Ever Resemble Janus with a Diverse Face : ジョン・ダン『イグナチウスの秘密会議』における公会議主義(1)

Abstract

John Donne(1572-1631), in his years of the spiritual crisis at Mitcham, penned the satirical tour de force Conclave Ignati, first in Latin, followed by his own translation into English, published in 1611 as Ignatius His Conclave. This book might be interpreted in the context of King James' controversy with Cardinal Bellarmine over the Oath of Allegiance, whereby the Protestant Establishment attempted to distinguish between Roman Catholics who were loyal subjects of the Kingdom and those who were not. Donne, in his Ignatius His Conclave, however, distrusted both of them, describing them as "Janus with a Diverse Face." Part One of this essay deals with the latter group of Roman Catholics, including English Jesuit Robert Persons, who refused to take the Oath, saying that the Oath denied the spiritual power of the pope over secular kings. Those Ultramontane Catholics asserted that the pope could coerce or even depose kings with excommunication, because the pope should protect the subjects of an heretical king. Spanish Jesuit Juan de Mariana even defended the right of tyrannicide that could be exercised by any private person. Anglican divines in the Oath controversy, on the other hand, proclaimed the most effective weapons against papal and Jesuit aggressions would be the absolute monarchy.