ABSTRACT
Edmund Campion's body hung till he was dead, but it was butchered while Sherwin and Bryant were being executed: While these martyrs were being torn asunder, the Catholics did their best to retrieve at least a few of their remains. The struggle that developed over the body and reputation of Campion was as fierce as that over Patroclus in the Iliad; the intensity of the desire of Catholics for relics was matched by the determination of the authorities to prevent them. The judgement confirms that within a month of Campion's death, manuscript pamphlets, in prose and verse, asserting his innocence and the corrupt manner of his trial, were circulating. The trial shows that scribal copying worked alongside secret presses. The affection Campion inspired in his life ensured that, after his death, close friends and admirers lovingly preserved his memory, even if some did so through the prism of a complex web of political interests.
