Archpriest Controversy - Richard Bancroft and The Appellants

Richard Bancroft and The Appellants

A bitter pamphlet war followed from the inflammatory manuscript Adversus factiosos in ecclesia circulated in 1598 by Thomas Lister in 1598.

The royal policy of helping the appellants print pamphlets was implemented by Richard Bancroft as bishop of London. Leading printers were used: Robert Barker, Thomas Creede, Richard Field, James Roberts and three others. The authors included the French writers against the Jesuits, Antoine Arnauld and Étienne Pasquier.

Bancroft cultivated his contacts with individual appellant priests. He supported Thomas Bluet's wish to travel to Rome and see Pope Clement VIII, with permission and contacts in Parliament. In September 1601 William Watson was resident at Fulham Palace, under the protection of Bancroft. Francis Barnaby was another appellant contact of Bancroft's, who communicated for him with Christopher Bagshaw, in Paris, and had worked with William Clark in writing a 1603 pamphlet against the English Jesuits.