Overview of Montague Summers
This episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class explores the strange, multifaceted life of Montague Summers: a flamboyant scholar, possible clergyman, editor, and prolific writer whose name appears repeatedly in research on witches, vampires, werewolves, and Gothic literature. The hosts trace how Summers moved between Anglicanism, Catholicism, literary scholarship, and occult studies, while also noting the unresolved questions surrounding his ordination, his sexuality, and the carefully cultivated persona he presented to the public.
Early Life and Education
Background and upbringing
- Born Augustus Montague Summers in Bristol, England, in 1880.
- Came from a wealthy family; his father was a banker.
- Grew up in a large, well-appointed house with an extensive private library, which helped shape his early literary interests.
- Developed an early love of drama and literature, including toy theater play with his siblings.
Oxford and religious influence
- Attended Trinity College, Oxford, where he encountered the Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholic ideas.
- The episode explains Anglo-Catholicism as a high-church movement within Anglicanism that emphasized ritual, ceremony, and Catholic-style worship.
- Summers was drawn to its aesthetics and spiritual seriousness, and possibly to the culture around it.
Clerical Identity and Personal Life
Anglican training and ordination
- Studied theology and trained for the Anglican clergy.
- Was described by a contemporary as charming, witty, very carefully dressed, and highly theatrical.
- Ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church in 1908 and served in curacies, but his clerical career did not last long.
Allegations and break with the Anglican Church
- Summers and another clergyman were accused of pederasty; the details are unclear, and records were reportedly lost during World War II.
- The episode stresses that the accusation may have been false or tied to broader anti-gay prejudice, though it cannot be confirmed either way.
- Around the same time, rumors circulated that he had an unhealthy fascination with evil and Satanism.
- These factors appear to have ended his standing in the Anglican clergy.
Catholic conversion and uncertain ordination
- Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1909.
- Spent time at a Catholic seminary, received clerical tonsure, and adopted a new, more elaborate name: Alphonsus Joseph Mary Augustus Montague Summers.
- Whether he was ever truly ordained as a Catholic priest is unclear; sources conflict and documentation is lacking.
- Despite the uncertainty, he continued to present himself publicly as “Reverend” and wore clerical-style vestments.
Literary Work and Scholarly Reputation
Early poetry and queer subculture
- Published Antinous and Other Poems in 1907, a controversial and homoerotic collection.
- The book is linked to Uranian poetry, a late-19th- and early-20th-century tradition of same-sex-themed verse, often idealized and classical in tone.
- The episode notes possible connections between Anglo-Catholicism and gay male subcultures in the period, though Summers’ own sexuality remains unproven.
Restoration drama and editorial work
- After leaving formal clerical work, Summers became a teacher and then increasingly focused on editing and publishing historical literature.
- He produced major editions of Restoration-era writers and dramatists, including:
- Aphra Behn
- William Congreve
- William Wycherley
- Thomas Otway
- Thomas Shadwell
- John Dryden
- He also founded the Phoenix Society to stage old plays, helping revive interest in neglected Restoration drama.
- His introductions and annotations were often informative and made obscure works more accessible, even though later scholars criticized his editorial standards.
Criticism and plagiarism allegations
- Scholars attacked his editions for being sloppy, inconsistent, and sometimes heavily altered from original texts.
- He faced accusations of plagiarism and of misrepresenting his editorial methods.
- Despite these flaws, he was respected enough to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1916.
Occult Studies and Public Persona
Shift to the supernatural
- After 1926, Summers increasingly published on witchcraft, vampires, werewolves, and black magic.
- Major works included:
- The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926)
- The Geography of Witchcraft (1927)
- Vampire, His Kith and Kin (1928)
- The Vampire in Europe (1929)
- The Werewolf (1933)
- Witchcraft and Black Magic (1946)
Translations and occult editions
- Produced English editions or translations of key occult texts, including:
- Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches)
- Matthew Hopkins’ The Discovery of Witches
- Compendium Maleficarum
- His work was influential in shaping 20th-century popular ideas about witches and vampires, especially in English-speaking contexts.
Persona and performance
- Summers cultivated a memorable image: black clerical clothing, cloak, distinctive hat, and a conspicuously theatrical manner.
- This persona was remarked upon by contemporaries and seems to have been part scholarship, part performance.
- He clearly understood the value of being a dramatic public figure.
Controversies and Ideological Problems
Belief in witchcraft and anti-Semitic elements
- Summers appeared to believe witchcraft was real and that historical witch-burning was justified.
- The episode also notes that parts of his occult writing are now criticized for anti-Semitic tropes, especially in his treatment of accusations of ritual murder and witchcraft.
- His work is therefore seen as influential but deeply problematic by modern standards.
Feud with Father Herbert Thurston
- He had a long-running literary feud with Jesuit writer Herbert Thurston, who was more skeptical about paranormal claims.
- Summers viewed Thurston as overly cautious; Thurston questioned both Summers’ methods and the legitimacy of his Catholic status.
Later literary work
- In the late 1930s and 1940s, Summers shifted toward Gothic literature.
- He wrote The Gothic Quest and A Gothic Bibliography and also edited supernatural anthologies.
- Later in life he wrote for popular magazines, though some of this work was dismissed as low-quality or “hack” journalism.
Final Years and Legacy
Death and burial
- Summers died suddenly in 1948 at age 68.
- He was buried in Richmond Cemetery wearing priestly vestments, but apparently without a requiem mass.
- His grave later received the inscription: “Tell Me Strange Things.”
Papers and posthumous mystery
- Left much of his estate to Hector Stuart Forbes, his companion and personal secretary.
- Summers’ papers passed through several hands, were partly lost, then eventually rediscovered in 2003 and transferred to Georgetown University.
- A supposed document proving his Catholic ordination once surfaced in the papers, but it has not reappeared.
Key Takeaways
- Montague Summers was a major but eccentric figure in 20th-century literary and occult scholarship.
- He helped revive interest in Restoration drama and made many obscure texts accessible again.
- His occult work had lasting influence, but it was also shaped by outdated, prejudiced, and sometimes harmful ideas.
- His life remains full of unresolved questions, especially around his religious status and personal identity.
- More than anything, Summers seems to have been a self-fashioned character: scholar, priestly figure, polemicist, and performer all at once.