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Dom Joseph Cuthbert Wilks [1748–1829] and English Benedictine Involvement in the Cisalpine Stirs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

Geoffrey Scott O.S.B.
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Extract

The figure of Cuthbert Wilks has intrigued me for many years. An English Benedictine and the principal clerical member of the English Catholic Cisalpine movement at the end of the eighteenth century, he was an opponent of Bishop Charles Walmesley, a monk from his own community. Cisalpinism, which demanded further religious and civil freedom for English Catholics, caused a deep cleavage within the English Catholic community.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , May 1997 , pp. 318 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1997

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References

Notes

1 The substance of this article was read as a paper to the annual meeting of the Catholic Record Society, Plater College, Oxford, 30 July 1996. Wilks family tree in CRS, 1, 1905, pp. 143ff., and 9, 1911, p. 396. WRO, Coughton Catholic Register for baptisms and deaths. Gravestones of some of family at foot of chancel in Coughton parish church.

Conjectural Family tree:

D, South Province Foundation Book, 1763 29 Jan., Will of Miss Mary Lewys, leaving £100 to the Benedictine Provincial of the South, and its interest to the monk missioner at Coughton.

2 D, Mass Obligation book of St. Edmund's, Paris, p. 64. De, Account Book of St. Edmund's, Paris, pp. 138, 140, 145.

3 D, Mass Obligation book, p. 69 and 3rd insertion; cl792, Declaration of St. Edmund's property, ‘costs to deduct’.

4 Allanson, ‘Biography, II, 173. C, 1788 10 April, J. Sharrock to G. Sharrock. D, CIR [H] 18 for Wilks's autobiographical notes [I have not been able to identify the abbey in Pontoise, where, besides Benedictine nuns, whose patron was Our Lady, there were Augustinian Canonesses]; Diary of Thomas Welsh [transcript], 1770 21 July entry; Parker Papers, 30 Oct. 1801, Brewer to Parker, Mr. Poitevin as ‘fellow student of Mr. Wilks’. L, 31, 1779 26 Aug., 9 Oct., Cowley; 58, 1778 9 Oct., 1788 9 Feb., G. Sharrock. Copy of Wilks's 1770 thesis in the Bodleian. I am grateful to Dr. L. Brockliss for details of Wilks's degrees at the Sorbonne. G. L. Nelson, ‘Charles Walmesley’, p. 192. Three books belonging to Wilks at Douai Abbey, Woolhampton, reflect his interest in the classics, patristics and church history: Bossuet, Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle, Paris 1775; Strabo, Rerum Geographicarum, Amsterdam 1707, inscribed ‘Benedictinorum Anglorum Sancti Edmundi, Parisiis 1769’, ‘Ex dono Fr. Cuthberti Wilks’; Ignatius of Antioch, Epistolae, Amsterdam 1646, ed. of Isaac Vossius, inscribed “in usum F. Cuthberti Wilks 1768’, with an annotation by Wilks on p. 307, noting Eusebius's support for the Epistle of Barnabas in his Ecclesiastical History.

5 Allanson, Biography, II, 173. D, Welch Diary [transcript], entry for June 13, 1772; Visitation Book, 1774 & 1780 entries. L, 28 1779 26 Aug., 1780 9 Oct., Bennet; 66, 1791 26 June, 1792 3 Jan., Warmoll. Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, H 79, 1780 28 Aug., Welch to Holderness. Green, B., The English Benedictine Congregation, London 1980, 30.Google Scholar James, M. Osborn, Dr. Johnson and the contrary converts, New Haven 1954, 6f.Google Scholar

6 Allanson, Biography, II, 174. Gillow, Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics, London 1885, vol. 1, 187.Google Scholar C, 1786 15 Jan., Throckmorton to Walmesley. L, 32, 1785 18 April, Cowley; 66, 1783 27 Aug., Warmoll.

7 Williams, J. A., Post-Reformation Catholicism in Bath, Catholic Record Society, vol. 65, 1975, 71.Google Scholar L, 66, 1786 6 May, Warmoll.

8 Allanson, ‘History’, Appendix, 506, 508. C 1786 11 July, Warrnoll to G. Sharrock; 1786 2 Oct., 30 Nov., 1787 26 April, 11 Aug., Walmesley to G. Sharrock. L, 66, 1786 29 June, 1787 22 Feb., 22 Oct., Warmoll; 57, 1787 12 June, J. Sharrock; 70, 1787 19 June, Wilks; 49, 1792 9 June, Marsh; 53, 1791 29 Mar., Parker. CRS, 50, 1956, p. 249. Joseph, Wilks L.D., A discourse pronounced during the illness of his Majesty in 1788 in the Catholic chapel, St. James's Parade, Bath, Birmingham 1801.Google Scholar Oscott [catalogue no. 3194] for Jerningham's notes on Wilks's oratory, J.-B. Bossuet, Short sermons and funeral orations, translated from the French [by Edward Jerningham], to which is prefixed an essay on the eloquence of the pulpit in England, Printed for W. Clarke, 1801.

9 Allanson, Records 237; Biography, II, 174. CRS, 13, p. 34. AAW XLII/128. C, 1787 26 April, 1788 14 Feb., Walmesley to Sharroock; 10 April, J. Sharrock to G. Sharrock; 17 Dec, Wilks to G. Sharrock; 15 Sept., Butler to Walmesley; 1788 12 July, Waters to Walmesley; 1790 15 June, Parker to G. Sharrock. L, 64, 1788 15 Jan., Walmesley; 57, 1787 26 Oct., J. Sharrock. WRO, 1788 9 Nov., Wilks to Throckmorton. Bossy, J., The English Catholic Community 1570–1850, London 1975, 330.Google Scholar Foley, B. C., Some People of the Penal Times (chiefly 1688–1791), Lancaster 1991, 1.Google Scholar Ward, Dawn, i, 124–5, 135–6.

10 Allanson, History, II, p. 318ff. AAW XLII/151, 152. C, 1789 6 May, Waters to Walmesley; 22 May, Wilks to Walmesley; 15 Sept., Butler to Walmesley; 16 Dec, Warmoll to Walmesley; 24 Dec, Parker to G. Sharrock. D, Walmesley to Weld [transcripts], 1789 22 Nov., 5 Dec. L, 33 1789 10, 14 Aug., 20 Oct., 11 Nov. Cowley; 57, 1790 9 Jan., Sharrock, J.. Ward, Dawn, I, 148–9, 151.Google Scholar

11 C, 1790 19 Jan., Committee to Walmesley; 20 Feb., 24 Mar., Waters to Walmesley; 22 May, Walmesley to Walker; 27 Mar., 13 April, Pembridge to Walmesley; 1791 25 Jan., Warmoll to Walmesley. D, 22 Jan. 1790, Walmesley to Weld [transcript]. L, 28, 1790 22 Jan., 7 Feb., Bennet; 32, 179011 Jan., Cowley; 36, 1791 16 Jan., 3 July, Gregson; 64, 1790 22 May, Walmesley; 66, 1790 30 May, 22 Aug., 1791 19 Jan., Warmoll; 67, 1790 3 Mar., Waters; 70, 1791 22 Jan., Wilks. WRO, 1790 4 Jan., 21 June, 27 Sept., 11 Oct., 15 Oct., 10 Nov., Wilks to Throckmorton. Ward, Dawn, i, pp. 181–83, 203–7, 257ff.

12 Allanson, Biography, II, 179–80; Records II, 249. C, 1791 19 February, Walmesley to Wilks; 1791 13Feb., Bennet to Walmesley; 1791 23 Feb., Wilks to Walmesley; 1791 12 Jan., 1 Feb., 26 Feb., 19 Mar., 21 July, 13 Sept., 10 Oct., 13 Oct., 23 Nov., 11 Dec, 21 Dec Warmoll to Walmesley; 1791 16 Feb., Pembridge to G. Sharrock; 1791 10 July, Walker to Walmesley; 1791 Coombes to Walmesley. L, 70, 1791 22 Jan., Wilks; 66, 1791 17 Mar., 27 Aug., 13 Oct., Warmoll; 33, 1791 3 Mar., Cowley; 57, 17915 Mar., J. Sharrock; 64, 1791 28, 29 April, Walmesley; 66, 1791 26 June, Warmoll. NRO, 1791 11, 13, 20, 27 Feb., Walmesley to W. Gibson; 14 Feb., Banister to W. Gibson; 1791 25 April, Douglass to Gibson; 1791 21 June [motion]. WRO, 1791 4 Jan., 9 Sept, Wilks to Throckmorton; 1791 c. Sept., Bath Congregation to Walmesley; ?Oct. undated and no author; ‘terms on which Walmesley would be reconciled with Wilks’. Doyle, P. J., ‘The Necessary Servants’, Essex Recusant, vol. 11, 1969, 3,Google Scholar December, 114. Gillow, J., Dictionary, iii, 370–71.Google Scholar N. Abercrombie to G. Scott, 1978 4 May, ‘I am surethat [the famous Letter in the Second Blue Book, … is the work of Wilks’. Abercrombie, on re-readingthe repudiation of Papal Infallibility here, noted that the letter's rejection of the claim that papal infallibility extended ‘even to particular judgments concerning facts’, ‘looks to me so very much like the Jansenist position on the “fait de Jansenius” that it makes me wonder about Joseph Wilks’.

13 Allanson, Records II, 252, 255, 258, 262, 265, 266; V, 226, 227, 407. AAW, XLIII/59, 81, 93–95, 102, 118, 119, 130, 133, 134, 139–141, 143C, 1791 20 April, Bennet to Cowley; 1791 13 Feb., Bennet to Walmesley; 21 July, 12 Aug., Brewer to Cowley; 1791 26 July, Waters to Walmesley; 1791 25 July, 2 Aug., 13 Sept., 10 Oct., 13 Oct., 18 Oct., 24 Oct., 27 Oct., 6 Nov., 14 Nov., 23 Nov., 26 Nov., 11 Dec, 21 Dec, 1792 9 Jan., 3 Feb., 11 Mar., 5 April, 1 May, Warmoll to Walmesley; 13 Oct., 24 Oct., Warmoll to Wilks; 12 Aug., Brewer to Cowley; 21 Aug., 8 Sept., 10 Sept., 23 Nov., Wilks to Warmoll; 28 Sept., 22 Oct., 30 Oct., 20 Nov., 21 Nov., Wilks to Walmesley; 19 Nov., Walks to Cowley; 8 Sept., 23 Oct., 6 Nov., 11 Nov., 14 Nov., Walmesley to Warmoll; 1791 19 Sept., Walmesley to Antonelli; 17 Oct. Walmesley to various; 14 Nov., Walmesley to Wilks, 23 Nov., Walmesley's summary regarding Wilks; 2 Nov., 22 Nov., Walker to Walmesley; 11 Nov., Howard to Walmesley; 12 Nov., petition from Bath congregation; 1 Dec, Walmesley to Bath congregation; 1791 23 June, Pembridge to G. Sharrock; 1791 8 Oct., Pembridge to Walmesley; 1791 11 Dec, Lacon to Cowley. De, Birt Box, 9/15, 9/314. L, 46, 1791 17 July, 6 Dec, 27 Dec, Lacon; 57, 1791 28 Oct., J. Sharrock; 62, 1791 17 Nov., 15 Dec, 1792 4 March, Throckmorton; 64 1792 c. 16 Oct., 14 Nov., Walmesley; 66, 1792 5 April, 11 May, 8 July, 1 Aug., 13 Oct., Warmoll; 67, 1791, 10 Aug., Waters; 70, 1791 13 Sept., 1791 28 Sept., Wilks to Clifford and Walker. NRO 1791 21 June, 21 July, 10/12 Sept., 25 Sept., Walmesley to Gibson. 1791 9 June [motion]. Rome, Archives of Propaganda Fide, SRC, Anglia 5, passim. Preston, Lanes. R.O., RCBu 14/25, 1791 4 Oct., Walmesley to Pilling. WRO, 1791 9 Sept., 7 Oct., ?Oct., ‘after 6 Nov.’, 12 Nov., 15 Nov., 21 Nov., 7 Dec, Wilks to Throckmorton, ?1791 c. Sept., Bath congregation to Walmesley; undated, George Throckmorton to John Throckmorton. Ward, Dawn, i, 321ff.

14 Downside Birt 9/B21, 29,47. C, 1792 9 Jan., 3 Feb., 14 Feb., 11 Mar., 5 April, 13 April, 19 April, 27 April, 1 May, 6 Sept., 6 Nov., Warmoll to Walmesley; 1791 20 Dec, 1792 10 Mar., 4 April, Bennet to Walmesley; 1792 3 Feb., 14 May, Walker to Walmesley; 1792 6 Sept., Talbot to Walmesley; 1792 23 April, 29 May, Brewer to Cowley; 1792 14 Jan., 19 May, Waters to Walmesley; 1792 20 Mar., G. Sharrock to Walmesley; 1792 5 Feb., Lacon to G. Sharrock; 1792 10 Mar., Antonelli to Walmesley; 1792 21 April, Talbot to Warmoll. WRO, 1792 24 Jan., Walker to Throckmorton; 13 Aug., Wilks to Throckmorton. L, 57, 1791 28 Oct., 1792 5 May, J. Sharrock; 32, 1792 24 April, 1 May, Cowley; 46, 1792 28 Jan., 27 Feb., 12 May, Lacon; 53, 1792 13 Mar., 25 April, Parker; 64, 1791 26 Dec, 12 April,Walmesley; 66, 1792 3 Jan., 11 May, 8 July, 1 Aug., Warmoll. Ward, Dawn, i, 347ff.

15 C, 1793 24 Jan., Douglass to Walmesley; 1793 15 Feb., 22 May, 2 Nov., Waters to Walmesley; 3 Mar., Warmoll to Sharrock. WRO, Letters 18, 19, 20, 21, and 1793 10 Sept., 15 Oct., 4 Nov., 22 Nov., 1794 6 Jan., Wilks to Throckmorton. Bourgeant's History was sent to Booker, the publisher most favoured by the Cisalpines. D, VII. A. 1.4, for Wilks's travel diary, many of whose pages have been excised. Giancinto Sigismondo Gerdil [1718–1802] studied at Bologna, becoming a member of the famous Bolognese Academy of Crusca. His numerous works were edited in 20 vols. [1806–1821], perhaps that mentioned here was his Introduzione alio studio délia religione. François-Xavier Feller [1735–1802], Belgian ultramontane ex-Jesuit publicist, one of foremost clerical opponents of the French Revolution, condemned the state demanding Oaths of its clergy.

16 C, 1794 5 April, Waters to Walmesley; 3 Oct., Pembridge to Walmesley; 22 Dec., Warmoll to Walmesley; 1794 15 Feb., 2 Sept., Gibson to Walmesley. Upholland Institute, Rutter letters 1794 20 Sept. WRO, 1794 1 Dec., Wilks to Throckmorton. Ward, Dawn, i, 343. Henry Grove [1684–1738], like Wilks, was particularly interested in ethics. His piece on Novelty in the revived Spectator [29 November 1714] argues that the use of the love of novelty places everyone on the same level and preserves equality ‘in spite of all the care of man to introduce artificial distinctions’.

17 C, 1796 12 Jan., Warmoll to G. Sharrock; 1796 20 May, J. Sharrock to G. Sharrock; 1796 25 Nov., Waters to G. Sharrock; 1795 10 March, Douglass to Walmesley; 1798 3 July, Cowley to G. Sharrock. Wilks must have been partly responsible for his nephew Charles's attendance at the school recently set up at Vernon Hall, Lanes., by his Benedictine ally, Gregory Cowley, see C, 28 December 1795. Preston, Lanes. R.O. RC/Bu 14/62, 14/176. WRO, 71796 Unsigned Protest. Upholland, Banister Papers, 1797 11 Oct., Banister to Gibson, W.. Giles, C., ‘Catholic Registers of Newport, Shropshire, 1785–1846’, CRS, vol. 13, London 1913, p. 338,Google Scholar with a Tichbourne and Swinburne as two of Wilks's pupils. He conducted nine baptisms [1796–98] while a missioner at Newport. Ward, Dawn, ii, 66–7.

18 Allanson, Record 237. Birmingham Archdiocesan Archives C.1491, 1798 17 July Printed extract from Minutes of General Chapter. NRO, RCD 1/1/90 1798 31 Oct., Douglass to Gibson. Preston, Lanes. R.O., RC/Bu 14/102, 1798 29 May, J. Sharrock to Coghlan; 14/19, 1798 12 Sept., Burning to Coghlan; 14/176, Wilks to Cowley [printed]. C, 1798 3 July, Cowley to Sharrock. Upholland Institute, Banister papers, Box 1, c. 1800, Banister to ?W. Gibson. WRO, 1798 4 July, Wilks to Throckmorton. Ward, Dawn, ii. Chapter XXVII, passim. Joseph, Wilks, Copy of a letter to the reverend William Cowley, ?Birmingham 1798.Google Scholar

19 Allanson, Records 237, 238; Biography, II, 196. Preston: Lanes. R.O., RCbu 14/125, 1799 3 Sept., J. Sharrock to Coghlan; 9 aug.; 14/154, 1799 Aug., 1800 Mar., 1800 20 Jan,. Bruning to Coghlan. Upholland Institute, Banister Papers, Box 1, c.1800, Banister too ?Bp. William Gibson. WRO, 1799 12 July, 1799 18 Dec, 27 Dec., Wilks to Throckmorton; 3 Dec, Gibson to Brewer; 1801 20 Nov., Erskine to Brewer; 10 Dec., Wilks to Throckmorton. Copy of the sentence given by the rev. doctor Brewer, on the appeal made to him by the rev. doctor Joseph Wilks; and the correspondence relating thereto, 1799. Ward, Dawn, ii, 236–7.

20 Allanson, Biography, II, 199. Library of University of Heidelberg, Heid. HS 855, 1801 15 July, Geddes to Paulus [information from Rev. Dr. Reginald Fuller]. D, Parker papers, 1801 30 Oct., Brewer to Parker., B. Green, ‘The Fall of Abbot Heatley’, Downside Review, cvii, 327,Google Scholar April 1979, 81–98. Joseph, Wilks L.D., A discourse pronounced during the illness of his Majesty in 1788 in the Catholic chapel, St. James's Parade, Bath. By the Rev. Joseph Wilks, Birmingham: printed for the author by Grafton and Reddell. Sold by Booker, 1801. Ward, Dawn, ii, 237–9.Google Scholar

21 Allanson, Biography, II, 198, 201–02. D, Parker papers, 1805 30 Sept., Sharrock to Parker. D, forlist of Wilks's books, and D, VII. A. 1.4, for his commonplace collections.