James Ussher

Abstract Selden ‘s funeral sermon was preached by his lifelong friend James Ussher, the Irish theologian and antiquarian, who declared that ‘he looked upon the deceased as so great a scholar, that himself was scarce worthy to carry his books after him. ‘ In truth, however, they were of a similar stature, towering figures of scholarship, ‘the great Goliaths of Literature ‘ as Anthony Wood called them.1 What Selden was to legal antiquarianism, so Ussher was to ecclesiastical antiquarianism, each a master of prodigious learning, and as familiar with the most ancient sources of his subject as of its subsequent development through the ages until his own time. But the current of Selden ‘s researches flowed towards a more secularized world, whereas Ussher primarily directed his energies to consolidating the position of the reformed Church in a world where religious issues remained paramount. Ussher ‘s work was in fact the last great flowering of Reformation scholarship in Britain, in the tradition of John Foxe, John Jewel, and Matthew Parker, and like them, he was concerned to demonstrate the truth and antiquity of the Protestant religion against the arguments of Roman Catholic antagonists. He was a major participant in the intellectual war between the Roman and Protestant Churches that persisted for a century after the Reformation, and for that reason, much of his writing was in Latin, for he addressed an international audience. Yet it was his distinction to remain an admired and respected scholar even amongst his Catholic opponents, for the integrity of his beliefs and the quality of his scholarship alike impressed themselves on his contemporaries of all parties.