SANDERS, NICHOLAS. - English polemicist, b. at Charlwood about 1530, d. in Ireland in Apr. 1581. Having completed his studies in canon law in his homeland, upon the accession of Elizabeth (1559) he first went into exile in Rome, then in Central Europe in the retinue of Card. Osio.
From 1565 to 1572 he was professor at Louvain, devoted himself to the publication of numerous works, and, as apostolic delegate for England, directed his efforts toward his native country. In 1572, having gone to the Spanish court, he urged Philip II to wage war against Elizabeth. In 1579 he landed in Ireland and for eighteen months was the animating force of the Irish struggle against England; he died there from the privations and hardships he endured.
Of his writings, the most noteworthy is the De visibili monarchia Ecclesiae libri octo (Louvain 1571). He is also the author of a history of the Anglican schism (De origine et progressus schismatis anglicani libri tres, Cologne 1581), in which he proves to be more an impassioned polemicist than an impartial historian.