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The Coldest Harbour in the Land: Simon Stock and Lord Baltimore’s Colony in Newfoundland, 1621-1649 PDF

256 Pages·1988·14.224 MB·English
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The Coldest Harbour of the Land Simon Stock and Lord Baltimore's Colony in Newfoundland, 1621-1649 In 1624 Simon Stock, a missionary priest of the Discalced Carmelite order in England, began correspondence with the recently founded Sacred Congregation "de Propaganda Fide" in Rome in an attempt to interest it in the establishment of a novitiate for English priests of his order. While Propaganda was unwilling to do this, Stock was encour- aged to continue his correspondence because of the information it pro- vided on Lord Baltimore's attempts to found a colony in North Amer- ica. Luca Codignola draws on these letters of Simon Stock and material in archives in Rome (Propaganda Fide and the Carmelite order) and London to present a fascinating picture of seventeenth-century Catho- lic colonization. Lord Baltimore planned to establish his Avalon colony in New- foundland and to provide its settlers with Catholic missionaries. Stock, however, was concerned with much more than providing a single col- ony with missionaries: because of his belief in the existence of a north- west passage, he saw "Avalon" as a gateway to China, India, and Japan, and to the establishment of other Catholic colonies. Despite his repeated appeals for aid, Propaganda was slow to react and Stock's letters leave no doubt about his sense of frustration. However, as Propaganda's main source of information on North America, Stock had an impor- tant influence on the development of their colonization policy. The second half of the book provides full translations or summaries of all Simon Stock's letters and enclosures during 1622 to 1649. These letters are particularly important in detailing his activities as a priest, giving his perception of events in England during this period, and providing new information on the Avalon colony. Stock's letters and Codignola's essay greatly expand our knowledge of the Catholic com- munities and their reaction to colonization. Luca Codignola is a member of the Department of History, University of Pisa. Luca Codignola THE COLDEST HARBOUR OF THE IAND Simon Stock and Lord Baltimore's Colony in Newfoundland, 1621-1649 TRANSLATED BY ANITA WESTON McGill-Queen's University Press KINGSTON AND MONTREAL McGill-Queen's University Press1988 ISBN 0-7735-0540-7 Legal deposit 1st quarter 1988 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec Printed in Canada Printed on acid-free paper This work was originally published in Italian in 1982 by Marsilio Editori under the title Terre d'America e burocrazia romana: Simon Stock, Propaganda Fide e la colonia di Lord Baltimore a Terranova, 1621-1649. This translation has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Cover illustration: Peter Rindisbacher, A Drifting Iceberg Strikes the Ship in the Night of June 19, 1821. (Public Archives of Canada, C-1904.) Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Codignola, Luca, 1947- The coldest harbour of the land Translation of: Terre d'America e burocrazia romana. Includes letters by Simon Stock to the Congregation "de Propaganda Fide" in Rome. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7735-0540-7 i. Catholic Church - Newfoundland - History - 17th century. 2. Stock, Simon. fl. 1621-1649. 3. Baltimore, George Calvert, Baron, 1580-1632. i. Stock, Simon, fl. 1621-1649. n. Title. 6x1422^406313 1988 282'.718 087-094336-7 For Federica This page intentionally left blank Contents Illustrations xvi Preface to the English Edition ix Preface and Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xiv PART ONE: Simon Stock, Propaganda Fide, and Lord Baltimore's Colony in Newfoundland 1 Introduction 3 2 Simon Stock, Discalced Carmelite, Meets Lord Baltimore, 1621-24 6 3 Sir Arthur Aston, Adventurer, Agrees to Embark for Newfoundland, 1625 14 4 Simon Stock Learns about the New World, 1625 23 5 The Search for the Northwest Passage, 1626 32 6 Lord Baltimore's Pleasant Summer in Avalon, 1627 41 7 Lord Baltimore Decides to Settle in Avalon for Good, 1628 46 8 The Tragic Ending of an Adventure, 1629-30 51 9 Conclusion 58 PART TWO: The Letters of Simon Stock Introductory Note 65 List of Stock's Letters 69 Letters 73 Notes to Part One 141 Notes to Part Two 173 Bibliography 191 Index 219 Preface to the English Edition Preparing the English translation of this book with my friend and colleague Anita Weston provided me with the opportunity to double-check and revise the Italian text, pub- lished in March 1982 by Marsilio Editori of Venice. I have added two documents to those published in the Ital- ian edition and corrected a few inconsistencies and errors pointed out by colleagues and friends. Otherwise, this version is the same as the original. All documents and citations in the text have been translated into English. The Italian edition will still be useful to those who wish to check the English translation against the original documents. Little has appeared on the topic in the interval between this and the Italian edition. The bibliography has been updated, and includes a number of books and articles pub- lished between 1982 and 1986, as well as others I did not know about at the time the original version was published. Some of these works are very important. They include all of John Krugler's articles, except "Calvert's Resignation" (1973) which I referred to earlier, David Quinn's New American World (1979), Gillian Cell's Newfoundland Discovered (1982), and John Smith's Complete Works edited by the late Philip Barbour (1986). My own Calendar 1622-ijgg of Prop- aganda Fide documents was published in microfiche (1983), as was my general interpretation of the relationship between the history of early North America and the Holy See which appeared as "Rome and North America 1622-1799. The Interpretive Framework" (1984). Finally, I wish to acknowledge, with deep gratitude, Jane Fredeman's help in the production of the Canadian edition of

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