England Against The Papacy 1858 1861

A detailed study of the political relations between England and the papacy from 1858 to 1861, the decisive years for the unification of Italy.

When the British thought of themselves as a Protestant nation their natural enemy was the pope and they adapted their view of history accordingly. In contrast, Rome's perspective was always considerably wider and its view of Britain was almost invariably positive, especially in comparison to medieval emperors, who made and unmade popes, and post-medieval Frenchmen, who treated popes with contempt. As the twenty-first-century papacy looks ever more firmly beyond Europe, this new history examines political, diplomatic and cultural relations between the popes and Britain from their vague origins, through papal overlordship of England, the Reformation and the process of repairing that breach.

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year A New Republic Best Book of the Year Finalist, National Jewish Book Award Sir Moses Montefiore (1784–1885) was the preeminent Jewish figure of the nineteenth century—and one of the first truly global celebrities. His story, told here in full for the first time, is a remarkable and illuminating tale.

Britain's support for constitutional government in Italy and anxieties about the Irish Catholic Church brought Britain and the Papacy briefly together. From the time of the Reformation Anglo-Vatican relations have typically been seen as a long history of unending antagonism and mutual suspicion, but this has not always been the case. This book sheds light on one of the most curious episodes in early Victorian history when, around the time of the 1848 revolutions in Europe, a rapprochement almost developed between Britain and the papacy, and British politicians and writers referred to the new head of the Catholic Church, Pius IX, as 'the good pope'. Integrating diplomatic, political, ecclesiastical and social history, Saho Matsumoto-Best traces the factors that brought these two traditionally hostile powers together andthe reasons why this rapprochement was doomed to failure. She demonstrates how the desire to support constitutional government in Italy and to curb the activities of the Irish Catholic church led the government of Lord John Russell to build a close relationship with Pius IX, and how failure to understand the Vatican's priorities and anti-papal and anti-Catholic feeling in Britain, particularly in the context of the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in 1850, eventually destroyed this policy. This study is an important and original contribution to the current debate about the nature of mid nineteenth century-Britain and sheds new light on the British role in Italianunification. It will also be of great interest to students of nineteenth-century European international and ecclesiastical history, and of the 1848 revolutions.

This work not only examines Rome's reaction during the fascist period but delves into the broader historical development and the impact of theological anti-Judaism

"The first Italian translation of the Book of Common Prayer was made in 1608 by William Bedell (the chaplain to James I's ambassador in Venice) with the help of Fulgenzio Micanzio and Paolo Sarpi. This translation was part of an English propaganda plan to instigate a schism in the Church of Venice, at a time of conflict between the court of Rome and the Venetian Republic. This chapter reconstructs the relationships between Sarpi and Micanzio and the English embassy in Venice. As far as we know, Bedell's translation remained a manuscript with no known copies extant"--