English Attitudes toward Continental Protestantswith Particular Reference to Church Briefs c.1680-1740

English Attitudes toward Continental Protestantswith Particular Reference to Church Briefs c.1680-1740

Sugiko Nishikawa

1998

English

Thesis

Tesi di dottorato

Sugiko Nishikawa

Thesis

It has long been accepted that the Catholic threat posed by Louis X1V played animportant role in English politics from the late seventeenth century onwards.The expansionist politics of Louis and his attempts to eliminate Protestantswithin his sphere of influence enhanced the sense of a general crisis ofProtestantism in Europe. Moreover news of the persecution of foreignProtestants stimulated a great deal of anti-popish sentiment as well as a sense ofthe need for Protestant solidarity.The purpose of my studies is to explore how the English perceived thepersecution of continental Protestants and to analyse what it meant for theEnglish to be involved in various relief programmes for them from c. 1680 to1740. Accordingly, I have examined the church briefs which were issued toraise contributions for the relief of continental Protestants, and which serve asevidence of Protestant internationalism against the perceived Catholic threat ofthe day. I have considered the spectrum of views concerning continentalProtestants within the Church; in some attitudes evinced by clergymen, therewas an element which might be called ecclesiastical imperialism rather thaninternationalism. At the same time I have examined laymen's attitudes; thisinvestigation of the activities of the SPCK, one of the most influential voluntarysocieties of the day, which was closely concerned with continental Protestants,fulfills this purpose. In the eighteenth century the Church of England becamemore reluctant to get involved with the foreign Protestants and applicationsfrom them for fund raising tended to fail to obtain support. Nevertheless whenan application for a brief was turned down, the SPCK in some cases stepped in,until the time came when its Protestant internationalism, inherited from theage of Louis XIV, also faded away.

1998

English

London

Tesi di dottorato

English Attitudes toward Continental Protestantswith Particular Reference to Church Briefs c.1680-1740

University of London

discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1349371/1/341450.pdf