A new appreciation for the life and career of an early modern English intellectual
Hanmer’s career played out against a backdrop of war, religious reform and debate. The project MEREDITH HANMER delved into archives and other textual resources to reconstruct a more accurate biography of this Welsh clergyman and early modern English intellectual. Research covered English and Irish archives, including papers of the state and official bodies, books and ecclesiastical records, wills, and written productions of Hanmer himself. Work across the fields of archival research, administrative history, church history, palaeography and literature amassed material with important cultural, political and social implications. MEREDITH HANMER also collected information on the origins, education and appointments of the Anglican divine. The research team studied Hanmer’s published works, which all dealt with key aspects of the Reformation, and his religious outlook. The findings offer a deeper understanding of spirituality, religion and confessionalisation in post-Reformation England and Ireland. For a supposedly minor or ‘lesser’ figure of Elizabethan England, Hanmer was active in many facets of the Elizabethan world, with his name punctuating histories relating to literature, church and religion. He is named in the Dictionary of National Biography and the Dictionary of Irish Biography speaks of his transnational relevance. Re-examination of early sources of Hanmer’s life indicates his date of birth needs to be reconsidered. Furthermore, research has revealed contradictory accounts of Hanmer’s appointments, and new evidence has come to light regarding a complex network of political and intellectual connections. Archival research also made it possible to place his career in the patterns of career building in the Elizabethan Church in the 1570s and 1580s. MEREDITH HANMER research findings have been published in international peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences and research seminars. The research offers a new perspective on the intellectual panorama of early modern Britain, and opens new academic paths for the study of language, literature and culture.
Keywords
Meredith Hanmer, historian, religious reform, biography, Elizabethan
