The Church in England on the eve of the reformation

Strengths of the Church

• Liturgical year
  • Saints days
  • organising the life of the people
• Ability to preach to the community at large
  • Much more visual than Henry.
  • FUNDAMENTAL PART OF THE COMMUNITY
• 30 positions in the House of Lords
• Monasteries centred in the middle of the town
• In 1541 and 1521 only 4% of parishes in Lancashire complained.

• ANTI CLERICAL CRITICISMS
  • Pluralism
  • Simony
  • Mortuary Fees
  • Corruption
  • Nepotism
  • Immoral behaviour
• DOCTRINAL CRITICISMS
  • Purgatory - Had no spiritual basis, seems as if it is an exploitation of the belief's of people. Reliance of £. (If the Pope had the ability to remove them, then he wold w/out the need for money)
  • Indulgences
  • Involvement in the secular world
  • Superstition and supernatural interperetations of doctrine (Pagan rituals)
    • Transubstantiation

Who were the critics?

• Lollards - More prominent before the reformation
  • John Wycliffe
• Humanists
  • Thomas More 
• Lutherans
  • Martin Luther
• The White Horse Tavern Club
  • Lutherean Group 
  • Included Cromwell
  • A lot went to become Arhbishops
  • (Stephen Gardiner also included although he was a Conservatist)

How genuine was the threat to Catholicism ?

• Although there were issues, people still believed in the importane of the church
• They devoted time and money (wills)
• Perhaps not for religious reasons
• Nonetheless involves

A.G.Dickens - "An Atmosphere little chort of explosive"