R. Doleman

A Conference about the Next Succession was a pseudonymous book published by "Doleman" (N. Doleman or R. Doleman), and dealing with the succession to Elizabeth I of England. The cover date is 1594, but the real publication date is taken to be around September 1595, in Amsterdam. The author has traditionally been identified with Robert Persons, an English Jesuit exile. It has also been suggested that Doleman is a collective pseudonym.

A Conference was immediately effective in reopening the issue of the succession to Elizabeth, which at the time was difficult to debate in England. It provoked numerous replies, in the succession tract genre. It has also been considered a leading work of political thought of the period, arguing as it does in terms of resistance theory, and against the dynastic tradition of primogeniture. It was widely assumed at the time that the book's intention was to promote the claim to the English throne of Isabella Clara Eugenia.

The application of the concept of heir presumptive became increasing problematic, and less relevant, as Elizabeth's reign progressed. Until her death in 1568, it fitted quite well the claim of Lady Catherine Grey to the throne, under the terms of the will of Henry VIII. Mary Queen of Scots had a leading dynastic claim to represent the House of Tudor, until her execution in 1587. Her son James VI of Scotland became then the most obvious successor, in terms of practical politics, but it was supposed that there might be legal arguments against his coming to the English throne. Such arguments had previously been developed against the claim of the Catholic Queen Mary; they could be applied to King James.

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