A Conference is announced, with subvention from the British Academy:



Recusant Archives and Remains from the Three Kingdoms - 1560-1789 -
Catholics in Exile at Home and Abroad



23rd and 24th of June 2004, at Downside Abbey, Stratton on the Fosse,
Radstock, Bath.

The conference will begin at 1pm on Wednesday 23rd and finish at 6pm on
Thursday 24th .



The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars from the secular
universities in Europe and North America, with holders (ecclesiastical and
secular) of significant papers, objects and other research resources
concerning the Recusant Catholics of England, Ireland and Scotland in the
years 1560 - 1789. Archives and objects surviving in Britain and Ireland, in
Continental Europe, and in North America will be examined. Many holders of
little known, as well as celebrated, archives have agreed to come and
introduce their collections.

The purpose of this conference is to accelerate the exchange of information
between scholarly communities and to help to make links between cultural and
historical researchers and the holders of  archives and other significant
materials for the study of the recusant Catholics. This conference does not
only address the interests of ecclesiastical historians, but also of
scholars in a wide range of disciplines: literary and cultural history,
history of art and of applied art, among many.

Leading scholars in the field of Recusant studies will speak of the uses
which they have made of these vital (and sometimes under-used) resources.
These speakers will include

Professor Arthur Marotti, Dr Alison Shell, Dr Paul Arblaster and Dr Sophie
Holroyd.

Archivists and curators including representatives from the following
collections and libraries will talk about their holdings, their history and
how these holdings can be accessed by scholars.:

The Venerable English College, Rome; The Pontifical Scots College, Rome; the
Scottish Catholic Archive; the Westminster Diocesan Archive; Downside Abbey;
Douai Abbey; the Stonyhurst Museum; the Bar Convent, York; the Irish College
of Salamanca, (Maynooth); St Mary's Abbey, Colwich; Stanbrook Abbey,
Worcester; The Folger Shakespeare Library; Stonor Park, Oxfordshire.

All scholars are warmly welcomed to audit the conference and to ask formal
and informal questions of the Archivists and Curators. It is hoped that this
conference will build bridges and foster connections between scholarly
communities. Graduate students working on Recusant topics or on questions of
exile will find the conference particularly useful. There is a notional
conference fee of £15.00, covering registration, coffee and sandwich
lunches, but will non-speakers please note that they are advised to make
their own arrangements for accomodation, transport and evening meal on the
23rd. Transport, accomodation and local information will be available well
in advance of the conference. Note of intentions to attend should be emailed
to [log in to unmask]  or intimated by letter to Dom Aidan
Bellenger OSB, Downside Abbey, Stratton on the Fosse, Radstock, Bath BA3
4RJ.

A programme and directions for finding Downside Abbey will be sent out two
weeks before the conference.

The Conference Committee are Dom Aidan Bellenger OSB (Downside Abbey);
Professor Pat Brückmann (University of Toronto); Professor Peter Davidson
(University of Aberdeen);Andrew Nicoll (Scottish Catholic Archives) and Dr
Alison Shell (University of Durham).

The Conference is supported by subvention from the British Academy