The latest volume in the Society’s Camden Series of primary source materials — Francis Slingsby (1611–1642) and the Jesuits, edited by Brian Mac Cuarta — is now available.
To mark publication, Brian Mac Cuarta’s ‘Introduction’ to this new collection is available free to read until 10 November 2026. Brian also writes about the life of Francis Slingsby for the Society blog.
This volume, the second Camden title of 2026, is published online via Cambridge University Press. Orders for print copies of this new volume, from Fellows and Members of the Society, are also now invited.
This latest Camden volume highlights Jesuit involvement in conversion to Catholicism in the Caroline era. It draws on the experience of one young man, Francis Slinsgby (1611-1642), in Rome and Ireland. The exceptionally rich documentation for Slingsby sets in relief one young man’s conversion to Catholicism, and its consequences for himself and his immediate family.
Themes include elite women as promotors of Catholic life in Wentworth’s Ireland; Jesuit efforts to liberate their protégé, imprisoned in Dublin; Slingsby’s friendship with the 3rd earl of Castlehaven; and travels in France with a visit to Loudun, scene of the celebrated exorcisms. First-hand testimonies illuminate the experience of students from the Stuart kingdoms in Catholic educational institutions in mid-seventeenth century Rome.
Francis Slingsby (1611–1642) and the Jesuits is published online and in print by Cambridge University Press.
Ordering a copy of the latest Camden volume: Fellows and Members of the Society
Fellows and Members of the Royal Historical Society may purchase a print copy at this — and other recent Camden volumes — at the discounted price of £16 per volume. To do so please email: [email protected], marking your email ‘Camden’.
Those without membership to Society may purchase this and other recent Camden volumes direct from Cambridge University Press.
The volume’s editor, Brian Mac Cuarta SJ, is a historian of early modern Ireland. With Mary Ann Lyons he has edited The Jesuit Mission in Early Modern Ireland, 1560–1760 (Dublin, 2022); and, for the Camden Series, he contributed Henry Piers’s Continental Travels, 1595–1598 (Cambridge, 2018). He is a fellow of Campion Hall, University of Oxford.
Other recent titles in the Camden Series
The Society publishes new volumes in the Camden Series each year.
Latest titles include The Correspondence of Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, 1640–1691, edited by Evan Bourke, published online and in print on 11 June 2026.
This volume presents selected correspondence of Lady Ranelagh (1615–1691) bringing attention to the important role she played in the intellectual and political circles of seventeenth-century England and Ireland.
The letters chart Ranelagh’s life, from her besiegement in Athlone in 1641 until her death in 1691, and include familial correspondence that engaged with important political events of her time. The correspondence also illuminates Lady Ranelagh’s role in offering medical, educational, and financial advice to family members and close friends.
Fellows and Members of the Society may order print copies at the reduced price of £16 per volume. To order a copy please contact: [email protected], marking your email ‘Camden’.
Three volumes were also published in 2025: The Papers of Admiral George Grey, edited by Michael Taylor (June 2025), The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541), edited by Helen Newsome-Chandler (August 2025), and A Collector Collected. The Journals of William Upcott, 1803-1823, edited by Mark Philp, Aysuda Akan and Curtis Leung.
The Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series is one of the most prestigious and important collections of primary source material relating to British History, including the British empire and Britons’ influence overseas.
The Society (and its predecessor, the Camden Society) has since 1838 published scholarly editions of sources — making important, previously unpublished, texts available to researchers. Each volume is edited by a specialist historian who provides an expert introduction and commentary.
Today the Society publishes two new Camden volumes each year in association with Cambridge University Press. The complete Camden Series now comprises nearly 400 volumes of primary source material, ranging from the early medieval to late-twentieth century Britain.
Fellows and Members of the Royal Historical Society may purchase a print copy at these — and other recent Camden volumes — at the discounted price of £16 per volume. To do so please email: [email protected], marking your email Camden.