pp. 469 - 483
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1988

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References

Notes

1 The principal printed sources for Leslie's life and activities are Hay's, M. V. two books, The Jesuits and the Popish Plot, (London 1934)Google Scholar and Failure in the Far East (Wetteren 1957). Hay also uses Leslie's correspondence with Howard, but from a different angle to my own: he was not aware of the documents in the PRO. Hay should be supplemented by Metzler, J. (ed), Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide Memoria Rerum 1662-1972, Rome 1971, vol. I Google Scholar part I, which contains J. Metzler, ‘Die Kongregation in des Zweiten Hälfte des 17 Jahrhunderts’ and R. Wiltgen, ‘Propaganda is placed in charge of the Pontifical Colleges’. Leslie's threat to leave Rome for England (ostensibly Scotland) in May 1665 is corroborated by Giblin, C. ‘The Acta of Propaganda Archives and the Scottish Mission’, Innes Review, V (1954) 70.Google Scholar

2 A selection of Leslie's letters to Pallu and Gazil is in Launay, A. Documents Historiques relatifs à la Société des Missions Etrangères, Vannes 1904, I 248–83;Google Scholar there is one letter of Pallu to Leslie in Launay, A. Lettres de Mgr. Pallu, Angoulême 1905, I 127.Google Scholar

3 Letters to and from Leslie and the Dutch secular clergy are in the State Archives at Utrecht: they have been inventoried in J. Bruggeman, Inventaris van de Archieven by het Metropolitaan Kapittel van Utrecht van de Roomsch Katholieke Kerk der Oud Bisschoppelyke Clerezie, ‘s-Gravenhage 1928 (this book is not in the British Library).

4 The basic facts on the Howards are in Vicary, Gibbs (ed), Complete Peerage, London 1910.Google Scholar

5 There are several medical reports (from 1655 to 1667) on Thomas Howard in Arundel Castle Archives, Original Letters 1632-1723, ff.385, 392, 394 (on 24 January 1655 Sir Thomas Browne certifies that he is ‘a madman and outragious’), 395, 397, 401—they make very painful reading.

6 Rutt, J. T. (ed) Diary of Thomas Burton, London 1828, IV 301 & 369;Google Scholar Bethel, S. Interest of the Princes and States of Europe, London 1694, 341;Google Scholar Davies, G. Restoration of Charles II, London 1955, 47;Google Scholar Davies, G. ‘The Election of Richard Cromwell's Parliament 1658-59’, English Historical Review LXIII (1948) 493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Bodley Ms Clarendon 72 f. 146; 73 f. 67-68; Charles IPs letter was apparently sent to other royalists as well. Howard was particulary disliked by John Vet. Mordaunt and Sir Philip Warwick: see Coate, M. (ed) Letterbook of John Vet. Mordaunt 1658-60, Camden Soc. 3rd. series, LXIX (1945) 65;Google Scholar Calendar of Clarendon State Papers, IV 200, 235, 281, 275, V 25; Hardacre, P. H. The Royalists during the Puritan Revolution, The Hague 1950, p. 136 Google Scholar sq. There is an interesting defence of Howard's conduct at the end of the Protectorate in J. A., A Vindication of the Roman Catholics, London 1660 (Wing C. 611); this has been wrongly attributed to Redmond Caron by Thomas Grenville, and Grenville's misattribution has been taken over by all subsequent bibliographers.

8 i.e. Scottish Catholic Archives BL1/33 and 35. In May 1666 Howard had stayed a fortnight in Florence with Sir John Finch, English Resident in Tuscany, who reported to Clarendon on his visit: cf Bodley MS Clarendon 84, ff. 148-9, 232-3.

9 i.e. Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610-62), a protégé of the Barberinis; two of his paintings are at Hampton Court: cf Thieme, U. & Becker, F. Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenden Künstler, Leipzig 1902, XXVIII 544.Google Scholar

10 Tierney, M. A. The History … of Arundel, London 1834, II 524–5.Google Scholar

11 Cardinal Maculani OP died in Rome 16 February 1667: Leslie describes him as still living. For basic facts on the Cardinals, see Gauchat, P. Hierarchia Catholica, vol. IV (1592–1667), Monasterii 1935.Google Scholar

12 The ‘squadrone volante’ can best be translated in 17th century parliamentary terminology as ‘Trimmers’, i.e. their object was to ‘trim the boat’ and keep it steady by using their votes to achieve a balance between the pro-French and pro-Spanish factions: this is not the same as being neutral or indifferent. Leslie says of Cardinal Albizzi that he was formerly of the ‘squadrone volante’ but is now neutral.

13 Recusant History IV (1958) 163. On 3 March 1643, Giovanni Battista Pallotta, aged 17 Vi, from the Marches of Ancona, was admitted as convictor to the English College, Rome, at the urgent request of his uncle, Cardinal Pallotta: see Foley, H. Records SJ, London 1880, VI, 358 & 624.Google Scholar

14 Pastor, L. History of the Popes, London 1957, xxxi, 1–9.Google Scholar

15 Recusant History IV (1958) 152 states that Howard was ‘delating Leslie's letters to the Secretary of State’: this is not of course true.

16 See notes 1 and 17.

17 Metzler, J. ‘Päpstlichen Primat als Pastorale Verantwortung und Missionarischer Auftrag in früher Dokumenten der Propaganda-Kongregation’ in Schwaiger, G. (ed), Konzil und Papst … Festgabefür Hermann Tüchle, München 1975, 373–86.Google Scholar