Religion (1485-1603)

- Humanists wanted to end the monopoly of the church on education & focused on human achievement and knowledge (enhanced by the established printing press in 1478)

- DID NOT QUESTION CATHOLIC PRINCIPALS but questioned some abuses and practices

Individuals:

- Thomas More (lawyer + statesman) wrote 'Utopia' in 1516 which criticised Catholicism (executed in 1535 for refusing to swear the Oath of Succession)

- John Colet, Dean of St Pauls aimed to reform the church from within and preached a sermon to Convocation

- William Tyndale translated the New Testament into English in 1536 (forbidden by Catholicism and executed in 1536)

- major manifestation of theological radicalism and denied Transubstantiation, foreshadowing Protestant ideas

- followers of John Wycliff, a 14th century Bible translator

Henry VII:

- Henry VII tried 73 Lollards in Church courts and burned 3 for heresy (Lollards denounced papal authority but wanted the King to be head of the church)

- Lollardy paved the way for Lutheranism which launched the Protestant Reformation in Europe (Luther's 95 These published in 1517 spread Protestant ideas beyond RC control)

Erastian policy (state authority over church):

- control of church appointments (allowed Thomas Langton to prove his loyalty and appointed Bishop of Winchester in 1493)

- Henry's closest advisors were churchmen (John Morton - Lord Chancellor + Archbishop of Cantebury) 

- Bishops appointed for adminastrative skills and legal training (16 appointed Bishops were lawyers + only 6 were theologians)

Genuine Devotion:

- Henry VII requested 10,000 Masses for his soul in his will

- demonstrated his committment by building a new chapel at Westminister Abbey 

Papal Support:

- no dispute between Henry VII and any of the 3 Popes during his reign (dispensation to marry Elizabeth of York, Papal Bull recognised Henry as King in 1486, changed rules of sanctuary in 1487)

Society:

- Taught the 'Great Chain of Being' and encouraged collective prayers to control behaviour (fundamental pillar in maintaining control)

- Monastic Orders - 1% of adult males in England were monks and there were 900 religious houses by 1500

- ordinary people still left considerable amounts of money in their wills to the church (reduction of time spent in Purgatory when people feared for their souls)

- Church had its own courts (Canon laws) & privileges (approximately 45,000)

- Pluralism (John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester worked hard to eliminate Pluralism)

- Financial Abuse (complaint agaisnt tithes payable to the Church & the sale of indulgences to secure a reduction of time in Purgatory)

Henry VII:

- no dispute between Henry VII and any of the 3 Popes during his reign (dispensation to marry Elizabeth of York, Papal Bull recognised Henry as King in 1486, changed rules of sanctuary in 1487)

- used the church to consolidate his authority: control of church appointments (allowed Thomas Langton to prove his loyalty and appointed Bishop of Winchester in 1493)

- Henry VII tried 73 Lollards in Church courts and burned 3 for heresy (Lollards denounced papal authority but wanted the King to be head of the church)

Henry VIII:

- The threat of Humanists and Lollards were minor and were no more significant under Henry VII (Erasmus, leading Humanist and Renaissance writer took up residance at Cambridge in 1510)

- Henry's 2nd Parliament in 1512 was an anticlerical act restricting the benefit of the clergy

Abuses:

- Pluralism: many clergymen held multiple offices at the same time

- Nepotism: secured church appointments for his son (did not keep to vow of celebacy)

Reformation:

- Humanists hoped that Wolsey would introduce effect church reforms in the spirit of Erasmus

- In 1519, Wolsey announced he would summon a legative counsel to overhaul the Church

- limited action as Papal Legate from 1518 (did not reform the lifestyle of monks and nuns, failed to complete 13 new Bishoprics)

- paved the way for Henry VIII's reformation (introduced new statues for Benedictine & Augustinian Orders, dissolved 30 religious houses and founded colleges in Ipswich and Oxford)

Henry VIII:

- responded to Luther's 95 Theses, writing the Assertio Septum Sacramentorum in 1517 and the Pope titled him 'Defender of the Faith'

Society:

- People were still leaving considerable amounts of money to the church in their wills

- the threat of Humanists and Lollards were minor and were no more significant under Henry VII (Erasmus, leading Humanist and Renaissance writer took up residance at Cambridge in 1510)

Catholicism:

- 1536 Ten Articles emphasises importance of Eucharist, confession & penance

- 1537 Bishops restored validity of 4 sacraments after the POG

- 1539 Six Articles Act reaserted the Catholic Doctrine (heresy to deny Transubstantiation)

Lutheranism:

- In 1525, Tyndale met with Luther to accurately translate the Bible into English (numerous copies had been smuggled into England and in 1538 it was authorised in every parish)

- In 1928, Wiliam Tyndale's 'Obedience of a Christian Man' demans further reform by the King (impact was limited as he lived abroad)

Society:

- the Hunne Case in 1511 - Wolsey dismissed parliament before it voted on taxation (Hunne was murdered in the Bishop of Langton's prison for having anticlerical literature)

- Urban communities with higher numbers of educated people had higher rates of anticlericalism (often had access to new ideas from Europe like merchants and intellectuals)

- In 1529, Simon Fish, a lawyer, wrote 'supplication for the beggars', asked the king to take action against the Church

Progress:

- increasingly used to sever links with the papacy and assert Henry's control over the Church (first legislation was anticlerical in nature, like the Pluralities & Mortuaries Act)

- the Radicals supported Anne Boleyn and advocated the Supremacy 

- In 1530, seven universities were favourable verdicts on Henry's case (the Collectanea Satis Copiosa supported the concept of the king as head of state and church)

- in February 1531, the Church was forced to pay a subsidy as a mortuary fine of £118,000

No Progress:

- the Conservatives were mainly traditional minded Bishops such as John Fisher (Thomas More, Lord Chancellor, was compromised by his support for the Aragonese faction)

- Fisher insisted that Henry VIII's title in the 1531 Pardon of the Clergy be tempered with 'as far as Christ's law allows'

Legislation:

- Act of Succesion in 1534 meant Catherine's marriage was void & oath to swear allegiance to to the new queen and her offspring (treason to speak against the marriage)

Influence:

- gambled that she would become pregnant and agreed to sexual relations with Henry (by 1532, Anne was pregnant and they married on 1533)

- Anne gave birth to princess Elizabeth in September, 1533 (Henry was desperate for a male heir)

Court/Clergy:

- before 1534 court had been sympathetic to the Aragonese faction (supporter Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter was executed in 1539)

- Anne Boleyn was executed in 1536 (Cromwell instigated the plot against her)

Clergy:

- John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester since 1504, refused to swear the oath accepting the divorce (he was executed in 1535 when Pope declared he would be made Cardinal)

Court:

- Northern Lords, Darcy & Hussey supported the POG after Mary I was excluded from the succession in 1536 (executed in 1537)

Religious Causes:

- Dodd's argues that the aim was to reverse Henry VIII's religious changes (rebellion occured shortly after the dissolution of the smaller monasteries in the north)

- 9 out of 24 articles at Pontefract were religious & marched under the Banner of the 5 Wounds of Christ

Events:

- rebel force of 30,000 led by Robert Aske against Duke of Nortfolk's 8000

- Lord Darcy surrendered Pontefract and the loyalty of his 300 men was questionable

Consequences:

- 100 gentry members were killed (low number overall)

- the rebels gained a free Parliament in the north and the new Bishop's Book in 1537 restored many of the church practices

Break from Rome:

- Act in Restraint of Appeals in 1533 (declared that monarch possessed an 'imperial jurisdiction' + the divorce no longer subject to foreign power of the papacy)

- Act of Supremacy in 1534 (effectively accomplished the break from Rome)

- Act of Succession in 1534 meant Catherine's marriage was void & oath to swear allegiance to the new Queen and her offspring (treason to speak against the marriage)

- Act of Annexing First Fruits and Tenths to the Crown in 1534

    1. Annates paid to the Bishop were now payable to the king

    2. religious policies no based on royal whim (dissolution of monasteries 1536-42)

    3. increased financial burden on the clergy + strengthen royal authority

1547: SUSTAINED ATTACK ON RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

- 1547: Removal of Catholic signs: Nicholas Ridley denounced images of saints + holy water (by sept. 1547, all Catholic images are gone from St Pauls + supported by radicals in gov.)

- 1547: July Injunctions: extreme reassertion of Cromwell's in 1538 + more likely to be enforced (attacked many features of catholicism e.g. candlemas, Ash Wednesday + Palm Sunday)

- 1547: Chantries Act: dissolved chantries (Haigh questions if it was motivated financially to support foreign policy as clerical property was seized by the crown)

- 1549, Act of Uniformity: Book of Common Prayer is surprisingly moderate (English Bible replaced latin, Eucharist declaration had Catholic qualities of Transubstantiation, but also radically omitted the Elevation of the host)

- However, the inclusion of both kinds of communion made it fairly radical

Duffy refers to Somerset's reforms as a 'charter for revolution'...

CRANMER/NORTHUMBERLAND BECOMING MORE RADICAL

- 1552, 2nd Book of Common Prayer (enforced Act of Uniformity)

      2. replaced wafer with ordinary bread (decisiveness compared to previous prayer book)

      3. simplified services (e.g. ban on popish vestments - conservatives could no longer find anything they agreed with)

- 1552, Second Act of Uniformity to enforce book (offence to not attend services + introduced in every Parish)

- 1552, Black Rubric Proclamation (further distanced from Catholicism - kneeling was not out of idolatory but for good, Edward influenced religion with personal beliefs)

- 1552, 42 Articles, produced without Parliamentary support by Edward's influence (followed lines of catechisms published by Luther and Calvin)

Duffy refers to Northumberland's relgious reform as a 'flood-tide of radicalism'...(more influenced by Edward's protestant ideas than Somerset)

Western Rebellion 1549:

- religious reforms of Book of Common Prayer of 1549 & marched under the Banner of the 5 Wounds of Christ

- 13 out of 14 articles show rebels wanted restoration not reformation (wanted return of papal relics, 6 Articles of 1539 + rejected English Bible of 1547)

- cries of 'kill the gentlemen' suggests the rebels considered the grentry as the enemy

Kett Rebellion 1549:

- demanded further Protestant reform (daily services from the New Prayer Book conducted under the 'Tree of Reformation' on Mousehold Heath + wanted teaching of catechism)

- Bishop of Norwich, William Rudge was old and unsympathetic to radical reform (Norfolk had an anticlerical tradition and by 1547 was fertile ground for proactive reformation)

- Foreign Protestants ordered to leave England, though most had already left

- Oct. 1553 (1st Parliament) repealed ecclesiastical laws under Edward VI + restored Henry VIII's order of service

- Autumn 1553, married clergy were deprived of their livings and some imprisoned (over 1/4 of parish clergy in the dioceses of london were deprived)

- Nov. 1554, (3rd Parliament) Monastic lands were not restored to Catholics, (Pope Julius appointed Reginald Pole papal legate & Archbishop of Cantebury)

- 1555, Act of Repeals reinstated old laws

- 1555, Pope Paul IV removes Pole as papal legate, so he struggles with authority (pope Paul VI was also anti-Spanish and hostile towards Philip)

- April 1557, Pope Paul IV withdraws support for Pole

- Mary had become a symbol for Catholic resistance (refused to obey the ban on 'mass' and allowed to do so in private)

- 20th July, Council in London informed Northumberland they had proclaimed Mary Queen (Mary arrived in London to celebrations and widespread support from the Catholic majority)

Support:

- Nov. 1554, (3rd Parliament) Monastic lands were not restored to Catholics, (Pope Julius appointed Reginald Pole papal legate & Archbishop of Cantebury)

Opposition:

- 1555, Pope Paul IV removes Pole as papal legate, so he struggles with authority (pope Paul VI was also anti-Spanish and hostile towards Philip + withdrew support for Pole in 1557)

1559:

- 1559, Act of Supremacy: restored royal supremacy + legislative authority

- 1559, Act of Uniformity: to restore a single form of worship (provided for the new Book of Common Prayer, required churches to use the communion table rather than the altar)

- 1559, Royal Injunctions: to make provision for the implementation of the Act of Uniformity in individual parishes (local officials must adopt a Protestant forms of worship)

1563:

- 1563, 39 Articles: to defend faith of the Elizabethan church (Article 17 associated Elizabeth's doctrine with Calivinism as it emphasised the importance of Predestination)

- Papal Bull issued in 1570 by Pope Pius V + excommunicated Elizabeth (Catholics were perimitted to ignore Elizabeth's authority + loyalists were deprived fo Catholic indulgences to avoid Hell)

- Elizabeth hoped to neutralise the threat by introducing the Treason Act of 1571 (stating that Catholics obeying the Pope or denying Elizabeth's rule faced a traitor's death)

- However, the majority of Catholics remained loyal to to the Tudor dynasty

    1. Landowners also favoured self-preservation

    2. Elizabeth felt secure enough to vetoe Bishop Sandy's Bill to increase penalities against recusants

Began to arrive in 1574:

- gov. pressed for greater use of machinery to identify + punish recusants as loyal representatives were ineffective or unwilling (100 seminary priests arrived in 1580 alone)

- In 1577, Bishops were ordered to provide a number for recusants in their dioceses:

    1. Cuthbert Mayne executed in 1577 for bringing the Papal Bull into the country & consequently beautified as a 'martyr'

    2. by mid 1570's the Catholic threat declined + attempted to appease them (despite this threat only 2 priests in 1578 were execute for denying Supremecy)

    3. executions of priests increased from 4 in 1581 to 11 in 1582 (though still low)

    4. 31 priests executed in 1588

Threat:

- Edmund Campion was discovered hiding in Berkshire Manor in 1581 (he was tortured, hung, drawn & quartered)

- though she limited the severity of the death penalty in 1581, saying Mass was still punishable (fine of 200 marks + a year in prison)

- after the Throckmorton Plot, Catholics Priests were expelled from England in 1585

- Throckmorton Plot coincided with a possible Jesuit revolt led by William Allen (the Plot was made more serious by Papal, Spanish + French Catholic support)

- Abroad: William of Orange was assassinated in 1584 + in the same year Philip II made an alliance with the French Catholic League to eradicate Protestantism

Not a Threat:

- Elizabeth limited the severity of Bills against recusants (such as the death penalty as a 1st Offence for saying Mass)

Laws against Catholic became progressively harsher:

- Act of 1571 ('Treason Act') - bringing or publishing the Papal Bull was treasonable (Cuthbert Mayne was beautified as a martyr in 1577)

- Act of 1581 ('Obedience') - treason to withdraw allegiance to Queen or the Church or excercise priestly functions (saying Mass resulted in a fine of 200 marks + a year in prison)

    1. executions of priests increased from 4 in 1581 to 11 in 1582 (though still low)

    2. 10 missionary priests arrived in 1580 alone

- Act of 1585 ('Against Jesuits') - became treasonable for Papal priests to enter England (146 priests were executed from 1585, 123 of which were accused under this act)

- Act of 1587 - Exchequer could seize 2/3 of estates for defaulting on payment (Tresham & Townley owed £1,000 for recusancy)

The Convocation of 1563 (met at the same time as Elizabeth's parliament):

- The convocation were not satisfied with the 1559 settlement, which Elizabeth believed to be adequate (depsite these efforts the proposed 39 Articles was not given legal force until 1571)

Vestments Controversy (denial of Ornaments Rubric by many clergy members):

- Elizabeth responded to the Convocation in 1565 (Parker played for time - sympathised with those who refused to abide by the clerical dresscode)

- Advertisments of 1566 was designed to enforce Uniformity + dresscode            1. limited effect as no Puritan Bishops resigned and only 37 were deprived.                        2. Earl of Huntington protected Bishop Sampson + provided clerical posts

- Deprived clergy appealed to leading Protestant theologians in Europe (fortunately, Henrich Bullinger of Zurich refused in fear of hindering England's Protestant reform)

Grindal:

- Archbishop Grindal (appointed 1575) encouraged Prophesysings + lax about enforcing conformity (suspended in 1577 - Queen believed 3/4 preachers per county was sufficient)

- consequently the drive against Presbyterianism resumed (however, courtiers frustrated attempts of Bishop Freke to suspend presbyterians).                                                    1. Leicester Knolleys secured a preaching license for John Field

- Cartwright's dismissal in 1572 made him a 'martyr' of the Presbyterian movement (Cartwright published 'Two Admonitions of Parliament') 1. despite the fact that Wilcox & Field were sentenced to a year in prison for the first

Pamphlet Wars:

- Archbishop Whitgift defended the nature of episcopacy (however, the pamphlet wars still highlighted fundamental issues of principal)                                                           1. 1580's - organised into Classis (Cambridgeshire, Essex & Suffok)                                 2. Field died in 1589, lessening opposition to the church

- the Presbyterians were largely based in the city of London + Cambridge Uni. (meaning it provided friends in high places + made of elitists)

- Courtiers frustrated attempts of Bishop Freke to suspend presbyterians:                            1. Leicester Knolleys secured a preaching license for John Field

Parliament:

- In 1587, Cope & Wentworth put forward Turner's prayer book + presbyterian system (Privy Council ensured that the Bill was dismissed & both men sent to the Tower of London)

Separatism:

- 1589 - Marprelate Tracts were a last desperate attempt to reassert Puritanism          1. numerous pamphlets issued by the church to refute allegations                                 2. late 1580's - church developed more sophisticated episcopal argument.            3. the death of John Field in 1589 helped to lessen opposition to the Church

Attack on Presbyterianism:

- John Whitgift (Archbishop in 1585) his first sermon likened Puritans to papists (2ND ARTICLE enforced the prayer book - forced to accept a modified subscription)           1. depsite this the clergy was still forced to accept 3 of his articles

- During the 1570's Parliament became an increasingly vocal platform for radical Protestant ideas 1. She demonstrated her willingness to enforce the settlement + Erastian approach to religion

- in 1587, Cope & Wentworth put forward Turner's Genevan prayer book + presbyterian system (Privy Council ensured that the Bill was dismissed & both men sent to the Tower of London)