The Churchmanship of A.W.N. Pugin

Abstract

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) has received proficient attention in both his roles as an artist and an author. Similarly, his significance in influencing the neo-medieval party in die Roman Catholic revival of the 1830s and '40s has been recognised, and has received intermittent consideration. However, little attempt has been made to produce a comprehensive consideration of the development of Pugin's religious beliefs which informed his ecclesiological practice. It is, therefore, the intention of this thesis to examine the influences lying behind Pugin's strain of churchmanship, and also to demonstrate that his religious beliefs were die underpinning dynamic of his literary and artistic auvre. This examination of Pugin's churchmanship relies upon a consideration of his early religious development, his conversion to Roman Catholicism, his formation of an artistic theory resting upon religious principles, his social concerns, his developing attitude towards the Church of England and involvement with the Oxford Tractarians, his part in die emergence of the Roman Catholic neo-medieval party, and his clash with the Oratorian and ultramontane factions in the Church. The final chapter attempts to locate Pugin's influence within the broader context of the Roman Church’s development from die 1850s. The thesis shows that Pugin's career was indeed inspired by a love of the Gothic style and of the Middle Ages, but that it was primarily informed by a strongly held ecclesiological conviction about the character which the re-emerging Catholic Church was to adopt in England.