PRE-REFORMATION ENGLAND

By the same author

• HENRY VIII AND THE REFORMATION

PRE-REFORMATION ENGLAND

BY

H. MAYNARD SMITH, D.D.OxoN SOMETIME CANON OF GWUCESTER

Palgrave Macmillan 1963

This book is copyrigkt in all countries which are signatories to the Berne Convention

First Edition 1938 R .. ssUIId x¢3

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1963

ISBN 978-1-349-00408-9 ISBN 978-1-349-00406-5 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00406-5

MACMILLAN AND COMPANY LIMITED

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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED

Toronto

THIS BOOK

IS DEDICATED

WITH HIS PERMISSION

TO

ARTHUR CAYLEY

LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER

BY

HIS SON AND SERVANT

THE AUTHOR

AS A TOKEN OF

AFFECTION ATE

REGARD

PREFACE

ROMAN CATHOLICS often write as if the Reformation in England would not have taken place if it had not been for the desire of Henry VIII for a divorce. Protestants, on the other hand, assert that it was due to the corruption of the clergy and the supersti­tions of the people. Economic writers emphasise the fact that the Church was excessively wealthy and politically powerless, so that the temptation to plunder her was irresistible. Political theorists maintain that the rampant nationalism of the English in the XVI century was incompatible with England's belonging to an international church. In this book the truth of these theories is tested ; but the object of the author is first of all to describe what Pre-Reformation England was like and the opinions of Englishmen at the time. He does not believe that any one theory will account for the Reformation ; and he does not believe that it is possible to understand how the Reformation came about, unless we are alive to the many aspects of life in the preceding period.

The book opens with the death of Henry VII in I 509, and closes with a review of the Assert£o Septem Sacramentorum, which was published in I52I; but the author looks before and after in his endeavour to understand, so that his book is not so much a history as the survey of an historical situation. All men in I 509 were not of the same age. The man who was then seventy had been fifteen when the Wars of the Roses broke out ; and his grandson aged twenty-one did not reach seventy until the acces­sion of Queen Elizabeth. To understand any period it is necessary to take into account what was within the experience of men then living, while the memories and reflections of men fifty years later are often of great value.

The first half of the book is devoted to an enquiry into the condition of the Church and the repute of the clergy ; into the nature of the popular religion and the prevalent superstitions ; into the social and economic causes of the changes that were taking place ; and into the uneasy and still undetermined rela­tions of Church and State.

vii

V111 PREFACE

The second half of the book has been written to account for the mental, moral and spiritual outlook of the men of the early XVI century. They had all inherited a tradition, but it was not the same tradition ; so that there was no common culture derived from the past, and no living prophet to whom all bowed. In consequence the author has traced to their source many tribu­tary streams to the Reformation torrent.

The majority did not read even when they could, but were dependent for enlightenment on the priest in the pulpit, on the ballad-singer in the street, on proclamations at the market cross, and on gossip retailed by topers in the ale-house. There were, however, poor men reading in secret the prohibited books of the Lollards, and ready to support any attack on the Church. There were devout people who bought up edition after edition of XIV century mystics, who, cultivating the interior life, became in­different to the claims of institutional religion. There were up-to-date and go-ahead young people who read romances which justified the satisfaction of their lusts ; and there were worldly men who quoted the latest satire on the clergy as a proof of their intellectual freedom. There were schoolmen, who styled themselves Thomists, Scotists and Ockhamists, who took their common faith for granted, and spent their time in scoring points against each other ; and there were the humanists who hated the schoolmen, and thought that the world could be regenerated by classical learning. To understand the background of such men it has been necessary to trace the history of Lollardy, scholasti­cism, mysticism and humanism, and to give some account of the vernacular literature. Each chapter has been brought down to the period of the Reformation-a coming event which casts its shadow over all.

The book may be regarded as an introduction to the history of the Reformation in England, and should it meet with approval, the author hopes to write another volume covering the period from the divorce of Henry VIII to the death of Elizabeth. In it he will deal at length with some subjects which are inadequately treated in the present book.

The author has not undertaken original research, but he has read a multitude of books-good, bad and indifferent. He has acknowledged his indebtedness to the writers, and has exercised his own judgment in interpreting the facts with which they have

PREFACE lX

supplied him. While emphasising all that is good in his period, he has not wittingly suppressed the evidence for much that was bad, although he has put the best construction possible upon it, because he believes that by so doing he is more likely to approximate to the truth.

The Rev. Dr. Blakiston, President of Trinity College, Oxford, has read each chapter as it was first written, and, thanks to his criticism, the author has been preserved from many a slip and made to reconsider many doubtful points. The Bishop of Gloucester has read three of the chapters, with the result that one of them has been entirely rewritten. The Rev. Dr. Watson, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, read as much of this book as was written at the time of his death, and the author owes much to his encouragement and advice. Miss Jeffries Davies has saved the author from three errors concerning the case of Richard Hunne, and Professor Jourdan of Trinity College, Dublin, has cleared up a difficulty arising out of his essay on Erasmus. Dr. G. G. Coulton and Dom Benedict Stewart have lent him books which were not in the London Library. As none of these distinguished people is likely to be in complete sympathy with his point of view, he is the more grateful for the generosity which they have shown to an adventurer into a province where they have established their reputations. His thanks are also due to the Reader of Messrs. Macmillan, whose name is unknown to him, for pertinent criticisms ; to Mr. Lennox Morison and the Rev. G. W. 0. Addleshaw for their great kindness in help­ing him to correct the proofs, and to the Reader of Messrs. R. & R. Clark who, when they had done their work, discovered errors that they had overlooked ; to Mr. William Liversidge for verifying references; and to the Rev. Philip Usher for allowing him to make use of three articles which had appeared in the Church Quarterly Review.

COLLEGE GREEN

GLOUCESTER, 1938

H. M.S.

A2

CONTENTS PAGE

PREFACE Vll

SOME ABBREVIATIONS XV

PART I

THE CONDITION OF PRE-REFORMATION ENGLAND

CHAPTER I HENRY VII : HIS FUNERAL AND WILL

CHAPTER II THE STATE OF THE CHURCH

i. Its apparent strength, p. 1 r. ii. The Papacy: its repute and its exac· tions, p. 12. iii. The Early Tudor bishops, p. 24. iv. Appropriations and pluralities, p. 33· v. The clergy and their learning, p. 38. vi. The morals of the clergy, p. 45· vii. The worldliness of the clergy, p. 53 viii. Endowments, p. 57. ix. Benefit of clergy : sanctuaries, p. 64. x. Probate and consistory courts, p. 72. xi. The case of Richard Hunne, P· 83.

CHAPTER III THE POPULAR RELIGION

i. The devout English, p. 91. ii. The churches, p. 104. iii. The guilds, p. II2. iv. The country parishes, p. 117. v. Ceremonial, p. 130. vi. Miracle plays, p. 141. vii. Carols, p. 149.

CHAPTER IV SuPERSTITIONS AND ABUSES

i. Superstitions, p. ISS· ii. The cult of Our Lady, p. rs8. iii. The saints, p. 164. iv. Images, p. 174. v. Relics, p. r8o. vi. Miracles, p. 186. vii. Pilgrimages, p. 189. viii. Purgatory, p. 198.

CHAPTER V EcoNOMIC AND SociAL CHANGES

i. The abbeys, p. 204. ii. Agriculture, p. 210. iii. The towns, p. 2 I 3· iv. Mediaeval economics, p. 219. v. Manners, p. 228. vi. The home, p. 23S·

Xl

3

II

91

1 SS

204

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI PoLITICAL CHANGES

i. Introduction, p. 241. ii. The new monarchy, p. 242. iii. Papal Sove· reignty, p. 245. iv. Local independence, p. 252. v. Canon law, p. 256. vi. Nationalism, p. 259·

PART II

PAGB

THE TENDENCIES OF THE TIME ACCOUNTED FOR

CHAPTER I THE HISTORY oF Lot.LARDY

i. John Wyclif, p. 267. ii. Lollard persecutions, p. 27 5· iii. Reginald Pecock, p. 282. iv. Lollard survivals, p. 288.

CHAPTER II THE HISTORY OF SCHOLASTICISM

i. The rediscovery of Aristotle, p. 293. ii. From Aquinas to Cusanus, p. 300. iii. Oxford and scholasticism, p. 322. iv. Decline of scholasticism, p. 331.

CHAPTER III THE ENGLISH MYSTICS

i. Popularity of mystical books, p. 339· ii. Hermits and anchorites, p. 342. iii. The English mystics, p. 354· iv. Dangers of mysticism, p. 367.

CHAPTER IV THE LITERATURE OF THE PEOPLE

i. Moralists and moralities, p. 374· ii. William Caxton, p. 382. iii. The satirists, p. 388. iv. Ballads, p. 397. v. Romance, p. 405. vi. Some general· isations, p. 417.

CHAPTER V HuMANISM

i. The ferment of the Renaissance, p. 420. ii. XV century humanism in England, p. 43 I. iii. Erasmus in Oxford, p. 440. iv. Erasmus in London and Cambridge, p. 445·

293

339

374

420

CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI

THE CATHOLIC REFORMERS

i. The so·called Oxford Reformers, p. 451. ii. Colet the Puritan, p. 452. iii. More, the Christian humanist, p. 463. iv. Erasmus the latitudinarian, p. 485. v. Henry VIII the traditionalist, p. 505.

CHAPTER VII

SUMMARY

i. The causes of the Reformation, p. 516. ii. The changes the Reformation brought about, p. 521.

A LIST OF THE BooKS REFERRED TO IN THE NOTES

INDEX

Xlll

PAGB

451

516

541

SOME ABBREVIATIONS

USED IN THE NOTES

A.&-- M. =Acts and Monuments, by John Foxe. B.C.P. =Book of Common Prayer. C.S.P. =Calendar of State Papers. D.N.B. =Dictionary of National Biography. E.E.T.S. =Early English Text Society E.H.R. =English Historical Review. E.R.E. =Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. H.M.C. =Historical Manuscripts Commission. L. &> P. =Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. N.E.D. =New English Dictionary.

O.H.S, =Oxford Historical Society. R.H.S.P. =Royal Historical Society's Proceedings. R.S. =Rolls Series. V.C.H. = Victoria County Histories.

XV