A conference around the question of what is understood by the term Early Modern English Catholicism will be held at Ushaw College, Durham from 28 June – 1 July 2013.
The plenary speakers will be Eamon Duffy (Cambridge), Brad Gregory (Notre Dame), Thomas McCoog (Fordham) and Alexandra Walsham (Cambridge).
Celebrating the contribution of Eamon Duffy’s work to changing notions of how early Modern English Catholicism is understood, the aim of the conference is to attract an interdisciplinary range of speakers to discuss different ‘sorts’ of Catholicism in evidence – exploring whether the term covers a broad spectrum of interest groups or is more narrowly defined. As such, it will change perceptions of the subject, the conference including those who approach the material from very different angles, questioning perceived notions of what is actually meant when Early Modern Catholicism is mentioned in the English context. The period under consideration will be in the long-term, from the 16th century break with Rome, the years of uncertainty and the Marian restoration, through the periods of recusancy, persecution and the Glorious Revolution, to the Jacobite movement and the Catholic survivalism of the 18th century. A volume of essays drawn from the conference is planned.