This rich and lengthy volume makes available to English speakers the Jesuit Pedro de Ribadeneyra’s Spanish adaptation of Nicholas Sander’s Latin text, De origine ac progressu schismatis Anglicani (Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, 1585). Broadly published in two parts in 1588 and 1593, Ribadeneyra’s adaptation is important for the study of British and Irish Catholicism because it discloses both Spanish perceptions concerning the English Reformation and the engagement of Spanish Catholics with their English co-religionists.

In addition to a clear sense-for-sense translation that renders masterful early modern Spanish rhetorical flourishes into elegant English, Weinreich’s volume features a wide array of valuable critical tools. Its bibliography and set of notes are almost encyclopedic. Weinreich identifies historical information and documents that Ribadeneyra employed, at times attempting to fill in gaps by suggesting works that Ribadeneyra was likely to have consulted when the Spaniard does not specify his sources. Red lettering signals textual variants between the printed editions, and an extensive topical index is supplemented by a biblical index. The book also contains five appendices relevant to the Historia. It includes English translations of Ribadeneyra’s writings on the Armada, Luis de Granada’s laudatory preface to the history, a partial copy of a long-lost 1591 letter from John Cecil to Joseph Creswell, and a previously unpublished list of martyred seminarians held at the Archivum Britannicum Societatis Iesu in London. Moreover, the robust introduction of over one hundred pages guides the reader through a pithy outline of the most current historical and literary scholarship on several important subjects that contextualize the Historia.

As is fitting for the volume 8 of the Jesuit Studies series, Weinreich’s book centers on Ribadeneyra’s experience and commitments as a Jesuit. The introduction’s overview of the life and times of Pedro de Ribadeneyra continues the important work of Eusebio Rey published in 1965 and examines how the aims of the Historia overlaps with other works by Ribadeneyra, such as the biography of Ignatius of Loyola, where the Spaniard takes the opportunity to cast the founding of the Society of Jesus as God’s providential response to the heresy of the Protestant Reformation. Weinreich points to the importance of Ribadeneyra’s statements in the preface to the reader that he writes as a Spaniard and as a member of the Society to show the Historia’s explicit goal of defending the Jesuits from internal and external criticism and to place them at the forefront of Counter-Reformation efforts of evangelization.

To counteract the perception that Ribadeneyra’s work is a mere echo of Sander’s, Weinreich highlights differences in objectives and social contexts between the two authors and even between Ribadeneyra and the English Catholic exiles. Weinreich notes the elements of Ribadeneyra’s Historia that make it an adaptation of Sander’s Latin text for a distinctly Spanish audience, not merely a translation. Among Ribadeneyra’s departures from his source, several points are addressed. Weinreich begins with the Spanish Jesuit’s use of the vernacular that opened the history of the schism to a non-Latinate audience. He adds that compared to its source, the Historia places a stronger emphasis on martyrdom that reflects its latter date of composition—a time when the number of Catholic martyrs in England was greater and when interest in martyrologies to authenticate Catholicism was strong. Weinreich further argues that Ribadeneyra’s text offers a more focused providentialist framework than does Sander’s text and that it is shaped by specific Spanish political and religious concerns, including the sailing of the Armada towards England.

One of the most valuable contributions in the introduction is the discussion of the Historia after 1588, including the second part—a section of the work largely overlooked that begins where Sander’s history ends. Weinreich aptly observes that this second piece, published after the defeat of the Armada, is aimed at comforting Catholics amid losses and persecutions by placing their experiences within the framework of the broader sufferings of the Church since apostolic times. The introduction then turns to a stimulating discussion of an internal tension within the Historia, namely, Ribadeneyra’s contradictory treatment of gender and power, especially concerning female rulers. Next, Weinreich addresses whether Ribadeneyra can be considered a ‘modern’ historian. Observing that the Spanish Jesuit inescapably wrote as an early modern figure with a marked and overt theological and political agenda, Weinreich proposes that Ribadeneyra’s work offers a specific model of (early) ‘modern’ historiography. Lastly, Weinreich discusses the Historia’s reception, arguing that Calderón’s adaptation of Ribadeneyra’s text in the tragedy La cisma de Ingalaterra aims to promote the Spanish Match. This conclusion requires seeing the ambiguous end of the play as less tragic than the literary scholars with whom he interacts. In fact, those perceiving the end as deeply tragic could use Weinreich’s claims to affirm that Calderón opposed the Spanish Match. Nonetheless, the political and historical information Weinreich presents is quite valuable.

With this timely contribution, Weinreich invites readers ‘to open new conversations’ concerning topics that in recent years have drawn scholarly attention, such as early modern historiography, the society of Jesus, and contemporary European reactions to the English Reformation (98). Specifically, he argues that the Historia can be used to enrich five ongoing discussions. First, as a response to help Spaniards understand the theological underpinnings of the Armada’s defeat and the seemingly unending persecution of Catholics, Weinreich suggests that Ribadeneyra’s text engages in an innovative use of the genre of ecclesiastical history—namely, to process theological and emotional trauma. This particular use can deepen our understanding of the genre of early modern ecclesiastical history. A second area of study is to explore the opportunities and challenges of producing history in a range of vernaculars. A third aspect of discussion utilizes Ribadeneyra’s text as an important means to explore English Catholicism from a European perspective. Fourth, Weinreich suggestively proposes that the Historia offers a way to study Anglo-Spanish relations outside of the ‘Black Legend’ paradigm. Finally, the Historia is offered as a model for the study of English Catholics within a providentialist framework of worldwide efforts for evangelization and reconversion.

Weinreich’s volume is an essential resource not only for those wishing to study British Catholicism from a more global, transnational perspective, but also for those examining early modern European ecclesiastical histories.