ABSTRACT
By the turn of the sixteenth century, the consolidation of Protestantism under Elizabeth I contributed to a perception of England as the leading European Protestant power, as well as the only country in Europe which produced Catholic martyrs. The violent persecution of English Catholics had a profound impact on Catholic Europe. It has been estimated that between 1580 and 1619, around 163 editions of different works dedicated to English Catholic martyrs were published across Europe. 1 In Counter-Reformation thought, England thus emerged as a special mission field, a territory which needed to be reconverted to Catholicism and where, like the mission fields in the Americas or Asia, the prospect of martyrdom was certain. The case of Luisa de Carvajal, the Spanish noblewoman who decided to join the so-called ‘misión de Inglaterra’ (English mission), is an illuminating example of these Counter-Reformation perceptions of Protestant England. England’s religious turmoil was often presented by English Catholic exiles as an opportunity to be explored by hostile Catholic powers such as Spain, in order to undermine the Elizabethan regime and promote the restoration of Catholicism. The case of Robert Parsons, the so-called ‘arch-Jesuit’, exposes the intricate connections between politics and religion instigated by the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, as well as the troubles faced by English Catholics in the growing association between Protestantism and Englishness.
