English Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church in England and Wales (Latin: Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; Welsh: Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th century, when Pope Gregory I through the Benedictine missionary, Augustine of Canterbury, intensified the evangelization of the Kingdom of Kent linking it to the Holy See in 597 AD. This unbroken communion with the Holy See lasted until King Henry VIII ended it in 1534.For two hundred and fifty years the government forced members of the pre-Reformation Catholic Church known as recusants to go underground and seek academic training in Catholic Europe, where exiled English clergy set up schools and seminaries for the sons of English recusant families.
4 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Catherine of Aragon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Spanish Infanta so prized by the Tudors that, after her first husband the Prince of Wales died, she went on to marry his brother Henry VIII.
13 February 2025
Featuring: Lucy Wooding, Maria Hayward, Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer
Margery Kempe and English Mysticism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Margery Kempe (1373-1438), the English mystic who went to Jerusalem and dictated her life story, said to be the first autobiography in English.
2 June 2016
Featuring: Miri Rubin, Katherine Lewis, Anthony Bale
HistoryWriters from King's LynnWomen religious writersEnglish Roman Catholics14th-century Christian mystics, 14th-century English women writers, 15th-century English women writers, 15th-century deaths, English Catholic mystics, Middle English literature15th-century English writersAnglican saintsEnglish autobiographersEnglish religious writersRoman Catholic mysticsWomen mysticsEnglish women non-fiction writersFemale saints of medieval EnglandPre-Reformation Anglican saintsPope
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the satirist Alexander Pope. One of the greatest poets of the English language, his brilliant satires have made him popular in our age but not in his own.
9 November 2006
Featuring: John Mullan, Jim McLaverty, Valerie Rumbold
Neoclassical writersEnglish Roman CatholicsTory poetsEnglish essayists18th-century English poetsPeople from the City of London18th-century British essayistsEnglish male poetsEnglish male non-fiction writersRoman Catholic writersTranslators of HomerEnglish Catholic poetsFreemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England18th-century English non-fiction writersTuberculosis deaths in England18th-century English male writersBritish male essayistsSiegfried Sassoon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the war poet Siegfried Sassoon; a homosexual war hero who became a bitter opponent of the First World War and a devout Catholic.
7 June 2007
Featuring: Jean Moorcroft Wilson, Fran Brearton, Max Egremont
20th-century English novelistsEnglish Roman Catholics20th-century English male writersRoman Catholic writersLGBTQ Roman CatholicsEnglish Catholic poetsEnglish LGBTQ poets20th-century English poetsWar writersJames Tait Black Memorial Prize recipientsDeaths from stomach cancer in EnglandPeople with post-traumatic stress disorderBisexual male writersPeople educated at Marlborough CollegeRecipients of the Military Cross20th-century English LGBTQ peopleEnglish bisexual men, English bisexual writers, Royal Welch Fusiliers officersBritish Army personnel of World War I20th-century English memoiristsEnglish World War I poetsBisexual poetsBisexual military personnel