History: Europe

Ghent: Gualterus Manilius, 1608. Binding: Hardcover (Vellum). Illustrator: Johannes Leopold. Book Condition: Very Good Condition. Size: 6″ – Small Octavo (Sm. 8vo). 188 pages. Text is in Latin.  Pagination: [8] 111 [1 blank]; [16] 77 [3] – Missing four pages [leaves 9-12], which Allison & Rogers (1989) describe as “the ‘Index capitum’ . . . [and] the end of dedicatory verses covered over with a new, folding, engraved plate ….” Collation: 4 A-G8 (E2 for F2); a/8 b-f8 – Allison & Rogers (1989) say, “In pt. 2 the title is cancelled and replaced by a bifolium consisting of a new title printed by Manilius and an engraved plate,” but that is not the case here, where the original title page (with no imprint) is retained. This small volume brings together two important Counter-Reformation works: Maurice Chauncy on the martyrdom of 18 Carthusian monks in England under Henry VIII between 1535 and 1540 and Arnold Havens on twelve Carthusians killed in the Netherlands in 1572 by soldiers of William of Orange. Both have a separate title page and one internal engraving by Johannes Leopold (pp. 48 & 27). Chauncy provides what Gribbin (2012) calls “a largely accurate and moving account of the martyrdom” of the English monks, who refused to take the Royal Supremacy oath recognizing Henry VIII as the head of the Church. In rejecting the English king’s claim, the refusal was viewed as treasonous. Chauncy, a monk at the London Charter House, initially refused to take the oath, but relented, thinking it would preserve the monastery. He quickly renounced his oath but was haunted by his brief betrayal. Havens was also a Carthusian monk, an eyewitness to the 1572 massacre from which he escaped. In 1608 he published a detailed account of the event. After Chauncy fled to Belgium he wrote four different versions of his account, one of which was first published in 1550. It appears here in a version adapted by Havens and printed in 1608 to accompany his new work on the Roermond martyrs.  Although there is no indication of the place of publication or printer of Havens’ account, it is included in the initial omnibus title page, which has the imprint of Gualterus Manilius in Ghent. Both are dated 1608. Frans Hendrickx, in a 2008 review in Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, writes, “Without an impressum, it is not known exactly where the first edition [of Havens’ work] was published. Reference has been made to the printed matter in Cologne, Würzburg and Ghent, all from 1608.” He argues “there is good reason to accept that the first place of publication was Ghent,” pointing particularly to the fact that Havens’ letter of dedication is dated February 29, 1608 in Ghent. He adds, “This may mean that Gualterus Manilius, a member of the famous Ghent printing family, published the story first.”  The second part also includes Haven’s “Exhortatio … de observatione disciplinae regularis” (pp. 57-77) in which he praises the regular discipline and solidary life of the Carthusian monks. According to the STCV listing, this oration is mentioned in Vanderhaeghen, F. Bib. Gantoise I, 477, but it is overlooked in the other listings. The omnibus title from the first title page roughly translates, in part, as: “Account of the Life and the Martyrdom of Eighteen Carthusians who in England under King Henry VIII were cruelly murdered for the defense of the Church and against a detestable schism. … Together with a new Historical relation of the twelve Carthusian Martyrs of Roermond in the Year 1572.” There are two errors in the sub-title: (1) The year for the Roermond attack is misprinted as M.D.DXXII (with D rather than L for 72) and (2) “angonem” has been corrected to “agonem” by the extraneous “n” being scratched out. USTC 1003501, STCV 6623698, Allison & Rogers I, 239, Graesse III, p. 220. Allison & Rogers describe this as another issue of their no. 238, “Innocentia et constantia victrix …” (published by Bernard Gualterus, Cologne, 1608), with a revised title. The STCV listing adds that “Manilius substituted the title page and preliminaries” in this printing. Text block is unmarked. There is separation in the bottom three inches at the beginning of signature A in the first work. Sympathetically rebound with laid paper endpapers in the original vellum cover. The outside edge of the first title page has been carefully repaired to replace loss in the lower half of the margin, not affecting any text. There is a handwritten note in brown ink in an early hand at the head of the first title page.  The USTC reports six copies in four institutions; Allison & Rogers report 15 copies in 15 institutions. less