TY - JOUR
T1 - Polemic as Piety: Thomas Stapleton's Tres Thomae and Catholic Controversy in the 1580s
AU - Sheils, Williain
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - This article examines the triple biography of Thomas the Apostle, Thomas Becket and Thomas More, published by Thomas Stapleton in 1588 and generally regarded as a work of pious hagiography. By focusing on the circumstances in which the book was written and published, the article demonstrates its polemical significance at a time of rapid political change in Catholic/Protestant relations in both England and Europe. Conceived a a Catholic alternative to the history of the Christian past produced by Foxe, Stapleton's book also addressed contested issues within Catholicism: how to deal with the Elizabethan regime, and the status to be accorded to recent martyrs. In answering these questions, Stapleton's views reflect the complexity of Catholic thought at this time, and its fluidity in response to the shifting political circumstances of the late 1580s.
AB - This article examines the triple biography of Thomas the Apostle, Thomas Becket and Thomas More, published by Thomas Stapleton in 1588 and generally regarded as a work of pious hagiography. By focusing on the circumstances in which the book was written and published, the article demonstrates its polemical significance at a time of rapid political change in Catholic/Protestant relations in both England and Europe. Conceived a a Catholic alternative to the history of the Christian past produced by Foxe, Stapleton's book also addressed contested issues within Catholicism: how to deal with the Elizabethan regime, and the status to be accorded to recent martyrs. In answering these questions, Stapleton's views reflect the complexity of Catholic thought at this time, and its fluidity in response to the shifting political circumstances of the late 1580s.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=66249098553&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0022046907002485
DO - 10.1017/S0022046907002485
M3 - Article
VL - 60
SP - 74
EP - 94
JO - Journal of Ecclesiastical History
JF - Journal of Ecclesiastical History
SN - 0022-0469
IS - 1
ER -