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The Scots College, Spain, 1767–1780. Memoirs of the translation of the Scottish College from Madrid to Valladolid. By Michael Briody . Pp. 202 incl. 14 colour ills. Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, 2015. £15 (paper). 978 84 16066 61 2

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The Scots College, Spain, 1767–1780. Memoirs of the translation of the Scottish College from Madrid to Valladolid. By Michael Briody . Pp. 202 incl. 14 colour ills. Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, 2015. £15 (paper). 978 84 16066 61 2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2018

Cormac Begadon*
Affiliation:
Durham University
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Abstract

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Historians of British and Irish Catholicism in the early modern period will be interested to hear of Michael Briody's recent work on a late eighteenth-century account of events at the Scots College, Spain. The account in question, a manuscript which was largely the work of the Scottish priest John Geddes, written in the wake of the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain in 1767, relates to the translation of the Scots College from Madrid to Valladolid. Whilst opting against a conventional introduction, the editor asks two main questions as a means of introducing readers to the manuscript: ‘why was there a Scots College in Madrid’ and ‘who was John Geddes?’ The college at Madrid had been founded in 1627 by William Semple, and John Geddes, rector of the famous ‘hidden seminary’ at Scalan in the Scottish Highlands, had been sent to Spain to recover the property and secure Scottish funds. Geddes was ably assisted in his endeavours by the bibliophile and rector of the English College in Valladolid, Philip Perry. The manuscript, outlining the long and complicated process of recovery, and subsequent reestablishment at Valladolid, is extensive, running to 235 pages. As a means of a commentary, the editor, by way of an appendix, adds ‘some themes which occur in the text’, giving further historical context to the events discussed in the manuscript. Whilst short, these prove to be helpful additions to the reader, providing some context to themes such as relations with the Irish; bureaucracy; delays in going to Spain; some of his friends and allies. In addition, those interested in book history will be pleased to hear that the editor has included a section entitled ‘Some observations about the written manuscript’, which covers information on the physical condition of the document and comments on handwriting, punctuation and spelling. Much more revealing, however, are the final appendices (although not listed as such), in which the editor offers a section of notes on Geddes's students at the college, as well as a rather useful index of persons mentioned within the manuscript. Briody's fine work is an important addition to the growing corpus of published primary source material on British Catholicism in the early modern period. It is also welcome as it attempts to stem the tide that is the lamentable decline in the number of works on the history of Scottish Catholicism, and will hopefully spur further research into this field of research. Those interested in the history of Catholicism in both the British Isles, and indeed in Spain, will find in Briody's work a rich and highly revealing source.