LEA, HENRY CHARLES

American Protestant publisher and historian; b. Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 19, 1825; d. Philadelphia, Oct. 24, 1909. He was the son of Isaac Lea (d. 1886), a distinguished scientist of Quaker descent, and of the Catholicborn Frances Ann Carey. He early displayed a remarkable diversity of interests, writing with equal facility in the fields of chemistry, biology, botany, modern and classical literature, and politics. But his reputation rests upon his historical works, written later in life, and dealing almost exclusively with the customs and institutions of the medieval Church. Lea tackled vast subjects with a breadth of conception, industry, attention to detail, and soberness of style that brought critical acclaim from scholars as distinguished and diverse as Lord acton, F.W. Maitland, and Bishop Mandell creighton, but his works are marred by a slipshod and confusing system of reference and by strong anti-Catholic prejudice. Although in part they remain of fundamental value today, particularly in the treatment of legal procedures, many facets of his historical writings have been superseded by later research. His chief works are An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church (Philadelphia 1867; rev. and enl. ed. Boston 1884; rev. in 2 v. New York 1907), A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (3 v. New York 1888; rev. ed. London and New York 1906), A History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences in the Latin Church (3 v. Philadelphia 1896), A History of the Inquisition of Spain (4 v. New York and London 1906–1907), and The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies (New York 1908).

Bibliography: p. m. baumgarten, Henry Charles Lea's Historical Writings (New York 1909). e. s. bradley, Henry Charles Lea (Philadelphia 1931), contains exhaustive bibliog. e. a. ryan, "The Religion of Henry Charles Lea," in Mélanges Joseph de Ghellinck, S.J., 2 v. (Gembloux 1951) 2:1043–51.

[j. v. fearns]