John Donne & the Ancient Catholic Nobility

Against the background of the earliest, puzzling portrait of John Donne, this book attempts to place Donne's early life in the context of his descent from Sir Thomas More and his family's generations-long association with the ancient Catholic nobility. Beginning with Sir Thomas More, Flynn traces the active involvement of two generations of Donne's forebears in political opposition to Tudor religious reform. Flynn suggests an alliance in opposition to persecution between Donne's family and the houses of Percy and Stanley, especially through the missionary work of Donne's uncle Jasper Heywood and Donne's friendship with Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland. Percy's continental travels in the 1580s may be related to the early travels of Donne and to the plans of Catholic exiles for an invasion of England six years before the defeat of the Armada. Seen within a larger familial, social, and religious context in which exile and persecution for religious belief were the overriding experiences, the distinctive marks of Donne's personality emerge with new clarity. An important contribution to Donne studies, Flynn's book will have an impact on how Donne's poetry is read.

"Flynn's work makes fascinating reading not only for students of literature, but also for all those interested in the history of the period. The text often reads like a contemporary story of estpionage... " --Catholic Library World

"Flynn's book is important 'recovery' work."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [230]-240) and index.

DENNIS FLYNN is professor of English at Bentley College and has published numerous articles on Donne and is a contributing editor for the Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part One: Donne's Catholic Heritage

1. Sir Thomas More and His Family

2. Ellis and Jasper Heywood

3. Donne's Family and Early Milieu

4. The Persistent Catholicism of Donne's Family

Part Two: Donne and the Ancient Catholic Nobility

5. Henry Percy, Eighth Earl of Northumberland

6. The Jesuit Mission and the "Enterprise" of 1582

7. The Defeats of Heywood and Northumberland

8. Donne's Flight from the Persecution

9. Heywood in Exile Again

10. Henry Stanley, Fourth Earl of Derby

Conclusion

Appendix: Donne's Latin Epigrams

Notes

Bibliography