INTRODUCTION
The letters and other papers of Dr. William Allen printed in this volume supplement the large collection assembled by T. F. Knox in his Letters and Memorials of William, Cardinal Allen, London, 1882, and the much smaller group of Correspondence of Cardinal Allen, edited by P. Ryan , S.J. , in C.R.S. Vol . 9, 1911. The new letters, most of them never before printed , include all that the present editor has been able to collect up to the date of going to press, including six documents which came to light too late to be placed in their correct positions in the main body of the book. These have had to be placed together in a section headed Addenda, after No. 114. It seems very probable that yet other letters or memorials emanating from Allen's pen still await discovery. One of these late items is a letter sent by Allen and twelve others, from Louvain in August 1572, to Cardinal Morone , the Protector of England , in which they included a memorial for the new pope, Gregory XIII. (1) These two documents reveal an active interest, common to so many of the leading exiles of the period , in obtaining some kind of Papal intervention in English affairs. Though the memorial to the Pope , here in question, did not propose any particular plan , and apparently had no practical effect at this time, Allen's interest in political affairs much earlier than ithasdoes revealbeen realised. This fact is of some importance when hitherto considering the other main facet of Allen's activities at this period : his foundation and running of the College at Douay. By the date of the next two letters in this volume Allen , then aged about fortythree, (11A) had brought this College, which he had started in 1568 from very small beginnings, to a position of some eminence. The venture had not originally been intended to be a training ground for missionaries, since the restoration of England to its ancient faith was, at first, held to be hopeless whilst the then government was in power. Religious upheavals and political changes had, however, occurred so often since Henry VIII's break with Rome in the 1530s, and in addition Henry's own successors had so far been short- lived, that for many years after the accession of Elizabeth hopes persisted that further changes would soon offer a propitious opportunity to restore the Church . The College at Douay was thus founded to prepare learned men in readiness for this moment . Such men, after following a long course of study, would naturally become priests, but the College also afforded an opportunity of learning the rudiments of their faith to a large number of others who passed through or stayed there for shorter periods. Its members soon came to include not only those already in exile , but young men from schools XV