Since the publication of John Bossy’s 1975 seminal text The English Catholic community, 1570–1850, early modern British and Irish Catholic historiography has transformed from a domain that was predominantly confined to hagiographical texts to a consequential field in how we understand religion in the early modern period. The millennium has particularly seen early modern British and Irish historical studies grow on an exponential scale, with recent publications focusing on a broad range of topics, including literature, politics, art and migration. The early modern period was a time of great religious, political and social upheaval in the four nations; yet, it was also a time when Catholics actively engaged with and responded creatively to these times of change and uncertainty.

This second volume in this series covers one of the most unsettled centuries of British and Irish history, from the outbreak of the 1641 Irish Rebellion until the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. Pivotal moments in this century, including the civil wars in the 1640s and 1650s, the so-called Glorious Revolution in 1688, along with the Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1745 respectively, dramatically shaped how Catholics lived and experienced this turbulent period. As the editors John Morrill and Liam Temple argue, while the experiences for Catholics living across the four nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland were remarkably different, each nation’s experiences were entangled with one another, which is reflected in many of the chapters in this collection.

Uncertainty and change encompasses a wide range of thematic subjects, ranging from material culture, literature, political theology, architecture, music, Jacobitism and migration. In the opening chapter, John Morrill covers the impact of the civil wars and interregnum in Britain and Ireland, outlining how Catholics across the kingdoms experienced the war and conflict. This is helped immensely by his incorporation of Irish materials into the narrative from his recent edited series on the letters and correspondence of Oliver Cromwell, which redesigns the understanding of Irish Catholics and Cromwell. Mark Williams’s essay on the Restoration focuses on how Catholics sought reconciliation and change after Charles ii was restored to the throne in 1660. Williams observes the lingering Catholic memories of the civil wars showing that some Catholics used their recollections of the war to remind the king, royalists and influential figures of their loyalty, in the hope that they would be rewarded. Comparatively, Eoin Devlin’s chapter on the ‘Catholic moment’ – which appears later in the volume – focuses on the experience of the last Catholic king, James ii & vii. Devlin argues that James’s reign can be demarcated into three distinct phases: his accession in 1685 to 1687 in which he offered moderate toleration; 1687 to 1688 when he accelerated his Catholic policies; and finally, from 1688 until his death in exile in 1701. Devlin shows that James’s aspirations to restore Catholicism as the official religion incited anti-Catholic hostility, and that his policies had a long-term impact upon Catholics for the rest of the period covered.

Many chapters in Uncertainty and change reflect on the enduring impact of anti-popery, as well as the debates surrounding Catholicism itself. For example, Adam Morton’s chapter on anti-popery outlines that while anti-popery was commonly used by English, Scottish and Irish Protestants in their writings, it had distinctive tones and traditions across the Three Kingdoms. Morton convincingly argues that understanding anti-popery ‘as a bundle of assumptions and principles that steered how early modern people saw their world’ (p. 187) will enable scholars to assess its long-term legacy. Similarly, Charles McGrath establishes in his essay on anti-Catholic penal laws that the English, Scottish and Irish parliaments took different approaches on how to implement these penal sanctions. Notably, McGrath reveals that Irish Catholics managed to evade the brunt of the anti-recusancy laws in Ireland until after 1688 and the Williamite Wars in the early 1690s, although he points out that they were hit by other social restrictions and mass land confiscations.

The role of the Catholic hierarchy and religious houses is also given due attention in the collection. Matteo Binasco and Hannah Thomas’s chapter on missionary activity and religious houses examines how missionary links developed and evolved between Britain and the Holy See from the reign of William iii until the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. Binasco and Thomas argue that despite Ireland remaining a high focal point for Propaganda Fide, this relationship could be fraught at times, especially regarding the exiled Stuarts’ right to nominate Irish bishops. Eamonn Ó Ciardha builds upon the Stuarts’ right to nominate Irish bishops in his essay on Jacobitism later in the volume. Ó Ciardha charts how Catholic loyalism was multifaceted in the early eighteenth century, and that the Catholic clergy played a crucial role in keeping its momentum alive, arguing that Jacobitism was transnational, transcontinental, as well as transconfessional. Laurence Lux-Sterritt’s essay on religious houses reveals that convents acted as a geographical bridge between Britain and Ireland with Europe, and provided a sense of confessional belonging for secular women and women religious alike through their acts of spiritual devotion. Likewise, Claire Walker’s chapter on the intellectual culture and materiality within religious houses observes how devotional books, translations and manuals, alongside relics and meditations, acted as important aids for spirituality, and that religious houses were focused towards the restitution of Catholicism in their homelands.

Uncertainty and change focuses closely on how Catholics influenced the cultural, literary, artistic and political landscape of early modern Britain and Ireland. James January-McCann’s essay on vernacular Catholic literature, for example, emphasises the important role that the vernacular Gaelic and Welsh languages played in keeping the Catholic faith alive, despite declining numbers. Andrew Cichy’s chapter brings attention to the important contribution made by Catholics towards music, showing that despite the scarcity of English liturgical music for this period, we can still ascertain its influence from the continental convents. Similarly, Eoin Devlin’s essay on Catholic architecture demonstrates that while many Catholic sites no longer survive today, we can still glean enough information about how Catholic chapels, sites of worship and ecclesiastical spaces sustained Catholic communities during times of religious persecution. Sarah Johanesen and Claire Marsland’s chapter notably demonstrates that we can analyse Catholic experiences of devotion through material culture. Johanesen and Marsland argue that embroidered imagery on items such as copes were political acts of defiance at politically tense moments for Catholics, while they also highlight how the portability of Catholic objects and relics helped sustain the faith. Christopher Gillett’s chapter on the theory and practice of political theology examines how British and Irish Catholics were influenced by European positions on papal authority. Gillett shows how Christian dualism and ecclesiology, most particularly Gallicanism, particularly influenced Catholic theological debates, as Gallicanism offered Catholics a more favourable compromise with the various Protestant regimes for this period.

Other essays in Uncertainty and change tackle how Catholics were part of the wider diaspora. Paul Monod’s chapter on European mercantile networks challenges the notion that British and Irish Catholics were exiles or part of a diaspora. Monod argues that English Catholic emigrants and Irish merchants based in Europe did not see themselves under those labels, and he also highlights the integral role Catholic women played in the mercantile world in roles that were often limited to them because of their gender. Notably, Gabriel Glickman’s essay on empire and overseas missions uncovers how Catholic activities in Britain’s dominions accelerated after the Anglo-Portuguese alliance in 1661. Glickman observes that British and Irish Catholics were in a novel position in these territories because of their faith, as it allowed them to forge relationships with the Spanish, French and Portuguese empires, while professional roles such as governorships were open to them in these territories because of their Catholicism.

This volume provides a wide-ranging guide to how early modern Catholics in Britain and Ireland embraced challenges to their faith at times of great change and uncertainty. As the series editors acknowledge, the volumes are intended to act as a springboard for more research into the early modern Catholic field, not least in assessing the impact and legacy of Catholicism across all four nations. While England and Ireland have great coverage throughout the volume, there is less attention to Scotland and Wales. This perhaps could have been remedied by incorporating wider historiographical discussions that have been covered for this period elsewhere, not least in early modern Anglican studies. Overall, Uncertainty and change will be valuable to undergraduate scholars studying the early modern period, as well as academics and scholars who are interested in political, cultural, literary and social history.