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IV. John Lingard and the Simancas Archives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2010

Edwin Jones
Edwin Jones
Affiliation:
Headmaster of St Joseph's R.C. Comprehensive School, Baglan Moors, Port Talbot
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Extract

John Lingard (1771–1851) was the first English historian to attempt to look at the history of England in the sixteenth century from an international point of view. He was unconvinced by the story of the Reformation in England as found in the works of previous historians such as Burnet and Hume, and believed that new light needed to be thrown on the subject. One way of doing this was to look at English history from the outside, so to speak, and Lingard held it to be a duty of the historian ‘to contrast foreign with native authorities, to hold the balance between them with an equal hand, and, forgetting that he is an Englishman, to judge impartially as a citizen of the world’. In pursuit of this ideal Lingard can be said to have given a new dimension to the source materials for English history. As parish priest in the small village of Hornby, near Lancaster, Lingard had few opportunities for travel. But he made good use of his various friends and former pupils at Douai and Ushaw colleges who were settled now in various parts of Europe. It was with the help of these friends that Lingard made contacts with and gained valuable information from archives in France, Italy and Spain. We shall concern ourselves here only with the story of Lingard's contacts with the great Spanish State Archives at Simancas.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , 1967 , pp. 57 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

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References

1 Lingard, J., History of England (4th ed. 1837), Preface, p. vi.Google Scholar

2 Merriman, R. B., The Rise of the Spanish Empire (1925), III, 99, n. 2Google Scholar ; (1934), iv, 284. See also Davies, R. Trevor, The Golden Century of Spain 1501-1621 (1937), pp. 49–50Google Scholar.

3 For these details, see Correspondence de Philippe II sur Les Affaires des Pays-Bas: D'Apres les Originaux Conserve's dans Les Archives Royales de Simancas, ed. Gachard, M. (1848), I, Notice Historique et Descriptive, pp. 43–8Google Scholar . M. Gachard adds that ‘De tous les historiens et chronistes espagnols, Geronimo de Zurita, qui ecrivit, sous les regnes de Charles-Quint et de Philippe II, en qualite de chroniste d’Aragon, l'histoire de ce royaume…paralt avoir et6 le seul qui ait eu acces aux archives de Simancas' (op. cit. p. 50 n. 1).

4 Butterfield, H., Man on His Past (Cambridge, 1955), p. 79.Google Scholar

5 ‘I have no doubt that from about 1480 to the end of the first quarter of the seventeenth century the Archives of Simancas surpass all the other archives I am acquainted with’ ( Bergenroth's, G. A. letter to The Athenaeum, no. 1721, 20 10 1860, p. 518Google Scholar ). He added, however, that the Roman archives which he had not seen ‘may be richer’.

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12 Philippe II. Correspondance sur les affaires des Pays-Bas, ed. Gachard, L. P. (5 vols., Brussels, 1848-1879). AlsoGoogle ScholarColecdon de Documentos Ine'ditos para la historia de Espana, ed. Navarrete, M. F. and others (112 vols. Madrid, 1842-1895)Google Scholar.

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18 Cf.' Yours is the only history I can rely upon-The herd of historians follow in the same track-the error of the first is copied throughout' (Sir Cuthbert Sharp to Lingard, 6 May 1837, Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence N-Y Miscellaneous 1806-51, B. 2). Sharp was the author of Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569, which was published in 1840.

19 Ushaw MS., Lingard Transcripts, B. 11, Lingard to Kirk, 15 July 1819.

20 Gerónimo de Zurita (1512-80), who was patiently zealous' in the search and use of manuscripts' and a founder of ‘critical historical scholarship in Spain’ ( , Merriman, op. cit. IV, 482–3)Google Scholar.

21 Juan de Mariana (1532-1624), who had ‘modern views of contemporary affairs’ ( , Merriman, op. cit. IV, 483)Google Scholar.

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23 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence F-M 1805-48, Cameron to Sherburne, Valladolid, 20 May 1820.

24 Cf. Tytler, P. F., Life of Henry VIII (edition of 1851), p. 20. this work had been first published in 1837; alsoGoogle ScholarFroude, J. A., History of England (1870), 1, 117Google Scholar.

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26 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence, F-M 1805-48, Cameronto Sherburne, Valladolid, 20 May 1820 (forwarded to Lingard).

27 , Lingard, History of England (6th ed. 1883 reprint), iv, 328-9 and n. 2.Google Scholar

28 Cf. the account of this episode in , Merriman, op. cit. (1918), 11, 142, 276, 318, 321–2Google Scholar ; and in Elton, G. R., England Under The Tudors (1955), pp. 39–41Google Scholar . A modern scholar has noticed that' as from Lingard it became increasingly clear that scholarship endorsed many of the contentions on the Catholic side of the agelong argument whether or not certain crucial events had occurred: for example (1) the Catholic contention that the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur had not been consummated, and that the lawfulness of Henry VIII's marriage had been generally endorsed' ( Wormald, B. H. G., ‘The Historio-graphy of the English Reformation’, in Historical Studies, 1 (1958), 56)Google Scholar.

29 Ushaw MS., Lingard Transcripts B. 11, Lingard to Kirk, 25 Nov. 1820.

30 , Lingard, op. cit. IV, 335, n. 2Google Scholar . Writing to his publisher in 1820, Lingard had to explain the spelling and meaning of the word ‘Simancas’-so unfamiliar were these Archives to Englishmen (Ushaw MS., Lingard to Mawman B.3, letter m. 4, dated 1820).

31 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence F-N 1805-48, Cameron to Lingard (through the medium of Sherburne who forwarded it to Lingard), Valladolid, 10 Jan. 1823.

32 Leaders of the ‘Spanish Party’ among the English Catholics of Elizabeth's reign. Persons was the founder of the English missionary college at Valladolid in 1589.

33 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence N-Y Miscellaneous 1806-51, 11, Sherburne to Lingard, 19 Feb. 1823.

34 Davies, R. Trevor, The Golden Century of Spain 1501-1621, p. 118.Google Scholar

35 , Froude, History of England (1856-1870)Google Scholar ; , Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic (1855)Google Scholar ; , Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II (Boston, 1855-1858)Google Scholar . Cf. , Merriman, op. cit. IV, 73–4Google Scholar . For the part played by nationalism in English historical writing in Lingard's day, see Peardon, T. P., The Transition in English Historical Writing 1760-1830 (New York, 1933), ch. VIGoogle Scholar.

36 Turner, Sharon, The History of the Reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary and Elizabeth (2nd ed. 1829), IV, 141, n. 1.Google Scholar

37 Dimock, A., ‘The Conspiracy of Dr Lopez’, English Historical Review, IX (1894), 471.Google Scholar

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40 See , Lingard, History (6th ed. 1883), VI, 513, vi, 497, v, 469.Google Scholar

41 , Lingard, op. cit. (4th ed. 1838), VIII, 56 n. +. Cf. the first edition (1823), V, 299, n. 82.Google Scholar

42 See below, p. 72.

43 , Lingard, op. cit. (6th ed. 1883 reprint), VI, 226-7.Google Scholar

44 Ibid. p. 228 and n. 1, 282, Appendix, p. 685. Cf. H. Butterfield, Man On His Past, pp. 175, 185, 191.

45 , Lingard, op. cit. VI, 497–8Google Scholar ; cf. Mattingley, G., The Defeat of the Spanish Armada (1959), pp. 82–84Google Scholar.

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48 Ibid. Sherburne to Lingard, 28 Feb. 1823.

49 Ibid. Cameron to Sherburne, 26 Nov. 1832 (re-addressed to Lingard).

50 Ibid. Sherburne to Lingard, 28 Feb. 1823.

51 Alvaro della Quadra, bishop of Aquila, Spanish ambassador to Elizabeth 1559-63.

52 , Lingard, History (1st ed. 1823), v, 628, n. 81.Google Scholar

53 Dimock, A., ‘The Conspiracy of Dr Lopez’, English Historical Review, IX (1894), 470Google Scholar . Dimock referred to W. H. Prescott for ‘the ethics’ of Philip.

54 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence N-Y Miscellaneous 1806-51, 11, Sherburne to Lingard, 28 Feb. 1823.

55 Ibid.

56 , Lingard, History (1st ed. 1823), v, 535Google Scholar . ‘How far these confessions [of two witnesses against Lopez], made in the Tower, and probably on the rack, are deserving of credit, may be doubted’ (ibid.).

57 Calendar of State Papers: Simancas IV. Elizabeth 1587-1603, ed. Hume, M. A. S. (1899), Introduction, p. liiiGoogle Scholar .

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61 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence N-Y Miscellaneous 1806-51, 11, Sherburne to Lingard, 26 Nov. 1832.

62 , Lingard, History (4th ed. 1823), VIII, p. 458, n. X (Appendix).Google Scholar

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65 Ibid.

66 Calendar of … State Papers…at Simancas, ed. Bergenroth, G. A. (1862), 1, Introduction, p. ix.Google Scholar

67 See above, p. 71.

68 Ushaw MS., Lingard to Mawman 1818-27, letter III. 18, 10 May 1823.

69 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence F-M 1806-51, 11, Sherburne to Lingard, Valla-dolid, 28 Feb. 1823.

70 Gonzalez's account is as follows: “The rumours that Elizabeth now indulged in the most intimate intercourse with Leicester became so brim, that in one of the audiences with De Cuadra she tried to exculpate herself, showing him the arrangement of her private apartments …” ( Gonzalez, T., Documents From Simancas Relating To The Reign of Elizabeth (1558-1568), firstpublished in Spanish, 1832, edited and translated by Hall, Spencer, 1865, p. 70Google Scholar.

71 Read, Conyers, Bibliography of British History-Tudor Period (2nd ed. Oxford, 1959), no. 874, p. 73.Google Scholar

72 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence 1806-51, 11, Sherburne to Lingard, Valladolid, 28 Feb. 1823. Here Sherburne is transcribing Cameron's notes for Lingard.

73 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence 1805-48, Cameron to Sherburne, Valladolid, 10 Jan. 1823 (forwarded to Lingard). Cf. ‘it [the correspondence] exhibits a shocking picture of Elizabeth’s lewdness, total want of principle, & readiness to comit [sic] every crime' (ibid.).

74 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence 1806-51, Sherburne to Lingard, 19 Feb. 1823 (Sherburne is here transcribing Cameron's notes for Lingard).

75 Ibid., but here Sherburne is writing on his own part.

76 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence 1806-51, 11, Sherburne to Lingard, Valladolid, 16 Apr. 1825.

77 Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence 1806-51, 11, Cameron to Sherburne, 26 Nov. 1832 (forwarded to Lingard with this note by Sherburne added on the cover).

78 , Lingard, History (6th ed. 1883 reprint), VI, 659-60, n. 2.Google Scholar

79 Tierney, M. A., who produced the best edition of Dodd's Church History of Englandfrom 1500 to the year 1688, chiefly with regard to Catholicks, in the years 1839-1843.Google Scholar

80 Ushaw MS., Lingard Transcripts, B. 10, fo. 262, Lingard to Tierney, 11 March 1840. Lingard usually used his Simancas references with some other authority, but exceptions are seen in the History (1883 reprint), VI, 189 n., p. 498, n. 1, p. 660, n. 2.

81 Ibid.

82 ‘My memory is so treacherous that I may be mistaken…’ (Ushaw MS., Lingard to Tate, B. 4, letter T. 58, 30 May 1844).

83 Ushaw MS., Lingard to Walker 1846-50, A. 3, letter h. 32, 29 Oct. 1848.

84 Ushaw MS., Lingard Transcripts, B. io, fos. 309-10, Lingard to Tierney, 27 May 1848.

85 See above, pp. 69, 71.

86 See above, pp. 62, 65, 66.

87 ‘Perhaps I should observe to you that in quoting the records at Simancas, I do not mention the No. or the page &c. as in quoting other documents. This arises from the jealousy of the Spaniards, or rather from the standing orders of the place. The officers will not allow my friend to take any notes. He can only read there [earlier, the papers had been read to him], and write down what he remembers when he leaves’ (Ushaw MS., Lingard to Mawman 1818-27, letter m. 17, spring 1823).

88 Compare the information in a letter from Sherburne to Lingard, Ushaw MS., Lingard Correspondence N-Y Miscellaneous 1806-51, 11, 26 Nov. 1832, with Lingard's published account of the documents in History (4th ed. 1837-38, VIII, n. x, p. 458-Appendix), and with the Simancas documents published in Calendar of State Papers: Simancas IV. Elizabeth 1587-1603, ed. Hume, M. A. S. (1899), pp. 101–6Google Scholar.

89 Lingard did manage to go to Rome where, with the support of certain English bishops and a Cardinal, he gained entry to the Vatican archives; but this is another story.

90 Gooch, G. P., History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century (2nd ed. 1952), p. 273.Google Scholar