Posted on 04/24/2007 2:28:31 PM PDT by blam
University Of Manchester
24 April 2007
New find reveals macabre tale of 400-year-old ‘neo-con’
Boxes in a Spanish nunnery containing documents which lay barely noticed for hundreds of years have given a unique insight into the gruesome life and times of one the first female missionaries to Britain.
Luisa de Carvajal’s writings also helped historian Dr Glyn Redworth from The University of Manchester to discover new evidence confirming that a Gunpowder Plotter executed in 1606 was probably innocent.
Dr Redworth, who is based at the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, is the first historian to examine hundreds of letters, writings and poems by Luisa de Carvajal - many of which were left unsorted in boxes at a Madrid convent.
The documents shed new light on the suffering endured by Catholics who refused to attend Church of England services under James I.
Dr Redworth believes the Spanish aristocrat was one of the first female missionaries since medieval times and possibly ancient Rome.
She also championed interventionist ideas, he says, which resemble the neo-cons of today.
Another of Luisa’s missions was to secretly rescue and then preserve in her Spitalfields house the remains of executed priests - who were hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn - which she sent as relics to hardline Catholics on the continent.
Dr Redworth is now putting the finishing touches to a book on her life called The Nun of Spitalfields and has been awarded over £300,000 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to translate her letters into English.
He said: “Luisa was hell-bent on smashing an English and Dutch Protestant ‘axis of evil’.
“She also argued for military intervention in Ireland and the forced deportation of 400,000 Moriscos - Christians of Muslim descent living in Spain.
“That bears a strong resemblance to the sort of things some neo-cons are saying today.
“But her life was multifaceted: she challenged stereotypes of women in London as she lived alone with other women - helping the poor, including prostitutes.
“Her body remains in a casket unburied in Spain until the Catholic Church decides if she’s a saint.
“But I wouldn’t hold your breath: after 393 years they still haven’t made up their mind.“
He added: “Luisa came to England not knowing a word of English to realise her dream of converting English protestants to the Catholic faith and martyring herself for the cause.
“She was disgusted by the English, who she said threw carrots into carts which the day before had carried the bodies of plague victims.
“But her own habits could leave a lot to be desired: she sent countless numbers of her friends the body parts of the priests as compelling mementoes of religious persecution.
“This is tremendously exciting as these documents have been seen by barely a handful of people in hundreds of years.
“After I was tipped off by American literary scholar Elizabeth Rhodes, I paid a visit to Madrid to see the writings.”
Dr Redworth claims the research also throws new light on the Gunpowder Plot.
“Luisa was invited to England by Henry Garnet, leader of the English Jesuits, who was hung, drawn and quartered six months later for his part in the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
“The documents suggest it is unlikely that Garnet would have invited a high-profile lone Spanish female agitator into England if he was trying to keep secret a complex plot to murder the King.”
GGG Ping?
Yup. I'm a one issue voter and that's my issue...Getting rid of all those dad-gum Moriscos.
Those freakin’ Moriscos ruin everything.
What an idiot. Why drag the neo-cons into a 400 year old fight? At the time, you would be hard pressed to find a government or a religious group that WASN’T “interventionist.”
Without a side-by-side comparison of what Luisa de Carvajal and these unnamed "neo-cons" have said on comparable subjects, it is hard to take this seriously.
What, for example, do today's "neo-cons" say about the forced deportation of 400,000 Moriscos from Spain? Did Luisa really refer to the English and Dutch Protestants as an "axis of evil", and would today's neo-cons agree? Do today's "neo-cons" favor intervention in Ireland? Do they favor conversion of English Protestants to Catholicism?
I cannot help but think that Dr. Redworth is trying too hard to make his research seem relevant to the modern world. Either that, or he is just another left-wing academic nut.
You missed this one, lol.
Weak proof for the 'innocence' claim.
The 393-year delay isn't so long...it took longer for Joan of Arc (executed 1431, canonized 1920) or Thomas More (executed 1535, canonized 1935 IIRC)...she's approaching Thomas More, but he was a martyr and it still took 400 years.
It sound as if Dr Glyn Redworth is an absolute moron, with about as much understanding of religion as a pet rock.
On the other hand, she seems to have lucked out and found a stash of really fascinating papers.
Maybe someone else with more sense can make something of them. Eamon Duffy or Christopher Haigh, perhaps.
As God is my witness, I didn't know Cap Weinberger was that old.
Typical liberalism. History, religion, philosophy, education, science, life, family relations, etc. are all secondary considerations to their political beliefs. There is nothing more important in their lives than advancing their politics.
On the other hand, she seems to have lucked out and found a stash of really fascinating papers.
Maybe someone else with more sense can make something of them.
Excellent analysis and conclusion, bears repeating.
****“She was disgusted by the English, who she said threw carrots into carts which the day before had carried the bodies of plague victims.****
Now, just which plague would this have been as the London plague did not happen till 1665.
Dr. Redworth obviously suffers from BDS.
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