Welcome to our Virtual Library of external online historical resources.
These are primarily intended as a support for anyone researching the post-Reformation history of English and Welsh Catholicism at home and/or abroad, as well as to allied aspects of that history.
A certain amount of material relating to the pre-Reformation period is also included and is gradually being added to.
These resources are drawn from digitized materials already available in the public domain on the following sites, all of which we gratefully acknowledge:
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L’Armarium – la Bibliothèque numérique du patrimoine écrit, graphique et littéraire en Hauts-de-France (l’Aisne, l’Oise, la Somme, le Nord et le Pas-de-Calais)
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Belgica the digital library of the Royal Library Brussels (KBR) –
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Gallica – the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France
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Theses.fr – doctoral theses defended in France since 1985
Pertinent items still in copyright and stored within The Internet Archive are included in this digital library, but these are fully accessible only to readers who register separately for a free subscription on the latter website.
The site is currently under development. If you encounter any problem, notice any mistake, or have suggestions for improvements or additions, please send a message to: m.whitehead@swansea.ac.uk
Thank you.
Browse the Virtual Library by subject
- Alumni lists (13)
- Anglo-Saxon Church (2)
- Anti-Catholicism (1)
- Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church (8)
- Catechisms (see under *Education–Religious instruction and education*) (0)
- Catholic Emancipation, 1829, and earlier discussion of the Catholic Question (5)
- Catholic non-jurors (1)
- Catholic Record Society (CRS) volumes (1904– (1)
- Catholic Who's Who (1)
- Cecil Papers (2)
- Christian feminism (1)
- Converts (1)
- Counter-Reformation (2)
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Education
(60)
- Catholic Institute of Great Britain, 1838 (1)
- Convent education (2)
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Religious instruction and education
(10)
- Catechisms (8)
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Seminaries — arranged by date of foundation
(46)
- 1568 — English College, Douai, moved to England, 1794, dividing into two institutions, St Edmund's College, Ware, and Ushaw College, County Durham (9)
- 1579 — Venerable English College, Rome (21)
- 1589 — English College, Valladolid (2)
- 1592 — English College, Seville, suppressed 1767 (1)
- 1611 — English College, Madrid, suppressed 1767 (1)
- 1628 — English College, Lisbon, closed 1971 (0)
- 1667 — St Gregory's College, Paris, lost 1825 (1)
- 1794 — St Edmund’s College, Ware (3)
- 1794 — St Mary's College, Oscott, Birmingham (8)
- 1794 — Ushaw College, County Durham (1)
- Episcopal registers (pre-Reformation) (1)
- Episcopal succession in England and Wales (5)
- French émigré clergy and laity (1789–1815) (1)
- Genealogy (9)
- General reference works (13)
- Gerard, John, SJ (1564–1637) (1)
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History of English and Welsh Catholicism in particular localities
(64)
- Aire (1)
- Brussels (1)
- Capheaton, Northumberland (1)
- Cheshire (1)
- Dorset (2)
- Douai (7)
- Dunkirk (1)
- East Bergholt (1)
- Ghent (2)
- Gravelines (1)
- Hampshire (7)
- Isle of Wight (1)
- Lancaster (1)
- Lincoln (1)
- Little Crosby, Lancashire (8)
- Liverpool (3)
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London
(3)
- Embassy chapels (2)
- Lincoln's Inn Fields (1)
- Monmouthshire (5)
- Newton Abbot (2)
- Northamptonshire (1)
- Paris (3)
- Preston, Lancashire (1)
- Rome (11)
- Rouen (1)
- Saint-Omer (8)
- Seville (2)
- Whitby (1)
- Winchester (1)
- York (1)
- Hymns (2)
- Ireland – ecclesiastical history (4)
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Kings and queens of England
(4)
- James II (2)
- Libraries of English and Welsh Catholic institutions at home and abroad (1)
- Literary materials (1)
- Liturgy — convents (1)
- Liturgy and worship (1)
- Lollardy (1)
- Louvain (2)
- Maps and plans (2)
- Martyrs, English and Welsh (10)
- Medieval Church – England (4)
- Missals (post-Reformation) (1)
- Missions -- England and Wales (3)
- Monasticism (2)
- Oath of Allegiance (1)
- Penal laws against Catholics (4)
- Periodicals (12)
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Plots
(1)
- Gunpowder Plot (0)
- Popish Plot (1)
- Recusants and recusancy (20)
- Reformation (3)
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Religious orders (female)
(24)
- Bridgettines (Order of St Saviour) (2)
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English Augustinian canonesses
(2)
- 1629 – Bruges (1)
- English Benedictine nuns (8)
- English Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre, or Sepulchrines (2)
- English Carmelite nuns (1)
- English Dominican nuns (3)
- English Franciscan nuns (2)
- English Poor Clares (5)
- Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or IBVM, or Institute of Mary, or Congregation of Jesus, or CJ (2)
- Order of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, or Conceptionists, or Blue Nuns, Paris (2)
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Religious orders (male)
(76)
- Order of Preachers (Dominicans) (6)
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Order of St Benedict (Benedictines)
(33)
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English Benedictines
(32)
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1607 – St Gregory's, Douai
(3)
- Downside Abbey (0)
- Downside School (0)
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1608 – St Laurence's, Dieulouard, Lorraine
(5)
- Ampleforth Abbey (4)
- Ampleforth College (2)
- 1611 – St Benedict's, Saint-Malo, Britanny (0)
- 1615 – St Edmund's, Paris (11)
- 1633 – La Celle-sur-Morin, Seine-et-Marne (1)
- 1643 – SS Adrian and Denis, Lambspringe, near Hildesheim (1)
- Baker, Augustine, OSB (1575–1641) (1)
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1607 – St Gregory's, Douai
(3)
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English Benedictines
(32)
- Order of St Francis (Franciscans) (2)
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Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
(35)
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British Jesuits – English and Welsh Mission, 1580–1623; English Province, 1623–1985; and British Province, 1985–
(29)
- 1593 — English College, Saint-Omer, also known as St Omers College (1593–1762) (14)
- 1608 – English Jesuit novitiate, Watten (1608–1763) (3)
- 1614 – English College, Liège (1614–1773) (1)
- 1742 – English Jesuit international preparatory school, Boulogne-sur-Mer (1742–1752) (1)
- 1896 – Campion Hall, Oxford (0)
- Jesuit education (19)
- Jesuits worldwide (3)
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British Jesuits – English and Welsh Mission, 1580–1623; English Province, 1623–1985; and British Province, 1985–
(29)
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Rituals, Breviaries, Manuals, Missals, and Pontificals (pre-Reformation)
(6)
- York (6)
- Rome (4)
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Sacraments
(1)
- Marriage (1)
- Saints (6)
- Schools — arranged by date of foundation (2)
- Scotland – ecclesiastical history (1)
- Secular clergy (5)
- Sermons (3)
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Synods
(8)
- -664 – Synod of Whitby (1)
- 1556 – Legatine Synod of London, convoked by Cardinal Reginald Pole (1)
- 1852 – 1st Provincial Synod of Westminster, held at St Mary's College, Oscott (3)
- 1855 – 2nd Provincial Synod of Westminster, held at St Mary's College, Oscott (2)
- 1859 – 3rd Provincial Synod of Westminster, held at St Mary's College, Oscott (2)
- 1873 – 4th Provincial Synod of Westminster, held at St Edmund's College, Ware (2)
- Wales – ecclesiastical history (3)
- Weld (1)
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Catholicism and Anti-Catholicism in Cheshire during the Long Reformation, c.1560 – c.1720
A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) -
THE RESPONSA SCHOLARUM OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE, ROME, PART TWO: 1622–1685
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THE RESPONSA SCHOLARUM OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE, ROME, PART ONE: 1598–1621
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LIBER RUBER, Venerabilis Collegii Anglorum De Urbe, Annales Collegii, Pars Prima, Nomina Alumnorum I, A.D. 1579–1630
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LIBER RUBER, Venerabilis Collegii Anglorum De Urbe, Annales Collegii, Pars Prima, Nomina Alumnorum II, A.D. 1631–1783
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1715 — Volume 3: L–R
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1715 — Volume 2: E–K
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 4: S–Z
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 3: L–R
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 2: E–K
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 1: A–D
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1715 — Volume 4: S–Z
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Catholicism and Anti-Catholicism in Cheshire during the Long Reformation, c.1560 – c.1720
A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) -
THE RESPONSA SCHOLARUM OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE, ROME, PART TWO: 1622–1685
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THE RESPONSA SCHOLARUM OF THE ENGLISH COLLEGE, ROME, PART ONE: 1598–1621
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LIBER RUBER, Venerabilis Collegii Anglorum De Urbe, Annales Collegii, Pars Prima, Nomina Alumnorum I, A.D. 1579–1630
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LIBER RUBER, Venerabilis Collegii Anglorum De Urbe, Annales Collegii, Pars Prima, Nomina Alumnorum II, A.D. 1631–1783
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1715 — Volume 3: L–R
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1715 — Volume 2: E–K
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 4: S–Z
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 3: L–R
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 2: E–K
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1715–1886 — Volume 1: A–D
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Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1715 — Volume 4: S–Z