BOOK: Aislinn MULLER, The Excommunication of Elizabeth I. Faith, Politics, and Resistance in Post-Reformation England, 1570-1603 (Leiden: Brill, 2020). ISBN: 9789004425996, €125.00

(Source: Brill)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Series: St Andrews Studies in Reformation History

In The Excommunication of Elizabeth I, Aislinn Muller examines the excommunication and deposition of Queen Elizabeth I of England by the Roman Catholic Church, and its political afterlife during her reign. Muller shows that Elizabeth’s excommunication was a crucial turning point for both Catholics and Protestants, one that irrevocably changed attitudes towards the queen, widened political participation and resistance, and posed a destabilising threat to her regime. The Excommunication of Elizabeth I demonstrates how this event exacerbated religious tensions in England’s foreign and domestic politics, and how Elizabeth’s conflict with the papacy shaped the development of anti-Catholicism in post-Reformation England.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aislinn Muller obtained her Ph.D. in History at the University of Cambridge (2017). Her work on religious politics in post-Reformation England has appeared in publications such as British Catholic History and Studies in Church History. This is her first book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Acknowledgements 

List of Figures 

Abbreviations 

Note on the Text 

  Introduction 

 1 Queen Elizabeth’s Excommunication in Post-Reformation Politics 

 2 Elizabeth’s Excommunication in Surviving Records 

1. The Excommunication of Elizabeth I in International Politics 

 1 Making the Case for Elizabeth's Illegitimacy, 1558–1569 

 2 Interpreting and Executing Regnans in Excelsis 

2. Transmitting the Excommunication of Elizabeth I 

 1 Distribution and Reception in the 1570s 

 2 Catholic Missions and the Circulation of Regnans in Excelsis, ca. 1580–1603 

 3 Debating the Excommunication’s Legitimacy 

3. Spreading the Word? Regnans in Excelsis in Protestant Discourse 

 1 Humour, History, and Anxiety in Printed Responses to Regnans in Excelsis 

 2 Protestant Translations of Regnans in Excelsis 

4. The Excommunication in Foreign and Domestic Policy 

 1 Threats from Spain and Scotland, ca. 1570–1579 

 2  Regnans in Excelsis and the Coming of War, ca. 1580–1588 

 3 Wars with Spain, France, and Ireland, ca. 1589–1603 

5. Political Engagement, Subversion, and Resistance in England and Ireland 

 1 Sedition as Resistance: Perceptions of Elizabeth after 1570 

 2 Alternatives to Violence: Prohibited Objects, Recusancy, and Public Disobedience 

 3  Regnans in Excelsis and Resistance in Ireland 

Conclusion 

Bibliography 

Index 

More information with the publisher.