“A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of loneliness

Recent research on early modern exile has emphasised the remarkable ability of émigrés to maintain dynamic connections with their former homes whilst also forging new connections abroad. Although offering an important corrective to older studies which tended to assume that exiles formed isolated, in...

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Opis bibliograficzny
1. autor: Smith, FE
Kolejni autorzy: Yip, H
Format: Book section
Język:English
Wydane: Palgrave Macmillan 2025
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author Smith, FE
author2 Yip, H
author_facet Yip, H
Smith, FE
author_sort Smith, FE
collection OXFORD
description Recent research on early modern exile has emphasised the remarkable ability of émigrés to maintain dynamic connections with their former homes whilst also forging new connections abroad. Although offering an important corrective to older studies which tended to assume that exiles formed isolated, inward-looking groups abroad, this research has nonetheless diverted attention away from the more emotional impacts of displacement. This chapter aims therefore to provide a deeper exploration of the “loneliness” of early modern exile. Focusing on the letters and writings of English Catholics who fled their homeland in opposition to the religious policies of Henry VIII and Edward VI, it argues that, despite maintaining connections with loved ones back home and being accepted into their new communities abroad, these émigrés still struggled with feelings we might term “loneliness.” They employed a specific vocabulary centring on “separation” and “solitude” to express these emotions, and indeed there were some important differences between the ways these émigrés described their feelings and modern understandings of loneliness. Nevertheless, this chapter ultimately suggests that such differences should not prevent us from recognising that the “loneliness” experienced by these émigrés was every bit as complex and intense as its modern counterpart.
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spelling oxford-uuid:b7d92c62-fd4d-4d90-a904-dd06774dd13f2025-02-28T10:04:39Z“A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of lonelinessBook sectionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843uuid:b7d92c62-fd4d-4d90-a904-dd06774dd13fEnglishSymplectic ElementsPalgrave Macmillan2025Smith, FEYip, HClifton, TRecent research on early modern exile has emphasised the remarkable ability of émigrés to maintain dynamic connections with their former homes whilst also forging new connections abroad. Although offering an important corrective to older studies which tended to assume that exiles formed isolated, inward-looking groups abroad, this research has nonetheless diverted attention away from the more emotional impacts of displacement. This chapter aims therefore to provide a deeper exploration of the “loneliness” of early modern exile. Focusing on the letters and writings of English Catholics who fled their homeland in opposition to the religious policies of Henry VIII and Edward VI, it argues that, despite maintaining connections with loved ones back home and being accepted into their new communities abroad, these émigrés still struggled with feelings we might term “loneliness.” They employed a specific vocabulary centring on “separation” and “solitude” to express these emotions, and indeed there were some important differences between the ways these émigrés described their feelings and modern understandings of loneliness. Nevertheless, this chapter ultimately suggests that such differences should not prevent us from recognising that the “loneliness” experienced by these émigrés was every bit as complex and intense as its modern counterpart.
spellingShingle Smith, FE
“A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of loneliness
title “A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of loneliness
title_full “A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of loneliness
title_fullStr “A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of loneliness
title_full_unstemmed “A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of loneliness
title_short “A thowsond mylys a sonder”: Catholic exiles from Tudor England and the ambiguities of loneliness
title_sort a thowsond mylys a sonder catholic exiles from tudor england and the ambiguities of loneliness
work_keys_str_mv AT smithfe athowsondmylysasondercatholicexilesfromtudorenglandandtheambiguitiesofloneliness