diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/50328-h/50328-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/50328-h/50328-h.htm | 20669 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 20669 deletions
diff --git a/old/50328-h/50328-h.htm b/old/50328-h/50328-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 877a7bd..0000000 --- a/old/50328-h/50328-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,20669 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Eve of the Reformation, by Francis Aidan Gasquet. - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - -<style type="text/css"> - -a { - text-decoration: none; -} - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -h1,h2 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb { - width: 45%; - margin-left: 27.5%; - margin-right: 27.5%; -} - -hr.chap { - width: 65%; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; -} - -hr.r15 { - width: 15%; - margin-left: 42.5%; - margin-right: 42.5%; - margin-top: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; -} - -li.ifrst { - margin-top: 2em; - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -li.indx { - margin-top: .5em; - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -li.isub1 { - padding-left: 4em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -p { - margin-top: 0.5em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -table { - width: 90%; - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 5%; - max-width: 100%; -} - -td { - padding-left: 0.25em; - padding-right: 0.25em; - vertical-align: top; -} - -ul { - list-style-type: none; -} - -.ad-section { - margin: auto; - page-break-before: always; - max-width: 600px; -} - -.advert { - margin: auto; - max-width: 550px; - background-color: #e5e5e5; -} - -.blockquote { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.center { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.clearboth { - clear: both; -} - -div.left { - float: left; - clear: left; - max-width: 49%; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - margin-top: 0.5em; -} - -div.right { - float: right; - clear: right; - max-width: 49%; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - margin-top: 0.5em; -} - -.footnotes { - border: dashed 1px; -} - -.footnote { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - font-size: 0.9em; -} - -.footnote .label { - position: absolute; - right: 84%; - text-align: right; -} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: none; -} - -.hanging { - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.intro { - font-size: 120%; -} - -.larger { - font-size: 150%; -} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} - -.poetry-container { - text-align: center; - margin: 1em; -} - -.poetry { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; -} - -.poetry .stanza { - margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; -} - -.poetry .verse { - text-indent: -3em; - padding-left: 3em; -} - -.poetry .indent2 { - text-indent: -1em; -} - -.smaller { - font-size: 80%; -} - -.smcap { - font-variant: small-caps; -} - -.tdc { - text-align: center; - padding-top: 0.5em; -} - -.tdr { - text-align: right; -} - -.title { - font-size: 150%; - font-family: "Old English Text MT", Old English, serif; - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.titlepage { - text-align: center; - margin-top: 3em; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.u { - text-decoration: underline; -} - -@media handheld { - -.poetry { - display: block; - margin-left: 1.5em; -} - -.blockquote { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 5%; -} -} - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's The Eve of the Reformation, by Francis Aidan Gasquet - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Eve of the Reformation - Studies in the Religious Life and Thought of the English - people in the Period Preceding the Rejection of the Roman - jurisdiction by Henry VIII - -Author: Francis Aidan Gasquet - -Release Date: October 27, 2015 [EBook #50328] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVE OF THE REFORMATION *** - - - - -Produced by Clarity and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet -Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<p class="titlepage larger">THE EVE OF -THE REFORMATION</p> - -<p class="center">FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET, D.D., O.S.B.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="titlepage">THE EVE OF THE<br /> -REFORMATION</p> - -<p class="titlepage">STUDIES IN THE -RELIGIOUS LIFE AND THOUGHT OF THE ENGLISH -PEOPLE IN THE PERIOD PRECEDING THE -REJECTION OF THE ROMAN JURISDICTION -BY HENRY VIII</p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br /> -FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET, D.D., O.S.B.</p> - -<p class="titlepage">AUTHOR OF<br /> -“HENRY VIII. AND THE ENGLISH MONASTERIES,” ETC.</p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller">LONDON<br /> -JOHN C. NIMMO<br /> -14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND<br /> -MDCCCC</p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br /> -At the Ballantyne Press.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table summary="Contents"> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">CHAP.</td><td></td><td class="tdr">PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">I.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">INTRODUCTION</a></td><td class="tdr">1</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">II.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS IN ENGLAND</a></td><td class="tdr">14</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">III.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">THE TWO JURISDICTIONS</a></td><td class="tdr">51</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">ENGLAND AND THE POPE</a></td><td class="tdr">78</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">V.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CLERGY AND LAITY</a></td><td class="tdr">114</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">ERASMUS</a></td><td class="tdr">155</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE LUTHERAN INVASION</a></td><td class="tdr">208</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">THE PRINTED ENGLISH BIBLE</a></td><td class="tdr">236</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">TEACHING AND PREACHING</a></td><td class="tdr">278</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">X.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">PARISH LIFE IN CATHOLIC ENGLAND</a></td><td class="tdr">323</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">PRE-REFORMATION GUILD LIFE</a></td><td class="tdr">351</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">MEDIÆVAL WILLS, CHANTRIES, AND OBITS</a></td><td class="tdr">387</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">PILGRIMAGES AND RELICS</a></td><td class="tdr">415</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<h1>THE EVE OF -THE REFORMATION</h1> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> -<span class="smaller">INTRODUCTION</span></h2> - -<p>The English Reformation presents a variety of problems -to the student of history. Amongst them not the least -difficult or important is the general question, How are -we to account for the sudden beginning and the ultimate -success of a movement which, apparently at least, was -opposed to the religious convictions and feelings of the -nation at large? To explain away the difficulty, we are -asked by some writers to believe that the religious revolution, -although perhaps unrecognised at the moment -when the storm first burst, had long been inevitable, -and indeed that its issue had been foreseen by the -most learned and capable men in England. To some, -it appears that the Church, on the eve of the Reformation, -had long lost its hold on the intelligence and -affection of the English people. Discontented with -the powers claimed by the ecclesiastical authority, and -secretly disaffected to much of the mediæval teaching -of religious truth and to many of the traditional religious -ordinances, the laity were, it is suggested, only -too eager to seize upon the first opportunity of emancipating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> -themselves from a thraldom which in practice had -become intolerable. An increase of knowledge, too, it -is supposed, had inevitably led men to view as false and -superstitious many of the practices of religion which -had been acquiesced in and followed without doubt or -question in earlier and more simple days. Men, with the -increasing light, had come to see, in the support given -to these practices by the clergy, a determination to keep -people at large in ignorance, and to make capital out of -many of these objectionable features of mediæval worship.</p> - -<p>Moreover, such writers assume that in reality there -was little or no practical religion among the mass of -the people for some considerable time before the outbreak -of the religious difficulties in the sixteenth century. -According to their reading of the facts, the nation, as -such, had long lost its interest in the religion of its -forefathers. Receiving no instruction in faith and -morals worthy of the name, they had been allowed by -the neglect of the clergy to grow up in ignorance of the -teachings, and in complete neglect of the duties, of their -religion. Ecclesiastics generally, secular as well as religious, -had, it is suggested, forfeited the respect and -esteem of the laity by their evil and mercenary lives; -whilst, imagining that the surest way to preserve the -remnants of their former power was to keep the people -ignorant, they had opposed the literary revival of the -fifteenth century by every means at their command. -In a word, the picture of the pre-Reformation Church -ordinarily drawn for us is that of a system honeycombed -with disaffection and unbelief, the natural and -necessary outcome of an attempt to maintain at all -hazards an effete ecclesiastical organisation, which clung -with the tenacity of despair to doctrines and observances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -which the world at large had ceased to accept as true, -or to observe as any part of its reasonable service.</p> - -<p>In view of these and similar assertions, it is of -interest and importance to ascertain, if possible, what -really was the position of the Church in the eyes of the -nation at large on the eve of the Reformation, to understand -the attitude of men’s minds to the system as they -knew it, and to discover, as far as may be, what in -regard to religion they were doing and saying and thinking -about, when the change came upon them. It is -precisely this information which it has hitherto been -difficult to get, and the present work is designed to -supply some evidence on these matters. It does not -pretend in any sense to be a history of the English -Reformation, to give any consecutive narrative of the -religious movements in this country during the sixteenth -century, or to furnish an adequate account of the causes -which led up to them. The volume in reality presents -to the reader merely a series of separate studies which, -whilst joined together by a certain connecting thread, -must not be taken as claiming to present any complete -picture of the period immediately preceding the Reformation, -still less of that movement itself.</p> - -<p>This is intentional. Those who know most about -this portion of our national history will best understand -how impossible it is as yet for any one, however well -informed, to write the history of the Reformation itself -or to draw for us any detailed and accurate picture of -the age that went before that great event, and is supposed -by some to have led up to it. The student of this -great social and religious movement must at present be -content to address himself to the necessary work of sifting -and examining the many new sources of information<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -which the researches of late years have opened out -to the inquirer. For example, what a vast field of -work is not supplied by the <i>Calendar of Papers, Foreign -and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII.</i> alone! In -many ways this monumental work may well be considered -one of the greatest literary achievements of the -age. It furnishes the student of this portion of our -national history with a vast catalogue of material, all of -which must be examined, weighed, and arranged, before -it is possible to pass a judgment upon the great religious -revolution of the sixteenth century. And, though obviously -affording grounds for a reconsideration of many -of the conclusions previously formed in regard to this -perplexing period, it must in no sense be regarded as -even an exhaustive calendar of the available material. -Rolls, records, and documents of all kinds exist in -public and private archives, which are not included in -these State Papers, but which are equally necessary for -the formation of a sound and reliable opinion on the -whole story. Besides this vast mass of material, the -entire literature of the period demands careful examination, -as it must clearly throw great light on the tone -and temper of men’s minds, and reveal the origin and -growth of popular views and opinions.</p> - -<p>Writers, such as Burnet, for example, and others, -have indeed presented their readers with the story of -the Reformation as a whole, and have not hesitated to -set out at length, and with assurance, the causes which -led up to that event. Whether true or false, they have -made their synthesis, and taking a comprehensive view -of the entire subject, they have rendered their story -more plausible by the unity of idea it was designed to -illustrate and confirm. The real value of such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -synthesis, however, must of course entirely depend on -the data upon which it rests. The opening up of new -sources of information and the examination of old -sources in the critical spirit now demanded in all historical -investigations have fully proved, however, not -merely this or that fact to be wrong, but that whole -lines of argument are without justification, and general -deductions without reasonable basis. In other words, -the old synthesis has been founded upon false facts and -false inferences.</p> - -<p>Whilst, however, seeing that the old story of the -Reformation in England is wrong on some of the main -lines upon which it depended, it is for reasons just stated -impossible at present to substitute a new synthesis for -the old. However unsatisfactory it may appear to be -reduced to the analysis of sources and the examination -of details, nothing more can safely be attempted at the -present time. A general view cannot be taken until -the items that compose it have been proved and tested -and found correct. Till such time a provisional appreciation -at best of the general subject is alone possible. The -present volume then is occupied solely with some details, -and I have endeavoured mainly by an examination of -the literature of the period in question to gather some -evidence of the mental attitude of the English people -towards the religious system which prevailed before the -rejection of the Roman jurisdiction by Henry VIII.</p> - -<p>In regard to the general question, one or two observations -may be premised.</p> - -<p>At the outset it may be allowed that in many things -there was need of reform in its truest sense. This -was recognised by the best and most staunch sons of -Holy Church; and the Council of Trent itself, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> -we read its decrees and measure its language, is sufficient -proof that by the highest authorities it was -acknowledged that every effort must be made to purify -the Church from abuses, superstitions, and scandals -which, in the course of the long ages of its existence, -had sprung from its contact with the world and through -the human weaknesses of its rulers and ministers. In -reality, however, the movement for reform did not in -any way begin with Trent, nor was it the mere outcome -of a terror inspired by the wholesale defection of -nations under the influence of the Lutheran Reformation. -The need had long been acknowledged by the -best and most devoted sons of the Church. There -were those, whom M. Eugène Müntz has designated -the “morose cardinals,” who saw whither things were -tending, and strove to the utmost of their power to -avert the impending catastrophe. As Janssen has -pointed out, in the middle of the fifteenth century, for -instance, Nicholas of Cusa initiated reforms in Germany, -with the approval—if not by the positive -injunctions—of the Pope. It was, however, a true -reform, a reform founded on the principle “not of -destruction, but of purification and renewal.” Holding -that “it was not for men to change what was holy; -but for the holy to change man,” he began by reforming -himself and preaching by example. He restored -discipline and eagerly welcomed the revival of learning -and the invention of printing as the most powerful -auxiliaries of true religion. His projects of general -ecclesiastical reforms presented to Pius II. are admirable. -Without wishing to touch the organisation of the -Church, he desired full and drastic measures of “reformation -in head and members.” But all this was entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -different from the spirit and aim of those who attacked the -Church under the leadership of Luther and his followers. -Their object was not the reform and purification of abuses, -but the destruction and overthrow of the existing religious -system. Before, say, 1517 or even 1521, no one -at this period ever dreamt of wishing to change the basis -of the Christian religion, as it was then understood. The -most earnest and zealous sons of the Church never hesitated -to attack this or that abuse, and to point out this -or that spot, desiring to make the edifice of God’s Church, -as they understood it, more solid, more useful, and more -like Christ’s ideal. They never dreamt that their work -could undermine the edifice, much less were their aims -directed to pulling down the walls and digging up the -foundations; such a possibility was altogether foreign -to their conception of the essential constitution of -Christ’s Church. To suggest that men like Colet, More, -and Erasmus had any leaning to, or sympathy with, -“the Reformation” as we know it, is, in view of what -they have written, absolutely false and misleading.</p> - -<p>The fact is, that round the true history of the -Reformation movement in England, there has grown -up, as Janssen has shown had been the case in Germany, -a mass of legend from which it is often difficult -enough to disentangle the truth. It has been suggested, -for instance, that the period which preceded the advent -of the new religious ideas was, to say the least, a period -of stagnation. That, together with the light of what is -called the Gospel, came the era of national prosperity, -and that the golden age of literature and art was the -outcome of that liberty and freedom of spirit which was -the distinct product of the Protestant Reformation. -And yet what are the facts? Was the age immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -before the religious upheaval of the sixteenth century -so very black, and was it the magic genius of Luther -who divined how to call forth the light out of the -“void and empty darkness”? Luther, himself, shall -tell us his opinion of the century before the rise of -Protestantism. “Any one reading the chronicles,” he -writes, “will find that since the birth of Christ there is -nothing that can compare with what has happened in -our world during the last hundred years. Never in any -country have people seen so much building, so much -cultivation of the soil. Never has such good drink, -such abundant and delicate food, been within the reach -of so many. Dress has become so rich that it cannot -in this respect be improved. Who has ever heard of -commerce such as we see it to-day? It circles the -globe; it embraces the whole world! Painting, engraving—all -the arts—have progressed and are still improving. -More than all, we have men so capable, and so -learned, that their wit penetrates everything in such a -way, that nowadays a youth of twenty knows more -than twenty doctors did in days gone by.”<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<p>In this passage we have the testimony of the German -reformer himself that the eve of the Reformation -was in no sense a period of stagnation. The world was -fully awake, and the light of learning and art had already -dawned upon the earth. The progress of commerce and -the prosperity of peoples owed nothing to the religious -revolt of the sixteenth century. Nor is this true only -for Germany. There is evidence to prove that Luther’s -picture is as correct in that period for England. Learning, -there can be no question, in the fifteenth century, -found a congenial soil in this country. In its origin, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -well as in its progress, the English revival of letters, -which may be accurately gauged by the renewal of -Greek studies, found its chief patrons in the fifteenth -and early sixteenth centuries among the clergy and the -most loyal lay sons of the Church. The fears of Erasmus -that the rise of Lutheranism would prove the death-blow -of solid scholarship were literally fulfilled. In -England, no less than in Germany, amid the religious -difficulties and the consequent social disturbances, learning, -except in so far as it served to aid the exigencies of -polemics or meet the controversial needs of the hour, -declined for well-nigh a century; and so far from the -Reformation affording the congenial soil upon which -scholarship and letters flourished, it was in reality—to -use Erasmus’s own favourite expression about the movement—a -“catastrophe,” in which was overwhelmed the -real progress of the previous century. The state of the -universities of Oxford and Cambridge, before and after -the period of religious change, is an eloquent testimony -as to its effect on learning in general; whilst the differences -of opinion in religious matters to which the -Reformation gave rise, at once put a stop to the international -character of the foreign universities. English -names forthwith disappeared from the students’ lists at -the great centres of learning in France and Italy, an -obvious misfortune, which had a disastrous effect on -English scholarship; the opening up of the schools of -the reformed churches of Germany in no wise compensating -for the international training hitherto received by -most English scholars of eminence.</p> - -<p>In art and architecture, too, in the second half of -the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth, -there was manifested an activity in England which is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -without a parallel. There never was a period in which -such life and energy was displayed in the building and -adornment of churches of all kinds as on the very eve -of the Reformation. Not in one part of the country -only, nor in regard only to the greater churches, was -this characteristic activity shown, but throughout the -length and breadth of England the walls of our great -cathedrals and minsters, and well-nigh those of every -little parish church in the land, still bear their testimony -to what was done out of love for God’s house during -the period in question by the English people. Moreover, -by the aid of the existing accounts and inventories -it can be proved to demonstration that it was a work -which then, more than at any other period of our -national existence, appealed to the people at large and -was carried out by them. No longer, as in earlier -times, was the building and beautifying of God’s house -left in this period to some great noble benefactor or -rich landowner. During the fifteenth century the -people were themselves concerned with the work, -initiated it, found the means to carry it out, and superintended -it in all its details.</p> - -<p>The same may be said of art. The work of adorning -the walls of the churches with paintings and frescoes, -the work of filling in the tracery of the windows with -pictured glass, the work of setting up, and carving, and -painting, and decorating; the making of screens, and -stalls, and altars, all during this period, and right up to -the eve of the change, was in every sense popular. It -was the people who carried out these works, and evidently -for the sole reason because they loved to beautify -their churches, which were, in a way now somewhat -difficult to realise, the centre no less of their lives than of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -their religion. Popular art grows, and only grows luxuriantly, -upon a religious soil; and under the inspiration -of a popular enthusiasm the parish churches of England -became, if we may judge from the evidence of the -wills, accounts, and inventories which still survive, not -merely sanctuaries, but veritable picture galleries, teaching -the poor and unlettered the history and doctrine of -their religion. Nor were the pictures themselves the -miserable daubs which some have suggested. The -stained-glass windows were not only multiplied in the -churches of England during this period, but by those -best able to judge, the time between 1480 and 1520 -has been regarded as the golden age of the art; and as -regards the frescoes and decorations themselves, there -is evidence of the existence in England of a high proficiency, -both in design and execution, before the -Reformation. Two examples may be taken to attest -the truth of this: the series of paintings against which -the stalls in Eton College Chapel are now placed, and -the pictures on the walls of the Lady Chapel at Winchester, -now unfortunately destroyed by the whitewash -with which they had been covered on the change of -religion. Those who had the opportunity of examining -the former series, when many years ago they were uncovered -on the temporary removal of the stalls, have -testified to their intrinsic merit. Indeed, they appeared -to the best judges of the time as being so excellent in -drawing and colour that on their authority they were -long supposed to have been the work of some unknown -Italian artist of the school of Giotto. By a fortunate -discovery of Mr. J. Willis Clarke, however, it is now -known that both these and the Winchester series were -in reality executed by an Englishman, named Baker.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> - -<p>The same is true with regard to decoration and -carving work. In screen-work, the Perpendicular -period is allowed to have excelled all others, both in -the lavish amount of the ornament as well as in the -style of decoration. One who has paid much attention -to this subject says: “During this period, the -screen-work was usually enriched by gilding and -painting, or was ‘depensiled,’ as the phrase runs, -and many curious works of the limner’s art may still -be seen in the churches of Norfolk and Suffolk. In -Sussex, the screens of Brighton and Horsham may -be cited as painted screens of beauty and merit, both -having been thus ornamented in a profuse and costly -manner, and each bore figures of saints in their -panels.”<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The churchwardens’ accounts, too, show -that the work of thus decorating the English parish -churches was in full operation up to the very eve of -the religious changes. In these truthful pictures of -parochial life, we may see the people and their representatives -busily engaged in collecting the necessary -money, and in superintending the work of setting up -altars and statues and paintings, and in hiring carvers -and decorators to enrich what their ancestors had -provided for God’s house. It was the age, too, of -organ-making and bell-founding, and there is hardly -a record of any parish church at this time which does -not show considerable sums of money spent upon these. -From the middle of the fifteenth century to the period -described as “the great pillage,” music, too, had made -great progress in England, and the renown of the -English school had spread over Europe. Musical -compositions had multiplied in a wonderful way, and -before the close of the fifteenth century<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> “prick song,” -or part music, is very frequently found in the inventories -of our English parish churches. In fact, it has -been recently shown that much of the music of the -boasted school of ecclesiastical music to which the -English Reformation had been thought to have given -birth, is, in reality, music adapted to the new English -services, from Latin originals, which had been inspired -by the ancient offices of the Church. Most of the -“prick song” masses and other musical compositions -were destroyed in the wholesale destruction which -accompanied the religious changes, but sufficient remains -to show that the English pre-Reformation school -of music was second to none in Europe. The reputation -of some of its chief masters, like Dunstable, Tallis, -and Bird, had spread to other countries, and their -works had been used and studied, even in that land -of song, Italy.</p> - -<p>A dispassionate consideration of the period preceding -the great religious upheaval of the sixteenth century -will, it can hardly be doubted, lead the inquirer to -conclude that it was not in any sense an age of -stagnation, discontent, and darkness. Letters, art, -architecture, painting, and music, under the distinct -patronage of the Church, had made great and steady -progress before the advent of the new ideas. Moreover, -those who will examine the old parish records -cannot fail to see that up to the very eve of the changes, -the old religion had not lost its hold upon the minds -and affections of the people at large. And one thing -is absolutely clear, that it was not the Reformation -movement which brought to the world in its train the -blessings of education, and the arts of civilisation. -What it did for all these is written plainly enough in -the history of that period of change and destruction.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS IN ENGLAND</span></h2> - -<p>The story of the English literary revival in the fifteenth -and sixteenth centuries is of no little interest and -importance. The full history of the movement would -form the fitting theme of an entire volume; but the -real facts are so contrary to much that is commonly -believed about our English renaissance of letters, that -some brief account is necessary, if we would rightly -understand the attitude of men’s minds on the eve of -the Reformation. At the outset, it is useful to recall the -limits of this English renaissance. Judged by what is -known of the movement in Italy, the land of its origin, -the word “renaissance” is usually understood to denote -not only the adoption of the learning and intellectual -culture of ancient Greece and Rome by the leaders -of thought in the Western World during the period -in question, but an almost servile following of classical -models, the absorption of the pagan spirit and the -adoption of pagan modes of expression so fully, as -certainly to obscure, if it did not frequently positively -obliterate, Christian sentiment and Christian ideals. In -this sense, it is pleasing to think, the renaissance was -unknown in England. So far, however, as the revival -of learning is concerned, England bore its part in, if -indeed it may not be said to have been in the forefront -of, the movement.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - -<p>This has, perhaps, hardly been realised as it should -be. That the sixteenth century witnessed a remarkable -awakening of minds, a broadening of intellectual interests, -and a considerable advance in general culture, -has long been known and acknowledged. There is -little doubt, however, that the date usually assigned -both for the dawning of the light and for the time -of its full development is altogether too late; whilst -the circumstances which fostered the growth of the -movement have apparently been commonly misunderstood, -and the chief agents in initiating it altogether -ignored. The great period of the reawakening would -ordinarily be placed without hesitation in post-Reformation -times, and writers of all shades of opinion have -joined in attributing the revival of English letters to -the freedom of minds and hearts purchased by the -overthrow of the old ecclesiastical system, and their -emancipation from the narrowing and withering effects -of mediævalism.</p> - -<p>On the assumption that the only possible attitude -of English churchmen on the eve of the great religious -changes would be one of uncompromising hostility to -learning and letters, many have come to regard the one, -not as inseparably connected with the other, but the -secular as the outcome of the religious movement. The -undisguised opposition of the clergy to the “New Learning” -is spoken of as sufficient proof of the Church’s -dislike of learning in general, and its determination to -check the nation’s aspirations to profit by the general -classical revival. This assumption is based upon a complete -misapprehension as to what was then the meaning -of the term “New Learning.” It was in no sense connected -with the revival of letters, or with what is now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -understood by learning and culture; but it was in the -Reformation days a well-recognised expression used to -denote the novel religious teachings of Luther and his -followers.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Uncompromising hostility to such novelties, -no doubt, marked the religious attitude of many, who -were at the same time the most strenuous advocates of -the renaissance of letters. This is so obvious in the -works of the period, that were it not for the common -misuse of the expression at the present day, and for the -fact that opposition to the “New Learning” is assumed -on all hands to represent hostility to letters, rather than -to novel teachings in religious matters, there would be -no need to furnish examples of its real use in the period -in question. As it is, some instances taken from the -works of that time become almost a necessity, if we -would understand the true position of many of the chief -actors at this period of our history.</p> - -<p>Roger Edgworth, a preacher, for instance, after -speaking of those who “so arrogantly glory in their -learning, had by study in the English Bible, and in -these seditious English books that have been sent over -from our English runagates now abiding with Luther -in Saxony,” praises the simple-hearted faith that was -accepted unquestioned by all “before this wicked ‘New -Learning’ arose in Saxony and came over into England -amongst us.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> - -<p>From the preface of <i>The Praier and Complaynte of the -Ploweman</i>, dated February 1531, it is equally clear -that the expression “New Learning” was then understood -only of religious teaching. Like the Scribes and -Pharisees in the time of Our Lord, the author says, the -bishops and priests are calling out: “What ‘New Learning’ -is it? These fellows teach new learning: these -are they that trouble all the world with their new -learning?… Even now after the same manner, our -holy bishops with all their ragman’s roll are of the same -sort.… They defame, slander, and persecute the -word and the preachers and followers of it, with the -selfsame names, calling it ‘New Learning’ and them -‘new masters.’”<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p>The same meaning was popularly attached to the -words even after the close of the reign of Henry VIII. -A book published in King Edward’s reign, to instruct -the people “concerning the king’s majesty’s proceedings -in the communion,” bears the title, <i>The olde Faith of Great -Brittayne and the new learning of England</i>. It is, of course, -true, that the author sets himself to show that the reformed -doctrines were the old teachings of the Christian -Church, and that, when St. Gregory sent St. Augustine -over into England, “the new learning was brought into -this realm, of which we see much yet remaining in the -Church at the present day.”<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> But this fact rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -emphasises than in any way obscures the common -understanding of the expression “New Learning,” since -the whole intent of the author is to show that the -upholders of the old ecclesiastical system were the real -maintainers of a “New Learning” brought from Rome -by St. Augustine, and not the Lutherans. The same -appears equally clearly in a work by Urbanus Regius, -which was translated and published by William Turner -in 1537, and called <i>A comparison betwene the old learnynge -and the newe</i>. As the translator says at the beginning—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“Some ther be that do defye</div> -<div class="verse">All that is newe and ever do crye</div> -<div class="verse">The olde is better, away with the new</div> -<div class="verse">Because it is false, and the olde is true.</div> -<div class="verse">Let them this booke reade and beholde,</div> -<div class="verse">For it preferreth the learning most olde.”</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>As the author of the previous volume quoted, so -Urbanus Regius compares the exclamation of the Jews -against our Lord: “What new learning is this?” with -the objection, “What is this new doctrine?” made by -the Catholics against the novel religious teaching of -Luther and his followers. “This,” they say,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> “is the -new doctrine lately devised and furnished in the shops -and workhouses of heretics. Let us abide still in our -old faith.… Wherefore,” continues the author, “I, -doing the office of Christian brother, have made a comparison -between the ‘New Learning’ and the olden, -whereby, dear brother, you may easily know whether -we are called worthily or unworthily the preachers of -the ‘New Learning.’ For so did they call us of late.” -He then proceeds to compare under various headings -what he again and again calls “the New Learning” and -“the Old Learning.” For example, according to the -former, people are taught that the Sacraments bring -grace to the soul; according to the latter, faith alone is -needful. According to the former, Christ is present -wholly under each kind of bread and wine, the mass is -a sacrifice for the living and the dead, and “oblation is -made in the person of the whole church”; according -to the latter, the Supper is a memorial only of Christ’s -death, “and not a sacrifice, but a remembrance of the -sacrifice that was once offered up on the cross,” and that -“all oblations except that of our Lord are vain and void.”<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> - -<p>In view of passages such as the above, and in the -absence of any contemporary evidence of the use of -the expression to denote the revival of letters, it is -obvious that any judgment as to a general hostility of -the clergy to learning based upon their admitted opposition -to what was then called the “New Learning” -cannot seriously be maintained. It would seem, moreover, -that the religious position of many ecclesiastics and -laymen has been completely misunderstood by the meaning -now so commonly assigned to the expression. Men -like Erasmus, Colet, and to a great extent, More himself,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -have been regarded, to say the least, as at heart very -lukewarm adherents of the Church, precisely because of -their strong advocacy of the movement known as the -literary revival, which, identified by modern writers with -the “New Learning,” was, it is wrongly assumed, condemned -by orthodox churchmen. The Reformers are -thus made the champions of learning; Catholics, the upholders -of ignorance, and the hereditary and bitter foes -of all intellectual improvement. No one, however, saw -more clearly than did Erasmus that the rise of Lutheran -opinions was destined to be the destruction of true -learning, and that the atmosphere of controversy was -not the most fitting to assure its growth. To Richard -Pace he expressed his ardent wish that some kindly -<i>Deus ex machinâ</i> would put an end to the whole -Lutheran agitation, for it had most certainly brought -upon the humanist movement unmerited hatred.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> In -subsequent letters he rejects the idea that the two, -the Lutheran and the humanist movements, had anything -whatever in common; asserting that even Luther -himself had never claimed to found his revolt against -the Church on the principles of scholarship and learning. -To him, the storm of the Reformation appeared—so -far as concerned the revival of learning—as a -catastrophe. Had the tempest not risen, he had the -best expectations of a general literary renaissance and -of witnessing a revival of interest in Biblical and -patristic studies among churchmen. It was the breath -of bitter and endless controversy initiated in the -Lutheran revolt and the consequent misunderstandings -and enmities which withered his hopes.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> - -<p>There remains, however, the broader question as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -to the real position of the ecclesiastical authorities -generally, in regard to the revival of learning. So -far as England is concerned, their attitude is hardly -open to doubt in view of the positive testimony of -Erasmus, which is further borne out by an examination -of the material available for forming a judgment. -This proves beyond all question, not only that the -Church in England on the eve of the change did not -refuse the light, but that, both in its origin and later -development, the movement owed much to the initiative -and encouragement of English churchmen.</p> - -<p>It is not necessary here to enter very fully into -the subject of the general revival of learning in Europe -during the course of the fifteenth century. At the very -beginning of that period what Gibbon calls “a new -and perpetual flame” was enkindled in Italy. As in -the thirteenth century, so then it was the study of the -literature and culture of ancient Greece that re-enkindled -the lamp of learning in the Western World. Few -things, indeed, are more remarkable than the influence -of Greek forms and models on the Western World. -The very language seems as if destined by Providence -to do for the Christian nations of Europe what in -earlier ages it had done for pagan Rome. As Dr. -Döllinger has pointed out, this is “a fact of immense -importance, which even in these days it is worth while -to weigh and place in its proper light,” since “the -whole of modern civilisation and culture is derived -from Greek sources. Intellectually we are the offspring -of the union of the ancient Greek classics with -Hellenised Judaism.” One thing is clear on the page -of history: that the era of great intellectual activity -synchronised with re-awakened interests in the Greek<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -classics and Greek language in such a way that the -study of Greek may conveniently be taken as representing -a general revival of letters.</p> - -<p>By the close of the fourteenth century, the ever-increasing -impotence of the Imperial sway on the -Bosphorus, and the ever-growing influence of the -Turk, compelled the Greek emperors to look to Western -Christians for help to arrest the power of the infidels, -which, like a flood, threatened to overwhelm the Eastern -empire. Three emperors in succession journeyed into -the Western world to implore assistance in their dire -necessity, and though their efforts failed to save Constantinople, -the historian detects in these pilgrimages of -Greeks to the Courts of Europe the providential influence -which brought about the renaissance of letters. -“The travels of the three emperors,” writes Gibbon, -“were unavailing for their temporal, or perhaps their -spiritual salvation, but they were productive of a beneficial -consequence, the revival of the Greek learning in -Italy, from whence it was propagated to the last nations -of the West and North.”</p> - -<p>What is true of Italy may well be true of other -countries and places. The second of these pilgrim -emperors, Manuel, the son and successor of Palæologus, -crossed the Alps, and after a stay in Paris, came over -the sea into England. In December 1400 he landed -at Dover, and was, with a large retinue of Greeks, -entertained at the monastery of Christchurch, Canterbury. -It requires little stretch of imagination to suppose -that the memory of such a visit would have lingered -long in the cloister of Canterbury, and it is hardly -perhaps by chance that it is here that half a century -later are to be found the first serious indications of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -revival of Greek studies. Moreover, it is evident that -other Greek envoys followed in subsequent times, and -even the great master and prodigy of learning, Manuel -Chrysoloras himself, found his way to our shores, and -it is hardly an assumption, in view of the position of -Canterbury—on the high-road from Dover to London—to -suppose to Christchurch also.<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> It was from his -arrival in Italy, in 1396, that may be dated the first -commencement of systematic study of the Greek classics -in the West. The year 1408 is given for his visit to -England.<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<p>There are indications early in the fifteenth century -of a stirring of the waters in this country. Guarini, a -pupil of Chrysoloras, became a teacher of fame at -Ferrara, where he gathered round him a school of -disciples which included several Englishmen. Such were -Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester;<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Robert Fleming, a learned -ecclesiastic; John Free, John Gundthorpe, and William -Gray, Bishop of Ely; whilst another Italian, Aretino, -attracted by his fame another celebrated Englishman, -Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, to his classes. These, -however, were individual cases, and their studies, and -even the books they brought back, led to little in the -way of systematic work in England at the old classical -models. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 gave the -required stimulus here, as in Italy. Among the fugitives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -were many Greek scholars of eminence, such as -Chalcocondylas, Andronicus, Constantine and John Lascaris, -who quickly made the schools of Italy famous by -their teaching. Very soon the fame of the new masters -spread to other countries, and students from all parts of -the Western World found their way to their lecture-halls -in Rome and the other teaching centres established -in the chief cities of Northern Italy.</p> - -<p>First among the scholars who repaired thither from -England to drink in the learning of ancient Greece and -bring back to their country the new spirit, we must -place two Canterbury monks named Selling and Hadley. -Born somewhere about 1430, William Selling became -a monk at Christchurch, Canterbury, somewhere about -1448. There seems some evidence to show that his -family name was Tyll, and that, as was frequently, if -not generally, the case, on his entering into religion, he -adopted the name of Selling from his birthplace, some -five miles from Faversham in Kent.<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> It is probable -that Selling, after having passed through the claustral -school at Canterbury, on entering the Benedictine -Order was sent to finish his studies at Canterbury -College, Oxford. Here he certainly was in 1450, -for in that year he writes a long and what is described -as an elegant letter as a student at Canterbury College -to his Prior, Thomas Goldstone, at Christchurch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -Canterbury.<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> He was ordained priest, and celebrated -his first mass at Canterbury in September 1456.<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> - -<p>In 1464 William Selling obtained leave of his Prior -and convent to go with a companion, William Hadley, -to study in the foreign universities for three years,<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> -during which time they visited and sat under the most -celebrated teachers at Padua, Bologna, and Rome.<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> -At Bologna, according to Leland, Selling was the pupil -of the celebrated Politian, “with whom, on account of -his aptitude in acquiring the classical elegance of ancient -tongues, he formed a familiar and lasting friendship.”<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> -In 1466 and 1467 we find the monks, Selling and his -companion Hadley, at Bologna, where apparently the -readers in Greek then were Lionorus and Andronicus,<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> -and where, on the 22nd March 1466, Selling took his -degree in theology, his companion taking his in the -March of the following year.<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p>Of this period of work, Leland says:—“His studies -progressed. He indeed imbued himself with Greek; -everywhere he industriously and at great expense -collected many Greek books. Nor was his care less -in procuring old Latin MSS., which shortly after he -took with him, as the most estimable treasures, on his -return to Canterbury.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> - -<p>His obituary notice in the Christchurch Necrology -recites not only his excellence in learning, classical and -theological, but what he had done to make his monastery -at Canterbury a real house of studies. He decorated -the library over the Priests’ Chapel, adding to the books, -and assigned it “for the use of those specially given to -study, which he encouraged and cherished with wonderful -watchfulness and affection.” The eastern cloister -also he fitted with glass and new desks, “called carrels,” -for the use of the studious brethren.<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> - -<p>After the sojourn of the two Canterbury monks in -Italy, they returned to their home at Christchurch. -Selling, however, did not remain there long, for on -October 3, 1469, we find him setting out again for -Rome<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> in company with another monk, Reginald -Goldstone, also an Oxford student. This visit was -on business connected with his monastery, and did -not apparently keep him long away from England, -for there is evidence that sometime before the election -of Selling to the Priorship at Canterbury, which was -in 1472, he was again at his monastery. Characteristically, -his letter introducing William Worcester, the -antiquary, to a merchant of Lucca who had a copy -of Livy’s <i>Decades</i> for sale, manifests his great and continued -interest in classical literature.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> - -<p>At Canterbury, Selling must have established the -teaching of Greek on systematic lines, and it is certainly -from this monastic school as a centre, that the study -spread to other parts of England. William Worcester, -keenly alive to the classical revival, as his note-books -show, tells us of “certain Greek terminations as taught -by Doctor Selling of Christchurch, Canterbury,” and -likewise sets down the pronunciation of the Greek vowels -with examples evidently on the same authority.<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> - -<p>Selling’s long priorship, extending from 1472 to -1495, would have enabled him to consolidate the work -of this literary renaissance which he had so much at -heart.<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> The most celebrated of all his pupils was, of -course, Linacre. Born, according to Caius, at Canterbury, -he received his first instruction in the monastic -school there, and his first lessons in the classics and -Greek from Selling himself. Probably through the personal -interest taken in this youth of great promise by -Prior Selling, he was sent to Oxford about 1480. -Those who have seriously examined the matter believe -that the first years of his Oxford life were spent by -Linacre at the Canterbury College, which was connected -with Christchurch monastery, and which, though -primarily intended for monks, also afforded a place of -quiet study to others who were able to obtain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -admission.<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Thus, in later years, Sir Thomas More, no -doubt through his father’s connection with the monastery -of Christchurch, Canterbury, of which house he -was a “confrater,” became a student at the monks’ -college at Oxford. In later years Sir Thomas himself, -when Chancellor of England, perpetuated the memory -of his life-long connection with the monks of Canterbury -by enrolling his name also on the fraternity lists -of that house.</p> - -<p>Linacre, in 1484, became a Fellow of All Souls’ -College, but evidently he did not lose touch with his -old friends at Canterbury, for, in 1486, Prior Selling -being appointed one of the ambassadors of Henry VII. -to the Pope, he invited his former pupil to accompany -him to Italy, in order to profit by the teaching of the -great humanist masters at the universities there. Prior -Selling took him probably as far as Florence, and -introduced him to his own old master and friend, -Angelo Politian, who was then engaged in instructing -the children of Lorenzo de Medici. Through Selling’s -interest, Linacre was permitted to share in their lessons, -and there are letters showing that the younger son, -when in after years he became Pope, as Leo X., was -not unmindful of his early companionship with the -English scholar.<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> From Politian, Linacre acquired a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -purity of style in Latin which makes him celebrated -even among the celebrated men of his time. Greek -he learnt from Demetrius Chalcocondylas, who was -then, like Politian, engaged in teaching the children of -Lorenzo de Medici.<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> - -<p>From Florence, Linacre passed on to Rome, where -he gained many friends among the great humanists of -the day. One day, when examining the manuscripts -of the Vatican Library for classics, and engaged in -reading the <i>Phædo</i> of Plato, Hermolaus Barbarus came -up and politely expressed his belief that the youth had -no claim, as he had himself, to the title Barbarus, if -it were lawful to judge from his choice of a book. -Linacre at once, from the happy compliment, recognised -the speaker, and this chance interview led to a life-long -friendship between the Englishman and one of the -great masters of classical literature.<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> - -<p>After Linacre had been in Italy for a year or more, -a youth whom he had known at Oxford, William Grocyn, -was induced to come and share with him the benefit of -the training in literature then to be obtained only in -Italy. On his return in 1492, Grocyn became lecturer -at Exeter College, Oxford, and among his pupils in -Greek were Sir Thomas More<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and Erasmus. He was -a graduate in theology, and was chosen by Dean Colet -to give lectures at St. Paul’s and subsequently appointed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -by Archbishop Warham, Master or Guardian of the -collegiate church of Maidstone.<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Erasmus describes -him as “a man of most rigidly upright life, almost -superstitiously observant of ecclesiastical custom, versed -in every nicety of scholastic theology, by nature of the -most acute judgment, and, in a word, fully instructed -in every kind of learning.”<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> - -<p>Linacre, after a distinguished course in the medical -schools of Padua, returned to Oxford, and in 1501 -became tutor to Prince Arthur. On the accession of -Henry VIII. he was appointed physician to the court, -and could count all the distinguished men of the day, -Wolsey, Warham, Fox, and the rest, among his patients; -and Erasmus, Sir Thomas More, and Queen Mary -among his pupils in letters. In his early life, entering -the clerical state, he had held ecclesiastical preferment; -in advanced years he received priest’s orders, and devoted -the evening of his life to a pious preparation for -his end.<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> - -<p>Grocyn and Linacre are usually regarded as the -pioneers of the revival of letters. But, as already -pointed out, the first to cross the Alps from England -in search for the new light, to convey it back to England, -and to hand it on to Grocyn and Linacre, were -William Selling, and his companion, William Hadley. -Thus, the real pioneers in the English renaissance were -the two monks of Christchurch, and, some years after, -the two ecclesiastics, Grocyn and Linacre.</p> - -<p>Selling, even after his election to the priorship of -Canterbury, continued to occupy a distinguished place -both in the political world and in the world of letters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -He was chosen, though only the fifth member of the -embassy sent by Henry VII. on his accession to the -Pope, to act as orator, and in that capacity delivered -a Latin oration before the Pope and Cardinals.<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> - -<p>He was also and subsequently sent with others by -Henry on an embassy to the French king, in which -he also fulfilled the function of spokesman, making -what is described as “a most elegant oration.”</p> - -<p>That as Prior, Selling kept up his interest in the -literary revival is clear from the terms of his obituary -notice. There exists, moreover, a translation made -by him after his return from his embassy to Rome, -when he took his youthful protégé, Linacre, and placed -him under Chalcocondylas and Politian in Florence, -which seems to prove that the renewal of his intimacy -with the great humanist masters of Italy had inspired -him with a desire to continue his literary work. Even -in the midst of constant calls upon him, which the high -office of Prior of Canterbury necessitated, he found time -to translate a sermon of St. John Chrysostom from the -Greek, two copies of which still remain in the British -Museum.<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> This is dated 1488; and it is probably -the first example of any Greek work put into Latin -in England in the early days of the English renaissance -of letters. The very volume (Add. MS. 15,673) in -which one copy of this translation is found shows -by the style of the writing, and other indications, the -Italian influences at work in Canterbury in the time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -of Selling’s succession at the close of the fifteenth -century; and also the intercourse which the monastery -there kept up with the foreign humanists.<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> - -<p>It is hardly necessary to say more about the precious -volumes of the classics and the other manuscripts which -Selling collected on his travels. Many of them perished, -with that most rare work, Cicero’s <i>De Republica</i>, in -the fire caused by the carelessness of some of Henry -VIII.’s visitors on the eve of the dissolution of Selling’s -old monastery at Canterbury. Some, like the great -Greek commentaries of St. Cyril on the Prophets, were -rescued half burnt from the flames; “others, by some -good chance,” says Leland, “had been removed; amongst -these were the commentaries of St. Basil the Great on -Isaias, the works of Synesius and other Greek codices.”<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> -Quite recently it has been recognised that the complete -Homer and the plays of Euripides in Corpus Christi -College library at Cambridge, which tradition had -associated with the name of Archbishop Theodore in -the seventh century, are in reality both fifteenth-century -manuscripts; and as they formed, undoubtedly, part of -the library at Christchurch, Canterbury, it is hardly too -much to suppose that they were some of the treasures -brought back by Prior Selling from Italy. The same -may probably be said of a Livy, a fifteenth-century -Greek Psalter, and a copy of the Psalms in Hebrew and -Latin, in Trinity College Library.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> - -<p>Prior Selling’s influence, moreover, extended beyond -the walls of his own house, and can be traced to others -besides his old pupil, and, as some think, relative, Linacre. -Among the friendships he had formed whilst at -Padua was that of a young ecclesiastical student, Thomas -Langton, with whom he was subsequently at Rome. -Langton was employed in diplomatic business by -King Edward IV., and whilst in France, through his -friendship for Prior Selling, obtained some favour from -the French king for the monastery of Canterbury. In -return for this the monks offered him a living in -London.<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Prior Selling, on one occasion at least, -drafted the sermon which Dr. Langton was to deliver -as prolocutor in the Convocation of the Canterbury -Province.<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> In 1483 Langton became Bishop of Winchester, -and “such was his love of letters” that he -established in his own house a <i>schola domestica</i> for boys, -and himself used to preside in the evening at the lessons. -One youth especially attracted his attention by his -music. This was Richard Pace, afterwards renowned -as a classical scholar and diplomatist. Bishop Langton -recognised his abilities, and forthwith despatched him -to Italy, paying all his expenses at the universities of -Padua and Rome.<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> At the former place, he says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -“When as a youth I began to work at my humanities, -I was assisted by Cuthbert Tunstall and William -Latimer, men most illustrious and excelling in every -branch of learning, whose prudence, probity, and -integrity were such that it were hard to say whether -their learning excelled their high moral character, or -their uprightness their learning.”<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> - -<p>At this university he was taught by Leonicus and -by Leonicenus, the friend and correspondent of Politian: -“Men,” he says, as being unable to give higher praise, -“like Tunstall and Latimer.”<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Passing on to Bologna -he sat at the feet of Paul Bombasius, “who was then -explaining every best author to large audiences.” Subsequently, -at Rome, he formed a lasting friendship with -William Stokesley, whom he describes as “his best -friend on earth; a man of the keenest judgment, excellent, -and indeed marvellous, in theology and philosophy, -and not only skilled in Greek and Latin, but -possessed of some knowledge of Hebrew,” whose great -regret was that he had not earlier in life realised the -power of the Greek language.<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> At Ferrara, too, Pace -first met Erasmus, and he warmly acknowledges his indebtedness -to the influence of this great humanist.</p> - -<p>In 1509, Richard Pace accompanied Cardinal Bainbridge -to Rome, and was with him when the cardinal -died, or was murdered, there in 1514. Whilst in the -Eternal City, “urged to the study by that most upright -and learned man, William Latimer,” he searched the -Pope’s library for books of music, and found a great -number of works on the subject. The cardinal’s death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -put a stop to his investigations; but he had seen sufficient -to be able to say that to study the matter properly -a man must know Greek and get to the library of the -Pope, where there were many and the best books on -music. “But,” he adds, “I venture to say this, our -English music, if any one will critically examine into -the matter, will be found to display the greatest subtlety -of mind, especially in what is called the introduction of -harmonies, and in this matter to excel ancient music.”<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> - -<p>It is unnecessary to follow in any detail the story -of the general literary revival in England. Beginning -with Selling, the movement continued to progress down -to the very eve of the religious disputes. That there was -opposition on the part of some who regarded the stirring -of the waters with suspicion was inevitable. More -especially was this the case because during the course -of the literary revival there rose the storm of the great -religious revolt of the sixteenth century, and because the -practical paganism which had resulted from the movement -in Italy was perhaps not unnaturally supposed by -the timorous to be a necessary consequence of a return -to the study of the classics of Greece and Rome. The -opposition sprung generally from a misunderstanding, -and “not so much from any hostility to Greek itself as -from an indifference to any learning.” This Sir Thomas -More expressly declares when writing to urge the Oxford -authorities to repress a band of giddy people who, -calling themselves Trojans, made it their duty to fight -against the <i>Grecians</i>. It is true also that the pulpit was -at times brought into requisition to decry “not only -Greek and Latin studies,” but liberal education of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -any kind.<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> But, so far as England is concerned, this -opposition to the revival of letters, even on the score of -the danger likely to come either to faith or morals, was, -when all is said, slight, and through the influence of -More, Fisher, and the king himself, easily subdued.<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> -The main fact, moreover, cannot be gainsaid, namely, -that the chief ecclesiastics of the day, Wolsey, Warham, -Fisher, Tunstall, Langton, Stokesley, Fox, Selling, -Grocyn, Whitford, Linacre, Colet, Pace, William Latimer, -and Thomas Lupset,<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> to name only the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -distinguished, were not only ardent humanists, but -thorough and practical churchmen. Of the laymen, -whether foreigners or Englishmen, whose names are -associated with the renaissance of letters in this country, -such as, for example, the distinguished scholar Ludovico -Vives, the two Lillys, Sir Thomas More, John Clement,<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> -and other members of More’s family, there can be no -shadow of doubt about their dispositions towards the -ancient ecclesiastical régime. A Venetian traveller, in -1500, thus records what he had noticed as to the attitude -of ecclesiastics generally towards learning:—<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>“Few, -excepting the clergy, are addicted to the study of letters, -and this is the reason why any one who has any learning, -though he may be a layman, is called a <i>clerk</i>. And -yet they have great advantages for study, there being -two general universities in the kingdom, Oxford and -Cambridge, in which there are many colleges founded -for the maintenance of poor scholars. And your magnificence -(the Doge of Venice) lodged at one named -Magdalen, in the University of Oxford, of which, as the -founders having been prelates, so the scholars also are -ecclesiastics.”</p> - -<p>It was in England, and almost entirely among the -ecclesiastics of England, that Erasmus found his chief -support. “This England of yours,” he writes to Colet -in 1498, “this England, dear to me on many accounts, -is above all most beloved because it abounds in what -to me is the best of all, men deeply learned in letters.”<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> -Nor did he change his opinion on a closer acquaintance. -In 1517, to Richard Pace he wrote from -Louvain in regret at leaving a country which he had -come to regard as the best hope of the literary revival:—“Oh, -how truly happy is your land of England, the -seat and stronghold of the best studies and the highest -virtue! I congratulate you, my friend Pace, on having -such a king, and I congratulate the king whose country -is rendered illustrious by so many brilliant men of -ability. On both scores I congratulate this England -of yours, for though fortunate for many other reasons, -on this score no other land can compete with it.”<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> - -<p>When William Latimer said in 1518 that Bishop -Fisher wished to study Greek for Biblical purposes, -and that he thought of trying to get a master from Italy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -Erasmus, whilst applauding the bishop’s intention as -likely to encourage younger men to take up the -study, told Latimer that such men were not easy to find -in Italy. “If I may openly say my mind,” he adds, -“if I had Linacre, or Tunstall, for a master (for of yourself -I say nothing), I would not wish for any Italian.”<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> - -<p>Not to go into more lengthy details, there is, it -must be admitted, abundant evidence to show that there -was in the religious houses of England, no less than in -the universities, a stirring of the waters, and a readiness -to profit by the real advance made in education -and scholarship. The name of Prior Charnock, the -friend of Colet and Erasmus at Oxford, is known to -all. But there are others with even greater claim than -he to be considered leaders in the movement. There -is distinct evidence of scholarship at Reading, at Ramsey, -at Glastonbury, and elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> The last-named -house, Glastonbury, was ruled by Abbot Bere, to -whose criticism Erasmus desired to submit his translation -of the New Testament from the Greek. Bere -himself had passed some time, with distinction, in Italy, -had been sent on more than one embassy by the king, -and had been chosen by Henry VII. to invest the Duke -of Urbino with the Order of the Garter, and to make -the required oration on that occasion.<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> He had given -other evidence also of the way the new spirit that had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -been enkindled in Italy had entered into his soul. It -was through Abbot Bere’s generosity that Richard Pace, -whom Erasmus calls “the half of his soul,” was enabled -to pursue his studies in Italy.<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Glastonbury was apparently -a soil well prepared for the seed-time, for even -in the days of Abbot Bere’s predecessor, Abbot John -Selwood, there is evidence to show that the religious -were not altogether out of touch with the movement. -The abbot himself presented one of the monks with -a copy of John Free’s translation from the Greek -of <i>Synesius de laude Calvitii</i>. The volume is written -by an Italian scribe, and contains in the introductory -matter a letter to the translator from Omnibonus Leonicensis, -dated at Vicenza in 1461, as well as a preface -or letter by Free to John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester.<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> - -<p>At St. Augustine’s, Canterbury, also, we find, even -amid the ruins of its desolation, traces of the same -spirit which pervaded the neighbouring cloister of -Christchurch. The antiquary Twyne declares that he -had been intimately acquainted with the last abbot, -whom he knew to have been deeply interested in the -literary movement. He describes his friend as often -manifesting in conversation his interest in and knowledge -of the ancient classical authors. He says that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -this monk was the personal friend of Ludovico Vives, -and that he sent over the sea one of his subjects at St. -Augustine’s, John Digon, whom he subsequently made -prior of his monastery, to the schools of Louvain, in -order that he might profit by the teaching of that -celebrated Spanish humanist.<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> - -<p>Beyond the foregoing particular instances of the -real mind of English ecclesiastics towards the revival -of studies, the official registers of the Universities of -Oxford and Cambridge furnish us with evidence of the -general attitude of approval adopted by the Church -authorities in England. Unfortunately, gaps in the -Register of Graduates at Oxford for the second half -of the fifteenth century do not enable us to gauge -the full extent of the revival, but there is sufficient -evidence that the renaissance had taken place. In the -eleven years, from <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1449 to <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1459, for which -the entries exist, the average number of degrees taken -by all students was 91.5. From 1506, when the -registers begin again, to 1535, when the commencement -of operations against the monastic houses -seemed to indicate the advent of grave religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -changes, the average number of yearly degrees granted -was 127. In 1506 the number had risen to 216, and -only in very few of the subsequent years had the -average fallen below 100. From 108 in 1535, the -number of graduates fell in 1536 to only 44; and the -average for the subsequent years of the reign of -Henry VIII. was less than 57. From 1548 to 1553, -that is, during the reign of Edward VI., the average of -graduates was barely 33, but it rose again, whilst Mary -was on the throne, to 70.</p> - -<p>If the same test be applied to the religious Orders, -it will be found that they likewise equally profited by the -new spirit. During the period from 1449 to 1459 the -Benedictine Order had a yearly average of 4 graduates -at Oxford, the other religious bodies taken together -having 5. In the second period of 1506-1539 the -Benedictine graduates number 200, and (allowing for -gaps in the register) the Order had thus a yearly average -of 6.75, the average of the other Orders during the same -period being 5.2. If, moreover, the number of the -religious who took degrees be compared with that of -the secular students, it will be found that the former -seem to have more than held their own. During the -time from 1449 to 1459 the members of the regular -Orders were to the rest in the proportion of 1 to 9.5. -In the period of the thirty years immediately preceding -the general dissolution it was as 1 to 9. Interest in learning, -too, was apparently kept up among the religious -Orders to the last. Even with their cloisters falling on -all sides round about them, in the last hour of their -corporate existence, that is in the year 1538-39, some -14 Benedictines took their degrees at Oxford.</p> - -<p>In regard to Cambridge, a few notes taken from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -interesting preface to a recent “History of Gonville and -Caius College” will suffice to show that the monks did -not neglect the advantages offered to them in the sister -university.<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> Gonville Hall, as the college was then -called, was by the statutes of Bishop Bateman closely -connected with the Benedictine Cathedral Priory of -Norwich. Between 1500 and 1523 the early bursars’ -accounts give a list of “pensioners,” and these “largely -consisted of monks sent hither from their respective -monasteries for the purpose of study.” These “pensioners -paid for their rooms and their commons, and -shared their meals with the fellows. All the greater -monasteries in East Anglia, such as the Benedictine -Priory at Norwich, the magnificent foundation of Bury, -and (as a large landowner in Norfolk) the Cluniac -House at Lewes, seem generally to have had several -of their younger members in training at our college. -To these must be added the Augustinian Priory of -Westacre, which was mainly frequented (as Dr. Jessopp -tells us) by the sons of the Norfolk gentry.”<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> - -<p>The Visitations of the Norwich Diocese (1492-1532), -edited by Dr. Jessopp for the Camden Society, contain -many references to the monastic students at the university. -In one house, for example, in 1520, the numbers -are short, because “there were three in the university.” -In another case, when a religious house was too poor -to provide the necessary money to support a student -during his college career, it was found by friends of -the monastery, until a few years later, when, on the -funds improving, the house was able to meet the -expenses. This same house, the Priory of Butley,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -“had a special arrangement with the authorities of -Gonville Hall for the reservation of a suitable room -for their young monks.” One object of sending -members of a monastery to undergo the training of -a university course “was to qualify for teaching the -novices at their own house”; for after they have -graduated and returned to their monastery, we not -infrequently find them described as “<i>idoneus preceptor -pro confratribus</i>”; “<i>idoneus pro noviciis et junioribus</i>,” &c. -Moreover, the possession of a degree on the part of -a religious, as an examination of the lists will show, -often in after life meant some position of trust or high -office in the monastery of the graduate.</p> - -<p>Nor was the training then received any light -matter of form; it meant long years of study, and the -possession of a degree was, too, a public testimony -to a certain proficiency in the science of teaching. -Thus, for example, George Mace, a canon of Westacre, -who became a pensioner at Gonville Hall in 1508, -studied arts for five years and canon law for four -years at the university, and continued the latter study -for eight years in his monastery.<a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> William Hadley, a -religious of the same house, had spent eleven years -in the study of arts and theology;<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> and Richard -Brygott, who took his B.D. in 1520, and who subsequently -became Prior of Westacre, had studied two -years and a half in his monastery, two years in Paris, -and seven in Cambridge.<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> - -<p>“With the Reformation, of course, all this came -to an end,” writes Mr. Venn, and we can well understand -that this sudden stoppage of what, in the aggregate,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -was a considerable source of supply to the -university, was seriously felt. On the old system, as -we have seen, the promising students were selected -by their monasteries, and supported in college at the -expense of the house. As the author of the interesting -account of Durham Priory says: “If the master did -see that any of them (the novices) were apt to learning, -and did apply his book and had a pregnant wit withal, -then the master did let the prior have intelligence. -Then, straightway after he was sent to Oxford to -school, and there did learn to study divinity.”<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> - -<p>Moreover, it should be remembered that it was by -means of the assistance received from the monastic -and conventual houses that a very large number of -students were enabled to receive their education at -the universities at all. The episcopal registers testify -to this useful function of the old religious corporations. -The serious diminution in the number of -candidates for ordination, and the no less lamentable -depletion of the national universities, consequent upon -the dissolution of these bodies, attest what had previously -been done by them for the education of the -pastoral clergy. This may be admitted without any -implied approval of the monastic system as it existed. -The fact will be patent to all who will examine into -the available evidence; and the serious diminution in -the number of clergy must be taken as part of the -price paid by the nation for securing the triumph of -the Reformation principles. The state of Oxford -during, say, the reign of Edward VI., is attested by -the degree lists. In the year 1547 and in the year -1550 no student at all graduated, and the historian of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -the university has described the lamentable state to -which the schools were reduced. If additional testimony -be needed, it may be found in a sermon of -Roger Edgworth, preached in Queen Mary’s reign. -Speaking of works of piety and pity, much needed in -those days, the speaker advocates charity to the poor -students at the two national universities. “Very pity,” -he says, “moves me to exhort you to mercy and pity -on the poor students in the universities of Oxford and -Cambridge. They were never so few in number, and -yet those that are left are ready to run abroad into -the world and give up their study for very need. -Iniquity is so abundant that charity is all cold. A -man would have pity did he but hear the lamentable -complaints that I heard lately when amongst them. -Would to God I were able to relieve them. This much -I am sure of: in my opinion you cannot bestow your -charity better.” He then goes on to instance his own -case as an example of what used to be done in Catholic -times to help the student in his education. “My -parents sent me to school in my youth, and my good -lord William Smith, sometime Bishop of Lincoln, (was) -my bringer up and ‘exhibitour,’ first at Banbury in the -Grammar School with Master John Stanbridge, and -then at Oxford till I was a Master of Arts and able -to help myself.”</p> - -<p>He pleads earnestly that some of his hearers may -be inspired to help the students in the distress to which -they are now reduced, and so help to restore learning to -the position from which it had fallen in late years.<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> - -<p>Of the lamentable decay of scholarship as such, the -inevitable, and perhaps necessary, consequence of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -religious controversies which occupied men’s minds -and thoughts to the exclusion of all else, it is, of course, -not the place here to dwell upon. All that it is necessary -to do is to point out that the admitted decay and -decline argues a previous period of greater life and -vigour. Even as early as 1545 the Cambridge scholars -petitioned the king for an extension of privileges, as they -feared the total destruction of learning. To endeavour -to save Oxford, it was ordered that every clergyman, -having a benefice to the amount of £100, should out -of his living find at least one scholar at the university. -Bishop Latimer, in Edward VI.’s reign, looked back -with regret to past times “when they helped the -scholars,” for since then “almost no man helpeth to -maintain them.” “Truly,” he said, “it is a pitiful -thing to see the schools so neglected. Schools are -not maintained, scholars have not exhibitions.… -Very few there be that help poor scholars.… It -would pity a man’s heart to hear what I hear of the -state of Cambridge; what it is in Oxford I cannot -tell.… I think there be at this day (<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1550) ten -thousand students less than there were within these -twenty years.” In the year 1550, it will be remembered, -there was apparently no degree of any kind -taken at the university of Oxford.</p> - -<p>This fact appears patent on this page of history; -that from the time when minds began to exercise -themselves on the thorny subjects which grew up -round about the “great divorce” question, the bright -promises of the revival of learning, which Erasmus -had seen in England, faded away. Greek, it has -been said, may conveniently stand for learning generally; -and Greek studies apparently disappeared in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -religious turmoils which distracted England. With -Mary’s accession, some attempt was made to recover -lost ground, or at least re-enkindle the lamp of learning. -When Sir Thomas Pope refounded Durham -College at Oxford under the name of Trinity, he was -urged by Cardinal Pole, to whom he submitted the -draft of his statutes, “to order Greek to be more -taught there than I have provided. This purpose,” -he says, “I like well, but I fear the times will not -bear it now. I remember when I was a young scholar -at Eton, the Greek tongue was growing apace, the -study of which is now of late much decayed.”<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> - -<p>The wholesale destruction of the great libraries in -England is an indirect indication of the new spirit -which rose at this time, and which helped for a time -to put an end to the renaissance of letters. When -Mary came to the throne, and quieter times made -the scheme possible, it was seriously proposed to do -something to preserve the remnant of ancient and -learned works that might be left in England after -the wholesale destruction of the preceding years. -The celebrated Dr. Dee drew up a supplication to the -queen, stating that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> “among the many most lamentable -displeasures that have of late happened in this realm, -through the subverting of religious houses and the -dissolution of other assemblies of godly and learned -men, it has been, and among all learned students shall -for ever be, judged not the least calamity, the spoil -and destruction of so many and so notable libraries -wherein lay the treasure of all antiquity, and the everlasting -seeds of continual excellency in learning within -this realm. But although in those days many a precious -jewel and ancient monument did utterly perish -(as at Canterbury that wonderful work of the sage and -eloquent Cicero, <i>De Republica</i>, and in many other places -the like), yet if in time great and speedy diligence be -showed, the remnants of such incredible a store, as well -of writers theological as in all the other liberal sciences, -might yet be saved and recovered, which now in your -Grace’s realm being dispersed and scattered, yea, and -many of them in unlearned men’s hands, still even yet -(in this time of reconciliation) daily perish; and perchance -are purposely by some envious person enclosed -in walls or buried in the ground.”</p> - -<p>The scheme which accompanied this letter in 1556 -was for the formation of a national library, into which -were to be gathered the original manuscripts still left -in England, which could be purchased or otherwise -obtained, or at least a copy of such as were in private -hands, and which the owners would not part with. -Beyond this, John Dee proposes that copies of the best -manuscripts in Europe should be secured. He mentions -specially the libraries of the Vatican, and of St. -Mark’s, Venice, those at Florence, Bologna, and Vienna, -and offers to go himself, if his expenses are paid, to secure -the transcripts.<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> The plan, however, came to nothing, -and with Mary’s death, the nation was once more -occupied in the religious controversies, which again -interfered with any real advance in scholarship.</p> - -<p>One other point must not be overlooked. Before -the rise of the religious dissensions caused England to -isolate herself from the rest of the Catholic world, -English students were to be found studying in considerable -numbers at the great centres of learning in Europe.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -An immediate result of the change was to put a stop to -this, which had served to keep the country in touch -with the best work being done on the Continent, and -the result of which had been seen in the able English -scholars produced by that means on the eve of the -Reformation.</p> - -<p>Taking a broad survey of the whole movement for -the revival of letters in England, it would appear then -certain that whether we regard its origin, or the forces -which contributed to support it, or the men chiefly -concerned in it, it must be confessed that to the -Church and churchmen the country was indebted for -the successes achieved. What put a stop to the -humanist movement here, as it certainly did in Germany, -was the rise of the religious difficulties, which, -under the name of the “New Learning,” was opposed -by those most conspicuous for their championship of -true learning, scholarship, and education.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE TWO JURISDICTIONS</span></h2> - -<p>The Reformation found men still occupied with questions -as to the limits of ecclesiastical and lay jurisdiction, -which had troubled their minds at various periods during -the previous centuries. It is impossible to read very -deeply into the literature of the period without seeing -that, while on the one hand, all the fundamental principles -of the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church were -fully and freely recognised by all; on the other, a -number of questions, mainly in the broad borderland -of debatable ground between the two, were constantly -being discussed, and not infrequently gave cause for -disagreements and misunderstandings. As in the history -of earlier times, so in the sixteenth century ecclesiastics -clung, perhaps not unnaturally, to what they -regarded as their strict rights, and looked on resistance -to encroachment as a sacred duty. Laymen on the other -part, even when their absolute loyalty to the Church was -undoubted, were found in the ranks of those who claimed -for the State power to decide in matters not strictly pertaining -to the spiritual prerogatives, but which chiefly by -custom had come to be regarded as belonging to ecclesiastical -domain. It is the more important that attention -should be directed in a special manner to these questions, -inasmuch as it will be found, speaking broadly, that the -ultimate success or ill-success of the strictly doctrinal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -changes raised in the sixteenth century was determined -by the issue of the discussions raised on the question -of mixed jurisdiction. This may not seem very philosophical, -but in the event it is proved to be roughly -correct. The reason is not very far to seek. In great -measure at least, questions of money and property, -even of national interest and prosperity, were intimately -concerned in the matter in dispute. They touched the -people’s pocket; and whether rightly or wrongly, those -who found the money wished to have a say in its disposal. -One thing cannot fail to strike an inquirer into -the literature of this period: the very small number of -people who were enthusiasts in the doctrinal matters -with which the more ardent reformers occupied themselves.</p> - -<p>We are not here concerned with another and more -delicate question as to the papal prerogatives exercised -in England. For clearness’ sake in estimating the -forces which made for change on the eve of the Reformation, -this subject must be examined in connection -with the whole attitude of England to Rome and the -Pope in the sixteenth century. It must, consequently, -be understood that in trying here to illustrate the attitude -of men’s minds at this period to these important -and practical questions, a further point as to the claims -of the Roman Pontiffs in regard to some or all of them -has yet to be considered. Even in examining the -questions at issue between the authorities—lay and -ecclesiastical—in the country, the present purpose is -to record rather than to criticise, to set forth the attitude -of mind as it appears in the literature of the period, -rather than to weigh the reasons and judge between -the contending parties.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> - -<p>The lawyer, Christopher Saint-German, is a contemporary -writer to whom we naturally turn for information -upon the points at issue. He, of course, -takes the layman’s side as to the right of the State -to interfere in all, or in most, questions which arise as -to the dues of clerics, and other temporalities, such as -tithes, &c., which are attached to the spiritual functions -of the clergy. Moreover, beyond claiming the right -for the State so to interfere in the regulation of all -temporalities and kindred matters, Saint-German also -held that in some things in which custom had given -sanction to the then practice, it would be for the good -of the State that it should do so. In his <i>Dyalogue between -a Student of Law and a Doctor of Divinity</i>,<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> his views are -put clearly; whilst the Doctor states, though somewhat -lamely perhaps, the position of the clergy.</p> - -<p>To take the example of “mortuaries,” upon which -the Parliament had already legislated to the dismay -of some of the ecclesiastical party, who, as it appears, -on the plea that the law was unjust and beyond the -competence of the State authority, tried in various -ways to evade the provisions of the Act, which was -intended to relieve the laity of exactions that, as -they very generally believed, had grown into an abuse. -Christopher Saint-German holds that Parliament was -quite within its rights. The State could, and on occasion -should, legislate as to dues payable to the clergy, -and settle whether ecclesiastics, who claim articles in -kind, or sums of money by prescriptive right, ought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -in fact to be allowed them. There is, he admits, a -difficulty; he does not think that it would be competent -for the State to prohibit specific gifts to God’s -service, or to say that only “so many tapers shall be -used at a funeral,” or that only so many priests may -be bidden to the burial, or that only so much may be -given in alms. In matters of this kind he does not -think the State has jurisdiction to interfere. “But it -has,” he says, “the plain right to make a law, that -there shall not be given above so many black gowns, or -that there shall be no herald of arms” present, unless it -is the funeral of one “of such a degree,” or that “no -black cloths should be hung in the streets from the house -where the person died, to the church, as is used in -many cities and good towns, or the prohibition of -such other things as are but worldly pomps, and are -rather consolations to the friends that are alive, than -any relief to the departed soul.” In these and such -like things, he says: “I think the Parliament has -authority to pass laws, so as to protect the executors -of wills, and relieve them from the necessity of spending -so much of the inheritance of the deceased man’s -heirs.”<a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> - -<p>In like manner the lawyer holds that in all strictly -temporal matters, whatever privilege and exemption -the State may allow and has allowed the clergy, it -still possesses the radical power to legislate where -and when it sees fit. It does not in fact by lapse -of time lose the ordinary authority it possesses over -all subjects of the realm in these matters. Thus, for -example, he holds that the State can and should prohibit -all lands in mortmain passing to the Church;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -and that, should it appear to be a matter of public -policy, Parliament might prohibit and indeed break -the appropriations of benefices already made to monasteries, -cathedrals, and colleges, and order that they -should return to their original purposes. “The advowson,” -he says, “is a temporal inheritance, and as such -is under the Parliament to order it as it sees cause.” -This principle, he points out, had been practically -admitted when the Parliament, in the fourth year of -Henry IV., cancelled all appropriations of vicarages -which had been made from the beginning of Richard II.’s -reign. It is indeed “good,” he adds, “that the authority -of the Parliament in this should be known, and -that it should cause them to observe such statutes -as are already made, and to distribute some part of -the fruits (of the benefices) among poor parishioners -according to the statute of the twentieth year of King -Richard II.”</p> - -<p>In the same way, and for similar reasons, Saint-German -claims that the State has full power to determine -questions of “Sanctuary,” and to legislate as to -“benefit of clergy.” Such matters were, he contends, -only customs of the realm, and in no sense any point -of purely spiritual prerogative. Like every other custom -of the realm, these were subject to revision by the -supreme secular authority. “The Pope by himself,” -he adds, “cannot make any Sanctuary in this realm.” -This question of “Sanctuary” rights was continually -causing difficulties between the lay and the ecclesiastical -authorities. To the legal mind the custom was certainly -dangerous to the well-being of the State, and -made the administration of justice unnecessarily complicated, -especially when ecclesiastics pleaded their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -privileges, and strongly resisted any attempt on the -part of legal officials to ignore them. Cases were -by no means infrequent in the courts in the reigns -of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., which caused more -or less friction between the upholders of the two -views.<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> To illustrate the state of conflict on this, in -itself a very minor matter, a trial which took place -in London in the year 1519 is here given in some -detail. One John Savage in that year was charged -with murder. At the time of his arrest he was living -in St. John Street (Clerkenwell), and when brought -to trial pleaded that he had been wrongfully arrested -in a place of Sanctuary belonging to the Priory of St. -John of Jerusalem. To justify his contention and -obtain his liberty, he called on the Prior of the Knights -of St. John to maintain his rights and privileges, and -vindicate this claim of Sanctuary. The prior appeared -and produced the grant of Pope Urban III., made by -Bull dated in 1213, which had been ratified by King -Henry III. He also cited cases in which he alleged -that in the reign of the late King Henry VII. felons, -who had been seized within the precincts, had been -restored to Sanctuary, and he therefore argued that -this case was an infringement of the rights of his -priory.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> - -<p>Savage also declared that he was in St. John Street -within the precincts of the priory “pur amendement -de son vie, durant son vie,” when on the 8th of June -an officer, William Rotte, and others took him by force -out of the place, and carried him away to the Tower. -He consequently claimed to be restored to the Sanctuary -from which he had been abducted. Chief-Justice -Fineux, before whom the prisoner had been brought, -asked him whether he wished to “jeopardy” his case -upon his plea of Sanctuary, and, upon consultation, -John Savage replied in the negative, saying that he -wished rather to throw himself upon the king’s mercy. -Fineux on this, said: “In this you are wise, for the -privileges of St. John’s will not aid you in the form -in which you have pleaded it. In reality it has no -greater privilege of Sanctuary than every parish church -in the kingdom; that is, it has privileges for forty days -and no more, and in this it partakes merely of the -common law of the kingdom, and has no special -privilege beyond this.”</p> - -<p>Further, Fineux pointed out that even had St. John’s -possessed the Sanctuary the prior claimed, this right -did not extend to the fields, &c., but in the opinion of -all the judges of the land, to which all the bishops and -clergy had assented, the bounds of any Sanctuary were -the church, cloister, and cemetery. Most certain it was -that the <i>ambitus</i> did not extend to gardens, barns, and -stables, and in his (Fineux’s) opinion, not even to the -pantry and buttery. He quotes cases in support of his -opinion. In one instance a certain William Spencer -claimed the privilege of Sanctuary when in an orchard -of the Grey Friars at Coventry. In spite of the assertion -of the guardian that the Pope had extended the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -privilege to the whole enclosure, of which the place the -friars had to recreate themselves in was certainly a -portion, the plea was disallowed, and William Spencer -was hanged.</p> - -<p>In regard to the privilege of the forty days, Fineux -declared that it was so obviously against the common -good and in derogation of justice, that in his opinion -it should not be suffered to continue, and he quoted -cases where it had been set aside. In several cases -where Papal privileges had been asserted, the judges -had held “quant à les Bulles du pape, le pape sans le -Roy ne ad power de fayre sanctuarie.” In other words, -Fineux rejected the plea of the murderer Savage. But -the case did not stop here, both the prior and Savage, -as we should say, “appealed,” and the matter was heard -in the presence of Cardinal Wolsey, Fineux, Brudnell, -and several members of the inner Star Chamber. Dr. -Potkyn, counsel for the Prior of St. John, pleaded the -“knowledge and allowance of the king” to prove the -privilege. No decision was arrived at, and a further -sitting of the Star Chamber was held on November 11, -1520, in the presence of the king, the cardinal, all the -judges, and divers bishops and canonists, as well as the -Prior of St. John and the Abbot of Westminster. Before -the assembly many examples of difficulties in the -past were adduced by the judges. These difficulties -they declared increased so as to endanger the peace -and law of the country, by reason of the Sanctuaries of -Westminster and St. John’s. To effect a remedy was -the chief reason of the royal presence at the meeting. -After long discussion it was declared that as St. John’s -Sanctuary was made, as it had been shown, by Papal -Bull, it was consequently void even if confirmed by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -king’s patent, and hence that the priory had no privilege at -all except the common one of forty days. The judges -and all the canonists were quite clear that the Pope’s right -to make a Sanctuary had never been allowed in England, -and that every such privilege must come from the -king. On the other hand, the bishops present and all -the clergy were equally satisfied that the general forty -days’ privilege belonged by right to every parish church. -The Abbot of Westminster then proved by the production -of charters and other indubitable evidence that the -Sanctuary of Westminster had its origin in the grants -of various kings, and had only been blessed by the -Pope.</p> - -<p>Fineux pointed out that Sanctuary grants had -always been made to monasteries and churches “to -the laud and honour of God,” and that it was not certainly -likely to redound to God’s honour when men -could commit murder and felony, and trust to get into -the safe precinct of some Sanctuary; neither did he -believe that to have bad houses in Sanctuaries, and -such like abuses, was either to the praise of God or for -the welfare of the kingdom. Further, that as regards -Westminster, the abbot had abused his privileges as to -the <i>ambitus</i> or precincts which in law must be understood -in the restricted sense. The cardinal admitted -that there had been abuses, and a Commission was proposed -to determine the reasonable bounds. Bishop -Voysey, of Exeter, suggested that if a Sanctuary man -committed murder or felony outside, with the hope of -getting back again, the privilege of shelter should be -forfeited; but the majority were against this restriction. -On the whole, however, it was determined that for the -good of the State the uses of these Sanctuaries should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -be curtailed, and that none should be allowed in law -but such as could show a grant of the privilege from -the crown.<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> - -<p>In the opinion of many, of whom Saint-German was -the spokesman, to go to another matter, Parliament might -assign “all the trees and grass in churchyards either to -the parson, to the vicar, or to the parish,” as it thought -fit; for although the ground was hallowed, the proceeds, -such as “trees and grass, are mere temporals, and as -such must be regulated by the power of the State.”</p> - -<p>Moreover, according to the same view, whilst it would -be outside the province of the secular law to determine -the cut of a priest’s cassock or the shape of his tonsure, it -could clearly determine that no priest should wear cloth -made out of the country, or costing above a certain -price; and it might fix the amount of salary to be paid -to a chaplain or curate.<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> - -<p>There were circumstances, too, under which, in the -opinion of Saint-German, Parliament not only could -interfere to legislate about clerical duties, but would be -bound to do so. At the time when he was writing, -the eve of the Reformation, many things seemed to -point to this necessity for State interference. There -were signs of widespread religious differences in the -world. “Why then,” he asks,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> “may not the king -and his Parliament, as well to strengthen the faith and -give health to the souls of many of his subjects, as -to save his realm being noted for heresy, seek for -the reason of the division now in the realm by diversity -of sects and opinions?… They shall have great -reward before God that set their hands to prevent the -great danger to many souls of men as well spiritual -as temporal if this division continue long. And as far -as I have heard, all the articles that are misliked (are -aimed) either against the worldly honour, worldly -power, or worldly riches of spiritual men. To express -these articles I hold it not expedient, and indeed -if what some have reported be true, many of them -be so far against the truth that no Christian man -would hold them to be true, and they that do so do -it for some other consideration.”<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> - -<p>As an example, our author takes the question of -Purgatory, which he believes is attacked because men -want to free themselves from the money offerings -which belief in the doctrine necessitates. And indeed, -“if it were ordained by law,” he continues, “that every -curate at the death of any of their parishioners should -be bound to say publicly for their souls <i>Placebo</i>, <i>Dirige</i> -and mass, without taking anything for (the service): -and further that at a certain time, to be assigned by -Parliament, as say, once a month, or as it shall be -thought convenient, they shall do the same and pray -for the souls of their parishioners and for all Christian -souls and for the king and all the realm: and also -that religious houses do in like manner, I fancy in -a short time there would be few to say there was no -purgatory.”<a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> - -<p>In some matters Saint-German considered that the -State might reasonably interfere in regard to the religious -life. The State, he thinks, would have no right -whatever to prohibit religious vows altogether; but it -would be competent for the secular authority to lay -down conditions to prevent abuses and generally protect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -society where such protection was needed. “It -would be good,” for example, he writes, “to make a -law that no religious house should receive any child -below a certain age into the habit, and that he should -not be moved from the place into which he had been -received without the knowledge and assent of friends.” -This would not be to prohibit religious life, which -would not be a just law, but only the laying down -of conditions. In the fourth year of Henry IV. the -four Orders of Friars had such a law made for them; -“when the four Provincials of the said four Orders -were sworn by laying their hands upon their breasts in -open Parliament to observe the said statute.”<a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> - -<p>In the same way the State may, Saint-German -thinks, lay down the conditions for matrimony, so long -as there was no “interference with the sacrament of -marriage.” Also, “as I suppose,” he says, “the Parliament -may well enact that every man that makes profit -of any offerings (coming) by recourse of pilgrims shall -be bound under a certain penalty not only to set up -certain tables to instruct the people how they shall -worship the saints, but also cause certain sermons to -be yearly preached there to instruct the people, so -that through ignorance they do not rather displease -than please the saints.”<a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> - -<p>The State<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> “may also prohibit any miracle being -noised abroad on such slight evidence as they have -been in some places in times past; and that they shall -not be set up as miracles, under a certain penalty, nor -reported as miracles by any one till they have been -proved such in such a manner as shall be appointed -by Parliament. And it is not unlikely that many persons -grudge more at the abuse of pilgrimages than at -the pilgrimages themselves.” Parliament, he points -out, has from time to time vindicated its right to act -in matters such as these. For example: “To the -strengthening of the faith it has enacted that no man -shall presume to preach without leave of his diocesan -except certain persons exempted in the statute” -(2 Henry IV.).<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> - -<p>There are, Saint-German notes, many cases where -it is by no means clear whether they are strictly belonging -to spiritual jurisdiction or not. Could the law, -for example, prohibit a bishop from ordaining any -candidate to Holy Orders who was not sufficiently -learned? Could the law which exempted priests from -serving on any inquest or jury be abrogated? These, -and such like matters in the borderland, are debatable -questions; but Saint-German makes it clear that, according -to his view, it is a mistake for clerics to claim -more exemptions from the common law than is absolutely -necessary. That there must be every protection -for their purely spiritual functions, he fully and cordially -admits; but when all this is allowed, in his opinion, it -is a grave mistake for the clergy, even from their point -of view, to try and stretch their immunities and exemptions -beyond the required limit. The less the clergy -were made a “caste,” and the more they fell in with -the nation at large, the better it would be for all parties -in the State.</p> - -<p>On the question of tithe, Saint-German took the -laymen’s view. To the ecclesiastics of the period tithes -were spiritual matters, and all questions arising out of -them should be settled by archbishop or bishop in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -spiritual courts. The lawyer, on the other hand, -maintained that though given to secure spiritual services, -in themselves tithes were temporal, and therefore -should fall under the administration of the State. Who, -for example, was to determine what was payable on -new land, and to whom; say on land recovered from -the sea? In the first place, according to the lawyer, -it should be the owner of the soil who should apportion -the payment, and failing him, the Parliament, and not -the spirituality.</p> - -<p>In another work<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Saint-German puts his view more -clearly. A tithe that comes irregularly, say once in -ten or twenty years, cannot be considered necessary -for the support of the clergy. That people were bound -to contribute to the just and reasonable maintenance -of those who serve the altar did not admit of doubt, -but, he holds, a question arises as to the justice of the -amount in individual cases. “Though the people be -bound by the law of reason, and also the law of God, -to find their spiritual ministers a reasonable portion of -goods to live upon, yet that they shall pay precisely the -tenth part to their spiritual ministers in the name of -that portion is but the law of man.” If the tithe did -not at any time suffice, “the people would be bound -to give more” in order to fulfil their Christian duty. -Some authority must determine, and in his opinion as -a lawyer and a layman, the only authority competent to -deal with the matter, so far as the payment of money -was concerned, was the State; and consequently Parliament -might, and at times ought, to legislate about the -payment of tithes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> - -<p>In a second <i>Treatise concerning the power of the clergy -and the laws of the realm</i>, Saint-German returns to this -subject of the relation between the two jurisdictions. -This book, however, was published after Henry VIII. -had received his parliamentary title of Supreme Head -of the Church, and by that time the author’s views had -naturally become somewhat more advanced on the side -of State power. In regard to the king’s “Headship,” -he declares that in reality it is nothing new, but if -properly understood would be recognised as implied -in the kingly power, and as having nothing whatever -to do with the spiritual prerogatives as such. He has -been speaking of the writ, <i>de excommunicato capiendo</i>, by -which the State had been accustomed to seize the -person of one who had been excommunicated by the -Church for the purpose of punishment by the secular -arm, and he argues that if the Parliament were to -abrogate the law, such a change would in no sense -be a derogation of the rights of the Church. Put -briefly, the principle upon which he bases this opinion -is one which was made to apply to many other cases -besides this special one. It is this: that for a spiritual -offence no one ought in justice to be made to suffer -in the temporal order.<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> Whilst insisting on this, moreover, -the lawyer maintained that there were many -things which had come to be regarded as spiritual, -which were, in reality, temporal, and that it would -be better that these should be altogether transferred to -the secular arm of the State. Such, for example, were, -in his opinion, the proving and administration of wills, -the citation and consideration of cases of slander and -libel and other matters of this nature.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> “And there -is no doubt,” he says, “but that the Parliament may -with a cause take that power from them (<i>i.e.</i> the clergy), -and might likewise have done so before it was recognised -by the Parliament and the clergy that the king -was Head of the Church of England; for he was so -before the recognition was made, just as all other -Christian princes are in their own realms over all their -subjects, spiritual and temporal.”<a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> - -<p>Moreover, as regards this, “it lieth in princes to -appease all variances and unquietness that shall arise -among the people, by whatsoever occasion it rise, -spiritual or temporal. And the king’s grace has now -no new authority in that he is confessed by the clergy -and authorised by Parliament to be the Head of the -Church of England. For it is only a declaration of his -first power committed by God to kingly and regal -authority and no new grant. Further, that, for all the -power that he has as Head of the Church, he has yet -no authority to minister any sacraments, nor to do any -other spiritual thing whereof our Lord gave power to -His apostles and disciples only.… And there is no -doubt that such power as the clergy have by the -immediate grant of Christ, neither the king nor his -Parliament can take from them, although they may -order the manner of the doing.”<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> - -<p>The question whether for grave offences the clergy -could be tried by the king’s judges was one which had -long raised bitter feeling on the one side and the other. -In 1512, Parliament had done something to vindicate -the power of the secular arm by passing a law practically -confining the immunity of the clergy to those in -sacred orders. It ordained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> “that all persons hereafter -committing murder or felony, &c., should not be admitted -to the benefit of clergy.” This act led to a great -dispute in the next Parliament, held in 1515. The -clergy as a body resented the statute as an infringement -upon their rights and privileges, and the Abbot of -Winchcombe preached at St. Paul’s Cross to this effect, -declaring that the Lords Spiritual who had assented -to the measure had incurred ecclesiastical censures. He -argued that all clerks were in Holy Orders, and that they -were consequently not amenable to the secular tribunals.</p> - -<p>The king, at the request of many of the Temporal -Lords and several of the Commons, ordered the case to -be argued at a meeting held at Blackfriars at which -the judges were present. At this debate, Dr. Henry -Standish, a Friar Minor, defended the action of Parliament, -and maintained that it was a matter of public -policy that clerks guilty of such offences should be -tried by the ordinary process of law. In reply to -the assertion that there was a decree or canon forbidding -it, and that all Christians were bound by the -canons under pain of mortal sin, Standish said: “God -forbid; for there is a decree that all bishops should -be resident at their cathedrals upon every festival day, -and yet we see the greater part of the English bishops -practise the contrary.” Moreover, he maintained that -the right of exemption of clerks from secular jurisdiction -had never been allowed in England. The bishops -were unanimously against the position of Standish, -and there can be little doubt that they had put forward -the Abbot of Winchcombe to be their spokesman at -St. Paul’s Cross. Later on, Standish was charged -before Convocation with holding tenets derogatory to -the privileges and jurisdiction of ecclesiastics. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -claimed the protection of the king, and the Temporal -Lords and judges urged the king at all costs to -maintain his right of royal jurisdiction in the matters -at issue.</p> - -<p>Again a meeting of judges, certain members of -Parliament, and the king’s council, spiritual and temporal, -were assembled to deliberate on the matter at the -Blackfriars. Dr. Standish was supposed to have said -that the lesser Orders were not Holy, and that the -exemption of clerks was not <i>de jure divino</i>. These -opinions he practically admitted, saying with regard -to the first that there was a great difference between -the greater Orders and the lesser; and in regard to -the second, “that the summoning of clerks before -temporal judges implied no repugnance to the positive -law of God.” He further partially admitted saying -that “the study of canon law ought to be laid -aside, because being but ministerial to divinity it taught -people to despise that nobler science.” The judges -decided generally against the contention of the clergy, -and they, with other lords, met the king at Baynard’s -Castle to tender their advice on the matter. Here -Wolsey, kneeling before the king, declared “that he -believed none of the clergy had any intention to disoblige -the prerogative royal, that for his part he owed -all his promotion to his Highness’ favour, and therefore -would never assent to anything that should lessen -the rights of the Crown.” But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> “that this business -of conventing clerks before temporal judges was, in -the opinion of the clergy, directly contrary to the -laws of God and the liberties of Holy Church, and -that both himself and the rest of the prelates were -bound by their oath to maintain this exemption. For -this reason he entreated the king, in the name of the -clergy, to refer the matter for decision to the Pope.” -Archbishop Warham added that in old times some of -the fathers of the Church had opposed the matter so -far as to suffer martyrdom in the quarrel. On the -other hand, Judge Fineux pointed out that spiritual -judges had no right by any statute to judge any clerk -for felony, and for this reason many churchmen had -admitted the competence of the secular courts for this -purpose.</p> - -<p>The king finally replied on the whole case. “By -the Providence of God,” he said, “we are King of -England, in which realm our predecessors have never -owned a superior, and I would have you (the clergy) -take notice that we are resolved to maintain the rights -of our crown and temporal jurisdiction in as ample -manner as any of our progenitors.” In conclusion, -the Archbishop of Canterbury petitioned the king in -the name of the clergy for the matter to rest till such -time as they could lay the case before the See of Rome -for advice, promising that if the non-exemption of -clerks was declared not to be against the law of -God, they would willingly conform to the usage of -the country.</p> - -<p>On this whole question, Saint-German maintained -that the clergy had been granted exemption from the -civil law not as a right but as a favour. There was, -in his opinion, nothing whatever in the nature of the -clerical state to justify any claim to absolute exemption, -nor was it, he contended, against the law of -God that the clergy should be tried for felony and -other crimes by civil judges. In all such things they, -like the rest of his people, were subject to their prince,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -who, because he was a Christian, did not, for that -reason, have any diminished authority over his subjects. -“Christ,” he remarks, “sent His apostles,” as -appears from the said words, “to be teachers in spiritual -matters, and not to be like princes, or to take -from princes their power.”<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Some, indeed, he says, -argue that since the coming of our Lord “Christian -princes have derived their temporal power from the -spiritual power,” established by Him in right of His -full and complete dominion over the world. But -Saint-German not only holds that such a claim has -no foundation in itself, but that all manner of texts -of Holy Scripture which are adduced in proof of the -contention are plainly twisted from their true meaning -by the spiritual authority. And many, he says, talk -as if the clergy were the Church, and the Church the -clergy, whereas they are only one portion, perhaps -the most important, and possessed of greater and special -functions; but they were not the whole, and were, -indeed, endowed with these prerogatives for the use -and benefit of the lay portion of Christ’s Church.</p> - -<p>Contrary to what might have been supposed, the -difficulty between the clergy and laity about the exemption -of clerics from all lay jurisdiction did not -apparently reach any very acute stage. Sir Thomas -More says that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> “as for the conventing of priests before -secular judges, the truth is that at one time the occasion -of a sermon made the matter come to a discussion -before the king’s Highness. But neither at any time -since, nor many years before, I never heard that there -was any difficulty about it, and, moreover, that matter -ceased long before any word sprang up about this -great general division.”<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> - -<p>One question, theoretical indeed, but sufficiently -practical to indicate the current of thought and feeling -prevalent at the time, was as to the multiplication of -holidays on which no work was allowed to be done -by ecclesiastical law. Saint-German, in common with -other laymen of the period, maintained that the king, -or Parliament, as representing the supreme will of the -State, could refuse to allow the spiritual authority to -make new holidays. About the Sunday he is doubtful, -though he inclines to the opinion that so long as there -was one day in the week set apart for rest and prayer, -the actual day could be determined by the State. The -Sunday, he says, is partly by the law of God, partly by -the law of man. “But as for the other holidays, these -are but ceremonies, introduced by the devotion of the -people through the good example of their bishops and -priests.” And “if the multitude of the holidays is -thought hurtful to the commonwealth, and tending -rather to increase vice than virtue, or to give occasion -of pride rather than meekness, as peradventure the -synod ales and particular holidays have done in some -places, then Parliament has good authority to reform -it. But as for the holidays that are kept in honour -of Our Lady, the Apostles and other ancient Saints, -these seem right necessary and expedient.”<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a></p> - -<p>In his work, <i>Salem and Bizance</i>, which appeared in -1533 as a reply to Sir Thomas More’s <i>Apology</i>, Saint-German -takes up the same ground as in his more -strictly legal tracts. He holds that a distinction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -between the purely spiritual functions of the clergy -and their position as individuals in the State ought to -be allowed and recognised. The attitude of ecclesiastics -generally to such a view was, perhaps not unnaturally, -one of opposition, and where the State had -already stepped in and legislated, as for instance in the -case of “mortuaries,” their action in trying to evade -the prescription of the law, Saint-German declared -was doing much harm, in emphasising a needless conflict -between the ecclesiastical and secular jurisdiction. -“As long,” he writes, “as spiritual rulers will pretend -that their authority is so high and so immediately -derived from God that people are bound to obey them -and to accept all that they do and teach without -argument, resistance, or murmuring against them” -there will be discord and difficulty.<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> - -<p>Christopher Saint-German’s position was not by -any means that of one who would attack the -clergy all along the line, and deprive them of -all power and influence, like so many of the -foreign sectaries of the time. He admitted, and -indeed insisted on, the fact that they had received -great and undoubted powers by their high vocation, -having their spiritual jurisdiction immediately from -God. Their temporalities, however, he maintained -they received from the secular power, and were protected -by the State in their possession. He fully -agreed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> “that such things as the whole clergy of -Christendom teach and order in spiritual things, and -which of long time have been by long custom and -usage in the whole body of Christendom ratified, -agreed, and confirmed, by the spirituality and temporality, -ought to be received with reverence.”<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p> - -<p>To this part of Saint-German’s book Sir Thomas -More takes exception in his <i>Apology</i>. The former had -said, that as long as the spiritual rulers will pretend -that their authority is so high and so immediately -derived from God that the people are bound to obey -them and accept all that they do and teach “there -would certainly be divisions and dissensions.” “If he -mean,” replies More, “that they speak thus of all -their whole authority that they may now lawfully do -and say at this time: I answer that they neither pretend, -nor never did, that all their authority is given -them immediately by God. They have authority now -to do divers things by the grant of kings and princes, -just as many temporal men also have, and by such -grants they have such rights in such things as temporal -men have in theirs.”<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> - -<p>Some authority and power they certainly have from -God, he says, “For the greatest and highest and most -excellent authority that they have, either God has Himself -given it to them, or else they are very presumptuous -and usurp many things far above all reason. For I -have never read, or at least I do not remember to have -read, that any king granted them the authority that now -not only prelates but other poor plain priests daily take -on them in ministering the sacraments and consecrating -the Blessed Body of Christ.”<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> - -<p>Another popular book of the period, published by -Berthelet, just on the eve of the Reformation, is the -anonymous <i>Dialogue between a Knight and a Clerk concerning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -the power spiritual and temporal</i>. We are not here -concerned with the author’s views as to the power of -the Popes, but only with what he states about the -attitude of men’s minds to the difficulties consequent -upon the confusion of the two jurisdictions. <i>Miles</i> (the -Knight), who, of course, took the part of the upholder -of the secular power, clearly distinguished, like -Saint-German, between directly spiritual prerogatives -and the authority and position assured to the clergy by -the State. “God forbid,” he says, “that I should deny -the right of Holy Church to know and correct men for -their sins. Not to hold this would be to deny the -sacrament of Penance and Confession altogether.”<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> -Moreover, like Saint-German, this author, in the person -of <i>Miles</i>, insists that the temporality “are bound to find -the spirituality that worship and serve God all that is -necessary for them. For so do all nations.”<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> But -the direction of such temporalities must, he contends, -be in the hands of the State. “What,” asks the conservative -cleric, in the person of <i>Clericus</i>, “What have -princes and kings to do with the governance of our -temporalities? Let them take their own and order -their own, and suffer us to be in peace with ours.”</p> - -<p>“Sir,” replies <i>Miles</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> “the princes must in any wise -have to do therewith. I pray you, ought not men -above all things to mind the health of our souls? -Ought not we to see the wills of our forefathers fulfilled? -Falleth it not to you to pray for our forefathers -that are passed out of this life? And did not -our fathers give you our temporalities right plentifully, -to the intent that you should pray for them and spend -it all to the honour of God? And ye do nothing so; -but ye spend your temporalities in sinful deeds and -vanities, which temporalities ye should spend in works -of charity, and in alms-deeds to the poor and needy. -For to this purpose our forefathers gave ‘great and -huge dominions.’ You have received them ‘to the -intent to have clothes and food … and all overplus -besides these you ought to spend on deeds of mercy -and pity, as on poor people that are in need, and on -such as are sick and diseased and oppressed with -misery.’”<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> - -<p>Further, <i>Miles</i> hints that there are many at that -time who were casting hungry eyes upon the riches of -the Church, and that were it not for the protecting power -of the State, the clergy would soon find that they -were in worse plight than they think themselves to be. -And, in answer to the complaints of <i>Clericus</i> that ecclesiastics -are taxed too hardly for money to be spent on -soldiers, ships, and engines of war, he tells him that -there is no reason in the nature of things why ecclesiastical -property should not bear the burden of -national works as well as every other kind of wealth. -“I pray you hold your noise,” he exclaims somewhat -rudely;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> “stop your grudging and grumbling, and listen -patiently. Look at your many neighbours round about -you in the land, who, wanting the wherewith to support -life, gape still after your goods. If the king’s power -failed, what rest should you have? Would not the -gentlemen such as be needy, and such as have spent -their substance prodigally, when they have consumed -their own, turn to yours, and waste and destroy all -you have? Therefore, the king’s strength is to you -instead of a strong wall, and you wot well that the -king’s peace is your peace, and the king’s safeguard -is your safeguard.”<a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p> - -<p>The foregoing pages represent some of the practical -difficulties which were being experienced on the -eve of the Reformation between the ecclesiastical and -lay portion of the State in the question of jurisdiction. -Everything points to the fact that the chief difficulty -was certainly not religious. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction -in matters spiritual was cordially admitted by -all but a few fanatics. What even many churchmen -objected to, were the claims for exemption -put forward by ecclesiastics in the name of religion, -which they felt to be a stretching of spiritual prerogatives -into the domain of the temporal sovereign. -History has shown that most of these claims have in -practice been disallowed, not only without detriment -to the spiritual work of the Church, but in some instances -at least it was the frank recognition of the State -rights, which, under Providence, saved nations from -the general defection which seemed to threaten the -old ecclesiastical system. Most of the difficulties -which were, as we have seen, experienced and debated -in England were unfelt in Spain, where the sovereign -from the first made his position as to the temporalities -of the Church clearly understood by all. In Naples, -in like manner, the right of State patronage, however -objectionable to the ecclesiastical legists, was strictly -maintained. In France, the danger which at one time -threatened an overthrow of religion similar to that -which had fallen on Germany, and which at the time -was looming dark over England, was averted by the -celebrated Concordat between Leo X. and Francis I.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -By this settlement of outstanding difficulties between -the two jurisdictions, all rights of election to ecclesiastical -dignities was swept away with the full and -express sanction of the Pope. The nomination of -all bishops and other dignitaries was vested in the -king, subject, of course, to Papal confirmation. All -appeals were, in the first place, to be carried in ordinary -cases to immediate superiors acting in the fixed -tribunals of the country, and then only to the Holy -See. The Papal power of appointment to benefices -was by this agreement strictly limited; and the policy -of the document was generally directed to securing -the most important ecclesiastical positions, including -even parish churches in towns, to educated men. It -is to this settlement of outstanding difficulties, the -constant causes of friction—a settlement of difficulties -which must be regarded as economic and administrative -rather than as religious—that so good a judge -as M. Hanotaux, the statesman and historian, attributes -nothing less than the maintenance of the old religion -in France. In his opinion, this Concordat did in fact -remove, to a great extent, the genuine grievances which -had long been felt by the people at large, which elsewhere -the Reformers of the sixteenth century skilfully -seized upon, as likely to afford them the most plausible -means for furthering their schemes of change in matters -strictly religious.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> -<span class="smaller">ENGLAND AND THE POPE</span></h2> - -<p>Nothing is more necessary for one who desires to -appreciate the true meaning of the English Reformation -than to understand the attitude of men’s minds -to the Pope and the See of Rome on the eve of the -great change. As in the event, the religious upheaval -did, in fact, lead to a national rejection of the jurisdiction -of the Roman Pontiff, it is not unnatural that -those who do not look below the surface should see -in this act the outcome and inevitable consequence -of long-continued irritation at a foreign domination. -The renunciation of Papal jurisdiction, in other words, -is taken as sufficient evidence of national hostility to -the Holy See. If this be the true explanation of the -fact, it is obvious that in the literature of the period -immediately preceding the formal renunciation of -ecclesiastical dependence on Rome, evidence more or -less abundant will be found of this feeling of dislike, -if not of detestation, for a yoke which we are told -had become unbearable.</p> - -<p>At the outset, it must be confessed that any one -who will go to the literature of the period with the -expectation of collecting evidence of this kind is -doomed to disappointment. If we put on one side -the diatribes and scurrilous invectives of advanced -reformers, when the day of the doctrinal Reformation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -had already dawned, the inquirer in this field of knowledge -can hardly fail to be struck by the absence of -indications of any real hostility to the See of Rome in -the period in question. So far as the works of the age -are concerned: so far, too, as the acts of individuals -and even of those who were responsible agents of the -State go, the evidence of an unquestioned acceptance -of the spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope, as Head of -the Christian Church, is simply overwhelming. In -their acceptance of this supreme authority the English -were perhaps neither demonstrative nor loudly protesting, -but this in no way derogated from their loyal -and unquestioning acceptance of the supremacy of the -Holy See. History shows that up to the very eve -of the rejection of this supremacy the attitude of -Englishmen, in spite of difficulties and misunderstandings, -had been persistently one of respect for the -Pope as their spiritual head. Whilst other nations of -Christendom had been in the past centuries engaged in -endeavours by diplomacy, and even by force of -arms, to capture the Pope that they might use him -for their own national profit, England, with nothing -to gain, expecting nothing, seeking nothing, had never -entered on that line of policy, but had been content to -bow to his authority as to that of the appointed Head -of Christ’s Church on earth. Of this much there can -be no doubt. They did not reason about it, nor sift -and sort the grounds of their acceptance, any more -than a child would dream of searching into, or -philosophising upon, the obedience he freely gives to -his parents.</p> - -<p>That there were at times disagreements and quarrels -may be admitted without in the least affecting the real<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -attitude and uninterrupted spiritual dependence of -England on the Holy See. Such disputes were -wholly the outcome of misunderstandings as to matters -in the domain rather of the temporal than of the -spiritual, or of points in the broad debatable land that -lies between the two jurisdictions. It is a failure to -understand the distinction which exists between these -that has led many writers to think that in the rejection -by Englishmen of claims put forward at various times -by the Roman curia in matters wholly temporal, or -where the temporal became involved in the spiritual, -they have a proof that England never fully acknowledged -the spiritual headship of the See of Rome.</p> - -<p>That the Pope did in fact exercise great powers -in England over and above those in his spiritual prerogative -is a matter of history. No one has more -thoroughly examined this subject than Professor Maitland, -and the summary of his conclusions given in his -<i>History of English Law</i> will serve to correct many -misconceptions upon the matter. What he says may -be taken as giving a fairly accurate picture of the -relations of the Christian nations of Christendom to -the Holy See from the twelfth century to the disintegration -of the system in the throes of the Reformation. -“It was a wonderful system,” he writes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -“The whole of Western Europe was subject to the -jurisdiction of one tribunal of last resort, the Roman -curia. Appeals to it were encouraged by all manner -of means, appeals at almost every stage of almost every -proceeding. But the Pope was far more than the -president of a court of appeal. Very frequently the -courts Christian which did justice in England were -courts which were acting under his supervision and -carrying out his written instructions. A very large -part, and by far the most permanently important part, -of the ecclesiastical litigation that went on in this -country came before English prelates who were sitting -not as English prelates, not as ‘judges ordinary,’ but -as mere delegates of the Pope, commissioned to hear -and determine this or that particular case. Bracton, -indeed, treats the Pope as the ordinary judge of -every Englishman in spiritual things, and the only -ordinary judge whose powers are unlimited.”</p> - -<p>The Pope enjoyed a power of declaring the law to -which but very wide and very vague limits could be set. -Each separate church might have its customs, but there -was a <i>lex communis</i>, a common law, of the universal Church. -In the view of the canonist, any special rules of the Church -of England have hardly a wider scope, hardly a less dependent -place, than have the customs of Kent or the bye-laws -of London in the eye of the English lawyer.<a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> - -<p>We have only to examine the <i>Regesta</i> of the Popes, -even up to the dawn of difficulties in the reign of -Henry VIII., to see that the system as sketched in this -passage was in full working order; and it was herein -that chiefly lay the danger even to the spiritual prerogatives -of the Head of the Church. Had the Providence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -of God destined that the nations of the world should -have become a Christendom in fact—a theocracy presided -over by his Vicar on earth—the system elaborated -by the Roman curia would not have tended doubtless -to obscure the real and essential prerogatives of the -spiritual Head of the Christian Church. As it was by -Providence ordained, and as subsequent events have -shown, claims of authority to determine matters more -or less of the temporal order, together with the worldly -pomp and show with which the Popes of the renaissance -had surrounded themselves, not only tended to -obscure the higher and supernatural powers which are -the enduring heritage of St. Peter’s successors in the -See of Rome; but, however clear the distinction between -the necessary and the accidental prerogatives -might appear to the mind of the trained theologian or -the perception of the saint, to the ordinary man, when -the one was called in question the other was imperilled. -And, as a fact, in England popular irritation at the -interference of the spirituality generally in matters not -wholly within the strictly ecclesiastical sphere was, at a -given moment, skilfully turned by the small reforming -party into national, if tacit, acquiescence in the rejection -of even the spiritual prerogatives of the Roman Pontiffs.</p> - -<p>It is necessary to insist upon this matter if the full -meaning of the Reformation movement is to be understood. -Here in England, there can be no doubt, on -the one hand, that no nation more fully and freely -bowed to the spiritual supremacy of the Holy See; on -the other, that there was a dislike of interference in -matters which they regarded, rightly or wrongly, as -outside the sphere of the Papal prerogative. The -national feeling had grown by leaps and bounds in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> -the early years of the sixteenth century. But it was -not until the ardent spirits among the doctrinal reformers -had succeeded in weakening the hold of Catholicity -in religion on the hearts of the people that this -rise of national feeling entered into the ecclesiastical -domain, and the love of country could be effectually -used to turn them against the Pope, even as Head of -the Christian Church. With this distinction clearly -before the mind, it is possible to understand the general -attitude of the English nation to the Pope and his -authority on the eve of the overthrow of his jurisdiction.</p> - -<p>To begin with some evidence of popular teaching -as to the Pope’s position as Head of the Church. It is, -of course, evident that in many works the supremacy -of the Holy See is assumed and not positively stated. -This is exactly what we should expect in a matter -which was certainly taken for granted by all. William -Bond, a learned priest, and subsequently a monk of -Syon, with Richard Whitford, was the author of a book -called the <i>Pilgrimage of Perfection</i>, published by Wynkyn -de Worde in 1531. It is a work, as the author tells -us, “very profitable to all Christian persons to read”; -and the third book consists of a long and careful explanation -of the Creed. In the section treating about -the tenth article is to be found a very complete statement -of the teaching of the Christian religion on the -Church. After taking the marks of the Church, the -author says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> “There may be set no other foundation -for the Church, but only that which is put, namely, -Christ Jesus. It is certain, since it is founded on the -Apostles, as our Lord said to Peter, ‘I have prayed -that thy faith fail not.’ And no more it shall; for (as -St. Cyprian says) the Church of Rome was never yet -the root of heresy. This Church Apostolic is so named -the Church of Rome, because St. Peter and St. Paul, -who under Christ were heads and princes of this -Church, deposited there the tabernacles of their bodies, -which God willed should be buried there and rest in -Rome, and that should be the chief see in the world; -just as commonly in all other places the chief see of -the bishop is where the chief saint and bishop of the -see is buried. By this you may know how Christ is the -Head of the Church, and how our Holy Father the Pope -of Rome is Head of the Church. Many, because they -know not this mystery of Holy Scripture, have erred -and fallen to heresies in denying the excellent dignity -of our Holy Father the Pope of Rome.”<a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> - -<p>In the same way Roger Edgworth, a preacher in -the reign of Henry VIII., speaking on the text “<i>Tu -vocaberis Cephas</i>,” says: “And by this the error and -ignorance of certain summalists are confounded, who -take this text as one of their strongest reasons for the -supremacy of the Pope of Rome. In so doing, such -summalists would plainly destroy the text of St. John’s -Gospel to serve their purpose, which they have no -need to do, for there are as well texts of Holy Scripture -and passages of ancient writers which abundantly prove -the said primacy of the Pope.”<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> - -<p>When by 1523 the attacks of Luther and his -followers on the position of the Pope had turned -men’s minds in England to the question, and caused -them to examine into the grounds of their belief, several -books on the subject appeared in England. One in -particular, intended to be subsidiary to the volume<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -published by the king himself against Luther, was -written by a theologian named Edward Powell, and -published by Pynson in London. In his preface, -Powell says that before printing his work he had -submitted it to the most learned authority at Oxford -(<i>eruditissimo Oxoniensium</i>). The first part of the book -is devoted to a scientific treatise upon the Pope’s -supremacy, with all the proofs from Scripture and the -Fathers set out in detail. “This then,” he concludes, -“is the Catholic Church, which, having the Roman -Pontiff, the successor of Peter, as its head, offers the -means of sanctifying the souls of all its members, and -testifies to the truth of all that is to be taught.” The -high priesthood of Peter “is said to be Roman, not -because it cannot be elsewhere, but through a certain -congruity which makes Rome the most fitting place. -That is, that where the centre of the world’s government -was, there also should be placed the high priesthood of -Christ. Just as of old the summus Pontifex was in -Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Jewish nation, so now -it is in Rome, the centre of Christian civilisation.”<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> - -<p>We naturally, of course, turn to the works of -Sir Thomas More for evidence of the teaching as to -the Pope’s position at this period; and his testimony -is abundant and definite. Thus in the second book -of his <i>Dyalogue</i>, written in 1528, arguing that there -must be unity in the Church of Christ, he points out -that the effect of Lutheranism has been to breed diversity -of faith and practice. “Though they began so -late,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> “yet there are not only as many sects -almost as men, but also the masters themselves change -their minds and their opinions every day. Bohemia -is also in the same case: one faith in the town, another -in the field; one in Prague, another in the next town; -and yet in Prague itself, one faith in one street, another -in the next. And yet all these acknowledge that they -cannot have the Sacraments ministered but by such -priests as are made by authority derived and conveyed -from the Pope who is, under Christ, Vicar and head of -our Church.”<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> It is important to note in this passage -how the author takes for granted the Pope’s supreme -authority over the Christian Church. To this subject -he returns, and is more explicit in a later chapter of -the same book. The Church, he says, is the “company -and congregation of all nations professing the -name of Christ.” This church “has begun with Christ, -and has had Him for its head and St. Peter His Vicar -after Him, and the head under Him; and always since, -the successors of him continually. And it has had His -holy faith and His blessed Sacraments and His holy -Scriptures delivered, kept, and conserved therein by -God and His Holy Spirit, and albeit some nations fall -away, yet just as no matter how many boughs whatever -fall from the tree, even though more fall than -be left thereon, still there is no doubt which is the -very tree, although each of them were planted again in -another place and grew to a greater than the stock it -first came off, in the same way we see and know well -that all the companies and sects of heretics and schismatics, -however great they grow, come out of this Church -I speak of; and we know that the heretics are they -that are severed, and the Church the stock that they all -come out of.”<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> Here Sir Thomas More expressly gives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -communion with the successors of St. Peter as one -of the chief tests of the true Church.</p> - -<p>Again, in his <i>Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer</i>, written -in 1532 when he was Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas -More speaks specially about the absolute necessity of -the Church being One and not able to teach error. -There is one known and recognised Church existing -throughout the world, which “is that mystical body be -it never so sick.” Of this mystical body “Christ is the -principal head”; and it is no part of his concern, he -says, for the moment to determine “whether the successor -of St. Peter is his vicar-general and head under -him, as all Christian nations have now long taken him.”<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> -Later on he classes himself with “poor popish men,”<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> -and in the fifth book he discusses the question “whether -the Pope and his sect” (as Tyndale called them) “is -Christ’s Church or no.” On this matter More is perfectly -clear. “I call the Church of Christ,” he says, -“the known Catholic Church of all Christian nations, -neither gone out nor cut off. And although all these -nations do now and have long since recognised and -acknowledged the Pope, not as the bishop of Rome -but as the successor of St. Peter, to be their chief -spiritual governor under God and Christ’s Vicar on -earth, yet I never put the Pope as part of the definition -of the Church, by defining it to be the common -known congregation of all Christian nations under one -head the Pope.”</p> - -<p>I avoided this definition purposely, he continues, -so as not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> “to entangle the matter with the two questions -at once, for I knew well that the Church being -proved this common known Catholic congregation of -all Christian nations abiding together in one faith, -neither fallen nor cut off; there might, peradventure, -be made a second question after that, whether over -all this Catholic Church the Pope must needs be head -and chief governor and chief spiritual shepherd, or -whether, if the unity of the faith was kept among -them all, every province might have its own spiritual -chief over itself, without any recourse unto the -Pope.…</p> - -<p>“For the avoiding of all such intricacies, I purposely -abstained from putting the Pope as part of -the definition of the Church, as a thing that was not -necessary; for if he be the necessary head, he is included -in the name of the whole body, and whether -he be or not is a matter to be treated and disputed -of besides” (p. 615). As to Tyndale’s railing against -the authority of the Pope because there have been -“Popes that have evil played their parts,” he should -remember, says More, that “there have been Popes -again right holy men, saints and martyrs too,” and -that, moreover, the personal question of goodness or -badness has nothing to say to the office.<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> - -<p>In like manner, More, when arguing against Friar -Barnes, says that like the Donatists “these heretics -call the Catholic Christian people papists,” and in this -they are right, since “Saint Austin called the successor -of Saint Peter the chief head on earth of the whole -Catholic Church, as well as any man does now.” He -here plainly states his view of the supremacy of the See -of Rome.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> He accepted it not only as an antiquarian -fact, but as a thing necessary for the preservation of the -unity of the Faith. Into the further question whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> -the office of supreme pastor was established by Christ -Himself, or, as theologians would say, <i>de jure divino</i>, -or whether it had grown with the growth and needs -of the Church, More did not then enter. The fact was -sufficient for him that the only Christian Church he -recognised had for long ages regarded the Pope as -the <i>Pastor pastorum</i>, the supreme spiritual head of the -Church of Christ. His own words, almost at the end -of his life, are the best indication of his mature conclusion -on this matter. “I have,” he says, “by the -grace of God, been always a Catholic, never out of -communion with the Roman Pontiff; but I have heard -it said at times that the authority of the Roman Pontiff -was certainly lawful and to be respected, but still an -authority derived from human law, and not standing upon -a divine prescription. Then, when I observed that public -affairs were so ordered that the sources of the power -of the Roman Pontiff would necessarily be examined, I -gave myself up to a diligent examination of that question -for the space of seven years, and found that the authority -of the Roman Pontiff, which you rashly—I will -not use stronger language—have set aside, is not only -lawful to be respected and necessary, but also grounded -on the divine law and prescription. That is my opinion, -that is the belief in which, by the grace of God, I shall -die.”<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> - -<p>Looking at More’s position in regard to this question -in the light of all that he has written, it would -seem to be certain that he never for a moment doubted -that the Papacy was necessary for the Church. He -accepted this without regard to the reasons of the faith -that was in him, and in this he was not different from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -the body of Englishmen at large. When, in 1522, -the book by Henry VIII. appeared against Luther, -it drew the attention of Sir Thomas specially to a -consideration of the grounds upon which the supremacy -of the Pope was held by Catholics. As the result -of his examination he became so convinced that it was -of divine institution that “my conscience would be -in right great peril,” he says, “if I should follow the -other side and deny the primacy to be provided of -God.” Even before examination More evidently held -implicitly the same ideas, since in his Latin book against -Luther, published in 1523, he declared his entire -agreement with Bishop Fisher on the subject. That -the latter was fully acquainted with the reasons which -went to prove that the Papacy was of divine institution, -and that he fully accepted it as such, is certain.<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> - -<p>When, with the failure of the divorce proceedings, -came the rejection of Papal supremacy in England, -there were plenty of people ready to take the winning -side, urging that the rejection was just, and not contrary -to the true conception of the Christian Church. -It is interesting to note that in all the pulpit tirades -against the Pope and what was called his “usurped -supremacy,” there is no suggestion that this supremacy -had not hitherto been fully and freely recognised by -all in the country. On the contrary, the change was -regarded as a happy emancipation from an authority<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -which had been hitherto submitted to without question -or doubt. A sermon preached at St. Paul’s the -Sunday after the execution of the Venerable Bishop -Fisher, and a few days before Sir Thomas More was -called to lay down his life for the same cause, is of -interest, as specially making mention of these two -great men, and of the reasons which had forced them -to lay down their lives in the Pope’s quarrel. The -preacher was one Simon Matthew, and his object was -to instruct the people in the new theory of the Christian -Church necessary on the rejection of the headship of -the Pope. “The diversity of regions and countries,” -he says, “does not make any diversity of churches, -but a unity of faith makes all regions one Church.” -“There was,” he continued, “no necessity to know -Peter, as many have reckoned, in the Bishop of Rome, -(teaching) that except we knew him and his holy -college, we could not be of Christ’s Church. Many -have thought it necessary that if a man would be a -member of the Church of Christ, he must belong to -the holy church of Rome and take the Holy Father -thereof for the supreme Head and for the Vicar of -Christ, yea for Christ Himself, (since) to be divided -from him was even to be divided from Christ.” This, -the preacher informs his audience, is “damnable teaching,” -and that “the Bishop of Rome has no more -power by the laws of God in this realm than any foreign -bishop.”</p> - -<p>He then goes on to speak of what was, no doubt, -in everybody’s mind at the time, the condemnation of -the two eminent Englishmen for upholding the ancient -teachings as to the Pope’s spiritual headship. “Of -late,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> “you have had experience of some, -whom neither friends nor kinsfolk, nor the judgment -of both universities, Cambridge and Oxford, nor the -universal consent of all the clergy of this realm, nor -the laws of the Parliament, nor their most natural and -loving prince, could by any gentle ways revoke from -their disobedience, but would needs persist therein, -giving pernicious occasion to the multitude to murmur -and grudge at the king’s laws, seeing that they were -men of estimation and would be seen wiser than all -the realm and of better conscience than others, justifying -themselves and condemning all the realm besides. -These being condemned and the king’s prisoners, yet -did not cease to conceive ill of our sovereign, refusing -his laws, but even in prison wrote to their mutual -comfort in their damnable opinions. I mean Doctor -Fisher and Sir Thomas More, whom I am as sorry to -name as any man here is to hear named: sorry for -that they, being sometime men of worship and honour, -men of famous learning and many excellent graces -and so tenderly sometime beloved by their prince, -should thus unkindly, unnaturally, and traitorously use -themselves. Our Lord give them grace to be repentant! -Let neither their fame, learning, nor honour -move you loving subjects from your prince; but regard -ye the truth.”</p> - -<p>The preacher then goes on to condemn the coarse -style of preaching against the Pope in which some -indulged at that time. “I would exhort,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -“such as are of my sort and use preaching, so to -temper their words that they be not noted to speak of -stomach and rather to prate than preach. Nor would -I have the defenders of the king’s matters rage and rail, -or scold, as many are thought to do, calling the Bishop -of Rome the ‘harlot of Babylon’ or ‘the beast of -Rome,’ with many such other, as I have heard some -say; these be meeter to preach at Paul’s Wharf than -at Paul’s Cross.”<a name="FNanchor_106" id="FNanchor_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> - -<p>The care that was taken at this time in sermons to -the people to decry the Pope’s authority, as well as the -abuse which was hurled at his office, is in reality -ample proof of the popular belief in his supremacy, -which it was necessary to eradicate from the hearts -of the English people. Few, probably, would have -been able to state the reason for their belief; but that -the spiritual headship was fully and generally accepted -as a fact is, in view of the works of the period, not open -to question. Had there been disbelief, or even doubt, -as to the matter, some evidence of this would be forthcoming -in the years that preceded the final overthrow -of Papal jurisdiction in England.</p> - -<p>Nor are direct declarations of the faith of the -English Church wanting. To the evidence already -adduced, a sermon preached by Bishop Longland in -1527, before the archbishops and bishops of England -in synod at Westminster, may be added. The discourse -is directed against the errors of Luther and -the social evils to which his teaching had led in Germany. -The English bishops, Bishop Longland declares, -are determined to do all in their power to -preserve the English Church from this evil teaching, -and he exhorts all to pray that God will not allow -the universal and chief Church—the Roman Church—to -be further afflicted, that He will restore liberty -to the most Holy Father and high-priest now impiously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -imprisoned, and in a lamentable state; that He Himself -will protect the Church’s freedom threatened by a -multitude of evil men, and through the pious prayers -of His people will free it and restore its most Holy -Father. Just as the early Christians prayed when Peter -was in prison, so ought all to pray in these days of -affliction. “Shall we not,” he cries, “mourn for the -evil life of the chief Church (of Christendom)? Shall -we not beseech God for the liberation of the primate -and chief ruler of the Church? Let us pray then; let -us pray that through our prayers we may be heard. -Let us implore freedom for our mother, the Catholic -Church, and the liberty, so necessary for the Christian -religion, of our chief Father on earth—the Pope.”<a name="FNanchor_107" id="FNanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> - -<p>Again, Dr. John Clark, the English ambassador in -Rome, when presenting Henry’s book against Luther to -Leo X. in public consistory, said that the English king -had taken up the defence of the Church because in -attacking the Pope the German reformer had tried to -subvert the order established by God Himself. In -the <i>Babylonian Captivity of the Church</i> he had given -to the world a book “most pernicious to mankind,” -and before presenting Henry’s reply, he begged to be -allowed to protest “the devotion and veneration of -the king towards the Pope and his most Holy See.” -Luther had declared war “not only against your -Holiness but also against your office; against the ecclesiastical -hierarchy, against this See, and against that -Rock established by God Himself.” England, the -speaker continued, “has never been behind other -nations in the worship of God and the Christian faith, -and in obedience to the Roman Church.” Hence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -“no nation” detests more cordially “this monster -(Luther) and the heresies broached by him.” For he -has declared war “not only against your Holiness but -against your office; against the ecclesiastical hierarchy, -against this See, that Rock established by God Himself.”<a name="FNanchor_108" id="FNanchor_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> - -<p>Whilst the evidence goes to show the full acceptance -by the English people of the Pope’s spiritual -headship of the Church, it is also true that the system -elaborated by the ecclesiastical lawyers in the later -Middle Ages, dealing, as it did, so largely with temporal -matters, property, and the rights attaching thereto, -opened the door to causes of disagreement between -Rome and England, and at times open complaints and -criticism of the exercise of Roman authority in England -made themselves heard. This is true of all periods of -English history. Since these disagreements are obviously -altogether connected with the question, not of -spirituals, but of temporals, they would not require any -more special notice but for the misunderstandings they -have given rise to in regard to the general attitude of -men’s minds to Rome and Papal authority on the eve -of the Reformation. It is easy to find evidence of this. -As early as 1517, a work bearing on this question appeared -in England. It was a translation of several -tracts that had been published abroad on the debated -matter of Constantine’s donation to the Pope, -and it was issued from the press of Thomas Godfray -in a well-printed folio. After a translation of the -Latin version of a Greek manuscript of Constantine’s -gift, which had been found in the Papal library<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -by Bartolomeo Pincern, and published by order of -Pope Julius II., there is given in this volume the -critical examination of this gift by Laurence Valla, -the opinion of Nicholas of Cusa, written for the Council -of Basle, and that of St. Antoninus, Archbishop of -Florence. The interest of the volume for the present -purpose chiefly consists in the fact of the publication -in England at this date of the views expressed -by Laurence Valla. Valla had been a canon of the -Lateran and an eminent scholar, who was employed -by Pope Nicholas V. to translate Thucydides and -Herodotus. His outspoken words got him into difficulties -with the Roman curia, and obliged him to -retire to Naples, where he died in 1457. The tract -was edited with a preface by the leader of the reform -party in Germany, Ulrich von Hutten. In this introduction -von Hutten says that by the publication of -Pincern’s translation of the supposed donation of -Constantine Julius II. had “provoked and stirred up -men to war and battle,” and further, he blames the -Pontiff because he would not permit Valla’s work -against the genuineness of the gift to be published. -With the accession of Leo X. von Hutten looked, -he declares, for better days, since “by striking as it -were a cymbal of peace the Pope has raised up the -hearts and minds of all Christian people.” Before -this time the truth could not be spoken. Popes -looked “to pluck the riches and goods of all men -to their own selves,” with the result that “on the -other side they take away from themselves all that -belongs to the succession of St. Peter.”</p> - -<p>Valla, of course, condemns the supposed donation -of Constantine to the Pope as spurious, and declares<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> -against the temporal claims the See of Rome had -founded upon it. He strongly objects to the “temporal -as well as the spiritual sword” being in the hands -of the successors of St. Peter. “They say,” he writes, -“that the city of Rome is theirs, that the kingdom of -Naples is their own property: that all Italy, France, and -Spain, Germany, England, and all the west part of the -world belongs to them. For all these nations and -countries (they say) are contained in the instrument -and writ of the donation or grant.”</p> - -<p>The whole tract is an attack upon the temporal -sovereignty of the head of the Christian Church, and it -was indeed a bold thing for Ulrich von Hutten to publish -it and dedicate it to Pope Leo X. For the present -purpose it is chiefly important to find all this set out in -an English dress, whilst so far and for a long while -after, the English people were loyal and true to the -spiritual headship of the Pope, and were second to no -other nation in their attachment to him. At that time -recent events, including the wars of Julius II., must -certainly have caused men to reflect upon the temporal -aspect of the Papacy; and hearts more loyal to the -successor of St. Peter than was that of Von Hutten -would probably have joined fervently in the concluding -words of his preface as it appeared in English.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -“Would to God I might (for there is nothing I do long -for more) once see it brought to pass that the Pope -were only the Vicar of Christ and not also the Vicar of -the Emperor, and that this horrible saying may no -longer be heard: ‘the Church fighteth and warreth -against the Perugians, the Church fighteth against the -people of Bologna.’ It is not the Church that fights -and wars against Christian men; it is the Pope that -does so. The Church fights against wicked spirits in -the regions of the air. Then shall the Pope be called, -and in very deed be, a Holy Father, the Father of all -men, the Father of the Church. Then shall he not -raise and stir up wars and battles among Christian men, -but he shall allay and stop the wars which have been -stirred up by others, by his apostolic censure and papal -majesty.”<a name="FNanchor_109" id="FNanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> - -<p>Evidence of what, above, has been called the probable -searching of men’s minds as to the action of -the Popes in temporal matters, may be seen in a book -called a <i>Dyalogue between a knight and a clerk, concerning -the power spiritual and temporal</i>.<a name="FNanchor_110" id="FNanchor_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> In reply to the complaint -of the clerk that in the evil days in which their -lot had fallen “the statutes and ordinances of bishops -of Rome and the decrees of holy fathers” were disregarded, -the knight exposes a layman’s view of the -matter. “Whether they ordain,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> “or have -ordained in times past of the temporality, may well be -law to you, but not to us. No man has power to -ordain statutes of things over which he has no lordship, -as the king of France may ordain no statute (binding) -on the emperor nor the emperor on the king of England. -And just as princes of this world may ordain no statutes -for your spirituality over which they have no power; -no more may you ordain statutes of their temporalities -over which you have neither power nor authority. -Therefore, whatever you ordain about temporal things, -over which you have received no power from God, is -vain (and void). And therefore but lately, I laughed -well fast, when I heard that Boniface VIII. had made -a new statute that he himself should be above all -secular lords, princes, kings, and emperors, and above -all kingdoms, and make laws about all things: and that -he only needed to write, for all things shall be his when -he has so written: and thus all things will be yours. -If he wishes to have my castle, my town, my field, -my money, or any other such thing he needed, nothing -but to will it, and write it, and make a decree, and -wot that it be done, (for) to all such things he has a -right.”</p> - -<p>The clerk does not, however, at once give up the -position. You mean, he says in substance, that in -your opinion the Pope has no power over your property -and goods. “Though we should prove this by -our law and by written decrees, you account them for -nought. For you hold that Peter had no lordship or -power over temporals, but by such law written. But -if you will be a true Christian man and of right belief, -you will not deny that Christ is the lord of all things. -To Him it is said in the Psalter book: ‘Ask of me, and -I will give you nations for thine heritage, and all the -world about for thy possession’ (Ps. ii.). These are -God’s words, and no one doubts that He can ordain for -the whole earth.”</p> - -<p>Nobody denies God’s lordship over the earth, -replied the knight, “but if be proved by Holy Writ -that the Pope is lord of all temporalities, then kings -and princes must needs be subject to the Pope in -temporals as in spirituals.” So they are, in effect, -answered the clerk. Peter was made “Christ’s full -Vicar,” and as such he can do what his lord can,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -“especially when he is Vicar with full power, without -any withdrawing of power, and he thus can direct all -Christian nations in temporal matters.” But, said the -knight, “Christ’s life plainly shows that He made no -claim whatever to temporal power. Also in Peter’s -commission He gave him not the keys of the kingdom -of the earth, but the keys of the kingdom of heaven. -It is also evident that the bishops of the Hebrews were -subjects of the kings, and kings deposed bishops; but,” -he adds, fearing to go too far, “God forbid that they -should do so now.” Then he goes on to quote St. Paul -in the Epistle to the Hebrews to prove that St. Peter -was Christ’s Vicar only in “the godly kingdom of -souls, and that though some temporal things may be -managed by bishops, yet nevertheless it is plain and -evident that bishops should not be occupied in the -government of the might and lordship of the world.” -And indeed, he urges, “Christ neither made St. Peter a -knight nor a crowned king, but ordained him a priest -and bishop.” If the contention that “the Pope is the -Vicar of God in temporal matter be correct,” then of -necessity you must also grant that “the Pope may take -from you and from us all the goods that you and we -have, and give them all to whichever of his nephews or -cousins he wills and give no reason why: and also that -he may take away from princes and kings principalities -and kingdoms, at his own will, and give them where he -likes.”<a name="FNanchor_111" id="FNanchor_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> - -<p>This statement by the layman of the advanced -clerical view is somewhat bald, and is probably intentionally -exaggerated; but that it could be published -even as a caricature of the position taken up by some -ecclesiastics, shows that at this time some went very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> -far indeed in their claims. It is all the more remarkable -that the argument is seriously put forward in -a tract, the author of which is evidently a Catholic -at heart, and one who fully admits the supreme jurisdiction -of the Pope in all matters spiritual. Of course, -when the rejection of Papal jurisdiction became imminent, -there were found many who by sermons and -books endeavoured to eradicate the old teaching from -the people’s hearts, and then it was that what was called, -“the pretensions” of the successors of St. Peter in -matters temporal were held up to serve as a convenient -means of striking at the spiritual prerogatives. As a -sample, a small book named a <i>Mustre of scismatyke -bysshops of Rome</i> may be taken. It was printed in -1534, and its title is sufficient to indicate its tone. -The author, one John Roberts, rakes together a good -many unsavoury tales about the lives of individual -Popes, and in particular he translates the life of -Gregory VII. to enforce his moral. In his preface -he says, “There is a fond, foolish, fantasy raging in -many men’s heads nowadays, and it is this: the -Popes, say they, cannot err. This fantastical blindness -was never taught by any man of literature, but -by some peckish pedler or clouting collier: it is so -gross in itself.” And I “warn, advise, beseech, and -adjure all my well-beloved countrymen in England -that men do not permit themselves to be blinded with -affection, with hypocrisy, or with superstition. What -have we got from Rome but pulling, polling, picking, -robbing, stealing, oppression, blood-shedding, and -tyranny daily exercised upon us by him and his.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_112" id="FNanchor_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> - -<p>Again, as another example of how the mind of the -people was stirred up, we may take a few sentences -from <i>A Worke entytled of the olde God and the new</i>. This -tract is one of the most scurrilous of the German productions -of the period. It was published in English -by Myles Coverdale, and is on the list of books prohibited -by the king in 1534. After a tirade against -the Pope, whom he delights in calling “anti-Christ,” -the author declares that the Popes are the cause of -many of the evils from which people were suffering -at that time. In old days, he says, the Bishop of -Rome was nothing more “than a pastor or herdsman,” -and adds: “Now he who has been at Rome -in the time of Pope Alexander VI. or of Pope Julius II., -he need not read many histories. I put it to his judgment -whether any of the Pagans or of the Turks ever -did lead such a life as did these.”<a name="FNanchor_113" id="FNanchor_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> - -<p>The same temper of mind appears in the preface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> -of a book called <i>The Defence of Peace</i>, translated into -English by William Marshall and printed in 1535. -The work itself was written by Marsilius of Padua -about 1323, but the preface is dated 1522. The -whole tone is distinctly anti-clerical, but the main -line of attack is developed from the side of the temporalities -possessed by churchmen. Even churchmen, -he says, look mainly to the increase of their worldly -goods. “Riches give honour, riches give benefices, -riches give power and authority, riches cause men to -be regarded and greatly esteemed.” Especially is the -author of the preface severe upon the temporal -position which the Pope claims as inalienably united -with his office as head of the Church. Benedict -XII., he says, acted in many places as if he were -all powerful, appointing rulers and officers in cities -within the emperor’s dominions, saying, “that all -power and rule and empire was his own, for as much -as whosoever is the successor of Peter on earth is -the only Vicar or deputy of Jesus Christ the King of -Heaven.”<a name="FNanchor_114" id="FNanchor_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p> - -<p>In the body of the book itself the same views are -expressed. The authority of the primacy is said to -be “not immediately from God, but by the will and -mind of man, just as other offices of a commonwealth -are,” and that the real meaning and extent of the -claims put forward by the Pope can be seen easily. -They are temporal, not spiritual.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> “This is the meaning -of this title among the Bishops of Rome, that -as Christ had the fulness of power and jurisdiction -over all kings, princes, commonwealth, companies, or -fellowships, and all singular persons, so in like manner -they who call themselves the Vicars of Christ and -Peter, have also the same fulness of enactive jurisdiction, -determined by no law of man,” and thus -it is that “the Bishops of Rome, with their desire -for dominion, have been the cause of discords and -wars.”<a name="FNanchor_115" id="FNanchor_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> - -<p>Lancelot Ridley, in his <i>Exposition of the Epistle of -Jude</i>, published in 1538 after the breach with Rome, -takes the same line. The Pope has no right to have -“exempted himself” and “other spiritual men from -the obedience to the civil rulers and powers.” Some, -indeed, he says, “set up the usurped power of the -Bishop of Rome above kings, princes, and emperors, -and that by the ordinance of God, as if God and His -Holy Scripture did give to the Bishop of Rome a -secular power above kings, princes, and emperors here -in this world. It is evident by Scripture that the -Bishop of Rome has no other power but at the pleasure -of princes, than in the ministration of the Word of -God in preaching God’s Word purely and sincerely, -to reprove by it evil men, and to do such things as -become a preacher, a bishop, a minister of God’s -Word to do. Other power Scripture does not attribute -to the Bishop of Rome, nor suffer him to use. Scripture -wills him to be a bishop, and to do the office of -a bishop, and not to play the prince, the king, the -emperor, the lord, and so forth.”<a name="FNanchor_116" id="FNanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> It is important -to note in this passage that the writer was a reformer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -and that he was expressing his views after the jurisdiction -of the Holy See had been rejected by the king -and his advisers. The ground of the rejection, according -to him—or at any rate the reason which it was -desired to emphasise before the public—would appear -to be the temporal authority which the Popes had -been exercising.</p> - -<p>In the same year, 1538, Richard Morysine published -a translation of a letter addressed by John -Sturmius, the Lutheran, to the cardinals appointed by -Pope Paul III. to consider what could be done to -stem the evils which threatened the Church. As the -work of this Papal commission was then directly -put before the English people, some account of it is -almost necessary. The commission consisted of four -cardinals, two archbishops, one bishop, the abbot of -San Giorgio, Venice, and the master of the Sacred -Palace, and its report was supposed to have been -drafted by Cardinal Caraffa, afterwards Pope Paul IV. -The document thanks God who has inspired the Pope -“to put forth his hand to support the ruins of the -tottering and almost fallen Church of Christ, and to -raise it again to its pristine height.” As a beginning, -the Holy Father has commanded them to lay bare to -him “those most grave abuses, that is diseases, by -which the Church of God, and this Roman curia -especially, is afflicted,” and which has brought about -the state of ruin now so evident. The initial cause -of all has been, they declare, that the Popes have -surrounded themselves with people who only told them -what they thought would be pleasant to them, and who -had not the honesty and loyalty to speak the truth. -This adulation had deceived the Roman Pontiffs about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -many things. “To get the truth to their ears was -always most difficult. Teachers sprung up who were -ready to declare that the Pope was the master of all -benefices, and as master might by right sell them as -his own.” As a consequence, it was taught that the -Pope could not be guilty of simony, and that the will -of the Pope was the highest law, and could override -all law. “From this source, Holy Father,” they continue, -“as from the Trojan horse, so many abuses -and most grievous diseases have grown up in the -Church of God.” Even pagans, they say, scoff at -the state of the Christian Church as it is at present, -and they, the commissioners, beg the Pope not to -delay in immediately taking in hand the correction -of the manifest abuses which afflict and disgrace -the Church of Christ. “Begin the cure,” they -say, “whence sprung the disease. Follow the teaching -of the Apostle St. Paul: ‘be a dispenser, not a -lord.’”</p> - -<p>They then proceed to note the abuses which to -them are most apparent, and to suggest remedies. -We are not concerned with these further than to -point out that, as a preliminary, they state that the -true principle of government is, that what is the law -must be kept, and that dispensations should be granted -only on the most urgent causes, since nothing brings -government to such bad repute as the continual exercise -of the power of dispensation. Further, they note -that it is certainly not lawful for the Vicar of Christ -to make any profit (<i>lucrum</i>) by the dispensations he -is obliged to give.</p> - -<p>Sturmius, in his preface, says he had hopes of better -things, now that there was a Pope ready to listen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -“It is a rare thing, and much more than man could -hope for, that there should come a Bishop of Rome -who would require his prelates upon their oath to open -the truth, to show abuses, and to seek remedies for -them.” He is pleased to think that these four cardinals, -Sadolet, Paul Caraffa, Contarini, and Reginald Pole had -allowed fully and frankly that a great portion of the -difficulty had come from the unfortunate attitude of the -Popes in regard to worldly affairs. “You acknowledge,” -he says, “that no lordship is committed to the Bishop -of Rome, but rather a certain cure by which he may -rule things in the church according to good order. If -you admit this to be true and will entirely grant us this, -a great part of our (<i>i.e.</i> Lutheran) controversy is taken -away; granting this also, that we did not dissent from -you without great and just causes.” The three points -the cardinals claimed for the Pope, it may be noted, -were: (1) that he was to be Bishop of Rome; (2) that -he was to be universal Bishop; and (3) that he should -be allowed temporal sovereignty over certain cities in -Italy.<a name="FNanchor_117" id="FNanchor_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> Again we find the same view put before the -English people in this translation: the chief objection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -to the admission of Papal prerogatives was the “lordship” -which he claimed over and above the spiritual -powers he exercised as successor of St. Peter. On<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -this point we find preachers and writers of the period -insisting most clearly and definitely. Some, of course, -attack the spiritual jurisdiction directly, but most -commonly such attacks are flavoured and served up -for general consumption by a supply of abuse of the -temporal assumptions and the worldly show of the -Popes. This appealed to the popular mind, and to -the growing sense of national aims and objects, and -the real issue of the spiritual headship was obscured -by the plea of national sentiment and safeguards.</p> - -<p>To take one more example: Bishop Tunstall, on -Palm Sunday, 1539, preached before the king and -court. His object was to defend the rejection of the -Papal supremacy and jurisdiction. He declaimed -against the notion that the Popes were to be considered -as free from subjection to worldly powers, -maintaining that in this they were like all other men. -“The Popes,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> “exalt their seat above the -stars of God, and ascend above the clouds, and will -be like to God Almighty.… The Bishop of Rome -offers his feet to be kissed, shod with his shoes on. -This I saw myself, being present thirty-four years ago, -when Julius, the Bishop of Rome, stood on his feet -and one of his chamberlains held up his skirt because -it stood not, as he thought, with his dignity that he -should do it himself, that his shoes might appear, -whilst a nobleman of great age prostrated himself upon -the ground and kissed his shoes.”<a name="FNanchor_118" id="FNanchor_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p> - -<p>To us, to-day, much that was written and spoken -at this time will appear, like many of the above passages, -foolish and exaggerated; but the language served its -purpose, and contributed more than anything else to -lower the Popes in the eyes of the people, and to -justify in their minds the overthrow of the ecclesiastical -system which had postulated the Pope as the universal -Father of the Christian Church. Each Sunday, in -every parish church throughout the country, they had -been invited in the bidding prayer, as their fathers had -been for generations, to remember their duty of praying -for their common Father, the Pope. When the -Pope’s authority was finally rejected by the English -king and his advisers, it was necessary to justify this -serious breach with the past religious practice, and the -works of the period prove beyond doubt that this was -done in the popular mind by turning men’s thoughts -to the temporal aspect of the Papacy, and making them -think that it was for the national profit and honour that -this foreign yoke should be cast off. Whilst this is -clear, it is also equally clear in the works of the time -that the purely religious aspect of the question was as -far as possible relegated to a secondary place in the -discussions. This was perhaps not unnatural, as the -duty of defending the rejection of the Papal supremacy -can hardly have been very tasteful to those who were -forced by the strong arm of the State to justify it before -the people. As late as 1540 we are told by a contemporary -writer that the spirituality under the bishops<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -“favour as much as they dare the Bishop of Rome’s -laws and his ways.”<a name="FNanchor_119" id="FNanchor_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> - -<p>Even the actual meaning attached to the formal -acknowledgment of the king’s Headship by the clergy -was sufficiently ambiguous to be understood, by some -at least, as aimed merely at the temporal jurisdiction -of the Roman curia. It is true it is usually understood -that Convocation by its act, acknowledging -Henry as sole supreme Head of the Church of -England, gave him absolute spiritual jurisdiction. -Whatever may have been the intention of the king -in requiring the acknowledgment from the clergy, it -seems absolutely certain that the ruling powers in the -Church considered that by their grant there was no -derogation of the Pope’s spiritual jurisdiction.</p> - -<p>A comparison of the clauses required by Henry -with those actually granted by Convocation makes it -evident that any admission that the crown had any -cure of souls, that is, spiritual jurisdiction, was specifically -guarded against. In place of the clause containing -the words, “cure of souls committed to his Majesty,” -proposed in the king’s name to his clergy, they adopted -the form, “the nation committed to his Majesty.” The -other royal demands were modified in the same manner, -and it is consequently obvious that all the insertions -proposed by the crown were weighed with the greatest -care by skilled ecclesiastical jurists in some two and -thirty sessions, and the changes introduced by them -with the proposals made on behalf of the king throw -considerable light upon the meaning which Convocation -intended to give to the <i>Supremum Caput</i> clause. In one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> -sense, perhaps not the obvious one, but one that had -<i>de facto</i> been recognised during Catholic ages, the sovereign -was the Protector—the <i>advocatus</i>—of the Church -in his country, and to him the clergy would look to -protect his people from the introduction of heresy and -for maintenance in their temporalities. So that whilst, -on the one hand, the king and Thomas Cromwell -may well have desired the admission of Henry’s authority -over “the English Church, whose Protector and -supreme Head he alone is,” to cover even spiritual -jurisdiction, on the other hand, Warham and the -English Bishops evidently did intend it to cover only -an admission that the king had taken all jurisdiction in -temporals, hitherto exercised by the Pope in England, -into his own hands.</p> - -<p>Moreover, looking at what was demanded and at -what was granted by the clergy, there is little room -for doubt that they at first deliberately eliminated any -acknowledgment of the Royal jurisdiction. This deduction -is turned into a certainty by the subsequent -action of Archbishop Warham. He first protested that -the admission was not to be twisted in “derogation -of the Roman Pontiff or the Apostolic See,” and the -very last act of his life was the drafting of an elaborate -exposition, to be delivered in the House of Lords, of -the impossibility of the king’s having spiritual jurisdiction, -from the very nature of the constitution of -the Christian Church. Such jurisdiction, he claimed, -belonged of right to the Roman See.<a name="FNanchor_120" id="FNanchor_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p> - -<p>That the admission wrung from the clergy in fact -formed the thin end of the wedge which finally severed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -the English Church from the spiritual jurisdiction of the -Holy See is obvious. But the “thin end” was, there -can be hardly any doubt, the temporal aspect of the -authority of the Roman See; and that its insertion at -all was possible may be said in greater measure to be -due to the fact that the exercise of jurisdiction in -temporals by a foreign authority had long been a -matter which many Englishmen had strongly resented.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> -<span class="smaller">CLERGY AND LAITY</span></h2> - -<p>It is very generally asserted that on the eve of the -Reformation the laity in England had no particular -love or respect for churchmen. That there were -grave difficulties and disagreements between the two -estates is supposed to be certain. On the face of it, -however, the reason and origin of what is frequently -called “the grudge” of laymen against the ecclesiastics -is obviously much misunderstood. Its extent is -exaggerated, its origin put at an earlier date than -should be assigned to it, and the whole meaning of -the points at issue interpreted quite unnecessarily as -evidence of a popular and deep-seated disbelief in the -prevailing ecclesiastical system. To understand the -temper of people and priest in those times, it is obviously -necessary to examine into this question in -some detail. We are not without abundant material -in the literature of the period for forming a judgment -as to the relations which then existed between the -clerical and lay elements in the State. Fortunately, -not only have we assertions on the one side and on -the other as to the questions at issue, but the whole -matter was debated at the time in a series of tracts -by two eminent laymen. This discussion was carried -on between an anonymous writer, now recognised as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> -the lawyer, Christopher Saint-German, and Sir Thomas -More himself.</p> - -<p>Christopher Saint-German, who is chiefly known -as the writer of a <i>Dyalogue in English between a Student -of Law and a Doctor of Divinity</i>, belonged to the Inner -Temple, and was, it has already been said, a lawyer -of considerable repute. About the year 1532, a tract -from his pen called <i>A treatise concerning the division -between the spiritualtie and temporaltie</i> appeared anonymously. -To this Sir Thomas More, who had just -resigned the office of Chancellor, replied in his celebrated -<i>Apology</i>, published in 1533. Saint-German -rejoined in the same year with <i>A Dyalogue between -two Englishmen, whereof one is called Salem and the other -Bizance</i>, More immediately retorting with the <i>Debellacyon -of Salem and Bizance</i>. In these four treatises -the whole matter of the supposed feud between the -clergy and laity is thrashed out, and the points at -issue are clearly stated and discussed.</p> - -<p>Christopher Saint-German’s position is at first somewhat -difficult to understand. By some of his contemporaries -he was considered to have been tainted by “the -new teaching” in doctrinal matters, which at the time -he wrote was making some headway in England. He -himself, however, professes to write as a loyal believer in -the teaching of the Church, but takes exception to certain -ecclesiastical laws and customs which in his opinion are -no necessary part of the system at all. In these he -thinks he detects the cause of the “division that had -risen between the spiritualtie and the temporaltie.” -Sir Thomas More, it may be remarked, is always careful -to treat the writer as if he believed him to be a sincere -Catholic, though mistaken in both the extent of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -existing disaffection to the Church and altogether impracticable -in the remedies he suggested. In some -things it must, however, be confessed, granting Saint-German’s -facts, that he shows weighty grounds for some -grievance against the clergy on the part of the laity.</p> - -<p><i>The treatise concerning the division</i> begins by expressing -regret at the unfortunate state of things which -the author pre-supposes as existing in England when -he wrote in 1532, contrasting it with what he remembered -before. “Who may remember the state of this -realm now in these days,” he writes, “without great -heaviness and sorrow of heart? For whereas, in times -past, there has reigned charity, meekness, concord, and -peace, there now reigns envy, pride, division, and strife, -and that not only between laymen and churchmen, but -also between religious and religious, and between priests -and religious, and what is more to be lamented also -between priests and priests. This division has been so -universal that it has been a great (cause of) disquiet -and a great breach of charity through all the realm.”<a name="FNanchor_121" id="FNanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> - -<p>It must be confessed that if this passage is to be -taken as it stands, the division would appear to have -been very widely spread at the time. Sir Thomas More, -whilst denying that the difficulty was so great as Saint-German -would make out, admits that in late years the -spirit had grown and was still growing apace. He -holds, however, that Saint-German’s reasons for its existence -are not the true ones, and that his methods will -only serve to increase the spirit of division. As regards -the quarrels between religious, at which Saint-German -expresses his indignation, he says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> “Except this man -means here by religious folk, either women and children -with whose variances the temporality is not very much -disturbed, or else the lay brethren, who are in some -places of religion, and who are neither so many nor so -much esteemed, that ever the temporality was much -troubled at their strife, besides this there is no variance -between religious and religious with which the temporality -have been offended.”<a name="FNanchor_122" id="FNanchor_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> Again: “Of some particular -variance among divers persons of the clergy I have -indeed heard, as sometimes one against another for his -tithes, or a parson against a religious place for meddling -with his parish, or one place of religion with another -upon some such like occasions, or sometime some one -religious (order) have had some question and dispute -as to the antiquity or seniority of its institution, as (for -instance) the Carmelites claim to derive their origin -from Elias and Eliseus: and some question has arisen -in the Order of Saint Francis between the Observants -and the Conventuals (for of the third company, that is -to say the Colettines, there are none in this realm). -But of all these matters, as far as I have read or -remember, there were never in this realm either so -very great or so many such (variances) all at once, -that it was ever at the time remarked through the realm -and spoken of as a great and notable fault of the whole -clergy.” Particular faults and petty quarrels should not -be considered the cause of any great grudge against the -clergy at large. “And as it is not in reason that it -should be, so in fact it is not so, as may be understood -from this:” …<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> “if it were the case, then must this -grudge of ours against them have been a very old thing, -whereas it is indeed neither so great as this man maketh -out, nor grown to so great (a pass) as it is, but only -even so late as Tyndale’s books and Frith’s and Friar -Barnes’ began to go abroad.”<a name="FNanchor_123" id="FNanchor_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> - -<p>Further, in several places Sir Thomas More emphatically -asserts that the talking against the clergy, -the hostile feeling towards them, and the dissensions -said to exist between them and lay folk generally, were -only of very recent origin, and were at worst not very -serious. “I have, within these four or five years (for -before I heard little talk of such things),” he writes, -“been present at such discussions in divers good companies, -never talking in earnest thereof (for as yet I -thank God that I never heard such talk), but as a pass-time -and in the way of familiar talking, I have heard at -such times some in hand with prelates and secular -priests and religious persons, and talk of their lives, -and their learning, and of their livelihood too, and as -to whether they were such, that it were better to have -them or not to have them. Then touching their livelihood -(it was debated), whether it might be lawfully -taken away from them or no; and if it might, whether -it were expedient for it to be taken, and if so for what -use.”<a name="FNanchor_124" id="FNanchor_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> - -<p>To this Saint-German replies at length in his <i>Salem -and Bizance</i>, and says that Sir Thomas More must have -known that the difficulties had their origin long before -the rise of the new religious views, and were not in any -sense founded upon the opinions of the modern heretics.<a name="FNanchor_125" id="FNanchor_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> -More answers by reasserting his position that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> -“the division is nothing such as this man makes it, and -is grown as great as it is only since Tyndale’s books -and Frith’s and Friar Barnes’ began to be spread -abroad.” And in answer to Saint-German’s suggestion -that he should look a little more closely into the -matter, he says: “Indeed, with better looking thereon -I find it somewhat otherwise. For I find the time -of such increase as I speak of much shorter than I -assigned, and that by a great deal. For it has grown -greater” by reason of “the book upon the division,” -which Saint-German with the best of intentions had -circulated among the people.<a name="FNanchor_126" id="FNanchor_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> - -<p>Putting one book against the other, it would appear -then tolerably certain that the rise of the anti-clerical -spirit in England must be dated only just before the -dawn of the Reformation, when the popular mind was -being stirred up by the new teachers against the clergy. -There seems, moreover, no reason to doubt the positive -declaration of Sir Thomas More, who had every means -of knowing, that the outcry was modern—so modern -indeed that it was practically unknown only four or -five years before 1533, and that it originated undoubtedly -from the dissemination of Lutheran views -and teachings by Tyndale and others. It is useful to -examine well into the grounds upon which this anti-clerical -campaign was conducted, and to note the -chief causes of objection to the clergy which are found -set forth by Saint-German in his books. In the first -place: “Some say,” he writes, that priests and religious -“keep not the perfection of their order,” and do not -set that good example to the people “they should do.” -Some also work for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> “their own honour, and call it the -honour of God, and rather covet to have rule over the -people than to profit the people.” Others think more -about their “bodily ease and worldly wealth and meat -and drink,” and the like, even more than lay people do. -Others, again, serve God “for worldly motives, to obtain -the praise of men, to enrich themselves and the like, -and not from any great love of God.”</p> - -<p>Such is the first division of the general accusations -which Saint-German states were popularly made against -the clergy in 1532. Against these may be usefully set -Sir Thomas More’s examination of the charges, and his -own opinion as to the state of the clergy. In his previous -works he had, he says, forborne to use words -unpleasant either to the clergy or laity about themselves, -though he had “confessed what is true, namely, -that neither were faultless.” But what had offended -“these blessed brethren,” the English followers of -Luther, was that “I have not hesitated to say, what -I also take for the very truth, that as this realm of -England has, God be thanked, as good and praiseworthy -a temporality, number for number, as any -other Christian country of equal number has had, so -has it had also, number for number, compared with -any other realm of no greater number in Christendom, -as good and as commendable a clergy. In both there -have never been wanting plenty of those who have -always been ‘naught’; but their faults have ever been -their own and should not be imputed to the whole -body, neither in the spirituality nor temporality.”<a name="FNanchor_127" id="FNanchor_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> - -<p>Turning to the special accusation made by Saint-German -that ecclesiastics “do not keep the perfection -of their order,” More grants that this may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> “not be -much untrue.” For “Man’s duty to God is so great -that very few serve Him as they should do.”…“But, -I suppose, they keep it now at this day much after -such a good metely manner as they did in the years -before, during which this division was never dreamed -of, and therefore those who say this is the cause have -need to go seek some other.”<a name="FNanchor_128" id="FNanchor_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> To the second point -his reply is equally clear. It is true, More thinks, -that some ecclesiastics do look perhaps to their own -honour and profit, but, he asks, “were there never -any such till so lately as the beginning of this division, -or are all of them like this now?” No doubt there -are some such, and “I pray God that when any new -ones shall come they may prove no worse. For of -these, if they wax not worse before they die, those who -shall live after them may, in my mind, be bold to say -that England had not their betters any time these forty -years, and I dare go for a good way beyond this too. -But this is more than twenty years, and ten before this -division” (between the clergy and laity) was heard of.<a name="FNanchor_129" id="FNanchor_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> -Further, as far as his own opinion goes, although there -may be, and probably are, some priests and religious -whom the world accounts good and virtuous, who are -yet at heart evil-minded, this is no reason to despise -or condemn the whole order. Equally certain is it -that besides such there are “many very virtuous, holy -men indeed, whose holiness and prayer have been, I -verily believe, one great special cause that God has -so long held His hand from letting some heavier stroke -fall on the necks of those whether in the spirituality -or temporality who are naught and care not.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_130" id="FNanchor_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> - -<p>In his <i>Apology</i>, Sir Thomas More protested against -the author of the work on the <i>Division</i> translating a -passage from the Latin of John Gerson, about the evil -lives of priests; and on Saint-German excusing himself -in his second book, More returns to the point in <i>The -Debellation of Salem and Bizance</i>. More had pleaded -that his opponent had dragged the faults of the clergy -into light rather than those of the laity, because if the -priests led good lives, as St. John Chrysostom had said, -the whole Church would be in a good state; “and if -they were corrupt, the faith and virtue of the people -fades also and vanishes away.” “Surely, good readers,” -exclaims More, “I like these words well.” They are -very good, and they prove “the matter right well, and -very true is it, nor did I ever say the contrary, but -have in my <i>Apology</i> plainly said the same: that every -fault in a spiritual man is, by the difference of the -person, far worse and more odious to God and man -than if it were in a temporal man.” And indeed the -saying of St. Chrysostom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> “were in part the very cause -that made me write against his (<i>i.e.</i> Saint-German’s) book. -For assuredly, as St. Chrysostom says: ‘If the priesthood -be corrupt, the faith and virtue of the people -fades and vanishes away.’ This is without any question -very true, for though St. Chrysostom had never said it, -our Saviour says as much himself. ‘Ye are (saith He -to the clergy) the salt of the earth.’ … But, I say, -since the priesthood is corrupted it must needs follow -that the faith and virtue of the people fades and -vanishes away, and on Christ’s words it must follow -that, if the spirituality be nought, the temporality must -needs be worse than they. I, upon this, conclude -on the other side against this ‘Pacifier’s’ book, that -since this realm has (as God be thanked indeed it has) -as good and as faithful a temporality (though there be -a few false brethren in a great multitude of true Catholic -men) as any other Christian country of equal size has, -it must needs, I say, follow that the clergy (though it -have some such false evil brethren too) is not so -sorely corrupted as the book of <i>Division</i> would make -people think, but on their side they are as good as the -temporality are on theirs.”<a name="FNanchor_131" id="FNanchor_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> - -<p>On one special point Saint-German insists very -strongly. As it is a matter upon which much has been -said, and upon which people are inclined to believe the -worst about the pre-Reformation clergy, it may be -worth while to give his views at some length, and then -take Sir Thomas More’s opinion also on the subject. It -is on the eternal question of the riches of the Church, -and the supposed mercenary spirit which pervaded the -clergy. “Some lay people say,” writes Saint-German, -“that however much religious men have disputed -amongst themselves as to the pre-eminence of their -particular state in all such things as pertain to the -maintenance of the worldly honour of the Church and -of spiritual men, which they call the honour of God, -and in all such things as pertain to the increase of -the riches of spiritual men, all, religious or secular, -agree as one.” For this reason it is found that religious -men are much more earnest in trying to induce -people to undertake and support such works -as produce money for themselves, such as trentals, -chantries, obits, pardons, and pilgrimages, than in -insisting upon the payments of debts, upon restitution -for wrong done, or upon works of mercy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> “to their -neighbours poor and needy—sometimes in extreme -necessity.”<a name="FNanchor_132" id="FNanchor_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> - -<p>Sir Thomas More replies that those who object in -this way, object not so much because the trentals, &c., -tend to make priests rich, but because they “hate” the -things themselves. Indeed, some of these things are -not such that they make priests so very rich, in fact, as -to induce them to use all endeavour to procure them. -The chantries, for example, “though they are many, no -one man can make any very great living out of them; -and that a priest should have some living of such a -mean thing as the chantries commonly are, no good -man will find great fault.” As for pilgrimages, “though -the shrines are well garnished, and the chapel well -hanged with wax (candles), few men nowadays, I fear, -can have much cause to grudge or complain of the -great offerings required from them. Those men make -the most ado who offer nothing at all.” And with -regard to “pardons,” it should be remembered that -they were procured often “by the good faithful -devotion of virtuous secular princes, as was the great -pardon purchased for Westminster and the Savoy” by -Henry VII. “And in good faith I never yet perceived,” -he says, “that people make such great offerings -at a pardon that we should either much pity their -expense or envy the priests that profit.”</p> - -<p>“But then the trentals! Lo, they are the things, as -you well know, by which the multitude of the clergy and -specially the prelates, all get an infinite treasure each -year.” For himself, Sir Thomas More hopes and -“beseeches God to keep men devoted to the trentals -and obits too.” But where this “Pacifier” asserts that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -“some say that all spiritual men as a body induce people -to pilgrimages, pardons, chantries, obits, and trentals, -rather than to the payment of their debts, or to restitution -of their wrongs, or to deeds of mercy to their -neighbours that are poor and needy, and sometimes in -extreme necessity, for my part, I thank God,” he says, -“that I never heard yet of any one who ever would -give that counsel, and no more has this ‘Pacifier’ himself, -for he says it only under his common figure of -‘some say.’”<a name="FNanchor_133" id="FNanchor_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> - -<p>In his second reply, More returns to the same -subject. Saint-German speaks much, he says, about -“restitution.” This, should there be need, no reasonable -man would object to. “But now the matter -standeth all in this way: this man talks as if the -spirituality were very busy to procure men and induce -people (generally) to give money for trentals, to found -chantries and obits, to obtain pardons and to go on -pilgrimages, leaving their debts unpaid and restitution -unmade which should be done first, and that this was -the custom of the spirituality. In this,” says More, -“standeth the question.” The point is not whether -debts and restitution should be satisfied before all other -things, which all will allow, but whether the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> “multitude -of the clergy, that is to say either all but a few, or at -least the most part, solicit and labour lay people to do -these (voluntary) things rather than pay their debts or -make restitution for their wrongs.… That the multitude -of priests do this, I never heard any honest man -for very shame say. For I think it were hard to meet -with a priest so wretched, who, were he asked his -advice and counsel on that point, would not in so plain -a matter, though out of very shame, well and plainly -counsel the truth, and if perchance there were found any -so shameless as to give contrary counsel, I am very -sure they would be by far the fewer, and not as this -good man’s first book says, the greater part and multitude.” -What, therefore, More blames so much is, that -under pretext of an altogether “untrue report” the -clergy generally are held up to obloquy and their good -name slandered.<a name="FNanchor_134" id="FNanchor_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> If he thinks that “I do but mock -him to my poor wit, I think it somewhat more civility -in some such points as this to mock him a little merrily, -than with odious earnest arguments to discuss matters -seriously with him.”</p> - -<p>In some things even Saint-German considers the -outcry raised against the clergy unreasonable. But -then, as he truly says, many “work rather upon will -than upon reason,” and though possessed of great and -good zeal are lacking in necessary discretion. Thus -some people, seeing the evils that come to the Church -from riches, “have held the opinion that it was not lawful -for the Church to have any possessions.” Others, -“taking a more mean way,” have thought that the -Church ought not to have “that great abundance that” -it has, for this induces a love of riches in churchmen and -“hinders, and in a manner strangles, the love of God.” -These last would-be reformers of churchmen advocate -taking away all that is not necessary. Others, again, -have gone a step further still, “and because great riches -have come to the Church for praying for souls in Purgatory, -have affirmed that there is no Purgatory.” In -the same way such men would be against pardons, -pilgrimages, and chantries. They outwardly appear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -“to rise against all these … and to despise them, and -yet in their hearts they know and believe that all such -things are of themselves right good and profitable, as -indeed they are, if they are ordered as they should -be.”<a name="FNanchor_135" id="FNanchor_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> - -<p>Sir Thomas More truly says that what is implied in -this outcry against the riches of the clergy is that as a -body they lead idle, luxurious, if not vicious lives. It -is easy enough to talk in this way, but how many men -in secular occupations, he asks, would be willing to -change? There might be “some who would, and -gladly would, have become prelates (for I have heard -many laymen who would very willingly have been -bishops), and there might be found enough to match -those that are evil and naughty secular priests, and -those too who have run away from the religious life, -and these would, and were able to, match them in their -own ways were they never so bad. Yet, as the world -goes now, it would not be very easy, I ween, to find -sufficient to match the good, even though they be as -few as some folk would have them to be.”</p> - -<p>In the fifteenth chapter of his book on the <i>Division</i>, -Saint-German deals specially with the religious life and -with what in his opinion people think about it, and -about those who had given up their liberty for a life in -the cloister. The matter is important, and considerable -extracts are necessary fully to understand the position. -“Another cause” of the dislike of the clergy by the -laity is to be sought for in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> “great laxity and liberty -of living that people have seen in religious men. For -they say, that though religious men profess obedience -and poverty, yet many of them have and will have their -own will, with plenty of delicate food in such abundance -that no obedience or poverty appears in them. For -this reason many have said, and yet say to the present -day, that religious men have the most pleasant and -delicate life that any men have. And truly, if we -behold the holiness and blessed examples of the holy -fathers, and of many religious persons that have lived -in times past, and of many that now live in these days, -we should see right great diversity between them. For -many of them, I trow, as great diversity as between -heaven and hell.” Then, after quoting the eighteenth -chapter of <i>The Following of Christ</i>, he proceeds: “Thus -far goeth the said chapter. But the great pity is that -most men say that at the present day many religious -men will rather follow their own will than the will of -their superior, and that they will neither suffer hunger -nor thirst, heat nor cold, nakedness, weariness nor -labour, but will have riches, honour, dignities, friends, -and worldly acquaintances, the attendance of servants -at their commands, pleasure and disports, and that -more liberally than temporal men have. Thus, say -some, are they fallen from true religion, whereby the -devotion of the people is in a manner fallen from -them.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> -<p>“Nevertheless, I doubt not that there are many -right good and virtuous religious persons. God forbid -that it should be otherwise. But it is said that there -are many evil, and that in such a multitude that those -who are good cannot, or will not, see them reformed. -And one great cause that hinders reform is this: if the -most dissolute person in all the community, and the -one who lives most openly against the rules of religion, -can use this policy, namely, to extol his (form of) -religious life above all others, pointing them out as not -being so perfect as that to which he belongs, anon he -shall be called a good fervent brother, and one that -supports his Order, and for this reason his offences -shall be looked on the more lightly.”</p> - -<p>“Another thing that has caused many people to -mislike religious has been the great extremity that has -been many times witnessed at the elections of abbots, -priors, and such other spiritual sovereigns. And this is -a general ground, for when religious men perceive that -people mislike them, they in their hearts withdraw their -favour and devotion again from them. And in this way -charity has waxed cold between them.”</p> - -<p>“And verily, I suppose, that it were better that there -should be no abbot or prior hereafter allowed to continue -over a certain number of years, and that these -should be appointed by the authority of the rulers, -rather than have such extremities at elections, as in -many places has been used in times past.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> -<p>“And verily, it seems to me, one thing would do -great good concerning religious Orders and all religious -persons, and that is this: that the Rules and Constitutions -of religious bodies should be examined and well -considered, whether their rigour and straightness can -be borne now in these days as they were at the beginning -of the religious Orders. For people be nowadays -weaker, as to the majority of men, than they were then. -And if it is thought that they (<i>i.e.</i> the Rules) cannot now -be kept, that then such relaxations and interpretations -of their rules be made, as shall be thought expedient by -the rulers. Better it is to have an easy rule well kept, -than a strict rule broken without correction. For, -thereof followeth a boldness to offend, a quiet heart in -an evil conscience: a custom in sin, with many an ill -example to the people. By this many have found fault -at all religious life, where they should rather have found -fault at divers abuses against the true religion. Certain -it is that religious life was first ordained by the holy -fathers by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, keep it -who so may.”<a name="FNanchor_136" id="FNanchor_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a></p> - -<p>Much of this criticism on the state of the religious -orders on the eve of the Reformation is obviously only -very general, and would apply to all states of society, -composed, as such bodies are, of human members. -With much that Saint-German suggests, it is impossible -not to agree in principle, however difficult the attainment -of the ideal may be in practice. Sir Thomas -More, whilst admitting that there were undoubtedly -things requiring correction in the religious life of the -period, maintains most strongly that in practical working -it was far better than any one would gather from -the assertions and suggestions of Saint-German, and -that in reality, with all their carping at laxity and worldliness, -none of the critics of the monks would be willing -to change places with them. “As wealthy,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> -“and as easy and as glorious as some tell ‘the pacifier’ religious -life is, yet if some other would say to them: ‘Lo -sirs, those folks who are in religion shall out, come you -into religion in their steads; live there better than they -do, and you shall have heaven,’ they would answer, I fear -me, that they are not weary of the world. And even if -they were invited into religion another way, and it was -said to them, ‘Sir, we will not bid you live so straight -in religion as these men should have done; come on -enter, and do just as they did, and then you will have a -good, easy, and wealthy life, and much worldly praise -for it,’—I ween for all that, a man would not get them -to go into it. But as easy as we call it, and as wealthy -too—and now peradventure when our wives are angry -we wish ourselves therein—were it offered … I ween -that for all our words, if that easy and wealthy life that -is in religion were offered to us, even as weary as we -are of wedding, we would rather bear all our pain -abroad than take a religious man’s life of ease in the -cloister.”<a name="FNanchor_137" id="FNanchor_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a></p> - -<p>With some of the accusations of Saint-German, or -rather with some of his explanations of the supposed -“grudge” borne by the laity to the clergy, More has -hardly the patience to deal. They, the clergy, and above -all religious, should, the former says, “give alms and -wear hair (shirts), and fast and pray that this division -may cease.” “Pray, wear hair, fast, and give alms,” says -the latter; “why, what else do they do as a rule? Some -may not; but then there were some negligent in those -matters for the past thousand years, and so the present -negligence of a few can’t be the cause of the dissension -now.” “But this ‘pacifier,’ perceiving that what one -man does in secret another cannot see, is therefore bold -to say they do not do all those things he would have -them do; that is to say, fast, pray, wear hair (shirts), -and give alms. For he says ‘that they do all these -things it appears not.’”</p> - -<p>Now,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> “as to praying, it appears indeed that they do -this; and that so much that they daily pray, as some -of us lay men think it a pain (to do) once a week; to -rise so soon from sleep and to wait so long fasting, as -on a Sunday to come and hear out their matins. And -yet the matins in every parish is neither begun so early -nor so long in the saying as it is in the Charter house -you know well; and yet at the sloth and gluttony of us, -who are lay people, he can wink and fan himself asleep. -But as soon as the lips of the clergy stop moving he -quickly spies out that they are not praying.”</p> - -<p>And “now as touching on alms: Is there none -given, does he think, by the spirituality? If he say, as -he does, that it does not appear that they do give alms, -I might answer again that they but follow in this the -counsel of Christ which says: ‘Let not the left hand -see what thy right hand doeth.’… But as God, for -all that counsel, was content that men should both pray -and give to the needy and do other works both of -penance and of charity openly and abroad, where there -is no desire of vain glory, but that the people by the -sight thereof might have occasion therefore to give laud -and praise to God, so I dare say boldly that they, both -secretly and openly too, … give no little alms in the -year, whatsoever this ‘pacifier’ do say. And I somewhat -marvel, since he goes so busily abroad that there -is no ‘some say,’ almost in the whole realm, which he -does not hear and repeat it; I marvel, I say, not a little -that he neither sees nor hears from any ‘some say’ -that there is almsgiving in the spirituality; I do not -much myself go very far abroad, and yet I hear ‘some -say’ that there is; and I myself see sometimes so many -poor folk at Westminster at the doles, of whom, as far -as I have ever heard, the monks are not wont to send -many away unserved, that I have myself for the press -of them been fain to ride another way.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> -<p>“But to this, some one once answered me and -said; ‘that it was no thanks to them, for it (came -from) lands that good princes have given them.’ But, -as I then told him, it was then much less thanks to -them that would now give good princes evil counsel to -take it from them. And also if we are to call it not -giving of alms by them, because other good men have -given them the lands from which they give it, from -what will you have them give alms? They have no -other.…”</p> - -<p>Further replying to the insinuation of Saint-German -that the religious keep retainers and servants out of -pride and for “proud worldly countenance,” Sir Thomas -More says: “If men were as ready in regard to a deed -of their own, by nature indifferent, to construe the -mind and intent of the doer to the better part, as they -are, of their own inward goodness, to construe and -report it to the worst, then might I say, that the very -thing which they call ‘the proud worldly countenance’ -they might and should call charitable alms. That is to -say, (when they furnish) the right honest keep and -good bringing up of so many temporal men in their -service, who though not beggars yet perhaps the -greater part of them might have to beg if they did -not support them but sent them out to look for some -service for themselves,” (they are giving charitable -alms).</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> -<p>“And just as if you would give a poor man some -money because he was in need and yet would make -him go and work for it in your garden, lest by your -alms he should live idle and become a loiterer, the -labour he does, does not take away the nature nor -merit of alms: so neither is the keeping of servants -no alms, though they may wait on the finder and serve -him in his house. And of all alms the chief is, to see -people well brought up and well and honestly guided. -In which point, though neither part do fully their duty, -yet I believe in good faith that in this matter, which is -no small alms, the spirituality is rather somewhat before -us than in any way drags behind.”<a name="FNanchor_138" id="FNanchor_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p> - -<p>With regard to the charge brought against the -clergy of great laxity in fasting and mortification, More -thinks this is really a point on which he justly can -make merry. Fasting, he says, must be regulated according -to custom and the circumstances of time and -place. If there were to be a cast-iron rule for fasting, -then, when compared with primitive times, people in -his day, since they dined at noon, could not be held to -fast at all. And yet “the Church to condescend to -our infirmity” has allowed men “to say their evensong -in Lent before noon,” in order that they might not break -their fast before the vesper hour. The fact is that, in -More’s opinion, a great deal of the outcry about the -unmortified lives of the religious and clergy had “been -made in Germany” by those who desired to throw off -all such regulations for themselves. As a Teuton had -said to him in “Almaine” colloquial English—“when I -blamed him,” More says, “for not fasting on a certain -day: ‘Fare to sould te laye men fasten? let te prester -fasten.’ So we, God knows, begin to fast very little -ourselves, but bid the ‘prester to fasten.’”<a name="FNanchor_139" id="FNanchor_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> - -<p>“And as to such mortifications as the wearing of -hair shirts, it would indeed be hard to bind men, -even priests, to do this, … though among them -many do so already, and some whole religious bodies -too.” If he says, as he does, that this “does not -appear,” what would he have? Would he wish them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> -to publish to the world these penances? If they -take his, Saint-German’s, advice, “they will come out -of their cloisters every man into the market-place, -and there kneel down in the gutters, and make their -prayers in the open streets, and wear their hair shirts -over their cowls, and then it shall appear and men -shall see it. And truly in this way there will be no -hypocrisy for their shirts of hair, and yet moreover -it will be a good policy, for then they will not prick -them.”<a name="FNanchor_140" id="FNanchor_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p> - -<p>In the same way More points out that people in -talking against the wealth of the clergy are not less -unreasonable than they are when criticising what they -call their idle, easy lives. “Not indeed that we might -not be able always to find plenty content to enter -into their possessions, though we could not always -find men enough content to enter their religions;” -but when the matter is probed to the bottom, and -it is a question how their wealth “would be better -bestowed,” then “such ways as at the first face seemed -very good and very charitable for the comfort and -help of poor folk, appeared after reasoning more likely -in a short while to make many more beggars than -to relieve those that are so already. And some other -ways that at first appeared for the greater advantage -of the realm, and likely to increase the king’s honour -and be a great strength for the country, and a great -security for the prince as well as a great relief of -the people’s charges, appeared clearly after further -discussion to be ‘clean contrary, and of all other -ways the worst.’”</p> - -<p>“And to say the truth,” he continues,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> “I much -marvel to see some folk now speak so much and -boldly about taking away any possessions of the -clergy.” For though once in the reign of Henry -IV., “about the time of a great rumble that the -heretics made, when they would have destroyed not -only the clergy but the king and his nobility also, -there was a foolish and false bill or two put into -Parliament and dismissed as they deserved; yet in -all my time, when I was conversant with the court, -I had never found of all the nobility of this land -more than seven (of which seven there are now three -dead) who thought that it was either right or reasonable, -or could be any way profitable to the realm, -without lawful cause to take away from the clergy -any of the possessions which good and holy princes, -and other devout, virtuous people, of whom many -now are blessed saints in heaven, have of devotion -towards God given to the clergy to serve God and -pray for all Christian souls.”<a name="FNanchor_141" id="FNanchor_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> - -<p>In his <i>Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer</i>, made in -1532, when Sir Thomas More was still Lord Chancellor -of England, he protests against imputations -made by his adversary and his follower Barnes, that -the clergy were as a body corrupt. “Friar Barnes -lasheth out against them, against their pride and -pomp, and all their lives spent in” vicious living, -“as if there were not a good priest in all the Catholic -Church.… He jesteth on them because they wear -crowns and long gowns, and the bishops wear rochets. -And he hath likened them to bulls, asses, and apes, -and the rochets to smocks.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> “But he forgets how -many good virtuous priests and religious people be -put out of their places (in Germany) and spoiled of -their living, and beaten, and sent out a-begging, while -heretics and apostates, with their women, keep their -shameless lives with the living that holy folks have -dedicated unto God for the support of such as would -serve God in spiritual cleanness and vowed chastity. -He knows well enough, I warrant you, that the clergy -can never lack persecution where heretics may grow; -nor soon after the temporality either, as it has hitherto -been proved in every such country yet.”<a name="FNanchor_142" id="FNanchor_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p> - -<p>He will not repeat all his “ribald railing upon all -the clergy of Christendom who will not be heretics” -when he calls “them bulls, apes, asses and abominable -harlots and devils.” … “No good man doubts, -although among the clergy there are many full bad -(as, indeed, it were hard to have it otherwise among -so great a multitude, whilst Christ’s own twelve were -not without a traitor), that there are again among -them many right virtuous folk, and such that the whole -world beside fares the better for their holy living and -their devout prayer.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_143" id="FNanchor_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> - -<p>Beyond the above supposed causes for the growth -of the dislike of the clergy which Sir Thomas More -weighs and considers in the above extracts, Saint-German -gives others which are instructive as to the -actual status of the clergy; but with which, as they -do not reflect upon their moral character, Sir Thomas -More was not immediately concerned in his reply. -One occasion of the present difficulties and division, -writes Saint-German, “has partly arisen by temporal -men who have desired much the familiarity of priests -in their games and sports, and who were wont to make -much more of those who were companionable than of -those that were not so, and have called them good -fellows and good companions. And many also would -have chaplains which they would not only suffer, but -also command, to go hunting, hawking, and such other -vain disports; and some would let them lie among -other lay servants, where they could neither use prayer -nor contemplation.”</p> - -<p>Some even go so far as to insist on their chaplains -wearing “liveries,” which “are not convenient in -colour for a priest to wear.” Others give them worldly -businesses to attend to in the way of stewardships, &c., -“so that in this way their inward devotion of heart has -become as cold and as weak, in a manner, as it is in -lay men.” Nevertheless, in spite of the evil effect to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> -be feared from this training, they do not hesitate to -put them into the first benefice they have to dispose -of; “and when they have done so, they will anon -speak evil of priests, and report great lightness in -them, and lightly compare the faults of one priest -with another.” This they do “even when they themselves -have been partly the occasion of their offences.”</p> - -<p>Moreover, “where by the law all priests ought to -be at the (parish) church on Sundays and holidays, and -help the service of God in the choir, and also, when -there, to be under the orders of the curate (or parish -priest of the place), yet nevertheless many men who -have chaplains will not allow them to come to the -parish church; and when they are there, will not -suffer them to receive their orders from the curate, -but only from themselves; nor will they tolerate seeing -them in the choir;” and what is the case with “chaplains -and serving priests is also (true) of chantry priests -and brotherhood priests in many places.”</p> - -<p>To remedy these evils, Saint-German thinks, as -indeed every one would be disposed to agree with him, -that priests should be prohibited from hunting and -all such games as are unsuitable to the priestly character, -“though perchance he may, as for recreation, use -honest disportes for a time.” Moreover, he should not -“frequent the ale house or tavern,” and, if in his -recreations the people are offended, he should be -warned by “an abbot and a justice of the peace of -the shire.” If, after this, he does not change, he ought -to be suspended. Further than this, no one should be -permitted to have a chaplain who has not “a standing -house,” where the priest is able to have his private -chamber with a lock and key, so that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> “he may use -himself therein conveniently in reading, prayer, or -contemplation, or such other labours and business as -it is convenient for a priest to use.”<a name="FNanchor_144" id="FNanchor_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p> - -<p>Both in his work on the <i>Division</i> and in his previous -tract, <i>A Dyalogue between a Student of Law and a Doctor of -Divinity</i>, Saint-German lays great stress upon the question -of mortuaries, as one that gave great offence to -lay people at the period when he wrote. As he explained -in the <i>Dyalogue</i>, the State had already interfered -to regulate the exactions made by custom at funerals, -but nevertheless “in some places the Church claims -to have the taper that stands in the middle of the -hearse over the heart of the corpse, and some claim -to have all the tapers. Some also claim to have one -of the torches that is about the hearse, and others to -have all the torches. And if the body be brought in -a charette or with coat armour or such other (ornaments), -then they claim all the horses and charette -and the apparel or part thereof.”<a name="FNanchor_145" id="FNanchor_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> Now, in his other -book, Saint-German thinks that though these things -“are annulled already by statute,” there is rising -up “a thing concerning mortuaries,” that “if it be -allowed to continue” will cause great difficulties in -the near future. It is this: “Many curates not regarding -the king’s statute in that behalf, persuade their -parishioners when they are sick to believe that they -cannot be saved unless they restore them as much -as the old mortuary would have amounted to.” All -those who act in such a way are, he thinks, “bound -in conscience to restitution, since they have obtained -money under false information.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_146" id="FNanchor_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p> - -<p>After arguing that Parliament has a right to legislate -in all matters concerning goods and property, our -author says: “It is certain that all such mortuaries -were temporal goods, though they were claimed by -spiritual men; and the cause why they were taken -away was, because there were few things within this -realm which caused more variance among the people -than they did, when they were allowed. They were -taken so far against the king’s laws and against justice -and right, as shall hereafter appear. First they were -taken not only after the husband’s death, but also after -the death of the wife, who by the law of the realm had -no goods, but what were the husband’s. They were -taken also from servants and children, as well infants -as others; and if a man died on a journey and had a -household, he should pay mortuaries in both places.” -Whilst in some places both the parson and the vicar -claimed the mortuary; “and sometime even the curate -(<i>i.e.</i> parish priest) would prohibit poor men to sell -their goods, as were likely to come to them as mortuaries, -for they would say it was done in order to -defraud the Church.” And the mortuaries had to be -handed over at once, or they would not bury the body. -All these things led to the great growth of mortuaries -“by the prescription of the spiritual law, and had they -not been put an end to by Parliament they would have -grown more and more.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> -<p>“And in many places they were taken in such a -way that it made the people think that their curates -loved their mortuaries better than their lives. For this -reason there rose in many places great division and -grudge between them, which caused a breach of the -peace, love, and charity that ought to be between the -curate and his parishioners, to the great unquietness of -many of the king’s subjects, as well spiritual as temporal, -and to the great danger and peril of their souls. -For these causes the said mortuaries be annulled by -Parliament, as well in conscience as in law, and yet it -is said that some curates use great extremities concerning -the said mortuaries another way; and that is this: -If at the first request the executor pay not the money -that is appointed by the statute, they will anon have a -citation against him, and in this he shall be so handled -that, as it is said, it would have been generally much -better for him to have paid the old mortuary, than the -costs and expenses he will then have to pay.”<a name="FNanchor_147" id="FNanchor_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> - -<p>Another fertile cause of complaint against the clergy -at this time was, in Saint-German’s opinion, the way in -which tithes were exacted; in many cases without much -consideration for justice and reason.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> “In some places, -the curates all exact their tenth of everything within -the parish that is subject to tithe, although their predecessors -from time immemorial have been contented to -do without it: and this even though there is sufficient -besides for the curates to live upon, and though perchance -in old time something else has been assigned in -place of it. In some places there has been asked, it is -said, tithe of both chickens and eggs; in some places -of milk and cheese; and in some others tithe of the -ground and also of all that falleth to the ground. In -other places tithes of servants’ wages is claimed without -any deduction; and indeed it is in but few places that -any servant shall go quite without some payment of -tithe, though he may have spent all in sickness, or upon -his father and mother, or such necessary expenses.”</p> - -<p>Our author, from whom we get so much information -as to the relations which existed in pre-Reformation -times between the clergy and people, goes on to give -additional instances of the possible hardships incidental -to the collection of the ecclesiastical dues. These, -where they exist, he, no doubt rightly, thinks do not -tend to a good understanding between those who have -the cure of souls, and who ought to be regarded rather -in the light of spiritual fathers, than of worldly tax collectors. -He admits, however, that these are the abuses -of the few, and must not be considered as universally -true of all the clergy. “And though,” he concludes, -“these abusions are not used universally (God forbid -that they should), for there are many good curates -and other spiritual men that would not use them to win -any earthly thing, yet when people of divers countries -meet together, and one tells another of some such -extremity used by some curates in his country, and the -other in like manner to him, soon they come to think -that such covetousness and harsh dealing is common to -all curates. And although they do not well in so doing, -for the offence of one priest is no offence of any other, -if they will so take it: yet spiritual men themselves do -nothing to bring the people out of this judgment; but -allow these abuses to be used by some without correcting -them.”<a name="FNanchor_148" id="FNanchor_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> - -<p>To these objections, and more of the same kind, Sir -Thomas More did not make, and apparently did not -think it at all necessary to make, any formal reply. -Indeed, he probably considered that where such things -could be proved it would be both just and politic to -correct them. His failing to reply on this score, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -seems to have been interpreted by Saint-German -as meaning his rejection of all blame attaching to the -clerical profession in these matters. In the <i>Deballacion -of Salem and Byzance</i>, More protests that this is not his -meaning at all. “He says,” writes he, “that I, in my -mind, prove it to be an intolerable fault in the people -to misjudge the clergy, since I think they have no -cause so to do, and that there I leave them, as if all the -whole cause and principal fault was in the temporality.” -This, More declares he never dreamed of, for “if he -seek these seven years in all my <i>Apology</i>, he shall find -you no such words” to justify this view. On the -contrary, he will find that “I say in those places, ‘that -the people are too reasonable to take this or that thing’ -amiss for ‘any reasonable cause of division.’”<a name="FNanchor_149" id="FNanchor_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> The -fact is, “I have never either laid the principal fault to -the one or to the other.” To much that Saint-German -said, More assented; and his general attitude to the -general accusations he states in these words: “Many -of them I will pass over untouched, both because most -of them are such as every wise man will, I suppose, -answer them himself in the reading, and satisfy his own -mind without any need of my help therein, and because -some things are there also very well said.”</p> - -<p>Reading the four books referred to above together, -one is forced to the conviction that the description of -Sir Thomas More really represents the state of the -clergy as it then was. That there were bad as well as -good may be taken for granted, even without the -admissions of More, but that as a body the clergy, -secular or religious, were as hopelessly bad as subsequent -writers have so often asked their readers to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -believe, or even that they were as bad as the reports, -started chiefly by Lutheran emissaries, who were -striving to plough up the soil in order to implant the -new German teachings in the place of the old religious -faith of England, would make out, is disproved by the -tracts of both Saint-German and Sir Thomas More. In -such a discussion it may be taken for granted that the -worst would have appeared. Had the former any -evidence of general and hopeless corruption he would, -when pressed by his adversary, have brought it forward. -Had the latter—whose honesty and full knowledge must -be admitted by all—any suspicion of what later generations -have been asked to believe as the true picture of -ecclesiastical life in pre-Reformation England, he would -not have dared, even if his irreproachable integrity -would have permitted him, to reject as a caricature -and a libel even Christopher Saint-German’s moderate -picture.</p> - -<p>In one particular More categorically denies a charge -made by Tyndale against the clergy in general, and -against the Popes for permitting so deplorable a state of -things in regard to clerical morals. As the charge first -suggested by Tyndale has been repeated very frequently -down to our own time, it is useful to give the evidence -of so unexceptional authority as that of the Lord Chancellor -of England. Tyndale declared that although marriage -was prohibited by ecclesiastical law to the clergy -of the Western Church, the Pope granted leave “unto -as many as bring money” to keep concubines. And -after asserting that this was the case in Germany, Wales, -Ireland, &c., he adds, “And in England thereto they -be not few who have (this) licence—some of the Pope, -and some of their ordinaries.” To this More says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -“We have had many pardons come hither, and many -dispensations and many licences too, but yet I thank -our Lord I never knew none such, nor I trust never -shall, nor Tyndale, I trow either; but that he listeth -loud to lie. And as for his licences customably given -by the ordinaries, I trust he lies in regard to other -countries, for as for England I am sure he lies.”<a name="FNanchor_150" id="FNanchor_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> - -<p>It would of course be untrue to suggest that there -were no grounds whatever for objection to the clerical -life of the period. At all times the ministers of the -Church of God are but human instruments, manifesting -now more now less the human infirmities of their nature. -A passage in a sermon preached by Bishop Longland of -Lincoln in 1538 suggests that the most crying abuse -among the clergy of that time was simony. “Yet there -is one thing, or ill which the prophet saw not in this -city (of Sodom). What is that? That which specially -above other things should have been seen. What is it? -That which most is abused in this world. I pray thee, -what is it? Make no more ado: tell it. That which -almost destroyed the Church of Christ. Then, I pray -thee, shew it: shew what it is: let it be known, that -remedy may be had and the thing holpen. What is it? -Forsooth it is simony, simony: chapping and changing, -buying and selling of benefices and of spiritual gifts and -promotions. And no better merchandise is nowadays -than to procure advowsons of patrons for benefices, for -prebends, for other spiritual livelihood, whether it be by -suit, request, by letters, by money bargain or otherwise: -yea, whether it be to buy them or to sell them, thou -shalt have merchants plenty, merchants enough for it.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> -<p>“These advowsons are abroad here in this city. In -which city? In most part of all the great cities of this -realm. In the shops, in the streets, a common merchandise. -And they that do come by their benefices or -promotions under such a manner shall never have grace -of God to profit the Church.”<a name="FNanchor_151" id="FNanchor_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> - -<p>It is interesting to recall the fact that the late Mr. -Brewer, whose intimate knowledge of this period of our -national history is admitted on all hands, arrived, after -the fullest investigation, at a similar conclusion as to -the real state of the Church in pre-Reformation England. -Taking first the religious houses, this high authority -considers that no doubt many circumstances had contributed -at this time to lower the tone of religious -discipline; but taking a broad survey, the following is -the historian’s verdict: “That in so large a body of -men, so widely dispersed, seated for so many centuries -in the richest and fairest estates of England, for which -they were mainly indebted to their own skill, perseverance, -and industry, discreditable members were to be -found (and what literary <i>chiffonnier</i>, raking in the -scandalous annals of any profession, cannot find filth -and corruption?) is likely enough, but that the corruption -was either so black or so general as party spirit -would have us believe, is contrary to all analogy, and is -unsupported by impartial and contemporary evidence.”<a name="FNanchor_152" id="FNanchor_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p> - -<p>“It is impossible,” he says in another place, “that -the clergy can have been universally immoral and the -laity have remained sound, temperate, and loyal.” -This, by the way, is exactly what More, who lived in -the period, insisted upon.</p> - -<p>“But,” continues Brewer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> “if these general arguments -are not sufficient, I refer my readers to a very -curious document, dated the 8th of July 1519, when a -search was instituted by different commissioners on a -Sunday night, in London and its suburbs, for all -suspected and disorderly persons. I fear no parish in -London, nor any town in the United Kingdom, of the -same amount of population, would at this day pass a -similar ordeal with equal credit.”<a name="FNanchor_153" id="FNanchor_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> And in another -place he sums up the question in these words: “Considering -the temper of the English people, it is not -probable that immorality could have existed among -the ancient clergy to the degree which the exaggeration -of poets, preachers, and satirists might lead us to -suppose. The existence of such corruption is not -justified by authentic documents or by any impartial -and broad estimate of the character and conduct of the -nation before the Reformation. If these complaints of -preachers and moralists are to be accepted as authoritative -on this head, there would be no difficulty in -producing abundant evidence from the Reformers -themselves that the abuses and enormities of their -own age, under Edward VI. and Elizabeth, were far -greater than in the ages preceding.”<a name="FNanchor_154" id="FNanchor_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> - -<p>It is too often assumed that in the choice and -education of the clergy little care and discretion was -exercised by the bishops and other responsible officials, -and that thus those unfit for the sacred ministry by -education and character often found their way into the -priesthood. In the last Convocation held on the eve of -the Reformation a serious attempt was evidently made -to correct whatever abuses existed in this matter, when -it was enacted that no bishop might ordain any subject<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> -not born in his diocese or beneficed in it, or without a -domicile in it for three months, even with dimissorial -letters. Further, that no secular clerk should be ordained -without testimonial letters as to character from the -parish priest of the place where he was born or had -lived for three years, sealed by the archdeacon of the -district, or in the case of a university, by the seal of the -vice-chancellor. No one whatsoever was to be admitted -to the subdiaconate “who was not so versed in the -Epistles and Gospels, at least those contained in the -Missal, as to be able at once to explain their grammatical -meaning to the examiner.” He must also show -that he understands and knows whatever pertains to his -office.<a name="FNanchor_155" id="FNanchor_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> - -<p>The most important book of this period dealing -with the life and education of the clergy is a tract -printed by Wynkyn de Worde about the beginning of -the sixteenth century. It was written by William de -Melton, Chancellor of York, and at the end is the -declaration of Colet, that he has read it and highly -approves of its contents.<a name="FNanchor_156" id="FNanchor_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> The author states that he -desires to instruct the “many young men” who every -Ember time come up to York for ordination in their -duties. No person, he says, ought to present himself -to receive the priesthood who is not prepared to lead -a life in all things worthy of the sacred ministry. -He should remember that he is really to be accounted -one of the twelve who sat with our Lord at His last -supper. He must be sufficiently versed in the learning -of the world not to dishonour the priestly calling, -and above all be taught in His school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> “who has -said, ‘Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of -heart.’”</p> - -<p>“And since I am now on the question of those only -partly well learned,” continues the author, “I wish -all coming for ordination to understand that always -and everywhere those who have not yet attained to -at least a fair knowledge of good letters are to be -rejected as candidates for Holy Orders. They can -in no way be considered to have a fair knowledge of -letters who, though skilful in grammar, do not possess -the science well enough to read promptly and easily -Latin books, and above all, the sacred Scriptures, -and expound their meaning and the literal signification -of the words as they stand in the books; and -this not haltingly, but readily and easily, so as to show -that they know the language not merely slightly and -slenderly, but that they possess a full and radical -knowledge of it and its construction. Therefore, those -who read the sacred Scriptures or other Latin work -with difficulty, or, whilst reading, often mistake the -proper connection of the words, or read them with -such pauses as to seem not to be used to the Latin -language, are to be refused Sacred Orders until, by -diligent study, they have become more skilled in their -letters.”</p> - -<p>In the same way the tract goes on to declare that -those who are unable to explain or understand the -spiritual signification of Scripture are to be refused -ordination to the sacred ministry until they show -themselves at least fairly well able to do so. “To be -reckoned among even the fairly proficient, we require,” -says the author,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> “such a thorough and sure foundation -of grammatical knowledge that there may be hopes that -alone and without other teachers they may, from books -and diligent study, endeavour day by day to improve -themselves by reading and study.” Then addressing -the candidates the author begs them, if they feel they -have not this necessary foundation, “not through mere -presumption to offer themselves to the examiners.” -“Seek not a position in the Church of God in which -neither now nor during your whole life will you be -able to show yourself a fitting minister. For those -who before taking Holy Orders have not fitted themselves -fairly well in learning rarely if ever are seen to -make progress in literature. On the contrary, they -ever remain, even to old age, dunces and stupid, and, -furthermore, such priests known to the common people -for such manifest ignorance are a great scandal which -involves the whole sacred ministry.”</p> - -<p>Great damage is done to the whole Church of God -through the ignorance of the clergy. Both in towns -and country places there are priests who occupy themselves, -some in mean and servile work, some who give -themselves to tavern drinking; the former can hardly -help mixing themselves up with women, the latter -employ their time in games of dice, &c., and some of -them pass it in the vanities of hunting and hawking. -Thus do they spend their whole lives to extreme old -age in idleness and non-religious occupations. Nor -could they do otherwise, for as they are quite ignorant -of good letters, how can they be expected to work at -and take a pleasure in reading and study; rather -throwing away these despised and neglected books, they -turn to that kind of miserable and unpriestly life described -above, hoping to kill time and cure their dulness -by such things.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> - -<p>He then goes on to exhort the young to implant -in their hearts a strong desire to study deeply in the -books of God’s Law rather than to be tainted thus by -the stains and vanities of the world which they were -supposed to have left. “It is,” he continues, “impossible -that such a holy desire should possess you, -unless you have made progress in such studies before -taking Holy Orders, and are so advanced in your literary -studies that the reading of many books is both easy -and pleasant to you, and the construction of the meaning -of a passage no longer difficult, but whilst reading -you may quickly and easily follow at least the literal -sense of the sentence.”</p> - -<p>This interesting tract then goes on to warn subdeacons -not to take upon themselves the perpetual -obligations of Sacred Orders unless they are conscious -to themselves of no reason or objection, however secret -and hidden, which may stand in the way of their faithfully -keeping their promises. They must feel that they -enter the ranks of the clergy only from the motive of -serving God. Then, after warning the clergy against -the vices which specially detract from the sacred character -of the priesthood, the author continues, “Let -us therefore turn to study, reading, and meditation of -the Holy Scriptures as the best remedy against unworthy -sloth and foolish desires. Let us not consume -the time given us uselessly and fruitlessly.” A priest -should say his Hours and Mass daily. He should -spend the morning till mid-day in choir and other -works, and even then not think he has fulfilled the -whole duty of the priesthood. A priest is bound to -serious studies and meditation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> “Constant reading -and meditation of the books of God’s law and the -writings of the holy Fathers and Doctors are the best -remedy for slothful habits,” and these have been put -at the disposition of all through the printing-press. -Just as a workman has besides his shop a workroom -where he has to spend hours preparing the wares that -he offers for sale, so the priest, who in the church on -Sunday offers his people the things necessary for salvation, -should spend days and nights in holy reading and -study in order to make them his own before he hands -them on to others. “Wherefore, my dearest brethren, -let us think ourselves proper priests only when we find -our delight and joy in the constant study of Holy -Scripture.”</p> - -<p>So much for the important advice given to priests -or those intending to be priests as to the necessity of -acquiring previous habits of study. Not infrequently -the fact that in 1532 Parliament did actually transfer -the power of ecclesiastical legislation hitherto possessed -by Convocation to the Crown, is adduced as proof that -to the nation at large the powers of the clergy, for a -long time resented, had at length become a yoke not -to be borne. Yet it is clear that the policy of the king -to crush the clergy in this way was by no means heartily -supported by the Commons. There can be no doubt -whatever that the petition of the Commons against the -spirituality really emanated from the Court, and that the -Lower House was compelled by direct royal influence to -take the course indicated by royal will. Four drafts -of the petition existing among the State papers in the -Record Office put this beyond doubt, as they are all -corrected in the well-known hand of Henry’s adviser at -this time, Thomas Cromwell. The substance of the -petition states that on account of the diffusion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -heretical books, and the action of the bishops in spiritual -courts, “much discord had arisen between the -clergy and the laity at large.” The answer of the -bishops denies all knowledge of this discord, at least -on their parts. The ordinaries, they said, exercised -spiritual jurisdiction, and no one might interfere in -that, as their right to make laws in this sphere was -from God, and could be proved by Scripture. The -two jurisdictions could not clash as they were derived -from the same source, namely, the authority given by -God. Finally, they practically refused to consider the -possibility of any just royal interference in matters of -the purely ecclesiastical domain. Their resistance was, -of course, as we know, of no avail; but the incident -shows that up to the very eve of the changes the clergy -had no notion of any surrender of their spiritual prerogatives, -and that it was the Crown and not the -Commons that was hostile to them.<a name="FNanchor_157" id="FNanchor_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> -<span class="smaller">ERASMUS</span></h2> - -<p>During the first portion of the sixteenth century -Erasmus occupied a unique position in Europe. He -was beyond question the most remarkable outcome of -the renaissance in its literary aspect; and he may fairly -be taken as a type of the critical attitude of mind in -which many even of the best and the most loyal -Catholics of the day approached the consideration of -the serious religious problems which were, at that time, -forcing themselves upon the notice of the ecclesiastical -authorities. Such men held that the best service a true -son of the Church could give to religion was the service -of a trained mind, ready to face facts as they were, convinced -that the Christian faith had nothing to lose by -the fullest light and the freest investigation, but at the -same time protesting that they would suffer no suspicion -to rest on their entire loyalty of heart to the authority -of the teaching Church.</p> - -<p>Keenly alive to the spiritual wants of the age, and -to what he, in common with many others of the time, -considered crying abuses in the government of the -Church, resulting from the excessive temporal grandeur -of ecclesiastics engaged in secular sovereignty and -government, Erasmus, like many of his contemporaries, -is often perhaps injudicious in the manner in which he -advocated reforms. But when the matter is sifted to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -the bottom, it will commonly be found that his ideas -are just. He clamoured loudly and fearlessly for the -proper enforcing of ecclesiastical discipline, and for a -complete change in the stereotyped modes of teaching; -and he proclaimed the need of a thorough literary -education for Churchmen as the best corrective of what -he held to be the narrowing formalism of mediæval -scholastic training. It is, perhaps, hardly wonderful -that his general attitude in these matters should have -been misunderstood and exaggerated. By many of -his Catholic contemporaries he was looked upon as a -secret rebel against received authority, and in truth as -the real intellectual force of the whole Lutheran movement. -By the Reformers themselves, regarded as at -heart belonging to them, he was upbraided as a coward, -and spoken of as one who had not the courage of his -convictions. Posterity has represented him now in -the one aspect, now in the other, now as at best a -lukewarm Catholic, now as a secret and dangerous -heretic. By most Catholics probably he has been -regarded as a Reformer, as pronounced even as Luther -himself; or to use the familiar phrase founded upon an -expression of his own, they considered that “his was -the egg which Luther hatched.” Few writers have -endeavoured to read any meaning into his seemingly -paradoxical position by reference to his own explanations, -or by viewing it in the light of the peculiar circumstances -of the times in which he lived, and which -are, to some extent at least, responsible for it.</p> - -<p>Desiderius Erasmus was born at Rotterdam, in the -year 1467. His father’s Christian name was Gerhard, -of which Desiderius was intended for the Latin, and -Erasmus for the Greek, equivalent. Other surname he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -had none, as he was born out of wedlock; but his -father adopted the responsibility of his education, for -which he provided by placing him first as a chorister in -the cathedral of Utrecht, and subsequently by sending -him to Deventer, then one of the best schools in -Northern Europe. Deventer was at that time presided -over by the learned scholar and teacher Alexander -Hegius, and amongst his fellow-students there, Erasmus -found several youths who subsequently, as men, won -for themselves renown in the learned world. One of -them, under the title of Adrian VI., subsequently occupied -the Papal chair.</p> - -<p>His father and mother both died of the plague -whilst Erasmus was still young. At the age of thirteen -he was taken from Deventer by the three guardians to -whose charge he had been committed, and sent to a -purely ecclesiastical school, meant to prepare those -intended only for a life in the cloister. Here he -remained for three years, and after having for a considerable -time resisted the suggestions of his masters -that he should join their Order, he finally entered the -novitiate of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine at -Stein, near Gouda. Here he was professed at the age -of nineteen, and after the usual interval was ordained -priest.</p> - -<p>Much obscurity and many apparent contradictions -prevent us fully understanding Erasmus’s early life, and -in particular the portion spent by him in the cloister. -One thing, however, would seem to be quite clear; he -could never have had any vocation for the religious life. -His whole subsequent history shows this unmistakeably; -and the ill-judged zeal of those who practically forced -him into a state for which he was constitutionally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> -unfitted, and for which he had no aptitude or -inclination, must, if we take his account of the facts -as correct, be as strongly condemned by all right-thinking -people as by himself. He, however, appears -not to have understood that this may have been a -special case, and not the usual lot of youths entering -religion. One evident result of his experience is the -bitter feeling created in his heart towards the religious -Orders and the uncompromising hostility he ever after -displayed towards them. In the celebrated letter he -wrote to the papal secretary, Lambert Grunnius, which -was intended for the information of the Pope himself, -and which is supposed to describe his own case, -Erasmus justly condemns in the strongest language the -practice of enticing youths into the cloister before they -were fully aware of what they were doing. If we -are to believe the statements made in that letter, -Erasmus did not think that his was by any means -a singular case. Agents of the religious Orders, he -declared, were ever hanging about the schools and -colleges, endeavouring to entice the youthful students -into their ranks by any and every method. But he -is careful to add,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> “I do not condemn the religious -Orders as such. I do not approve of those who make -the plunge and then fly back to liberty as a licence for -loose living, and desert improperly what they undertook -foolishly. But dispositions vary; all things do not suit -all characters, and no worse misfortune can befall a -youth of intellect than to be buried under conditions from -which he can never after extricate himself. The world -thought well of my schoolmaster guardian because he -was neither a liar nor a scamp nor a gambler, but -he was coarse, avaricious, and ignorant, he knew -nothing beyond the confused lessons he taught to his -classes. He imagined that in forcing a youth to -become a monk he would be offering a sacrifice -acceptable to God. He used to boast of the many -victims which he destined to Dominic and Francis and -Benedict.”<a name="FNanchor_158" id="FNanchor_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> - -<p>Without any taste for the routine of conventual -life, and with his mind filled by an ardent love of -letters, which there seemed in the narrow circle of -his cloister no prospect of ever being able to gratify, -the short period of Erasmus’s stay at Stein must have -been to him in the last degree uncongenial and irksome. -Fortunately, however, for his own peace of mind and -for the cause of general learning, a means was quickly -found by which he was practically emancipated from -the restraints he ought never to have undertaken. -The Bishop of Cambray obtained permission to have -him as secretary, and after keeping him a short time -in this position he enabled him to proceed to the -University of Paris. From this time Erasmus was -practically released from the obligations of conventual -life; and in 1514, when some question had been -raised about his return to the cloister, he readily -obtained from the Pope a final release from a form -of life for which obviously he was constitutionally -unfitted, and the dress of which he had been permitted -to lay aside seven years previously.</p> - -<p>The generosity of his episcopal patron did not -suffice to meet all Erasmus’s wants. To add to his -income he took pupils, and with one of them, Lord -Mountjoy, he came to England in 1497. He spent, -apparently, the next three years at Oxford, living in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -the house which his Order had at that University; -whilst there he made the acquaintance of the most -learned Englishmen of that time, and amongst others -of Grocyn, Linacre, and Colet. He also at this time -took up the study of the Greek language, with which -previously he had but a slender acquaintance, and -his ardour was so great that the following year, 1498, -whilst at work on the <i>Adagia</i>, he could write, “I am -giving my whole soul to the study of Greek; directly -I get some money I shall buy Greek authors first, -and then some clothes.” From 1499 to 1506 he was -continually moving about in various learned centres -of France and Holland, his longest stay being at the -University of Louvain.</p> - -<p>In the April of 1506 he was again in England, first -with Archbishop Warham and Sir Thomas More in -London, and subsequently at Cambridge; but in a few -months he was enabled to carry out the plan of visiting -Italy which he had long contemplated. He engaged to -escort the two sons of Sebastian Boyer, the English -court physician, as far as Bologna, and by September -he was already in Turin, where he took his doctor’s -degree in divinity. The winter of the same year he -passed at Bologna, and reached Venice in the spring -of 1507.</p> - -<p>His main object in directing his steps to this last-named -city was to pass the second and enlarged edition -of his <i>Adagia</i> through the celebrated Aldine printing-press. -Here he found gathered together, within reach -of the press, a circle of illustrious scholars. Aldus himself, -a man, as Erasmus recalled in a letter written in -1524,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> “approaching the age of seventy years, but in -all matters relating to letters still in the prime of his -youth,” was his host. In 1508 Erasmus removed to -Padua, and the following year passed on to Rome, -where he was well received. His stay in the eternal -city at this time was not prolonged, for a letter received -from Lord Mountjoy announcing the death of -Henry VII., and the good affection of his youthful -successor to learning, determined him to turn his face -once more towards England. He had left the country -with keen regret, for, as he wrote to Dean Colet, “I -can truly say that no place in the world has given me -so many friends—true, learned, helpful, and illustrious -friends—as the single city of London,” and he looked -forward to his return with pleasurable expectation.</p> - -<p>For a brief period on his arrival again in this -country Erasmus stayed in London at the house of -Sir Thomas More, where, at his suggestion, he wrote -the <i>Enconium Moriæ</i>, one of the works by which he is -best known to the general reader, and the one, perhaps, -the spirit of which has the most given rise to many -mistaken notions as to the author’s religious convictions.</p> - -<p>From London, in 1510, he was invited by Bishop -Fisher to come and teach at Cambridge, where by his -influence he had been appointed Lady Margaret Professor -of Divinity and Regius Reader of Greek. “Unless -I am much mistaken,” Erasmus writes, “the Bishop of -Rochester is a man without an equal at this time, both -as to integrity of life, learning, or broad-minded sympathies. -One only do I except, as a very Achilles, the -Archbishop of Canterbury (Warham), who alone keeps -me in London, though I confess not very unwillingly.”<a name="FNanchor_159" id="FNanchor_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> - -<p>In estimating the spirit which dictated the composition -of the <i>Moriæ</i>, it is well to remember not only that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -it represented almost as much the thought and genius -of Sir Thomas More as of Erasmus himself, but that, -at the very time it was taking definite shape in More’s -house at Chelsea, the author’s two best friends were the -two great and devout churchmen, Archbishop Warham -and the saintly Bishop Fisher. Moreover, Sir Thomas -More himself denies that to this work of Erasmus there -can justly be affixed the note of irreverence or irreligion; -he answers for the good intention of the author, and -accepts his own share of responsibility for the publication -of the book.</p> - -<p>The period of Erasmus’s stay at Cambridge did not -extend beyond three years. The stipend attached to -his professorships was not large, and Erasmus was still, -apparently, in constant want of money. Archbishop -Warham continued his friend, and by every means -tried continually to interest others directly in the cause -of learning and indirectly in the support of Erasmus, -who is ever complaining that his means are wholly -inadequate to supply his wants. The scholar, however, -remained on the best of terms with all the chief English -churchmen of the day, until, as he wrote to the Abbot -of St. Bertin,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> “Erasmus has been almost transformed -into an Englishman, with such overwhelming kindness -do so many treat me, and above all, my special Mæcenas, -the Archbishop of Canterbury. He indeed is not only -my patron, but that of all the learned, amongst whom I -but hold a low place. Immortal gods! how pleasant, -how ready, how fertile is the wit of that man! What -dexterity does he not show in managing the most complicated -business! What exceptional learning! What -singular courtesy does he not extend to all! What -gaiety and geniality at interviews! so that he never -sends people away from him sad. Added to this, how -great and how prompt is his liberality! He alone -seems to be ignorant of his own great qualities and the -height of his dignity and fortune. No one can be more -true and faithful to his friends; and, in a word, he is -truly a Primate, not only in dignity, but in everything -worthy of praise.”<a name="FNanchor_160" id="FNanchor_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p> - -<p>Erasmus returns to this same subject in writing to -a Roman Cardinal about this time. When I think, he -says, of the Italian sky, the rich libraries, and the -society of the learned men in Rome, I am tempted to -look back to the eternal city with regret. “But the -wonderful kindness of William Warham, Archbishop -of Canterbury, to me mitigates my desire to return. -Had he been my father or brother he could not have -been more kind and loving. I have been accorded, -too, the same reception by many other bishops of -England. Amongst these stands pre-eminent the -Bishop of Rochester, a man who, in addition to -his uprightness of life, is possessed of deep and varied -learning, and of a soul above all meanness, for which -gifts he is held here in England in the highest estimation.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_161" id="FNanchor_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a></p> - -<p>Erasmus certainly had reason to be grateful to -Warham and his other English friends for their ready -attention to his, at times importunate, requests. Warham, -he writes at one time, “has given me a living -worth a hundred nobles and changed it at my request -into a pension of one hundred crowns. Within these -few years he has given me more than four hundred -nobles without my asking. One day he gave me one -hundred and fifty. From other bishops I have received -more than one hundred, and Lord Mountjoy -has secured me a pension of one hundred crowns.” In -fact, in the <i>Compendium Vitæ</i>, a few years later, he says -that he would have remained for the rest of his life -in England had the promises made to him been always -fulfilled. This constant and importunate begging on -the part of the great scholar forms certainly an unpleasant -feature in his life. He gets from Dean Colet -fifteen angels for a dedication, and in reference to -his translation of St. Basil on the Prophet Isaias, -begs Colet to find out whether Bishop Fisher will -be inclined “to ease his labours with a little reward,” -adding himself, “O this begging! I know well -enough that you will be laughing at me.”<a name="FNanchor_162" id="FNanchor_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> Again, -whilst lamenting his poverty and his being compelled -to beg continually in this way, he adds that Linacre -has been lecturing him for thus pestering his friends, -and has warned him to spare Archbishop Warham and -his friend Mountjoy a little. In this same letter, -written in October 1513, there are signs of friction -with some of the Cambridge teachers of theology,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> -which may have helped Erasmus in his determination -once more to leave England. Not that he professed -to care what people thought, for he tells Colet he does -not worry about those whom he calls in derision “the -Scotists,” but would treat them as he would a wasp. -Nevertheless, he is still half inclined by the opposition -to stop the work he is engaged on; confessing, -also, that he is almost turned away from the design -of thus translating St. Basil, as the Bishop of Rochester -is not anxious for him to do it, and—at least so -a friend has told him—rather suspects that he is -translating, not from the original Greek, but is making -use of a Latin version.</p> - -<p>Almost immediately after writing this letter Erasmus -again bade farewell to England, and passed up the -Rhine to Strasburg, where he made the acquaintance of -Wimpheling, Sebastian Brant, and others. The following -year, 1515, he went on to Basle, attracted by the -great reputation of the printing-press set up in that city -by Froben. He was there eagerly welcomed by the -bishop of the city, who had gathered round him many -men imbued with the true spirit of learning; and Erasmus -soon became the centre of this brilliant group of -scholars. From this time Basle became Erasmus’s -home, although, especially in the early years, he was -always on the move. He paid a flying visit once -more, in 1517, to England, but he had learnt to love -his independence too much to entertain any proposals -for again undertaking duties that would tie him to any -definite work in any definite place. Even the suggestions -of friends that he would find congenial and -profitable pursuits in England were unheeded, and -he remained unmoved even when his friend Andrew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> -Ammonius wrote to say the king himself was looking -for his return. “What about Erasmus?” Henry -had asked. “When is he coming back to us? He -is the light of our age. Oh that he would return -to us!”<a name="FNanchor_163" id="FNanchor_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> - -<p>From England, however, he continued to receive supplies -of money; although his circumstances improved -so much with the steady circulation of his books, that -he was not at this second period of his life so dependent -upon the charity of his friends. About the year -1520 Erasmus settled permanently at Basle as literary -superintendent of Froben’s press. What, no doubt, -induced him to do so, even more than the offer of this -position, was the fact that Basle had then become, by -the establishment of printing-presses by Amberbach -and Froben, the centre of the German book-trade. -Froben died in 1527, and that circumstance, as well -as the religious troubles which, separating Basle from -the empire and making it the focus of civil strife, -ended in wrecking learning there altogether, put an end -to Erasmus’s connection with the press which for -eight years had taken the lead of all the presses of -Europe. Not only was the literary superintendence -of the work completely in the hands of Erasmus -during this period which he described as his “mill,” -but all the dedications and prefaces to Froben’s editions -of the Fathers were the distinct work of his own -pen. His literary activity at this period was enormous, -and only the power he had acquired of working with -the greatest rapidity could have enabled him to cope -with the multiplicity of demands made upon him. -Scaliger relates that Aldus informed him Erasmus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> -could do twice as much work in a given time as any -other man he had ever met. This untiring energy -enabled him to cope with the immense correspondence -which, as he says, came pouring in “daily from almost -all parts, from kings, princes, prelates, men of learning, -and even from persons of whose existence I was, till -then, ignorant,” and caused him not infrequently to write -as many as forty letters a day.</p> - -<p>On Froben’s death in 1527, the fanatical religious -contentions forced him to remove to Freiburg, in Breisgau, -where he resided from 1529 to 1535. The need -for seeing his <i>Ecclesiastes</i> through the press, as well as -a desire to revisit the scenes of his former activity, took -him back to Basle; but his health had been giving way -for some years, and, at the age of sixty-nine, he expired -at Basle on July 12, 1536.</p> - -<p>Such is a brief outline of the life of the most -remarkable among the leaders of the movement known -as the renaissance of letters. Without some general -knowledge of the main facts of his life and work, it -would be still more difficult than it is to understand -the position he took in regard to the great religious -revolution during the later half of his life. With these -main facts before us we may turn to a consideration of -his mental attitude towards some of the many momentous -questions which were then searching men’s hearts -and troubling their souls.</p> - -<p>In the first place, of course, comes the important -problem of Erasmus’s real position as regards the -Church itself and its authority. That he was outspoken -on many points, even on points which we now -regard as well within the border-line of settled matters -of faith and practice, may be at once admitted, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -he never appears to have wavered in his determination -at all costs to remain true and loyal to the Pope and -the other constituted ecclesiastical authorities. The -open criticism of time-worn institutions in which he -indulged, and the sweeping condemnation of the ordinary -teachings of the theological schools, which he -never sought to disguise, brought him early in his -public life into fierce antagonism with many devoted -believers in the system then in vogue.</p> - -<p>The publication of his translation of the New Testament -from the Greek brought matters to an issue. The -general feeling in England and amongst those best able -to judge had been favourable to the undertaking, and -on its first appearance Erasmus was assured of the -approval of the learned world at the English universities.<a name="FNanchor_164" id="FNanchor_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> -More wrote Latin verses addressed to the -reader of the new translation, calling it “the holy work -and labour of the learned and immortal Erasmus,” to -purify the text of God’s Word. Colet was warm in -its praises. Copies, he writes to Erasmus, are being -readily bought and read. Many approved, although, -of course, as was to be expected, some spoke against -the undertaking. In England, as elsewhere, says Colet, -“we have theologians such as you describe in your -<i>Moriæ</i>, by whom to be praised is dishonour, to be -blamed is the highest praise.” For his part, Colet has, -he says, only one regret that he did not himself know -Greek sufficiently well to be able fully to appreciate -what Erasmus had done, though “he is only too thankful -for the light that has been thrown upon the true -meaning of the Holy Scripture.” Archbishop Warham -writes what is almost an official letter, to tell Erasmus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -that his edition of the New Testament has been welcomed -by all his brother bishops in England to whom -he has shown it. Bishop Tunstall was away in Holland, -where, amidst the insanitary condition of the islands -of Zeeland, which he so graphically describes, he finds -consolation in the study of the work. He cannot too -highly praise it—not merely as the opening up of -Greek sources of information upon the meaning of -the Bible, but as affording the fullest commentary on -the sacred text.<a name="FNanchor_165" id="FNanchor_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> Bishop Fisher was equally clear as -to the service rendered to religion by Erasmus in this -version of the Testament; and when, in 1519, Froben -had agreed to bring out a second edition, Erasmus -turned to Fisher and More to assist in making the -necessary corrections.<a name="FNanchor_166" id="FNanchor_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p> - -<p>More defended his friend most strenuously. Writing -to Marten Dorpius in 1515, he upbraided him with -suggesting that theologians would never welcome the -help afforded to biblical studies by Erasmus’s work on -the Greek text of the Bible. He ridicules as a joke not -meriting a serious reply the report that Erasmus and -his friends had declared there was no need of the theologians -and philosophers, but that grammar would -suffice. Erasmus, who has studied in the universities -of Paris, Padua, Bologna, and Rome, and taught with -distinction in some of them, is not likely to hold such -absurd ideas. At the same time, More does not hesitate -to say that in many things he thinks some theologians -are to be blamed, especially those who, rejecting all -positive science, hold that man is born to dispute about -questions of all kinds which have not the least practical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> -utility “even as regards the <i>pietas fidei</i> or the cultivation -of sound morals.”</p> - -<p>At great length More defends the translation against -the insinuations made by Dorpius, who evidently regarded -it as a sacrilege to suggest that the old Latin -editions in use in the Church were incorrect. St. -Jerome, says More, did not hesitate to change when -he believed the Latin to be wrong, and Dorpius’s suggestion -that Erasmus should have only noted the errors -and not actually made any change would, had the -same principle been applied, have prevented St. Jerome’s -work altogether. If it was thought proper that the -Latin codices should be corrected at that time by -Greek manuscripts, why not now? The Church had then -an equally recognised version before the corrections of -St. Jerome.<a name="FNanchor_167" id="FNanchor_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> - -<p>There were, indeed, as might be expected, some -discordant notes in the general chorus of English -praise. For the time, however, they remained unheeded, -and, in fact, were hardly heard amid the general -verdict of approval, in which the Pope, cardinals, and -other highly-placed ecclesiastics joined. Erasmus, -however, was fully prepared for opposition of a serious -character. Writing to Cambridge at the time, he says -that he knows what numbers of people prefer “their -old <i>mumpsimus</i> to the new <i>sumpsimus</i>,” and condemn -the undertaking on the plea that no such work as -the correction of the text of Holy Scripture ought -to be undertaken without the authority of a general -Council.<a name="FNanchor_168" id="FNanchor_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> - -<p>It is easy to understand the grounds upon which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> -men who had been trained on old methods looked -with anxiety, and even horror, at this new departure. -Scholarship and literary criticism, when applied to the -pagan classics, might be tolerable enough; but what -would be the result were the same methods to be -used in the examination of the works of the Fathers, -and more especially in criticism of the text of the Holy -Scripture itself? Overmuch study of the writings of -ancient Greece and Rome had, it appeared to many, -in those days, hardly tended to make the world much -better: even in high places pagan models had been -allowed to displace ideals and sentiments, which, if barbarous -and homely, were yet Christian. Theologians -had long been accustomed to look upon the Latin Vulgate -text as almost sacrosanct, and after the failure of the -attempt in the thirteenth century to improve and correct -the received version, no critical revision had been dreamt -of as possible, or indeed considered advisable. Those -best able to judge, such as Warham and More and -Fisher, were not more eager to welcome, than others -to condemn and ban, this attempt on the part of -Erasmus to apply the now established methods of -criticism to the sacred text. Not that the edition -itself was in reality a work of either sound learning -or thorough scholarship. As an edition of the Greek -Testament it is now allowed on all hands to have no -value whatever; but the truth is, that the Greek played -only a subordinate part in Erasmus’s scheme. His -principal object was to produce a new Latin version, -and to justify this he printed the Greek text along -with it. And this, though in itself possessing little -critical value, was, in reality, the starting-point for all -modern Biblical criticism. As a modern writer has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -said, “Erasmus did nothing to solve the problem, -but to him belongs the honour of having first propounded -it.”</p> - -<p>It must, however, be borne in mind that the publication -of Erasmus’s New Testament was not, as is -claimed for it by some modern writers, a new revelation -of the Gospel to the world at large, nor is it -true that the sacred text had become so obscured by -scholastic theological disquisitions on side issues as -almost to be forgotten. According to Mr. Froude, -“the New Testament to the mass of Christians was an -unknown book,” when Erasmus’s edition, which was -multiplied and spread all over Europe, changed all this. -Pious and ignorant men had come to look on the text -of the Vulgate as inspired. “Read it intelligently they -could not, but they had made the language into an -idol, and they were filled with horrified amazement -when they found in page after page that Erasmus had -anticipated modern critical corrections of the text, introduced -various readings, and re-translated passages -from the Greek into a new version.”<a name="FNanchor_169" id="FNanchor_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> The truth is -that the publication of the New Testament was in no -sense an appeal <i>ad populum</i>, but to the cultivated few. -A writer in the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, commenting upon -Mr. Froude’s picture of the effect of the new edition -on the people generally, is by no means unjust when -he says, “Erasmus beyond all question would have -been very much astonished by this account of the -matter. Certain it is that during the Middle Ages the -minds of the most popular preachers and teachers -(and we might add of the laity too) were saturated -with the sacred Scriptures.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_170" id="FNanchor_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p> - -<p>Loud, however, was the outcry in many quarters -against the rash author. His translations were glibly -condemned, and it was pointed out as conclusive -evidence of his heterodoxy that he had actually -changed some words in the Our Father, and substituted -the word <i>congregatio</i> for <i>ecclesia</i>.<a name="FNanchor_171" id="FNanchor_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a></p> - -<p>The year 1519 witnessed the most virulent and -persistent attacks upon the good name of Erasmus. -Of these, and the malicious reports being spread -about him, he complains in numerous letters at this -period. One Englishman in particular at this time, -and subsequently, devoted all his energies to prove -not only that Erasmus had falsified many of his translations, -but that his whole spirit in undertaking the -work was manifestly uncatholic. This was Edward -Lee, then a comparatively unknown youth, but who -was subsequently created Archbishop of York. In February -1519, Erasmus wrote to Cardinal Wolsey, complaining -of these continued attacks upon his work, -although so many learned men, including bishops, -cardinals, and even the Pope Leo X. himself, had given -their cordial approval to the undertaking. Those who -were at the bottom of the movement against the work, he -considered, were those who had not read it, though they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -still had no shame in crying out against it and its author. -He was told that in some public discourses in England -he had been blamed for translating the word <i>verbum</i> in -St. John’s Gospel by <i>sermo</i>, and about this matter he -addressed a letter to the Pope defending himself.<a name="FNanchor_172" id="FNanchor_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> To -the Bishop of Winchester he wrote more explicitly about -his chief opponent. “By your love for me,” he says, “I -beg you will not too readily credit those sycophants about -me, for by their action all things seem to me at present -infected by a deadly plague. If Edward Lee can prove -that he knows better than I do, he will never offend me. -But when he, by writing and speech, and by means of -his followers, spreads rumours hurtful to my reputation, -he is not even rightly consulting his own reputation. -He has openly shown a hostile spirit against me, who -never, either in word or deed, have done him harm. -He is young, and lusts for fame.… Time will bring -all to light. Truth may be obscured; overcome it -cannot be.”<a name="FNanchor_173" id="FNanchor_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> To the English king he writes that in -all he had published he had been actuated by the sole -desire to glorify Christ, and in this particular work had -obtained the highest approval, even that of the Pope -himself. Some people, indeed, have conspired to destroy -his good name. They are so pleased with their -“old wine,” that “Erasmus’s new” does not satisfy -them. Edward Lee had been instigated to become -their champion, and Erasmus only wished that Lee -were not an Englishman, since he owed more to England -than to any other nation, and did not like to think -ill even of an individual.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_174" id="FNanchor_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> - -<p>When men are thoroughly alarmed, they do not -stop to reason or count the cost; and so those, who -saw in the work of Erasmus nothing but danger to -the Church, at once jumped to the conclusion that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -root of the danger really lay in the classical revival -itself, of which he was regarded as the chief exponent -and apostle. The evil must be attacked in its cause, -and the spread of the canker, which threatened to eat -into the body of the Christian Church, stayed before it -was too late. From the theologians of Louvain, with -which university Erasmus was then connected, he -experienced the earliest and most uncompromising -opposition. He was “daily,” to use his own words, -“pounded with stones,” and proclaimed a traitor to -the Church.<a name="FNanchor_175" id="FNanchor_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> His opponents did not stop to inquire -into the truth of their charges too strictly, and Erasmus -bitterly complains of the damaging reports that are -being spread all over Europe concerning his good -name and his loyalty to religion. To him all opposition -came from “the monks,” who were, in his eyes, -typical of antiquated ecclesiastical narrowness and -bigotry. In a letter written in 1519, at the height -of “the battle of the languages,” as it was called, he -gives several instances of this attitude towards himself -at Louvain when he suggested some alteration in a text -of Holy Scripture. A preacher told the people that -he had declared the Gospel “to be merely a collection -of stupid fables,” and at Antwerp, a Carmelite attacked -him in a sermon, at which he happened to be present, -and denounced the appearance of his New Testament -as a sign of the coming of Antichrist. On being asked -afterwards for his reasons, he confessed that he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> -never even read the book himself. “This,” says -Erasmus sadly, “I generally find to be the case: that -none are more bitter in their outcry than they who -do not read what I write.” In this same letter, Erasmus -describes the ferment raised in England against the -study of languages. At Cambridge, Greek was making -progress in peace, “because the university was presided -over by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, a -theologian of learning and uprightness of life.” At -Oxford, however, fierce public attacks were made in -sermons on Greek studies; “but the king,” continues -Erasmus, “as one not unlearned himself, and most -favourable to the cause of letters, happened to be in -the neighbourhood, and hearing of the matter from -More and Pace, ordered that all wishing to study -Greek literature should be encouraged, and so put a -stop to the business.”</p> - -<p>The contest was not confined to the schools.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> “A -theologian preaching in the royal palace before the -king took this opportunity to inveigh boldly and uncompromisingly -against Greek studies and the new -methods of interpretation. Pace, who was present, -glanced at the king to see how he took it, and Henry -smiled at Pace. After the sermon the theologian was -bidden to the king, and to More was assigned the task -of defending Greek learning against him, the king himself -desiring to be present at the discussion. After -More had spoken for some time most happily, he -paused to hear the theologian’s reply; but he, on -bended knees, asked pardon for what he had said, -asserting that whilst talking he was moved by some -spirit to speak about Greek as he had done. Thereupon -the king said, ‘And that spirit was not that of -Christ, but of folly!’ Then Henry asked him whether -he had read Erasmus’s works—he admitted that he had -not. Then said the king, ‘By this you prove your -folly, in condemning what you have not read.’ Finally -the king dismissed him, and ordered that he should -never be allowed to preach in the royal presence -again.”</p> - -<p>Those who desired to carry on the campaign to -extremities, endeavoured, and even with temporary -success, to influence Queen Katherine against Erasmus -and the party for the revival of letters which he represented. -Her confessor, a Dominican bishop, persuaded -her that in correcting St. Jerome, Erasmus had perpetrated -a crime which admitted of no excuse.<a name="FNanchor_176" id="FNanchor_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> It was -but another step to connect the renaissance of letters -generally with the revolt now associated with the name -of Luther. In England, however, it was not so easy -to persuade people of this, since, among the chief -supporters of the movement were to be numbered the -best and wisest of churchmen and laymen whose entire -orthodoxy was not open to suspicion. Abroad, however, -the cry once started, was quickly taken up. A -theologian at Louvain, writes Erasmus, who up to this -time had been noted for his sober judgment, before -a large audience, after having spoken of Lutheranism, -attacked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> “the teaching of languages and polite letters, -joining the two together, and asserting that heresy -came from these springs, as if experience had shown -eloquence to be a mark rather of the heretics than -of the orthodox, or that the Latin authors of heresy -were not mere children so far as languages went, or -that Luther had been schooled by those masters and -not rather by the scholastics, according to scholastic -methods.”<a name="FNanchor_177" id="FNanchor_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p> - -<p>Erasmus puts the position even more clearly in a -letter to Pope Leo X. on the publication of the revised -version of his New Testament in August 1519. The -book is now in people’s hands, he says, and as it has -appeared under the direct auspices of the Holy Father -himself, it may be regarded as his work. Some foolish -people, he understands, have been trying to get the -Pope to believe that a knowledge of languages is -detrimental to the true study of theology, whereas, in -reality, the very contrary is obviously the case. Such -people will not reason, they cry out and will not listen. -They suggest damning words, such words for example -as “heretics,” “antichrists,” &c., as appropriate to their -opponents. They call out that even the Christian -religion is imperilled, and beg the Pope to come forward -and save it. On his part Erasmus hopes that -the Pope will believe that all his work is for Christ -alone, and His Church. “This only reward do I -desire, that I may ever seek the glory of Christ rather -than my own. From boyhood I have ever endeavoured -to write nothing that savoured of impiety or disloyalty. -No one has ever yet been made blacker by my writings; -no one less pious, no one stirred up to tumult.”<a name="FNanchor_178" id="FNanchor_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> -Again, writing to Cardinal Campeggio, when sending -him a copy of the New Testament “which Pope Leo -had approved by his Brief,” Erasmus tells him that, -to his great regret, many at Louvain were doing their -best not to allow good letters to flourish. As for himself, -his only real desire was to serve Christ and increase<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> -the glory of His Church; though, he adds, “I am a -man, and as such liable to err.” No one has ever -succeeded in pleasing every one, and he, Erasmus, will -not try to do the impossible. Still he wishes to be -judged by what he really has said and written; whereas -all kinds of things, letters, books, &c., are attributed to -him, about which he knows nothing: “even Martin -Luther’s work, amongst the rest,” whilst the truth is, -he does not know Luther, and certainly has never -read his book.<a name="FNanchor_179" id="FNanchor_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> - -<p>At the end of the following year, 1520, Erasmus -again writes to Cardinal Campeggio at great length. -After telling him that he had hoped to have passed -the winter in Rome to search in the libraries for Greek -manuscripts, he informs him that in Louvain those who -prefer the old barbarism are now rampant. Some -think to please the people by opposition to learning, -and amongst the aiders and abettors of the Lutheran -movement they place Erasmus in the forefront. The -Dominicans and Carmelites, he says, will regard him -only as their enemy. Why, he does not know, for in -reality he reverences true religion under “any coloured -coat.” If on occasion he has said something about the -vices of the monks, he does not think it were more -right for the religious, as a body, to turn against him, -than it would be for priests as a body, when their vices -were spoken against. He does not in the least wish to -be thought opposed to the religious life, as such. The -condemnation of Luther had been interpreted by many -as a condemnation of learning, and had been turned -against Reuchlin and Erasmus. As for himself, he has -never, he declares, even seen Luther, who has certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> -never been famous for good letters or for any knowledge -of ancient tongues, and hence the revival of letters has -no connection whatever with the Lutheran movement. -The prefaces of some of Luther’s books, because written -in good Latin, are considered sufficient proof of his -(Erasmus’s) connection with the matter, and it is -asserted openly that he was working cordially with -the Reformer; whereas, as a fact, he had not suggested -even so much as a full stop or comma for his writings. -He had, he admitted, written to Luther, and this and -another letter to the Cardinal of Mentz were pointed -to as proof positive of his Lutheran leanings. For -these he has been denounced to bishops as a heretic -and delated to the Pope himself, while all the time, -in truth, he has never read two pages of Luther’s -writings. Certainly, indeed, he recognised in Luther -considerable power, but he was not by any means alone -in doing so. Men of undoubted faith and uprightness -had congratulated themselves on having fallen in with -Luther’s works. For himself, he adds, “I have always -preferred to look for the good rather than to search for -the evil, and I have long thought that the world needed -many changes.” Finally, before passing from the -subject, he begs Cardinal Campeggio to look at the -letter in question himself, and see whether it could -justly be said to favour Luther in any way.<a name="FNanchor_180" id="FNanchor_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p> - -<p>To Pope Leo X. Erasmus also wrote, protesting -against the cause of letters generally being made the -same as that of Reuchlin and Luther. With the former -movement he was identified heart and soul; with Luther -and his revolt he had, he declared, no part nor sympathy. -“I have not known Luther,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> “nor -have I ever read his books, except perhaps ten or a -dozen pages in various places. It was really I who -first scented the danger of the business issuing in -tumults, which I have always detested.” Moreover, -he declares that he had induced the Basle printer, -Johann Froben, to refuse to print Luther’s works, and -that by means of friends he had tried to induce Luther -to think only of the peace of the Church. Two years -previously, he says, Luther had written to him, and he -had replied in a kindly spirit in order to get him, if -possible, to follow his advice. Now, he hears, that this -letter has been delated to the Pope in order to prejudice -him in the Pontiff’s eyes; but he is quite prepared -to defend its form and expression. “If any -one,” he says, “can say he has ever heard me, even at -the table, maintain the teaching of Luther, I will not -refuse to be called a Lutheran.” Finally, he expresses -the hope that, if the opponents of letters have been -trying to calumniate him, he may rely on the Pope’s -prudence and the knowledge of his own complete -innocence. “I, who do not wish to oppose even my -own bishop, am not,” he writes, “so mad as to act in -any way against the supreme Vicar of Christ.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_181" id="FNanchor_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p> - -<p>As time went on, the position of Erasmus did not -become more comfortable. Whilst the Lutherans were -hoping that sooner or later something would happen to -compromise the outspoken scholar and force him to -transfer the weight of his learning to their side, the -champions of Catholicity were ill satisfied that he did -not boldly strike out in defence of the Church. To -this latter course many of his English friends had -strongly urged him, and both the king, Fisher, and -others had set him an example by publishing works -against Luther’s position, which they invited him to -follow. The Pope, too, had on more than one occasion -personally appealed to him to throw off his reserve and -come to the aid of orthodoxy. They could not understand -how he was able to talk of peace and kindness -amidst the din of strife, and plead for less harsh -measures and less bitter words against Luther and his -adherents, when the battle was raging, and cities and -peoples and even countries were being seduced by the -German Reformer’s plausible plea for freedom and -liberty. Those who believed in Erasmus’s orthodoxy, -as did the Pope and his English friends, considered -that no voice was more calculated to calm the storm -and compel the German people to listen to reason than -was his. Whilst the Reforming party, on the other -hand, were doing their best to compromise him in the -eyes of their opponents, Erasmus was most unwilling -to be forced into action. “Why,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> “do -people wish to associate me with Luther? What -Luther thinks of me, where it is a question of matters -of faith, I care very little. That he doesn’t think much -of me he shows in many letters to his friends. In his -opinion I am ‘blind,’ ‘miserable,’ ‘ignorant of Christ -and Christianity,’ ‘thinking of nothing but letters.’ -This is just what I should expect,” he says, “for Luther -has always despised the ancients.” As for himself, he -(Erasmus) has always tried his best to inculcate true -piety along with learning.<a name="FNanchor_182" id="FNanchor_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a></p> - -<p>To Œcolampadius, in February 1525, he wrote a -letter of protest against the way some of Luther’s -followers were doing all they could to associate his -name with their movement. He does not wish, he -says, to give his own opinion on the questions at issue; -but he can tell his correspondent what the King of -England, Bishop Fisher, and Cardinal Wolsey think -on these grave matters. He objects to Œcolampadius -putting <i>Magnus Erasmus noster</i>—“our great Erasmus”—in -a preface he wrote, without any justification. “This -naturally makes people suppose,” he adds, “that I am -really on your side in these controversies,” and he begs -that he will strike out the expression.<a name="FNanchor_183" id="FNanchor_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> - -<p>This was no new position that Erasmus had taken -up in view of the ever-increasing difficulties of the -situation. Six years before (in 1519) he had written -fully on the subject to the Cardinal Archbishop of -Mentz. It was this letter which had been much misunderstood, -and even denounced to the Pope as the -work of a disloyal son of the Church. He, on the -other hand, declared that he was not committed in -any way to the cause of Reuchlin or Luther.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> “Luther -is perfectly unknown to me, and his books I have -not read, except here and there. If he had written -well it would not have been to my credit; if then the -opposite, no blame should attach to me. I regretted -his public action, and when the first tract, I forget -which, was talked about, I did all I could to prevent its -being issued, especially as I feared that tumults would -come out of all this. Luther had written me what -appeared to my mind to be a very Christian letter, -and, in replying, I, by the way, warned him not to write -anything seditious, nor to abuse the Roman Pontiff, &c., -but to preach the Gospel truly and humbly.” He adds -that he was kind in his reply purposely, as he did not -wish to be Luther’s judge. And, as he thought that -there was much good in the man, he would willingly do -all he could to keep him in the right way. People are -too fond, he says, of crying out “heretic,” &c., and -“the cry generally comes from those who have not read -the works they exclaim against.”<a name="FNanchor_184" id="FNanchor_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> - -<p>“I greatly fear,” he writes shortly after, “for this -miserable Luther; so angry are his opponents on all -sides, and so irritated against him are princes, and, -above all, Pope Leo. Would that he had taken my -advice and abstained from these hateful and seditious -publications. There would have been more fruit and -less rancour.”<a name="FNanchor_185" id="FNanchor_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a></p> - -<p>Testimonies might be multiplied almost indefinitely -from Erasmus’s writings to show that with Lutheranism -as such he had no connection nor sympathy. Yet -his best friends seem to have doubted him, and -some, in England, suspected that Erasmus’s hand -and spirit were to be detected in the reply that -Luther made to King Henry’s book against him. -Bishop Tunstall confesses that he is relieved to hear -by the letter Erasmus had addressed to the king and -the legate that he had had nothing to do with this -violent composition, and, moreover, that he was opposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> -to Lutheran principles. In his letter on this -subject, the bishop laments the rapid spread of these -dangerous opinions which threaten disturbances everywhere. -When the sacred ceremonies of the Church -and all pious customs are attacked as they are, he says, -civil tumults are sure to follow. After Luther’s book -<i>De abroganda Missa</i>, the Reformer will quickly go -further, and so Tunstall begs and beseeches Erasmus, -by “Christ’s Passion and glory” and “by the reward” -he expects; “yea, and the Church itself prays and -desires you,” he adds, “to engage in combat with this -hydra.”<a name="FNanchor_186" id="FNanchor_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a></p> - -<p>At length, urged by so many of his best friends, -Erasmus took up his pen against Luther and produced -his book <i>De libero Arbitrio</i>, to which Luther, a past -master in invective, replied in his contemptuous <i>De servo -Arbitrio</i>, Erasmus rejoining in the <i>Hyperaspistes</i>. Sir -Thomas More wrote that this last book delighted him, and -urged Erasmus to further attacks. “I cannot say how -foolish and inflated I think Luther’s letter to you,” he -writes. “He knows well how the wretched glosses into -which he has darkened Scripture turn to ice at your -touch. They were, it is true, cold enough already.”<a name="FNanchor_187" id="FNanchor_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p> - -<p>Erasmus’s volume on <i>Free-will</i> drew down on him, -as might be expected, the anger of the advanced -Lutherans. Ulrich von Hutten, formerly a brilliant -follower of Erasmus and Reuchlin in their attempts -to secure a revival of letters, was now the leader of -the most reckless and forward of the young German -Lutherans, who assisted the Reformer by their violence -and their readiness to promote any and all of his doctrinal -changes by stirring up civil dissensions. Von<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> -Hutten endeavoured to throw discredit upon Erasmus -by a brilliant and sarcastic attack upon it. In 1523, -Erasmus published what he called the <i>Spongia</i>, or reply -to the assertions of von Hutten on his honour and -character. The tract is really an apology or explanation -of his own position as regards the Lutherans, and -an assertion of his complete loyalty to the Church. -The book was in Froben’s hands for press in June -1523, but before it could appear in September von -Hutten had died. Erasmus, however, determined to -publish the work on account of the gravity of the issues. -It is necessary, if we would understand Erasmus’s position -fully, to refer to this work at some considerable -length. After complaining most bitterly that many -people had tried to defame him to the Pope and to his -English friends, and to make him a Lutheran whether -he would or no; and after defending his attitude towards -Reuchlin as consistent throughout, he meets -directly von Hutten’s assertion that he had condemned -the whole Dominican body. “I have never,” he says, -“been ill disposed to that Order. I have never been -so foolish as to wish ill to any Order. If it were necessary -to hate all Dominicans because, in the Order, -there were some bad members, on the same ground -it would be needful to detest all Orders, since in every -one there are many black sheep.” On the same principle -Christianity itself would be worthy of hatred.<a name="FNanchor_188" id="FNanchor_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> -The fact really is that the Dominicans have many -members who are friendly to Erasmus, and who are -favourable to learning in general, and Scripture study -and criticism in particular.</p> - -<p>In the same way, von Hutten had mistaken Erasmu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>s’s -whole attitude towards the Roman Church. He had -charged him with being inconsistent, in now praising, -now blaming the authorities. Erasmus characterises -this as the height of impudence. “Who,” he asks, “has -ever approved of the vices of the Roman authorities? -But, on the other hand, who has ever condemned the -Roman Church?”</p> - -<p>Continuing, he declares that he has never been the -occasion of discord or tumult in any way, and appeals -with confidence to his numerous letters and works -as sufficient evidence of his love of peace. “I love -liberty,” he writes; “I neither can aid, nor desire to aid, -any faction.” Already many confess that they were -wrong in taking a part; and he sees many, who had -thrown in their lot with Luther, now drawing back, and -regretting that they had ever given any countenance to -him.<a name="FNanchor_189" id="FNanchor_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> His (Erasmus’s) sole object has been to promote -good letters, and to restore Theology to its simple and -true basis, the Holy Scripture. This he will endeavour -to do as long as he has life. “Luther,” he says, “I hold -to be a man liable to err, and one who has erred. -Luther, with the rest of his followers will pass away; -Christ alone remains for ever.”</p> - -<p>In more than one place of this <i>Spongia</i>, Erasmus -complains bitterly that what he had said in joke, and as -mere pleasantry at the table, had been taken seriously. -“What is said over a glass of wine,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> “ought -not to be remembered and written down as a serious -statement of belief. Often at a feast, for example, we -have transferred the worldly sovereignty to Pope Julius, -and made Maximilian, the emperor, into the supreme -Pontiff. Thus, too, we have married monasteries of -monks to convents of nuns; we have sent armies of -them against the Turks, and colonised new islands with -them. In a word, we turn the universe topsy-turvy. -But, such whims are never meant to be taken seriously, -as our own true convictions.”</p> - -<p>Von Hutten had complained that Erasmus had -spoken harshly about Luther, and hinted that he was -really actuated by a spirit of envy, on seeing Luther’s -books more read than his own. Erasmus denies that -he has ever called Luther by any harsh names, and -particularly that he has ever called him “heretic.” -He admits, however, that he had frequently spoken of -the movement as a “tragedy,” and he points to the -public discords and tumults then distracting Germany -as the best justification of this verdict.<a name="FNanchor_190" id="FNanchor_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a></p> - -<p>Von Hutten having said that children were being -taught by their nurses to lisp the name Luther, Erasmus -declares that he cannot imagine whose children these -can be; for, he says, “I daily see how many influential, -learned, grave, and good men have come to curse his -very name.”</p> - -<p>The most interesting portion, however, of the -<i>Spongia</i> is that in which, at considerable length, -Erasmus explains his real attitude to Rome and the -Pope. “Not even about the Roman See,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -“will I admit that I have ever spoken inconsistently. -I have never approved of its tyranny, rapacity, and -other vices about which of old common complaints -were heard from good men. Neither do I sweepingly -condemn ‘Indulgences,’ though I have always disliked -any barefaced traffic in them. What I think about -ceremonies, many places in my works plainly show.… -What it may mean ‘to reduce the Pope to order’ I -do not rightly understand. First, I think it must be -allowed that Rome is a Church, for no number of evils -can make it cease to be a Church, otherwise we should -have no Churches whatever. Moreover, I hold it to be -an orthodox Church; and this Church, it must be -admitted, has a Bishop. Let him be allowed also to -be Metropolitan, seeing there are very many archbishops -in countries where there has been no apostle, and Rome, -without controversy, had certainly SS. Peter and Paul, -the two chief apostles. Then how is it absurd that -among Metropolitans the chief place be granted to the -Roman Pontiff?”<a name="FNanchor_191" id="FNanchor_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a></p> - -<p>As to the rest, Erasmus had never, he declares, -defended the excessive powers which for many years -the popes have usurped, and, like all men, he wishes -for a thorough apostolic man for Pope. For his part, -if the Pope were not above all things else an apostle, -he would have him deposed as well as any other -bishop, who did not fulfil the office of his state. For -many years, no doubt, the chief evils of the world have -come from Rome, but now, as he believes, the world has -a Pope who will try at all costs to purify the See and -Curia of Rome. This, however, Erasmus fancies is not -quite what von Hutten desires. He would declare war<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> -against the Pope and his adherents, even were the Pope -a good Pope, and his followers good Christians. War -is what von Hutten wants, and he cares not whether it -brings destruction to cities and peoples and countries.</p> - -<p>Erasmus admits that he knows many people who -are ready to go some way in the Lutheran direction; -but who would strongly object to the overthrow of -papal authority. Many would rather feel that they -have a father than a tyrant: who would like to see -the tables of the money-changers in the temple overthrown, -and the barefaced granting of indulgences and -trafficking in dispensations and papal bulls repressed: -who would not object to have ceremonies simplified, -and solid piety inculcated: who would like to insist -on the sacred Scriptures as the true and only basis -of authoritative teaching, and would not give to scholastic -conclusions and the mere opinions of schools the -force of an infallible oracle. With those who think -thus, says Erasmus, “if (as is the case) there is no -compact on my part, certainly my old friendly feeling -for them remains cemented by the bond of learning, -even if I do not agree with them in all these things.”</p> - -<p>But, he continues, it is not among these well-wishers -of reform that von Hutten and Luther will -find their support. This is to be found among the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> -“unlettered people without any judgment; among -those who are impure in their own lives, and detractors -of men; amongst those who are headstrong and ungovernable. -These are they who are so favourable -to Luther’s cause that they neither know nor care -to examine what Luther teaches. They only have the -Gospel on their lips; they neglect prayer and the -Sacraments; they eat what they like; and they live -to curse the Roman Pontiff. These are the Lutherans.” -From such material spring forth tumults that cannot -be put down. “It is generally in their cups,” adds -Erasmus, “that the Evangelical league is recruited.” -They are too stupid to see whither they are drifting, -and “with such a type of mankind I have no wish -to have anything to do.” Some make the Gospel but -the pretext for theft and rapine; and “there are some -who, having squandered or lost all their own property, -pretend to be Lutherans in order to be able to help -themselves to the wealth of others.” Von Hutten -wants me, says Erasmus, to come to them. “To -whom? To those who are good and actuated by the -true Gospel teaching? I would willingly fly to them -if any one will point them out. If he knew of any -Lutherans, who in place of wine, prostitutes, and dice, -have at any time delighted in holy reading and conversation; -of any who never cheat or neglect to pay -their debts, but are ready to give to the needy; of any -who look on injuries done to them as favours, who -bless those who curse them—if he can show me such -people, he may count on me as an associate. Lutherans, -I see; but followers of the Gospel, I can discover few -or none.”</p> - -<p>Von Hutten had, in his attack, with much bitterness -condemned Erasmus for not renouncing connection -with those who had written strongly against -Luther. Erasmus refused to entertain the notion. -“There is,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> “the reverend Father John, -Bishop of Rochester. He has written a big volume -against Luther. For a long period that man has been -my very special friend and most constant patron. -Does von Hutten seriously want me to break with -him, because he has sharpened his pen in writing -against Luther? Long before Luther was thought -of,” he says, “I enjoyed the friendship of many -learned men. Of these, some in later years took -Luther’s side, but on that account I have not renounced -outwardly my friendship for them. Some -of these have changed their views and now do not -think much of Luther, still I do not cease to regard -them as my friends.”</p> - -<p>Towards the close of his reply, Erasmus returns -to the question of the Pope. Von Hutten had charged -him with inconsistency in his views, and Erasmus replies, -“He who most desires to see the apostolic -character manifested in the Pope is most in his -favour.” It may be that one can hate the individual -and approve of the office. Whoever is favourable to, -and defends, bad Popes does not honour the office. -He (Erasmus) has been found fault with for saying -that the authority of the Pope has been followed by -the Christian world for very many ages. What he -wrote is true, and as long as the work of Christ is -done may it be followed for ever. Luther wants -people to take his <i>ipse dixit</i> and authority, but he -(Erasmus) would prefer to take that of the Pope. -“Even if the supremacy of the Pope was not established -by Christ, still it would be expedient that there -should be one ruler possessing full authority over -others, but which authority no doubt should be free -from all idea of tyranny.… Because I have criticised -certain points in the See of Rome, I have not -for that reason ever departed from it. Who would -not uphold the dignity of one who, by manifesting the -virtues of the Gospel, represents Christ to us?” The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> -paradoxes of Luther are not worth dying for. “There -is no question of articles of faith, but of such matters -as ‘Whether the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff was -established by Christ:’ ‘whether cardinals are necessary -to the Christian Church:’ ‘whether confession is -<i>de jure divino</i>:’ ‘whether bishops can make their laws -binding under pain of mortal sin:’ ‘whether free will -is necessary for salvation:’ ‘whether faith alone assures -salvation,’ &c. If Christ gave him grace,” Erasmus -hopes that “he would be a martyr for His truth, but -he has no desire whatever to be one for Luther.”</p> - -<p>This last point was immediately taken up by the -Lutherans. Von Hutten, as it has already been said, -had died before the publication of the <i>Spongia</i>, and the -reply to Erasmus was undertaken by Otto Brunfels. -He rejected Erasmus’s suggestion that nearly all that -the Lutherans were fighting for were matters of opinion. -They were matters of faith, he says, and no uncertainty -could be admitted on this point. In order to make -the matter clear, he enumerates a great number of -tenets of Lutheranism which they hold to as matters of -revealed certainty. For instance: that Christ is the -only head of the Church; that the Church has no -corporate existence; that the mass is no sacrifice; that -justification comes by faith alone; that our works are -sins and cannot justify; that good men cannot sin; -that there are only two Sacraments; that the Pope’s -traditions are heretical and against Scripture; that -the religious state is from the devil; and several score -more of similar points more or less important.</p> - -<p>That Erasmus’s views upon the necessity of the -Papacy expressed in the <i>Spongia</i> were not inconsistent -with his previous position there is ample evidence in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> -his letters, to which he himself appeals. Replying, for -example, to one who had written to him deploring the -religious differences in Bohemia, Erasmus declares that, -in his opinion, it is needful for unity that there should -be one head. If the prince is tyrannical, he should be -reduced to order by the teaching and authority of the -Roman Pontiff. If the bishop play the tyrant, there is still -the authority of the Roman Pontiff, who is the dispenser -of the authority and the Vicar of Christ. He may not -please all, but who that really rules can expect to do -that? “In my opinion,” he adds, “those who reject -the Pope are more in error than they who demand -the Eucharist under two kinds.” Personally, he would -have allowed this, although he thinks that, as most -Christians have now the other custom, those who -demand it as a necessity are unreasonable and to be -greatly blamed. Above all others, he reprobates the -position of those who refuse to obey, speak of the Pope -as Antichrist, and the Roman Church as a “harlot” -because there have been bad Popes. There have been -bad cardinals and bishops, bad priests and princes, and -on this ground we ought not to obey bishop or pastor -or king or ruler.<a name="FNanchor_192" id="FNanchor_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> In the same letter he rebukes those -who desire to sweep away vestments and ceremonies -on the plea that they may not have been used in -apostolic times.</p> - -<p>Later on, in another letter, he complained that people -call him a favourer of Luther. This is quite untrue. -“I would prefer,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> “to have Luther corrected -rather than destroyed; then I should prefer that it -should be done without any great social tumults. -Christ I acknowledge; Luther I know not. I acknowledge -the Roman Church, which, in my opinion, -is Catholic. I praise those who are on the side of the -Roman Pontiff, who is supported by every good man.”<a name="FNanchor_193" id="FNanchor_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p> - -<p>Again, the following year, writing on the subject of -the invocation of Papal authority against Luther, he -says: “I do not question the origin of that authority, -which is most certainly just, as in ancient times from -among many priests equal in office one was chosen as -the bishop; so now from the bishops it is necessary to -make choice of one Pontiff, not merely to prevent discords, -but to temper the tyrannical exercise of authority -on the part of the other bishops and secular princes.”<a name="FNanchor_194" id="FNanchor_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p> - -<p>The publication of Erasmus’s book against Luther -and of his reply to von Hutten made little change, -however, in the adverse feeling manifested against him -by those who were most busily engaged in combating -the spread of Lutheran opinions. As he wrote to King -Henry VIII., the noisy tumults and discords made him -long for the end of life, when he might hope at least -to find peace.<a name="FNanchor_195" id="FNanchor_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> Luckily for him, he still retained the -confidence of the Pope and some of the best churchmen -in Europe. Had he not done so, the very violence -of the attack against his good name might have driven -him out of the Church in spite of himself. Kind words, -he more than once said, would have done more for the -cause of peace in the Church than all the biting sarcasm -and unmeasured invective that was launched -against Luther, and those who, like Erasmus, either -were, or were supposed to be, associated with his cause. -Luther was not delicate about the choice of his language -when he had an enemy to pelt, but some of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> -preachers and pamphlet writers on the orthodox side -were his match in this respect. In this way Erasmus -puts the responsibility for “the tragedy” of Lutheranism -upon the theologians, and in part especially upon the -Dominicans and Carmelites. “Ass,” “pig,” “sow,” -“heretic,” “antichrist,” and “pest of the world,” are -terms named by Erasmus as samples of the epithets -launched from the pulpit, or more deliberately set up in -type, as arguments against Luther and himself.<a name="FNanchor_196" id="FNanchor_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p> - -<p>In writing to one of the cardinals after the publication -of his <i>Spongia</i>, there is a touch of sadness in his -complaints, that having been forced to do battle with -the “Lutherans as against a hydra of many heads,” -Catholics should still try and make the world believe -that he was really a Lutheran at heart. “I have never,” -he declares, “doubted about the sovereignty of the -Pope, but whether this supremacy was recognised in -the time of St. Jerome, I have my doubts, on account of -certain passages I have noted in my edition of St. -Jerome. In the same place, however, I have marked -what would appear to make for the contrary opinion; -and in numerous other places I call Peter ‘Prince of -the apostolic order,’ and the Roman Pontiff, Christ’s -Vicar and the Head of His Church, giving him the -highest power according to Christ.”<a name="FNanchor_197" id="FNanchor_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> - -<p>Probably a more correct view of Erasmus’s real -mind can hardly be obtained than in part of a letter -already quoted (Ep. 501) addressed to Bishop Marlianus -of Tuy in Galicia, on March 25, 1520. “I would -have the Church,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> “purified, lest the good in -it suffer by conjunction with the evil. In avoiding the -Scylla of Luther, however, I would have care taken to -avoid Charybdis. If this be sin, then I own my -guilt. I have sought to save the dignity of the -Roman Pontiff, the honour of Catholic theology, and -to look to the welfare of Christendom. I have, as -yet, read no whole work of Luther, however short, -and I have never even in jest defended his paradoxes. -Be assured that if any movement is set on foot -which is injurious to the Christian religion and dangerous -to the public peace or the supremacy of the Holy -See, it does not proceed from Erasmus.… In all I -have written, I have not deviated one hair’s-breadth -from the teaching of the Church. But every wise man -knows that practices and teachings have been introduced -into the Church partly by custom, partly by the -canonists, partly by means of scholastic definitions, -partly by the tricks and arts of secular sovereigns, which -have no sound sanction. Many great people have -begged me to support Luther, but I have ever replied -that I would be ready to take his part when he was on -the Catholic side. They have asked me to draw up a -formula of faith; I have said that I know of none save -the creed of the Catholic Church, and every one who -consults me I urge to submit to the authority of the -Pope.”<a name="FNanchor_198" id="FNanchor_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a></p> - -<p>In many ways Erasmus regarded the rise of Lutheranism -as the greatest misfortune. Not only did it tend -to make good men suspicious of the general revival of -letters, with which without reason they associated it, but -the necessity of defending the Catholic position against -the assaults of the new sectaries naturally obscured the -need of reform within the Church itself, for which far-seeing -and good men had long been looking. To Bishop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -Tunstall he expressed his fears lest in pulling up the -tares, some, and perchance much, of the precious wheat -might perish. Whilst, undoubtedly, there was in Luther’s -work a great deal that he cordially detested, there -was also much that would never have been condemned, -had the points been calmly considered by learned men, -apart from the ferment of revolt. “This, however, I -promise you,” he adds, “that for my part I will never -forsake the Church.”<a name="FNanchor_199" id="FNanchor_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a></p> - -<p>This same sentiment he repeats the following year, -1526: “From the judgment of the Church I am not -able to dissent, nor have I ever dissented.”<a name="FNanchor_200" id="FNanchor_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> Had this -tempest not risen up, he said, in another letter from -Basle, he had hoped to have lived long enough to have -seen a general revival of letters and theology returning -more and more to the foundation of all true divinity, -Holy Scripture. For his part, he cordially disliked -controversy, and especially the discussion of such -questions as “whether the Council was above the Pope,” -and such like. He held that he was himself in all -things a sound Catholic, and at peace with the Pope -and his bishop, whilst no name was more hated by the -Lutherans than that of Erasmus.<a name="FNanchor_201" id="FNanchor_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a></p> - -<p>So much with regard to the attitude of mind manifested -by Erasmus towards the authority of the teaching -Church, which is the main point of interest in the -present inquiry. His disposition will probably be construed -by some into a critical opposition to much that -was taught and practised; but it seems certain that -Erasmus did not so regard his own position. He was -a reformer in the best sense, as so many far-seeing and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> -spiritual-minded churchmen of those days were. He -desired to better and beautify and perfect the system he -found in vogue, and he had the courage of his convictions -to point out what he thought stood in need of -change and improvement, but he was no iconoclast; -he had no desire to pull down or root up or destroy -under the plea of improvement. That he remained to -the last the friend of Popes and bishops and other -orthodox churchmen, is the best evidence, over and -above his own words, that his real sentiments were not -misunderstood by men who had the interests of the -Church at heart, and who looked upon him as true and -loyal, if perhaps a somewhat eccentric and caustic son -of Holy Church. Even in his last sickness he received -from the Pope proof of his esteem, for he was given a -benefice of considerable value, and it was hinted to him -that another honour, as was commonly supposed at the -time nothing less than the sacred purple, was in store -for him.</p> - -<p>Most people are of course chiefly interested in the -determination of Erasmus’s general attitude to the great -religious movement of the age. In this place, however, -one or two minor points in his literary history can hardly -be passed over in silence. His attitude to the monks and -the religious Orders generally, was one of acknowledged -hostility, although there are passages in his writings, -some of which have been already quoted, which seem -to show that this hostility was neither so sweeping nor -so deeply rooted as is generally thought. Still, it may -be admitted that he has few good words for the religious -Orders, and he certainly brings many and even grave -accusations against their good name. There is little -doubt, however, that much he had to say on the subject<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> -was, as he himself tells us, said to emphasise abuses that -existed, and was not intended to be taken as any wholesale -sweeping condemnation of the system of regular -life. Very frequently the <i>Enconium Moriæ</i> has been -named as the work in which Erasmus hits the monks -the hardest. Those who so regard it can hardly have -read it with attention, and most certainly they fail to -appreciate its spirit. It was composed, as we have seen, -at Sir Thomas More’s suggestion, and in his house at -Chelsea in 1512, on Erasmus’s return from Italy. It -is a satire on the ecclesiastical manners and customs in -which all abuses in turn come in for their share of sarcastic -condemnation; superstitions of people as to -particular days and images, superstitions about “magic -prayers and charmlike rosaries,” as to saints set to this -or that office, to cure the toothache, to discover stolen -goods, &c., in the first place came under the lash of -Erasmus’s sarcasm. Then come, in turn, doctors of -divinity and theologians, “a nest of men so crabbed -and morose” that he has half a mind, he says, to leave -them severely alone, “lest perchance they should all at -once fall upon me with six hundred conclusions, driving -me to recant.” They are high and mighty and look -down on other men, thinking of common individuals as -“silly men like worms creeping on the ground,” and -startling ordinary folk by the variety of their unpractical -discussions and questions. “Nowadays,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> -“not baptism, nor the Gospel, nor Paul, nor Peter, -nor Jerome, nor Augustine, nor yet Thomas Aquinas, -are able to make men Christians, unless those Father -Bachelors in divinity are pleased to subscribe to the -same. They require us to address them as <i>Magister -noster</i> in the biggest of letters.”</p> - -<p>Following upon this treatment of the scholastic -theologians come the few pages devoted to monks, those -“whose trade and observance were surely most miserable -and abject, unless I (Folly) did many ways assist -them.” They are so ignorant (at least so says Folly), -that they can hardly read their own names. Erasmus -makes merry over the office they chant, and the begging -practised by the friars, and jeers amusingly at their -style of dressing, at their mode of cutting their hair, and -at their sleeping and working by <i>rule</i>. “Yea,” he says, -“some of them being of a straightened rule are such -sore punishers of their flesh, as outwardly they wear -nought but sackcloth and inwardly no better than fine -holland.” In a word, he laughs at the general observance -of regular life, and in one place only passes a hint -that some of their lives are not so saintly as they pretend. -As a whole, however, the sarcasm is not so -bitter as that addressed to other ecclesiastics, and even -to the Pope himself. In view of Sir Thomas More’s -subsequent explanation about the spirit of the <i>Enconium -Moriæ</i>, there can be no doubt that it was intended -mainly as a playful, if somewhat ill-judged and severe, -lampoon on some patent abuses, and in no sense an -attack upon the ecclesiastical system of the Catholic -Church.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_202" id="FNanchor_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a></p> - -<p>One other misunderstanding about Erasmus’s position -in regard to the revival of letters may be here -noticed. The great scholar has been regarded as the -incarnation of the spirit of practical paganism, which, -unfortunately, was quickly the outcome of the movement -in Italy, and which at this time gave so much -colour and point to the denunciations of those of the -opposite school. No view can be more unjust to Erasmus. -Though he longed anxiously for the clergy to -awake to a sense of the importance of studies in general, -of classical and scriptural studies in particular, there -was no one who saw more clearly the danger and -absurdity of carrying the classical revivalist spirit to -extremes. In fact, in his <i>Ciceroniana</i>, he expressly ridicules -what he has seen in Rome of the classical spirit -run mad. Those afflicted by it, he says, try to think -that old Rome has returned. They speak of the -“Senate,” the “conscript fathers,” the “plebs,” the -“chief auger,” and the “college of soothsayers,” “Pontifices -Maximi,” “Vestals,” “triumphs,” &c. Nothing -can be more unlike the true Ciceronian spirit. Am I, -he asks, as a Christian speaking to Christians about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> -Christian religion to try and suppose I am living in the -age of Cicero, and speak as if I were addressing a meeting -of the conscript fathers on the Capitol? Am I to -pick my words, choose my figures and illustrations from -Cicero’s speeches to the Senate? How can Cicero’s -eloquence help me to speak to a mixed audience of -virgins, wives, and widows in praise of fasting, penance, -prayer, almsgiving, the sanctity of marriage, the contempt -of the fleeting pleasures of this world, or of the -study of Holy Scripture. No, a Christian orator dressed -in Cicero’s clothes is ridiculous.<a name="FNanchor_203" id="FNanchor_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> - -<p>As an illustration of the height of absurdity to -which the madness of the classical craze had brought -people in Rome in his day, Erasmus relates the story -of a sermon he himself once heard in the Eternal City -during the pontificate of Pope Julius II. “I had been -invited,” he says, “a few days before, by some learned -men to be present at this sermon (to be preached on -Good Friday). ‘Take care not to miss it,’ they said, -‘for you will at last be enabled to appreciate the tone -of the Roman language, spoken by a Roman mouth.’ -Hence, with great curiosity, I went to the church, -procuring a place near the orator so as not to miss -even one word. Julius II. was himself present, a very -unusual thing, probably on account of his health. And -there were also there many cardinals and bishops, and -in the crowd most of the men of letters who were then -in Rome.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> -<p>“The exordium and peroration were nearly as -long as the rest of the discourse, and they all rang -the changes of praise of Julius II. He called him the -almighty Jove, and pictured him as brandishing the -trident, casting his thunderbolts with his right hand, -and accomplishing all he willed by the mere nod of his -head. All that had taken place of late years in Gaul, -Germany, Spain, &c., were but the efforts of his simple -will. Then came a hundred times repeated, such -words as ‘Rome,’ ‘Romans,’ ‘Roman mouth,’ ‘Roman -eloquence,’ &c.” But what, asks Erasmus, were all -these to Julius, bishop of the Christian religion, Christ’s -vicegerent, successor of Peter and Paul? What are -these to cardinals and bishops who are in the places -of the other apostles?</p> - -<p>“The orator’s design,” he continues, “was to represent -to us Jesus Christ, at first in the agony of His -Passion, and then in the glory of His triumph. To do -this, he recalled the memory of Curtius and Decius, -who had given themselves to the gods for the salvation -of the Republic. He reminded us of Cecrops, of -Menelaus, of Iphigenia, and of other noble victims -who had valued their lives less than the honour and -welfare of their country. Public gratitude (he continued, -in tears and in most lugubrious tones) had -always surrounded these noble and generous characters -with its homage, sometimes raising gilded statues to -their memory in the forum; sometimes decreeing -them even divine honours, whilst Jesus Christ, for all -His benefits, had received no other reward but death. -The orator then went on to compare our Saviour, who -had deserved so well of His country, to Phocion and to -Socrates, who were compelled to drink hemlock though -accused of no crime; to Epaminondas, driven to defend -himself against envy roused by his noble deeds; to -Scipio and to Aristides, whom the Athenians were tired -of hearing called the ‘Just one,’ &c.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I ask, can anything be imagined colder and more -inept? Yet, over all his efforts, the preacher sweated -blood and water to rival Cicero. In brief, my Roman -preacher spoke Roman so well that I heard nothing -about the death of Christ.<a name="FNanchor_204" id="FNanchor_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> If Cicero had lived in our -days,” asks Erasmus, “would he not think the name of -God the Father as elegant as Jupiter the almighty? -Would he think it less elegant to speak of Jesus Christ -than of Romulus, or of Scipio Africanus, of Quintus -Curtius, or of Marcus Decius? Would he think the -name of the Catholic Church less illustrious than that -of ‘Conscript Fathers,’ ‘Quirites,’ or ‘Senate and people -of Rome’? He would speak to us of faith in Christ, -of the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Trinity?” &c.<a name="FNanchor_205" id="FNanchor_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> - -<p>At considerable length Erasmus pours out the vials -of his scorn upon those who act so foolishly under the -influence of the false classical spirit. He points out -the danger to be avoided. People, he says, go into -raptures over pagan antiquities, and laugh at others -who are enthusiastic about Christian archæology. “We -kiss, venerate, almost adore a piece of antiquity,” he -says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> “and mock at relics of the Apostles. If any one -finds something from the twelve tables, who does not -consider it worthy of the most holy place? And the -laws written by the finger of God, who venerates, who -kisses them? How delighted we are with a medal -stamped with the head of Hercules, or of Mercury, or -of Fortune, or of Victory, or of Alexander the Great, or -one of the Cæsars,<a name="FNanchor_206" id="FNanchor_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> and we deride those who treasure -the wood of the cross or images of the Virgin and -saints as superstitious.”<a name="FNanchor_207" id="FNanchor_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> If in dealing with his subject -Erasmus may appear to exaggerate the evil he condemns, -this much is clear, that his advocacy of letters -and learning, however strenuous and enthusiastic, was -tempered by a sense of the paramount importance of -the Christian spirit in the pursuit of science.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE LUTHERAN INVASION</span></h2> - -<p>It is not uncommonly asserted that the religious -changes in England, although for convenience’ sake -dated from the rejection of Papal supremacy, were -in reality the outcome of long-continued and ever-increasing -dissatisfaction with the then existing ecclesiastical -system. The Pope’s refusal to grant Henry his -wished-for divorce from Katherine, we are told, was -a mere incident, which at most, precipitated by a -short while what had long been inevitable.<a name="FNanchor_208" id="FNanchor_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> Those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> -who take this view are bound to believe that the -Church in England in the early sixteenth century was -honeycombed by disbelief in the traditional teachings, -and that men were only too ready to welcome emancipation. -What then is the evidence for this picture of -the religious state of men’s minds in England on the -eve of the Reformation?</p> - -<p>It is, indeed, not improbable that up and down -the country there were, at this period, some dissatisfied -spirits; some who would eagerly seize any opportunity -to free themselves from the restraints which no longer -appealed to their consciences, and from teachings they -had come to consider as mere ecclesiastical formalism. -A Venetian traveller of intelligence and observation, -who visited the country at the beginning of the century, -whilst struck with the Catholic practices and with the -general manifestations of English piety he witnessed, -understood that there were “many who have various -opinions concerning religion.”<a name="FNanchor_209" id="FNanchor_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> But so far as there -is evidence at all, it points to the fact, that of religious -unrest, in any real sense, there could have been very -little in the country generally. It is, of course, impossible -to suppose that any measurable proportion of -the people could have openly rejected the teaching of -the Church or have been even crypto-Lollards, without -there being satisfactory evidence of the fact forthcoming -at the present day.</p> - -<p>The similarity of the doctrines held by the English -Reformers of the sixteenth century with many of those -taught by the followers of Wycliffe has, indeed, led some -writers to assume a direct connection between them -which certainly did not exist in fact. So far as England<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -at least is concerned, there is no justification for -assuming for the Reformation a line of descent from any -form of English Lollardism. It is impossible to study -the century which preceded the overthrow of the old -religious system in England without coming to the -conclusion that as a body the Lollards had been long -extinct, and that as individuals, scattered over the -length and breadth of the land, without any practical -principle of cohesion, the few who clung to the tenets -of Wycliffe were powerless to effect any change of -opinion in the overwhelming mass of the population -at large. Lollardry, to the Englishman of the day, was -“heresy,” and any attempt to teach it was firmly -repressed by the ecclesiastical authority, supported by -the strong arm of the State; but it was also an offence -against the common feeling of the people, and there can -be no manner of doubt that its repression was popular. -The genius of Milton enabled him to see the fact that -“Wycliffe’s preaching was soon damped and stifled by -the Pope and prelates for six or seven kings’ reigns,” -and Mr. James Gairdner, whose studies in this period -of our national history enable him to speak with -authority, comes to the same conclusion. “Notwithstanding -the darkness that surrounds all subjects connected -with the history of the fifteenth century,” he -writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> “we may venture pretty safely to affirm that -Lollardry was <i>not</i> the beginning of modern Protestantism. -Plausible as it seems to regard Wycliffe as ‘the -morning star of the Reformation,’ the figure conveys -an impression which is altogether erroneous. Wycliffe’s -real influence did not long survive his own day, and -so far from Lollardry having taken any deep root among -the English people, the traces of it had wholly disappeared -long before the great revolution of which it -is thought to be the forerunner. At all events, in the -rich historical material for the beginning of Henry -VIII.’s reign, supplied by the correspondence of the -time, we look in vain for a single indication that any -such thing as a Lollard sect existed. The movement -had died a natural death; from the time of Oldcastle -it sank into insignificance. Though still for a while -considerable in point of numbers, it no longer counted -among its adherents any men of note; and when -another generation had passed away the serious action -of civil war left no place for the crotchets of -fanaticism.”<a name="FNanchor_210" id="FNanchor_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> - -<p>On the only evidence available, the student of the -reign of Henry VII. and of that of Henry VIII. up to -the breach with Rome is bound to come to the same -conclusion as to the state of the English Church. If -we except manifestations of impatience with the Pope -and Curia, which could be paralleled in any age and -country, and which were rather on the secular side than -on the religious, there is nothing that would make us think -that England was not fully loyal in mind and heart to the -established ecclesiastical system. In fact, as Mr. Brewer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> -says, everything proves that “the general body of the -people had not as yet learned to question the established -doctrines of the Church. For the most part, they paid -their Peter pence and heard mass, and did as their -fathers had done before them.”<a name="FNanchor_211" id="FNanchor_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p> - -<p>It may be taken, therefore, for granted that the -seeds of religious discord were not the product of the -country itself, nor, so far as we have evidence on the -subject at all, does it appear that the soil of the country -was in any way specially adapted for its fructification. -The work, both of raising the seed and of scattering it -over the soil of England, must be attributed, if the plain -facts of history are to be believed, to Germans and the -handful of English followers of the German Reformers. -If we would rightly understand the religious situation -in England at the commencement of the Reformation, -it is of importance to inquire into the methods of attack -adopted in the Lutheran invasion, and to note the chief -doctrinal points which were first assailed.</p> - -<p>Very shortly after the religious revolt had established -itself in Germany, the first indications of a serious attempt -to undermine the traditional faith of the English Church -became manifest in England. Roger Edgworth, a preacher -during the reigns of Henry and Queen Mary, says that -his “long labours have been cast in most troublesome -times and most encumbered with errors and heresies, -change of minds and schisms that ever was in the -realm.… Whilst I was a young student in divinity,” -he continues,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> “Luther’s heresies rose and were scattered -here in this realm, which, in less space than a man -would think, had so sore infected the Christian folk, -first the youth and then the elders, where the children -could set their fathers to school, that the king’s -Majesty and all Christian clerks in the realm had much -ado to extinguish them. This they could not so perfectly -quench, but that ever since, when they might -have any maintenance by man or woman of great -power, they burst forth afresh, even like fire hid under -chaff.”<a name="FNanchor_212" id="FNanchor_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a></p> - -<p>Sir Thomas More, when Chancellor in 1532, -attributed the rapid spread of what to him and most -people of his day in England was heresy, to the -flood of literature which was poured forth over the -country by the help of printing. “We have had,” he -writes, “some years of late, plenteous of evil books. -For they have grown up so fast and sprung up -so thick, full of pestilent errors and pernicious -heresies, that they have infected and killed, I fear -me, more simple souls than the famine of the dear -years have destroyed bodies.”<a name="FNanchor_213" id="FNanchor_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a></p> - -<p>We are not left in ignorance as to the books here -referred to, as some few years previously the bishops -of England had issued a list of the prohibited volumes. -Thus, in October 1526, Bishop Tunstall ordered that -in London people should be warned not to read the -works in question, but that all who possessed them -should deliver them over to the bishop’s officials in -order that they might be destroyed as pernicious literature. -The list included several works of Luther, three -or four of Tyndale, a couple of Zwingle, and several -isolated works, such as the <i>Supplication of Beggars</i>, and -the <i>Dyalogue between the Father and the Son</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_214" id="FNanchor_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> - -<p>In 1530 the king by proclamation forbade the reading -or possession of some eighty-five works of Wycliffe, -Luther, Œcolampadius, Zwingle, Pomeranus, Bucer, -Wesselius, and indeed the German divines generally, -under the heading of “books of the Lutheran sect or -faction conveyed into the city of London.” Besides -these Latin treatises, the prohibition included many -English tracts, such as <i>A book of the old God and the new</i>, -the <i>Burying of the Mass</i>, Frith’s <i>Disputation concerning -Purgatory</i>, and several prayer-books intended to propagate -the new doctrines, such as <i>Godly prayers</i>; <i>Matins -and Evensong with the seven Psalms and other heavenly -psalms with commendations</i>; the <i>Hortulus Animæ</i> in -English,<a name="FNanchor_215" id="FNanchor_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> and the <i>Primer</i> in English.</p> - -<p>In his proclamation Henry VIII. speaks of the -determination of the English nation in times past to -be true to the Catholic faith and to defend the country -against “wicked sects of heretics and Lollards, who, -by perversion of Holy Scripture, do induce erroneous -opinions, sow sedition amongst Christian people, and -disturb the peace and tranquillity of Christian realms, -as lately happened in some parts of Germany, where, -by the procurement and sedition of Martin Luther and -other heretics, were slain an infinite number of Christian -people.” To prevent like misfortunes happening in -England, he orders prompt measures to be taken to -put a stop to the circulation of books in English and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> -other languages, which teach things “intolerable to the -clean ears of any good Christian man.”<a name="FNanchor_216" id="FNanchor_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a></p> - -<p>By the king’s command, the convocation of Canterbury -drew up a list of prohibited heretical books. In -the first catalogue of fifty-three tracts and volumes, -there is no mention of any work of Wycliffe, and besides -some volumes which had come from the pens of Tyndale, -Frith, and Roy, who were acknowledged disciples -of Luther, the rest are all the compositions of the German -Reformers. The same may be said of a supplementary -list of tracts, the authors of which were -unknown. All these are condemned as containing -false teaching, plainly contrary to the Catholic faith, -and the bishops add: “Moreover, following closely -in the footsteps of our fathers, we prohibit all from -selling, giving, reading, distributing, or publishing any -tract, booklet, pamphlet, or book, which translates or -interprets the Holy Scripture in the vernacular … -or even knowingly to keep such volumes without the -licence of their diocesan in writing.”<a name="FNanchor_217" id="FNanchor_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> - -<p>About the same time a committee of bishops, including -Archbishop Warham and Bishop Tunstall was -appointed to draw up a list of some of the principal -errors contained in the prohibited works of English -heretics beyond the sea. The king had heard that -“many books in the English tongue containing many -detestable errors and damnable opinions, printed in -parts beyond the sea,” were being brought into England -and spread abroad. He was unwilling that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> “such -evil seed sown amongst his people (should) so take root -that it might overgrow the corn of the Catholic doctrine -before sprung up in the souls of his subjects,” and he -consequently ordered this examination. This has been -done and the errors noted, “albeit many more there be -in those books; which books totally do swarm full of -heresies and detestable opinions.” The books thus -examined and noted were eight in number: <i>The Wicked -Mammon</i>; the <i>Obedience of Christian man</i>; the <i>Revelation -of Antichrist</i>; the <i>Sum of Scripture</i>; the <i>Book of Beggars</i>; -the <i>Kalendar of the Prymer</i>; the <i>Prymer</i>, and an <i>Exposition -unto the Seventh Chapter of I Corinthians</i>. From -these some hundreds of propositions were culled which -contradicted the plain teaching of the Church in matters -of faith and morality. In this condemnation, as the -king states in his directions to preachers to publish the -same, the commission were unanimous.<a name="FNanchor_218" id="FNanchor_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a></p> - -<p>The attack on the traditional teachings of the -Church, moreover, was not confined to unimportant -points. From the first, high and fundamental doctrines, -as it seemed to men in those days, were put in peril. -The works sent forth by the advocates of the change -speak for themselves, and, when contrasted with those -of Luther, leave no room for doubt that they were -founded on them, and inspired by the spirit of the -leader of the revolt, although, as was inevitable in -such circumstances, in particulars the disciples proved -themselves in advance of their master. Writing in -1546, Dr. Richard Smythe contrasts the old times, -when the faith was respected, with the then state of -mental unrest in religious matters. “In our days,” -he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> “not a few things, nor of small importance, -but (alack the more is the pity) even the chiefest and -most weighty matters of our religion and faith are -called in question, babbled, talked, and jangled upon -(reasoned I cannot nor ought not to call it). These -matters in time past (when reason had place and virtue -with learning was duly regarded, yea, and vice with -insolency was generally detested and abhorred) were -held in such reverence and honour, in such esteem and -dignity, yea, so received and embraced by all estates, -that it was not in any wise sufferable that tag and rag, -learned and unlearned, old and young, wise and foolish, -boys and wenches, master and man, tinkers and tilers, -colliers and coblers, with other such raskabilia might at -their pleasure rail and jest (for what is it else they now -do?) against everything that is good and virtuous, -against all things that are expedient and profitable, -not sparing any Sacrament of the Church or ordinance -of the same, no matter how laudable, decent, -or fitting it has been regarded in times past, or how -much it be now accepted by good and Catholic men. -In this way, both by preaching and teaching (if it so -ought to be called), playing, writing, printing, singing, -and (Oh, good Lord!) in how many other ways besides, -divers of our age, being their own schoolmasters, or -rather scholars of the devil, have not forborne or feared -to speak and write against the most excellent and most -blessed Sacrament of the Altar, affirming that the said -Sacrament is nothing more than a bare figure, and that -there is not in the same Sacrament the very body and -blood of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus -Christ, but only a naked sign, a token, a memorial and -a remembrance only of the same, if they take it for so -much even and do not call it (as they are wont to do) -an idol and very plain idolatry.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_219" id="FNanchor_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a></p> - -<p>As to the date of the introduction of these heretical -views into England, Sir Thomas More entirely agreed -with Dr. Smythe, the writer just quoted. He places -the growth of these ideas in the circulation of books by -Tyndale, Frith, and Barnes, and even as late as 1533, -declares that the number of those who had accepted -the new teaching was grossly exaggerated. He states -his belief that “the realm is not full of heretics, and it -has in it but a few, though that few be indeed over -many and grown more also by negligence in some part -than there has been in some late years past.”<a name="FNanchor_220" id="FNanchor_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> It was, -indeed, part of the strategy pursued by the innovators -in religion to endeavour to make the movement appear -more important than it had any claim to be. It is, -writes More, the “policy” of “these heretics who call -themselves ‘evangelical brethren,’” to make their -number appear larger than it is. “Some pot-headed -apostles they have that wander about the realm into -sundry shires, for whom every one has a different name -in every shire, and some, peradventure, in corners here -and there they bring into the brotherhood. But whether -they get any or none they do not hesitate to lie when -they come home, and say that more than half of every -shire is of their own sect. Boast and brag these blessed -brethren never so fast, they feel full well themselves -that they be too feeble in what country so ever they -be strongest. For if they thought themselves able to -meet and match the Catholics they would not, I ween, -lie still at rest for three days.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> -<p>“For in all places where heresies have sprung up -hitherto so hath it proved yet. And so negligently -might these things be handled, that at length it might -happen so here. And verily they look (far as they be -yet from the power) for it, and some of them have not -hesitated to say this, and some to write it, too. For I -read the letter myself which was cast into the palace of -the Right Reverend Father in God, Cuthbert, now -Bishop of Durham, but then Bishop of London, in -which among other bragging word … were these -words contained: ‘There will once come a day.’ And -out of question that day they long for but also daily -look for, and would, if they were not too weak, not fail -to find it. And they have the greater hope because -… they see that it begins to grow into a custom that -among good Catholic folk they are suffered to talk -unchecked.” For good men in their own minds indeed -think the Catholic faith so strong that heretics with all -their babbling will never be able to vanquish it, “and in -this undoubtedly their mind is not only good, but also -very true. But they do not look far enough. For as -the sea will never surround and overwhelm all the land, -and yet has eaten it in many places, and swallowed -whole countries up and made many places sea, which -sometime were well-inhabited lands, and has lost part -of its own possession again in other places, so, though -the faith of Christ shall never be overwhelmed with -heresy, nor the gate of hell prevail against Christ’s -Church, yet as in some places it winneth in new peoples, -so by negligence in some places the old may be lost.”<a name="FNanchor_221" id="FNanchor_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p> - -<p>Sir Thomas More is all for vigilance on the part of -the authorities. He likens those who are in power and -office to the guardians of a fertile field who are bound -to prevent the sowing of tares on their master’s land; -and the multiplication of evil books and their circulation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> -among the people, cannot, in his opinion, have any -other effect than to prevent the fertilisation of the good -seed of God’s word in the hearts of many. “These new -teachers,” he says, “despise Christ’s Sacraments, which -are His holy ordinances and a great part of Christ’s New -Law and Testament. Who can place less value on His -commandments than they who, upon the boldness of -faith only, set all good works at naught, and little consider -the danger of their evil deeds upon the boldness -that a bare faith and slight repentance, without shrift or -penance, suffices, and that no vow made to God can -bind a man to live chastely or hinder a monk from -marriage. All these things, with many pestilent errors -besides, these abominable books of Tyndale and his -fellows teach us. Of these books of heresies there are -so many made within these few years, what by Luther -himself and by his fellows, and afterwards by the new -sects sprung out of his, which, like the children of -Vippara, would now gnaw out their mother’s belly, that -the bare names of those books were almost enough to -make a book. Some of every sort of those books are -brought into this realm and kept in ‘hucker mucker’ -by some shrewd masters who keep them for no good. -Besides the Latin, French, and German books of which -these evil sects have put forth an innumerable number, -there are some made in the English tongue. First, -Tyndale’s <i>English Testament</i>, father of them all by reason -of his false translating, and after that, the <i>Five Books of -Moses</i> translated by the same man; we need not doubt -in what manner and for what purpose. Then you have -his <i>Introduction to Saint Paul’s Epistle</i>, with which he introduces -his readers to a false understanding of Saint -Paul, making them believe, among many other heresies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> -that Saint Paul held that faith only was always sufficient -for salvation, and that men’s good works were worth -nothing and could not deserve thanks or reward in -heaven, although they were done in grace.… Then -we have from Tyndale <i>The Wicked Mammona</i>, by which -many a man has been beguiled and brought into many -wicked heresies, which in good faith would be to me a -matter of no little wonder, for there was never a more -foolish frantic book, were it not that the devil is ever -ready to put out the eyes of those who are content to -become blind. Then we have Tyndale’s <i>Book of Obedience</i>, -by which we are taught to disobey the teaching of -Christ’s Catholic Church and set His holy Sacraments -at naught. Then we have from Tyndale the <i>First -Epistle of Saint John</i>, expounded in such wise that I dare -say that blessed Apostle had rather his Epistle had -never been put in writing than that his holy words -should be believed by all Christian people in such a -sense. Then we have the <i>Supplication of Beggars</i>, a -piteous beggarly book, in which he would have all the -souls in Purgatory beg all about for nothing. Then we -have from George Joye, otherwise called Clarke, a -<i>Goodly Godly Epistle</i>, wherein he teaches divers other -heresies, but specially that men’s vows and promises of -chastity are not lawful, and can bind no man in conscience -not to wed when he will. And this man, considering -that when a man teaches one thing and does -another himself, the people set less value by his preaching, -determined therefore with himself, that he would -show himself an example of his preaching. Therefore, -being a priest, he has beguiled a woman and wedded -her; the poor woman, I ween, being unaware that he is -a priest. Then you have also an <i>Exposition on the Seventh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> -Chapter of Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians</i>, by which -exposition also priests, friars, monks, and nuns are -taught the evangelical liberty that they may run out -a-caterwauling and wed. That work has no name of -the maker, but some think it was Friar Roy who, when -he had fallen into heresy, then found it unlawful to live -in chastity and ran out of his Order. Then have we -the <i>Examinations of Thorpe</i> put forth as it is said by -George Constantine (by whom I know well there has -been a great many books of that sort sent into this -realm). In that book, the heretic that made it as (if it -were) a communication between the bishop and his -chaplains and himself, makes all the parties speak as he -himself likes, and sets down nothing as spoken against -his heresies, but what he himself would seem solemnly -to answer. When any good Christian man who has -either learning or any natural wit reads this book, he -shall be able not only to perceive him for a foolish -heretic and his arguments easy to answer, but shall also -see that he shows himself a false liar in his rehearsal of -the matter in which he makes the other part sometimes -speak for his own convenience such manner of things -as no man who was not a very wild goose would have -done.</p> - -<p>“Then have we <i>Jonas</i> made out by Tyndale, a book -that whosoever delight therein shall stand in such peril, -that Jonas was never so swallowed up by the whale, as -by the delight of that book a man’s soul may be so -swallowed by the devil that he shall never have the -grace to get out again. Then, we have from Tyndale -the answer to my <i>Dyalogue</i>. Then, the book of Frith -against <i>Purgatory</i>. Then, the book of Luther translated -into English in the name of Brightwell, but, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> -I am informed, it was translated by Frith; a book, -such as Tyndale never made one more foolish nor one -more full of lies.… Then, we have the <i>Practice of -Prelates</i>, wherein Tyndale intended to have made a -special show of his high worldly wit, so that men -should have seen therein that there was nothing done -among princes that he was not fully advertised of the -secrets. Then, we have now the book of Friar -Barnes, sometime a doctor of Cambridge, who was -abjured before this time for heresy, and is at this day -come under a safe conduct to the realm. Surely, of -all their books that yet came abroad in English (of all -which there was never one wise nor good) there was -none so bad, so foolish, so false as his. This, since -his coming, has been plainly proved to his face, and -that in such wise that, when the books that he cites -and alleges in his book were brought forth before him, -and his ignorance showed him, he himself did in divers -things confess his oversight, and clearly acknowledged -that he had been mistaken and wrongly understood -the passages.</p> - -<p>“Then, we have besides Barnes’s book, the <i>A B C -for children</i>. And because there is no grace therein, -lest we should lack prayers, we have the <i>Primer</i> and -the <i>Ploughman’s Prayer</i> and a book of other small -devotions, and then the whole <i>Psalter</i> too. After the -<i>Psalter</i>, children were wont to go straight to their -<i>Donat</i> and their Accidence, but now they go straight to -Scripture. And for this end we have as a Donat, the -book of the <i>Pathway to Scripture</i>, and for an Accidence, -the <i>Whole sum of Scripture</i> in a little book, so that after -these books are learned well, we are ready for Tyndale’s -<i>Pentateuchs</i> and Tyndale’s <i>Testament</i>, and all the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -high heresies that he and Joye and Frith and Friar -Barnes teach in all their books. Of all these heresies -the seed is sown, and prettily sprung up in these little -books before. For the <i>Primer</i> and <i>Psalter</i>, prayers and -all, were translated and made in this manner by heretics -only. The <i>Psalter</i> was translated by George Joye, the -priest that is wedded now, and I hear say the <i>Primer</i> -too, in which the seven Psalms are printed without the -Litany, lest folks should pray to the saints; and the -<i>Dirge</i> is left out altogether, lest a man might happen -to pray with it for his father’s soul. In their Calendar, -before their devout prayers, they have given us a new -saint, Sir Thomas Hytton, the heretic who was burned -in Kent. They have put him in on St. Matthew’s Eve, -by the name of St. Thomas the Martyr.</p> - -<p>“It would be a long work to rehearse all their -books, for there are yet more than I have known. -Against all these the king’s high wisdom politically -provided, in that his proclamation forbade any manner -of English books printed beyond the sea to be brought -into this realm, or any printed within this realm to be -sold unless the name of the printer and his dwelling-place -were set upon the book. But still, as I said -before, a few malicious, mischievous persons have -now brought into this realm these ungracious books -full of pestilent, poisoned heresies that have already in -other realms killed, by schisms and war, many thousand -bodies, and by sinful errors and abominable heresies -many more thousand souls.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> -<p>“Although these books cannot either be there -printed without great cost, nor here sold without -great adventure and peril, yet, with money sent hence, -they cease not to print them there, and send them -hither by the whole sacks full at once; and in some -places, looking for no lucre, cast them abroad at night, -so great a pestilent pleasure have some devilish people -caught with the labour, travail, cast, charge, peril, -harm, and hurt of themselves to seek the destruction -of others.”<a name="FNanchor_222" id="FNanchor_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p> - -<p>In his introduction to the <i>Confutation</i> of Tyndale’s -answer, from which the foregoing extracts are taken, -Sir Thomas More gives ample evidence that the teaching -of “the New Learning” was founded entirely upon that -of the German Reformer Luther, although on certain -points his English followers had gone beyond their -master. He takes for example what Hytton, “whom -Tyndale has canonized,” had been teaching “his holy -congregations, in divers corners and luskes lanes.” -Baptism, he had allowed to be “a sacrament necessary -for salvation,” though he declared that there was no -need for a priest to administer it. Matrimony, he -thought a good thing for Christians, but would be -sorry to say it was a sacrament. Extreme Unction -and Confirmation, together with Holy Orders, he -altogether rejected as sacraments, declaring them to -be mere ceremonies of man’s invention. “The mass,” -he declared, “should never be said,” since to do so was -rather an act of sin than virtue. Confession to a priest -was unnecessary, and the penance enjoined was “without -profit to the soul.” Purgatory he denied, “and said -further, that neither prayer nor fasting for the souls -departed can do them any good.” Religious vows -were wrong, and those who entered religion “sinned -in so doing.” He held further, that “no man had any -free-will after he had once sinned;” that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> “all the -images of Christ and His saints should be thrown out -of the Church,” and that whatsoever laws “the Pope -or a General Council might make beyond what is -expressly commanded in Scripture” need not be -obeyed. “As touching the Sacrament of the Altar, -he said that it was a necessary sacrament, but held -that after the consecration, there was nothing whatever -therein, but only the very substance of material bread -and wine.”<a name="FNanchor_223" id="FNanchor_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a></p> - -<p>Now, it was to defend these points of Catholic -faith, as More, in common with the most learned in -the land, believed them to be, that he took up his pen -against Tyndale and others. I wish, he says, to second -“the king’s gracious purpose, as being his most unworthy -chancellor,” since<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> “I know well that the king’s -highness, for his faithful mind to God, desires nothing -more effectually than the maintenance of the true -Catholic faith, whereof is his no more honourable -than well-deserved title, ‘defensor.’ He detests nothing -more than these pestilent books which Tyndale and -others send over into the realm in order to set forth -their abominable heresies. For this purpose he has -not only by his most erudite famous books, both in -English and Latin, declared his most Catholic purpose -and intent, but also by his open proclamations divers -times renewed, and finally in his own most royal -person in the Star Chamber most eloquently by his -mouth, in the presence of his lords spiritual and -temporal, has given monition and warning to all the -justices of peace of every quarter of his realm then -assembled before his Highness, to be declared by them -to all his people, and did prohibit and forbid under -great penalties, the bringing in, reading, and keep of -those pernicious poisoned books.”<a name="FNanchor_224" id="FNanchor_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p> - -<p>The other writers of the time, moreover, had no -doubt whatever as to the place whence the novel -opinions had sprung, and they feared that social disturbances -would follow in the wake of the religious -teaching of the sectaries as they had done in the country -of their birth. Thus Germen Gardynare, writing -to a friend about the execution of John Frith for -heresy, says that he was “amongst others found busy -at Oxford in setting abroad these heresies which lately -sprang up in Germany, and by the help of such folk -are spread abroad into sundry places of Christendom, -tending to nothing else but to the division and rending -asunder of Christ’s mystical body, His Church; and -to the pulling down of all power and the utter subversion -of all commonwealths.”<a name="FNanchor_225" id="FNanchor_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p> - -<p>Sir Thomas More, too, saw danger to the ship of -State from the storms which threatened the nation in -the rise of the religious novelties imported from abroad. -As a warning anticipation of what might come to pass -in England if the flood was allowed to gain head, he -describes what was known of the state of Germany -when he wrote in 1528. What helped Luther to successfully -spread his poison was, he says, “that liberty -which he so highly commended unto the people, -inducing them to believe that having faith they -needed nothing else. For he taught them to neglect -fasting, prayer, and such other things as vain and unfruitful -ceremonies, teaching them also that being faithful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> -Christians they were so near cousins to Christ that -they were, in a full freedom and liberty, discharged of -all governors and all manner of laws spiritual and temporal, -except only the Gospel. And though he said that, -as a point of special perfection, it would be good to -suffer and bear the rule and authority of Popes and -princes and other governors, whose rule and authority -he calls mere tyranny, yet he says the people are so -free by faith that they are no more bound thereto than -they are to suffer wrong. And this doctrine Tyndale -also teaches as the special matter of his holy book of -disobedience. Now, this doctrine was heard so pleasantly -in Germany by the common people that it -blinded them in looking on the remnant, and would -not allow them to consider and see what end the same -would come to. The temporal lords also were glad to -hear this talk against the clergy, and the people were as -glad to hear it against the clergy and against the lords -too, and against all the governors of every good town and -city. Finally, it went so far that it began to burst out -and fall to open force and violence. For intending to -begin at the most feeble, a boisterous company of the -unhappy sect gathered together and first rebelled -against an abbot, and afterwards against a bishop, -wherewith the temporal lords had good game and -sport and dissembled the matter, gaping after the -lands of the spirituality, till they had almost played -as Æsop tells of the dog, which, in order to snatch -at the shadow of the cheese in the water, let the cheese -he had in his mouth fall, and lost it. For so it was -shortly after that those uplandish Lutherans took so -great boldness and began to grow so strong that they -set also upon the temporal lords. These … so acquitted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -themselves that they slew in one summer 70,000 -Lutherans and subdued the rest in that part of Germany -to a most miserable servitude.… And in divers other -parts of Germany and Switzerland this ungracious sect -is so grown, by the negligence of governors in great -cities, that in the end the common people have compelled -the rulers to follow them.…</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> - -<p>“And now it is too piteous a sight to see the ‘dispiteous -dispyghts’ done in many places to God and all -good men, with the marvellous change from the face -and fashion of Christendom into a very tyrannous persecution, -not only of all good Christians living and dead, -but also of Christ Himself. For there you will see -now goodly monasteries destroyed, the places burnt -up, and the religious people put out and sent to -seek their living; or, in many cities, the places (the -buildings) yet standing with more despite to God than -if they were burned to ashes. For the religious people, -monks, friars, and nuns, are wholly driven or drawn -out, except such as would agree to forsake their vows -of chastity and be wedded; and places dedicated to -cleanliness and chastity, left only to these apostates as -brothels to live there in lechery. Now are the parish -churches in many places not only defaced, all the ornaments -taken away, the holy images pulled down, and -either broken or burned, but also the Holy Sacrament -cast out. And the abominable beasts (which I abhor -to think about) did not abhor in despite to defile the -pixes and in many places use the churches continually -for a common siege. And that they have done in so -despiteful a wise that when a stranger from other places -where Christ is worshipped resorts to these cities, some -of those unhappy wretched citizens do not fail, as it -were, for courtesy and kindness, to accompany them in -their walking abroad to show them the pleasures and -commodities of the town, and then bring them to the -church, only to show them in derision what uses the -churches serve for!” Then, after pointing out that “of -this sect were the greater part of those ungracious -people who lately entered into Rome with the Duke -of Bourbon,” Sir Thomas More details at considerable -length the horrors committed during that sack -of the Eternal City; adding: “For this purpose I -rehearse to you these their heavy mischievous dealings, -that you may perceive by their deeds what good comes -of their sect. For as our Saviour says: ‘ye shall -know the tree by the fruit.’”<a name="FNanchor_226" id="FNanchor_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a></p> - -<p>The activity of the teachers of the new doctrine -was everywhere remarkable. More only wished that -the maintainers of the traditional Catholic faith were -half so zealous “as those that are fallen into false -heresies and have forsaken the faith.” These seem, -he says, indeed to “have a hot fire of hell in their -hearts that can never suffer them to rest or cease, -but forces them night and day to labour and work -busily to subvert and destroy the Catholic Christian -faith by every means they can devise.”<a name="FNanchor_227" id="FNanchor_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> The time -was, “and even until now very late,” when no man -would allow any heresy to be spoken at his table; for -this “has been till of late the common Christian zeal -towards the Catholic faith.” But now (1533)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> “though, -God be thanked, the faith is itself as fast rooted in this -realm as ever it was before (except in some very few -places, and yet even in those few the very faithful folk -are many more than the faithless), even good men -are beginning to tolerate the discussion of heretical -views, and to take part in ‘the evil talk.’”</p> - -<p>To understand the Reformation in England, it is -important to note the progress of its growth, and to -note that the lines upon which it developed were to -all intents and purposes those which had been laid -down by Luther for the German religious revolution, -although, in many ways, England was carried along the -path of reformed doctrines, even further than the original -leader had been prepared to go. The special points -of the traditional faith of the English people, which the -reforming party successfully attacked, were precisely -those which had been the battle-ground in Germany, -and Sir Thomas More’s description of the result there -might somewhat later have been written of this country. -Tyndale was described by More as “the captain of -the English heretics,” and the influence of his works -no doubt greatly helped to the overthrow of the traditional -teaching. The key of the position taken up by -the English Reformers, as well as by their German -predecessors, was the claim that all belief must be -determined by the plain word of Holy Scripture, and -by that alone. Tradition they rejected, although Sir -Thomas More pointed out forcibly that the Church -had always acknowledged the twofold authority of the -written and unwritten word.<a name="FNanchor_228" id="FNanchor_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> Upon this ground -Tyndale and his successors rejected all the sacraments -but two, attacked popular devotion to sacred images -and prayers to our Lady and the saints, and rejected -the old teaching about Purgatory and the help the -souls of the departed faithful could derive from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> -suffrages and penances of the living. Confirmation -and the anointing of priests at ordination they contemptuously -called “butter smearing,” and with their -denial of the priesthood quickly came their rejection -of the doctrine of the Sacrifice in the Mass, and their -teaching that the Holy Eucharist is a “token and -sign” rather than the actual Body and Blood of our -Lord.</p> - -<p>No means were left untried to further the spread -of the new views. Books of prayer were drawn up, in -which, under the guise of familiar devotions, the poison -of the reformed doctrine was unsuspectedly imbibed. -Richard Whitford complains that his works, which just -on the eve of the Reformation were deservedly popular, -had been made use of for the purpose of interpolating -tracts against points of Catholic faith, which people were -induced to buy under the supposition that they were -from the pen of the celebrated monk of Sion. John -Waylande, the printer of some Whitford books, in 1537 -prefixed the following notice to the new edition of -the <i>Werke for Householders</i>. “The said author required -me instantly that I should not print nor join any other -works with his, specially of uncertain authors. For -of late he found a work joined in the same volume -with his works, and bought and taken for his work. -This was not his, but was put there instead of his work -that before was named among the contents of his book, -and yet his (real) work was left out, as is complained in -this preface here unto the Reader.”</p> - -<p>In his preface Whitford says that the substituted -work was obviously by one of the Reformers, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> “not -only puts me into infamy and slander, but also puts -all readers in jeopardy of conscience to be infected -(by heresy) and in danger of the king’s laws, for the -manifold erroneous opinions that are contained in the -same book.” He consequently adds a warning to his -readers: “By my poor advice,” he says, “read not -those books that go forth without named authors. -For, doubtless, many of them that seem very devout -and good works, are full of heresies, and your old -English poet says, ‘There is no poison so perilous -of sharpness as that is that hath of sugar a sweetness.’”<a name="FNanchor_229" id="FNanchor_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> - -<p>In a subsequent volume, published in 1541, called -<i>Dyvers holy instructions and teachings</i>, Whitford again complains -of this device of the teachers of the new doctrines. -In the preface he gives the exact titles of the four little -tracts which go to make up the volume, in order, as he -says, “to give you warning to search well and surely -that no other works are put amongst them that might -deceive you. For, of a certainty, I found now but -very lately a work joined and bound with my poor -labours and under the contents of the same volume, -and one of my works which was named in the same -contents left out. Instead of this, was put this other -work that was not mine. For the title of mine was -this, ‘A daily exercise and experience of death,’ and -the other work has no name of any author. And all -such works in this time are ever to be suspected, for -so the heretics are used to send forth their poison -among the people covered with sugar. For they seem -to be good and devout workers, and are in very deed -stark heresies.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_230" id="FNanchor_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p> - -<p>Even the smallest points were not deemed too insignificant -for the teaching of novel doctrines destructive -of the old Catholic spirit. To take an example: -John Standish, writing in Mary’s reign about the vernacular -Scripture, complains of the translation which -had been made in the time of Henry VIII. “Who is -able,” he writes, “to tell at first sight how many -hundred faults are even in their best translation (if -there is any good). Shall they be suffered still to -continue? Shall they still poison more like as they -do in a thousand damnable English books set forth -within the last twenty-two years? Lord deliver us -from them all, and that with all speed! I take God -to record (if I may speak only of one fault in the -translation and touch no more) my heart did ever -abhor to hear this word <i>Dominus</i> … translated <i>the</i> -Lord, whereas it ought to be translated <i>our</i> Lord, the -very Latin phrase so declaring. Is not St. John -saying to Peter (John, xxi.), <i>Dominus est</i>, ‘it is our -Lord’? whereas they have falsely translated it as in -many other places ‘<i>the</i> Lord.’ And likewise in the -salutation of our Lady, ‘Hail, Mary, full of grace, -<i>dominus tecum</i>,’ does not this word <i>dominus</i> here include -<i>noster</i>, and so ought to be translated ‘our Lord is with -thee’? Would you make the Archangel like a devil -call him <i>the</i> Lord? He is the Lord to every evil spirit, -but to us He is our most merciful Lord and ought to -be called so. If, perchance, you ask of a husbandman -whose ground that is, he will answer, ‘the lord’s,’ who -is perhaps no better than a collier. Well, I speak this, -not now so much for the translation, seeing that it -swarms as full of faults as leaves (I will not say lines) -as I do, because I wish that the common speech<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> -among people sprung from this fond translation, ‘I -thank the Lord’; ‘the Lord be praised’; ‘the Lord -knoweth’; with all such-like phrases might be given -up, and that the people might be taught to call Him -‘our Lord,’ saying, ‘I thank our Lord’; ‘our Lord -be praised,’<a name="FNanchor_231" id="FNanchor_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> &c., &c.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE PRINTED ENGLISH BIBLE</span></h2> - -<p>It is very commonly believed that until the influence -of Cranmer had made itself felt, the ecclesiastical -authorities continued to maintain the traditionally -hostile attitude of the English Church towards the -English Bible. In proof of this, writers point to the -condemnation of the translations issued by Tyndale, -and the wholesale destruction of all copies of this, the -first printed edition of the English New Testament. -It is consequently of importance to examine into the -extent of the supposed clerical hostility to the vernacular -Scriptures, and into the reasons assigned by those -having the conduct of ecclesiastical affairs at that -period for the prohibition of Tyndale’s Testament.</p> - -<p>It may not be without utility to point out that the -existence of any determination on the part of the -Church to prevent the circulation of vernacular Bibles -in the fifteenth century has been hitherto too hastily -assumed. Those who were living during that period -may be fairly considered the most fitting interpreters -of the prohibition of Archbishop Arundel, which has -been so frequently adduced as sufficient evidence of -this supposed uncompromising hostility to what is now -called “the open Bible.” The terms of the archbishop’s -monition do not, on examination, bear the meaning -usually put upon it; and should the language be considered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> -by some obscure, there is absolute evidence of -the possession of vernacular Bibles by Catholics of -undoubted orthodoxy with, at the very least, the tacit -consent of the ecclesiastical authorities. When to this -is added the fact that texts from the then known -English Scriptures were painted on the walls of churches, -and portions of the various books were used in authorised -manuals of prayer, it is impossible to doubt that -the hostility of the English Church to the vernacular -Bible has been greatly exaggerated, if indeed its attitude -has not altogether been misunderstood. This much -may, and indeed must, be conceded, wholly apart from -the further question whether the particular version now -known as the Wycliffite Scriptures is, or is not, the -version used in the fifteenth and early sixteenth century -by Catholic Englishmen. That a Catholic version, or -some version viewed as Catholic and orthodox by those -who lived in the sixteenth century, really existed does -not admit of any doubt at all on the distinct testimony -of Sir Thomas More. It will be readily admitted that -he was no ordinary witness. As one eminent in legal -matters, he must be supposed to know the value of -evidence, and his uncompromising attitude towards all -innovators in matters of religion is a sufficient guarantee -that he would be no party to the propagation of any -unorthodox or unauthorised translations.</p> - -<p>Some quotations from Sir Thomas More’s works -will illustrate his belief better than any lengthy exposition. -It is unnecessary, he says, to defend the law -prohibiting any English version of the Bible, “for there -is none such, indeed. There is of truth a Constitution -which speaks of this matter, but nothing of such fashion. -For you shall understand that the great arch-heretic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> -Wycliffe, whereas the whole Bible was long before his -days by virtuous and well-learned men translated into -the English tongue, and by good and godly people and -with devotion and soberness well and reverently read, -took upon himself to translate it anew. In this translation -he purposely corrupted the holy text, maliciously -planting in it such words, as might in the readers’ ears -serve to prove such heresies as he ‘went about’ to sow. -These he not only set forth with his own translation of -the Bible, but also with certain prologues and glosses -he made upon it, and he so managed this matter, assigning -probable and likely reasons suitable for lay and unlearned -people, that he corrupted in his time many folk -in this realm.…</p> - -<p>“After it was seen what harm the people took from -the translation, prologues, and glosses of Wycliffe and -also of some others, who after him helped to set forth -his sect for that cause, and also for as much as it is -dangerous to translate the text of Scripture out of one -tongue into another, as St. Jerome testifieth, since in -translating it is hard to keep the same sentence whole -(i.e. the exact meaning): it was, I say, for these causes -at a Council held at Oxford, ordered under great penalties -that no one might thenceforth translate (the Scripture) -into English, or any other language, on his own -authority, in a book, booklet, or tract, and that no one -might read openly or secretly any such book, booklet, -or treatise newly made in the time of the said John -Wycliffe, or since, or should be made any time after, till -the same translation had been approved by the diocesan, -or, if need should require, by a Provincial Council.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> -<p>“This is the law that so many have so long spoken -about, and so few have all this time sought to look -whether they say the truth or not. For I hope you see -in this law nothing unreasonable, since it neither forbids -good translations to be read that were already made of -old before Wycliffe’s time, nor condemns his because it -was new, but because it was ‘naught.’ Neither does it -prohibit new translations to be made, but provides that -if they are badly made they shall not be read till they -are thoroughly examined and corrected, unless indeed -they are such translations as Wycliffe and Tyndale made, -which the malicious mind of the translator has handled -in such a way that it were labour lost to try and correct -them.”</p> - -<p>The “objector,” whom Sir Thomas More was engaged -in instructing in the <i>Dialogue</i>, could hardly believe -that the formal Provincial Constitution meant nothing -more than this, and thereupon, as Sir Thomas says: “I -set before him the Constitutions Provincial, with Lyndwood -upon it, and directed him to the place under the -title <i>De magistris</i>. When he himself had read this, he -said he marvelled greatly how it happened that in so -plain a matter men were so deceived.” But he thought -that even if the law was not as he had supposed, nevertheless -the clergy acted as if it were, and always “took -all translations out of every man’s hand whether the -translation was good or bad, old or new.” To this -More replied that to his knowledge this was not correct. -“I myself,” he says, “have seen and can show you -Bibles, fair and old, written in English, which have been -known and seen by the bishop of the diocese, and left in -the hands of laymen and women, whom he knew to be -good and Catholic people who used the books with -devotion and soberness.” He admitted indeed that all -Bibles found in the hands of heretics were taken away<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> -from them, but none of these, so far as he had ever -heard, were burnt, except such as were found to be -garbled and false. Such were the Bibles issued with -evil prologues or glosses, maliciously made by Wycliffe -and other heretics. “Further,” he declared, “no good -man would be so mad as to burn a Bible in which they -found no fault.” Nor was there any law whatever that -prohibited the possession, examination, or reading of -the Holy Scripture in English.<a name="FNanchor_232" id="FNanchor_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> - -<p>In reply to the case of Richard Hunn, who, according -to the story set about by the religious innovators, -had been condemned and his dead body burnt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> “only -because they found English Bibles in his house, in -which they never found other fault than because they -were in English,” Sir Thomas More, professedly, and -with full knowledge of the circumstances, absolutely -denies, as he says, “from top to toe,” the truth of this -story.<a name="FNanchor_233" id="FNanchor_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> He shows at great length that the whole tale -of Hunn’s death was carefully examined into by the -king’s officials, and declares that at many of the examinations -he himself had been present and heard the -witnesses, and that in the end it had been fully shown -that Hunn was in reality a heretic and a teacher of -heresy. “But,” urged his objector, “though Hunn -were himself a heretic, yet might the book (of the -English Bible) be good enough; and there is no good -reason why a good book should be burnt.” The copy -of this Bible, replied More, was of great use in showing -the kind of man Hunn really was, “for at the time he -was denounced as a heretic, there lay his English Bible -open, and some other English books of his, so that -every one could see the places noted with his own hand, -such words and in such a way that no wise and good -man could, after seeing them, doubt what ‘naughty -minds’ the men had, both he that so noted them and -he that so made them. I do not remember the particulars,” -he continued, “nor the formal words as they -were written, but this I do remember well, that besides -other things found to support divers other heresies, -there were in the prologue of that Bible such words -touching the Blessed Sacrament as good Christian men -did much abhor to hear, and which gave the readers undoubted -occasion to think that the book was written -after Wycliffe’s copy, and by him translated into our -tongue.”<a name="FNanchor_234" id="FNanchor_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a></p> - -<p>More then goes on to state his own mind as to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> -utility of vernacular Scriptures. And, in the first place, -he utterly denies again that the Church, or any ecclesiastical -authority, ever kept the Bible in English from -the people, except “such translations as were either not -approved as good translations, or such as had already -been condemned as false, such as Wycliffe’s and Tyndale’s -were. For, as for other old ones that were before -Wycliffe’s days, they remain lawful, and are in the possession -of some people, and are read.” To this assertion -of a plain fact Sir Thomas More’s opponent did -not dissent, but frankly admitted that this was certainly -the case,<a name="FNanchor_235" id="FNanchor_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> although he still thought that the English -Bible might be in greater circulation than it was.<a name="FNanchor_236" id="FNanchor_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> Sir -Thomas More considered that the clergy really had -good grounds not to encourage the spread of the vernacular -Scriptures at that time, inasmuch as those who -were most urgent in the matter were precisely those -whose orthodoxy was reasonably suspected. It made -men fear, he says, “that seditious people would do -more harm with it than good and honest folk would -derive benefit.” This, however, he declared was not -his own personal view.<a name="FNanchor_237" id="FNanchor_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> “I would not,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> -“for my part, withhold the profit that one good, devout, -unlearned man might get by the reading, for fear of the -harm a hundred heretics might take by their own wilful -abuse.… Finally, I think that the Provincial Constitution -(already spoken of) has long ago determined -the question. For when the clergy in that synod agreed -that the English Bibles should remain which were translated -before Wycliffe’s days, they, as a necessary consequence, -agreed that it was no harm to have the Bible -in English. And when they forbade any new translation -to be read till it were approved by the bishops, it -appears clearly that they intended that the bishop should -approve it, if he found it to be faultless, and also to -amend it where it was found faulty, unless the man -who made it was a heretic, or the faults were so many -and of such a character that it would be easier to retranslate -it than to mend it.”<a name="FNanchor_238" id="FNanchor_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a></p> - -<p>This absolute denial of any attitude of hostility on -the part of the Church to the translated Bible is reiterated -in many parts of Sir Thomas More’s English -works. When, upon the condemnation of Tyndale’s -Testament, the author pointed to this fact as proof of -the determination of the clergy to keep the Word of God -from the people, More replied at considerable length. -He showed how the ground of the condemnation had -nothing whatever to do with any anxiety upon the part of -ecclesiastics to keep the Scriptures from lay people, but -was entirely based upon the complete falsity of Tyndale’s -translation itself. “He pretends,” says Sir Thomas -More,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> “that the Church makes some (statutes) openly -and directly against the Word of God, as in that statute -whereby they have condemned the New Testament. -Now, in truth, there is no such statute made. For -as for the New Testament, if he mean the Testament -of Christ, it is not condemned nor forbidden. -But there is forbidden a false English -translation of the New Testament newly forged by -Tyndale, altered and changed in matters of great weight, -in order maliciously to set forth against Christ’s true -doctrine Tyndale’s anti-Christian heresies. Therefore -that book is condemned, as it is well worthy to be, and -the condemnation thereof is neither openly nor privily, -directly nor indirectly, against the word of God.”<a name="FNanchor_239" id="FNanchor_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a></p> - -<p>Again, in another place, More replies to what he -calls Tyndale’s “railing” against the clergy, and in particular -his saying that they keep the Scripture from lay -people in order that they may not see how they -“juggle with it.” “I have,” he says, “in the book of -my <i>Dyalogue</i> proved already that Tyndale in this point -falsely belies the clergy, and that in truth Wycliffe, -and Tyndale, and Friar Barnes, and such others, have -been the original cause why the Scripture has been of -necessity kept out of lay people’s hands. And of late, -specially, by the politic provision and ordinance of our -most excellent sovereign the king’s noble grace, not -without great and urgent causes manifestly rising from -the false malicious means of Wycliffe and Tyndale,” this -has been prevented. “For this (attempt of Tyndale) -all the lay people of this realm, both the evil folk who -take harm from him, and the good folk that lose their -profit by him, have great cause to lament that ever the -man was born.”<a name="FNanchor_240" id="FNanchor_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p> - -<p>The same view is taken by Roger Edgworth, a -popular preacher in the reign of Henry VIII. After -describing what he considered to be the evils which -had resulted from the spread of Lutheran literature in -England, he says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> “By this effect you may judge the -cause. The effect was evil, therefore there must needs -be some fault in the cause. But what sayest thou? Is -not the study of Scripture good? Is not the knowledge -of the Gospels and of the New Testament godly, -good, and profitable for a Christian man or woman? -I shall tell you what I think in this matter. I have -ever been in this mind, that I have thought it no harm, -but rather good and profitable, that Holy Scripture -should be had in the mother tongue, and withheld from -no man that was apt and meet to take it in hand, -specially if we could get it well and truly translated, -which will be very hard to be had.”<a name="FNanchor_241" id="FNanchor_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a></p> - -<p>There is, it is true, no doubt, that the destruction of -Tyndale’s Testaments and the increasing number of -those who favoured the new religious opinions, caused -people to spread all manner of stories abroad as to the -attitude of the Church authorities in England towards -the vernacular Scriptures. Probably the declaration -of the friend, against whom Sir Thomas More, then -Chancellor, in 1530, wrote his <i>Dyalogue</i>, “that great -murmurs were heard against the clergy on this score,” -is not far from the truth. Ecclesiastics, he said, in the -opinion of the common people, would not tolerate -criticism of their lives or words, and desired to keep -laymen ignorant. “And they” (the people) “think,” -he adds,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> “that for no other cause was there burned at -St. Paul’s Cross the New Testament, late translated by -Master William Huchin, otherwise called Tyndale, who -was (as men say) well known, before he went over the -sea, as a man of right good life, studious and well -learned in the Scriptures. And men mutter among -themselves that the book was not only faultless, but -also very well translated, and was ordered to be burned, -because men should not be able to prove that such -faults (as were at Paul’s Cross declared to have been -found in it) were never in fact found there at all; but -untruly surmised, in order to have some just cause -to burn it, and that for no other reason than to keep -out of the people’s hands all knowledge of Christ’s -Gospel and of God’s law, except so much as the clergy -themselves please now and then to tell them. Further, -that little as this is, it is seldom expounded. And, as it -is feared, even this is not well and truly told; but -watered with false glosses and altered from the truth -of the words and meaning of Scripture, only to maintain -the clerical authority. And the fear lest this -should appear evident to the people, if they were -suffered to read the Scripture themselves in their own -tongue, was (it is thought) the very cause, not only -for which the New Testament translated by Tyndale -was burned, but also why the clergy of this realm have -before this time, by a Constitution Provincial, prohibited -any book of Scripture to be translated into the English -tongue, and threaten with fire men who should presume -to keep them, as heretics; as though it were heresy -for a Christian man to read Christ’s Gospel.”<a name="FNanchor_242" id="FNanchor_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a></p> - -<p>It has been already pointed out how Sir Thomas -More completely disposed of this assertion as to the -hostility of the clergy to “the open Bible.” In his -position of Chancellor of England, More could hardly -have been able to speak with so much certainty about -the real attitude of the Church, had not the true facts -been at the same time well understood and commonly -acknowledged. The words of the “objector,” however, -not only express the murmurs of those who were at that -period discontented with the ecclesiastical system; but -they voice the accusations which have been so frequently -made from that day to this, by those who do -not as a fact look at the other side. Sir Thomas More’s -testimony proves absolutely that no such hostility to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> -English Bible as is so generally assumed of the pre-Reformation -Church did, in fact, exist. Most certainly -there never was any ecclesiastical prohibition against -vernacular versions as such, and the most orthodox -sons of the Church did in fact possess copies of the -English Scriptures, which they read openly and devoutly. -This much seems certain.</p> - -<p>Moreover, Sir Thomas More’s contention that there -was no prohibition is borne out by other evidence. -The great canonist Lyndwood undoubtedly understood -the Constitution of Oxford on the Scriptures in the -same sense as Sir Thomas More. In fact, as it has -been pointed out already, to his explanation Sir -Thomas More successfully appealed in proof of his -assertion that there was no such condemnation of the -English Scriptures, as had been, and is still, asserted -by some. It has, of course, been often said that Sir -Thomas More, and of course Lyndwood, were wrong -in supposing that there were any translations previous -to that of the version now known as Wycliffite. -This is by no means so clear; and even supposing -they were in error as to the date of the version, it is -impossible that they could have been wrong as to the -meaning and interpretation of the law itself, and as -to the fact that versions were certainly in circulation -which were presumed by those who used them -to be Catholic and orthodox. Archbishop Cranmer -himself may also be cited as a witness to the free -circulation of manuscript copies of the English Scriptures -in pre-Reformation times, since the whole of his -argument for allowing a new version, in the preface to -the Bishops’ Bible, rests on the well-known custom -of the Church to allow vernacular versions, and on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> -fact that copies of the English Scriptures had previously -been in daily use with ecclesiastical sanction.</p> - -<p>The same conclusion must be deduced from books -printed by men of authority and unquestionable piety. -In them we find the reading of the Scriptures strongly -recommended. To take an example: Thomas Lupset, -the friend and protégé of Colet and Lilly, gives the -following advice to his sisters, two of whom were nuns: -“Give thee much to reading; take heed in meditation -of the Scripture, busy thee in the law of God; have -a customable use in divine books.”<a name="FNanchor_243" id="FNanchor_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> The same pious -scholar has much the same advice for a youth in the -world who had been his pupil. After urging him to -avoid “meddling in any point of faith otherwise than -as the Church shall instruct and teach,” he adds, “more -particularly in writings you shall learn this lesson, if you -would sometimes take in your hand the New Testament -and read it with a due reverence”; and again: “in -reading the Gospels, I would you had at hand Chrysostom -and Jerome, by whom you might surely be brought -to a perfect understanding of the text.”<a name="FNanchor_244" id="FNanchor_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a></p> - -<p>Moreover, the testimony of Sir Thomas More that -translations were allowed by the Church, and that these, -men considered rightly or wrongly, had been made -prior to the time of Wycliffe, is confirmed by Archdeacon -John Standish in Queen Mary’s reign. When the -question of the advisability of a vernacular translation -was then seriously debated, he says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> “To the intent -that none should have occasion to misconstrue the true -meaning thereof, it is to be thought that, if all men -were good and Catholic, then were it lawful, yea, and -very profitable also, that the Scripture should be in -English, as long as the translations were true and -faithful.… And that is the cause that the clergy -did agree (as it is in the Constitution Provincial) that -the Bibles that were translated into English before -Wycliffe’s days might be suffered; so that only such -as had them in handling were allowed by the ordinary -and approved as proper to read them, and so that their -reading should be only for the setting forth of God’s -glory.”<a name="FNanchor_245" id="FNanchor_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a></p> - -<p>Sir Thomas More, in his <i>Apology</i>, points out that -although, in his opinion, it would be a good thing to -have a proper English translation, still it was obviously -not necessary for the salvation of man’s soul. “If the -having of the Scripture in English,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> “be a -thing so requisite of precise necessity, that the people’s -souls must needs perish unless they have it translated -into their own tongue, then the greater part of them -must indeed perish, unless the preacher further provide -that all people shall be able to read it when they have -it. For of the whole people, far more than four-tenths -could never read English yet, and many are now too -old to begin to go to school.… Many, indeed, have -thought it a good and profitable thing to have the -Scripture well and truly translated into English, and -although many equally wise and learned and also very -virtuous folk have been and are of a very different -mind; yet, for my own part, I have been and am still -of the same opinion as I expressed in my Dyalogue, -if the people were amended, and the time meet -for it.”<a name="FNanchor_246" id="FNanchor_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a></p> - -<p>The truth is, that there was then no such clamour -for the translated Bible as it has suited the purposes of -some writers to represent. In view of all that is known -about the circumstances of those times, it does not -appear at all likely that the popular mind would be -really stirred by any desire for Bible reading. The late -Mr. Brewer may be allowed to speak with authority on -this matter when he writes: “Nor, indeed, is it possible -that Tyndale’s writings and translations could at this -early period have produced any such impressions as is -generally surmised, or have fallen into the hands of -many readers. His works were printed abroad; their -circulation was strictly forbidden; the price of them was -beyond the means of the poorer classes, even supposing -that the knowledge of letters at that time was more -generally diffused than it was for centuries afterwards. -To imagine that ploughmen and shepherds in the -country read the New Testament in English by stealth, -or that smiths and carpenters in towns pored over its -pages in the corners of their masters’ workshops, is to -mistake the character and acquirements of the age.”<a name="FNanchor_247" id="FNanchor_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a></p> - -<p>“So far from England then being a ‘Bible-thirsty -land,’” says a well-informed writer, “there was no -anxiety whatever for an English version at that time, -excepting among a small minority of the people,”<a name="FNanchor_248" id="FNanchor_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> and -these desired it not for the thing in itself so much -as a means of bringing about the changes in doctrine -and practice which they desired.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> “Who is there -among us,” says one preacher of the period, “that -will have a Bible, but he must be compelled thereto.” -And the single fact that the same edition of the Bible -was often reissued with new titles, &c., is sufficient -proof that there was no such general demand for -Bibles as is pretended by Foxe when he writes: “It -was wonderful to see with what joy this book of -God was received, not only among the learneder -sort, and those that were noted for lovers of the -Reformation, but generally all England over among -all the vulgar common people.” “For,” says the -writer above quoted, “if the people all England -over were so anxious to possess the new translation, -what need was there of so many penal enactments to -force it into circulation, and of royal proclamations -threatening with the king’s displeasure those who -neglected to purchase copies.”<a name="FNanchor_249" id="FNanchor_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a></p> - -<p>There can be little doubt that the condemnation of -the first printed English Testament, and the destruction, -by order of the ecclesiastical authority, of all copies -which Tyndale had sent over to England for sale, have -tended, more than anything else, to confirm in their -opinion those who held that the Church in pre-Reformation -England would not tolerate the vernacular -Scriptures at all. It is of interest, therefore, and importance, -if we would determine the real attitude of -churchmen in the sixteenth century to the English -Bible, to understand the grounds of this condemnation. -As the question was keenly debated at the time, there -is little need to seek for information beyond the pages -of Sir Thomas More’s works.</p> - -<p>The history of Tyndale’s translation is not of such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> -importance in this respect, as a knowledge of the chief -points objected against it. Some brief account of this -history, however, is almost necessary if we would fully -understand the character and purpose of the translation. -William Tyndale was born about the year -1484, and was in turn at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, -and professed among the Friars Observant at -Greenwich. In 1524 he passed over to Hamburg, and -then, about the middle of the year, to Wittenberg, where -he attached himself to Luther. Under the direction at -least, of the German reformer, and very possibly also -with his actual assistance, he commenced his translation -of the New Testament. The royal almoner, -Edward Lee, afterwards Archbishop of York, being -on a journey to Spain, wrote on December 2, 1525, -from Bordeaux, warning Henry VIII. of the preparation -of this book. “I am certainly informed,” he says, -“that an Englishman, your subject, at the solicitation -and instance of Luther, with whom he is, hath translated -the New Testament into English; and within a -few days intendeth to return with the same imprinted -into England. I need not to advertise your Grace -what infection and danger may ensue hereby if it be -not withstanded. This is the way to fill your realm -with Lutherans. For all Luther’s perverse opinions -be grounded upon bare words of Scripture not well -taken nor understood, which your Grace hath opened -(<i>i.e.</i> pointed out) in sundry places of your royal book.”<a name="FNanchor_250" id="FNanchor_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> - -<p>Luther’s direct influence may be detected on almost -every page of the printed edition issued by Tyndale, -and there can be no doubt that it was prepared with -Luther’s version of 1522 as a guide. From the general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> -introduction of this German Bible, nearly half, or some -sixty lines, are transferred by Tyndale almost bodily to -his prologue, whilst he adopted and printed over against -the same chapters and verses, placing them in the same -position in the inner margins, some 190 of the German -reformer’s marginal references. Besides this, the marginal -notes on the outer margin of the English Testament -are all Luther’s glosses, translated from the -German. In view of this, it can hardly be a matter -of surprise that Tyndale’s Testament was very commonly -known at the time as “Luther’s Testament in -English.”</p> - -<p>In this work of translation or adaptation, Tyndale -was assisted by another ex-friar, named Joye, with -whom, however, he subsequently quarrelled, and about -whom he then spoke in abusive and violent terms. At -first it was intended to print the edition at Cologne, but -being disturbed by the authorities there, Tyndale fled -to Worms, and at once commenced printing at the -press of Peter Schœffer, the octavo volume which is -known as the first edition of Tyndale’s New Testament. -Although the author is supposed to have been a good -Greek scholar, there is evidence to show that the copy -he used for the work of translation was the Latin version -of Erasmus, printed by Fisher in 1519, with some -alterations taken from the edition of 1522, and some -other corrections from the Vulgate.</p> - -<p>John Cochlæus, who had a full and personal knowledge -of all the Lutheran movements at the time, writing -in 1533, says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> “Eight years previously, two apostates -from England, knowing the German language, came -to Wittenberg, and translated Luther’s New Testament -into English. They then came to Cologne, as to a -city nearer to England, with a more established -trade, and more adapted for the despatch of merchandise. -Here … they secretly agreed with printers to -print at first three thousand copies, and printers and -publishers pushed on the work with the firm expectation -of success, boasting that whether the king and -cardinal liked it or not, England would shortly ‘be -Lutheran.’”<a name="FNanchor_251" id="FNanchor_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a></p> - -<p>It was this scheme that Cochlæus was instrumental -in frustrating, his representations forcing Tyndale to -remove the centre of his operations to Worms. For -the benefit of the Scotch king, to whom his account was -addressed, Cochlæus adds, that Luther’s German translation -of the New Testament was intended of set -purpose to spread his errors; that the people had -bought up thousands, and that thereby “they have -not been made better but rather the worse, artificers -who were able to read neglecting their shops and -the work by which they ought to gain the bread -of their wives and children.” For this reason, he -says, magistrates in Germany have had to forbid the -reading of Luther’s Testament, and many have been put -in prison for reading it. In his opinion the translation -of the Testament into the vernacular had become an -idol and a fetish to the German Lutherans, although in -Germany there were many vernacular translations of -both the Old and the New Testaments, before the rise -of Lutheranism.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_252" id="FNanchor_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a></p> - -<p>With a full understanding of the purpose and tendency -of Tyndale’s translation and of the evils which -at least some hard-headed men had attributed to the -spread of Luther’s German version, upon which almost -admittedly the English was modelled, the ecclesiastical -authorities of England approached the practical question—what -was to be done in the matter? Copies of -the printed edition must have reached England some -time in 1526, for in October of that year Bishop Tunstall -of London addressed a monition to the archdeacons -on the subject. “Many children of iniquity,” -he says, “maintainers of Luther’s sect, blinded through -extreme wickedness, wandering from the way of truth -and the Catholic faith, have craftily translated the -New Testament into our English tongue, intermeddling -therewith many heretical articles and erroneous opinions, -pernicious and offensive, seducing the simple people; -attempting by their wicked and perverse interpretations -to profane the majesty of Scripture, which hitherto hath -remained undefiled, and craftily to abuse the most holy -Word of God, and the true sense of the same. Of this -translation there are many books printed, some with -glosses and some without, containing in the English -tongue that pestiferous and pernicious poison, (and -these are) dispersed in our diocese of London.” He -consequently orders all such copies of the New Testament -to be delivered up to his offices within thirty -days.<a name="FNanchor_253" id="FNanchor_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> - -<p>This was the first action of the English ecclesiastical -authorities, and it was clearly taken not from distrust -of what the same bishop calls “the most holy Word -of God,” but because they looked on the version sent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> -forth by Tyndale as a profanation of the Bible, and -as intended to disseminate the errors of Lutheranism.</p> - -<p>Of the Lutheran character of the translation the -authorities, whether in Church or State, do not seem -to have had from the first the least doubt. The king -himself, in a rejoinder to Luther’s letter of apology, -says that the German reformer “fell in device with -one or two lewd persons, born in this our realm, for -the translating of the New Testament into English, as -well with many corruptions of that holy text, as certain -prefaces and other pestilent glosses in the margins, for -the advancement and setting forth of his abominable -heresies, intending to abuse the good minds and devotion -that you, our dearly beloved people, bear toward -the Holy Scripture and infect you with the deadly corruption -and contagious odour of his pestilent errors.”<a name="FNanchor_254" id="FNanchor_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a></p> - -<p>Bishop Tunstall, in 1529, whilst returning from an -embassy abroad, purchased at Antwerp through one -Packington, all copies of the English printed New -Testament that were for sale, and, according to the -chronicler Hall, burned them publicly at St. Paul’s -in May 1530. For the same reason the confiscated -volumes of the edition first sent over were committed -to the flames some time in 1527,<a name="FNanchor_255" id="FNanchor_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> and Bishop Tunstall -explained to the people at Paul’s Cross that the book -was destroyed because in more than two thousand -places wrong translations and corruptions had been -detected. Tyndale made a great outcry at the iniquity -of burning the Word of God; but in <i>The Wicked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> -Mammon</i> he declares that, “in burning the New Testament -they did none other thynge than I looked for.” -Moreover, as he sold the books knowing the purpose -for which they were purchased, he may be said to have -been a participator in the act he blames. “The fact -is,” says a modern authority, “the books were full of -errors and unsaleable, and Tyndale wanted money to -pay the expense of a revised version and to purchase -Vastermann’s old Dutch blocks to illustrate his Pentateuch, -and was glad to make capital in more ways than -one by the translation. ‘I am glad,’ said he, ‘for these -two benefits shall come thereof: I shall get money to -bring myself out of debt, and the whole world will cry -out against the burning of God’s Word, and the overplus -of the money that shall remain to me shall make -me more studious to correct the said New Testament, -and so newly to imprint the same once again, and I -trust the second you will much better like than you -ever did the first.’”<a name="FNanchor_256" id="FNanchor_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a></p> - -<p>Tyndale allowed nine years to elapse before issuing -a second edition of his Testament. Meantime, as his -former assistant, Joye, says, foreigners looking upon the -English Testament as a good commercial speculation, -and seeing that the ecclesiastical authorities in England -had given orders to purchase the entire first issue of -Tyndale’s print, set to work to produce other reprints. -Through ignorance of the language, the various editions -they issued were naturally full of typographical errors, -and, as Joye declared, “England hath enough and too -many false Testaments, and is now likely to have many -more.” He consequently set to work himself to see -an edition through the press, in which, without Tyndal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>e’s -leave, he made substantial alterations in his translation. -Joye’s version appeared in 1534, and immediately -Tyndale attacked its editor in the most bitter, reproachful -terms. In George Joye’s <i>Apology</i>, which appeared -in 1535, he tried, as he says, “to defend himself against -so many slanderous lies upon him in Tyndale’s uncharitable -and unsober epistle.” In the course of the -tract, Joye charges Tyndale with claiming as his own -what in reality was Luther’s. “I have never,” he says, -“heard a sober, wise man praise his own works as I -have heard him praise his exposition of the fifth, sixth, -and seventh chapters of St. Matthew, insomuch that -mine ears glowed for shame to hear him; and yet it -was Luther that made it, Tyndale only translating it -and powdering it here and there with his own fantasies.”</p> - -<p>In a second publication Joye declares Tyndale’s -incompetence to judge of the original Greek. “I -wonder,” he says, “how he could compare it with the -Greek, since he himself is not so exquisitely seen therein.… -I know well (he) was not able to do it without such -a helper as he hath ever had hitherto.”<a name="FNanchor_257" id="FNanchor_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> Tyndale, however, -continued his work of revision in spite of opposition, -and further, with the aid of Miles Coverdale, -issued translations of various portions of the Old Testament.</p> - -<p>Shortly after the public burning of the copies of -the translated Testament by Bishop Tunstall, on May -24, 1530, an assembly was called together by Archbishop -Warham to formally condemn these and other -books then being circulated with the intention of undermining -the religion of the country. The king was -present in person, and a list of errors was drawn up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> -and condemned “with all the books containing the -same, with the translation also of Scripture corrupted -by William Tyndale, as well in the Old Testament as in -the New.” After this meeting, a document was issued -with the king’s authority, which preachers were required -to read to their people. After speaking of the books -condemned for teaching error, the paper takes notice -of an opinion “in some of his subjects” that the Scripture -should be allowed in English. The king declares -that it is a good thing the Scriptures should be circulated -at certain times, but that there are others when -they should not be generally allowed, and taking into -consideration all the then existing circumstances, he -“thinketh in his conscience that the divulging of the -Scripture at this time in the English tongue to be committed -to the people … would rather be to their -further confusion and destruction than for the edification -of their souls.”</p> - -<p>In this opinion, we are told, all in the assembly -concurred. At the same time, however, the king promised -that he would have the New Testament “faithfully -and purely translated by the most learned men,” -ready to be distributed when circumstances might -allow.</p> - -<p>Sir Thomas More plainly states the reason for this -prohibition.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> “In these days, in which Tyndale (God -amend him) has so sore poisoned malicious and new-fangled -folk with the infectious contagion of his heresies, -the king’s highness, and not without the counsel and -advice, not only of his nobles with his other counsellors -attending upon his Grace’s person, but also of the most -virtuous and learned men of both universities and other -parts of the realm, specially called thereto, has been -obliged for the time to prohibit the Scriptures of God -to be allowed in the English tongue in the hands of -the people, lest evil folk … may turn all the honey -into poison, and do hurt unto themselves, and spread -also the infection further abroad … and by their -own fault misconstrue and take harm from the very -Scripture of God.”<a name="FNanchor_258" id="FNanchor_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a></p> - -<p>Early in 1534 Tyndale took up his abode once -more in Antwerp at the house of an English merchant, -and busied himself in passing his revised New Testament -through the press. This was published in the -following November. To it he prefixed a second prologue -dealing with the edition just published by George -Joye. This he declares was no true translation, and -charges his former assistant with deliberate falsification -of the text of Holy Scripture in order to support his -errors and false opinions. The edition itself manifests -many changes in the text caused by the criticism to -which the former impression had been subjected, whilst -many of the marginal notes “exhibit the great change -that had taken place in Tyndale’s religious opinions, -and show that he had ceased to be an Episcopalian.”<a name="FNanchor_259" id="FNanchor_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a></p> - -<p>Having given a brief outline of the history of Tyndale’s -Testament, we are now in a position to examine into -the grounds upon which the ecclesiastical authorities of -England condemned it. For this purpose, we need -again hardly go beyond the works of Sir Thomas More, -who in several of his tracts deals specifically with this -subject. “Tyndale’s false translation of the New Testament,” -he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> “was, as he himself confesses, translated -with such changes as he has made in it purposely, to -the intent that by those changed words the people -should be led into the opinions which he himself calls -true Catholic faith, but which all true Catholic people -call very false and pestilent heresies.” After saying -that for this reason this translation was rightly condemned -by the clergy and openly burnt at Paul’s Cross, -he continues: “The faults are so many in Tyndale’s translation -of the New Testament, and so spread throughout -the whole book, that it were as easy to weave a new -web of cloth or to sew up every hole in a net, so would -it be less labour to translate the whole book anew than -to make in his translation as many changes as there -needs must be before it were made a good translation. -Besides this, no wise man, I fancy, would take bread -which he well knew had once been poisoned by his -enemy’s hand, even though he saw his friend afterwards -sweep it ever so clean.… For when it had -been examined, considered, and condemned by those to -whom the judgment and ordering of the thing belonged, -and that false poisoned translation had been forbidden -to the people,” it would be the height of presumption for -any one to encourage the people boldly to resist their -prince and disobey their prelates, and give them, as some -indeed have, such a poor reason as this, “that poisoned -bread is better than no bread.”<a name="FNanchor_260" id="FNanchor_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a></p> - -<p>Further, in speaking with sorrow of the flood of -heretical literature which seemed ever growing in volume, -Sir Thomas More writes:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> “Besides the works in Latin, -French, and German, there are made in the English -tongue, first, Tyndale’s New Testament, father of them -all, because of his false translations, and after that the -five books of Moses, translated by the same man, we -need not doubt in what manner, when we know by -whom and for what purpose. Then you have his introduction -to St. Paul’s Epistle, with which he introduces -his readers to a false understanding of St. Paul, -making them, among many other heresies, believe that -St. Paul held that faith alone was sufficient for salvation, -and that men’s good works were worth nothing -and could deserve no reward in heaven, though they -were done in grace.”<a name="FNanchor_261" id="FNanchor_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a></p> - -<p>Again, he says: “In the beginning of my <i>Dyalogue</i>, -I have shown that Tyndale’s translation of the New -Testament deserved to be burnt, because itself showed -that he had translated it with an evil mind, and in such -a way that it might serve him as the best means of -teaching such heresies as he had learnt from Luther, -and intended to send over hither and spread abroad -within this realm. To the truth of my assertion, Tyndale -and his fellows have so openly testified that I need -in this matter no further defence. For every man sees -that there was never any English heretical book sent -here since, in which one item of their complaint has not -been the burning of Tyndale’s Testament. For of a surety -they thought in the first place that his translation, with -their further false construction, would be the bass and -the tenor wherever they would sing the treble with -much false descant.”<a name="FNanchor_262" id="FNanchor_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a></p> - -<p>To take some instances of the false translations to -which More reasonably objects: First, Tyndale substitutes -for <i>Church</i> the word <i>Congregation</i>, “a word with -no more signification in Christendom than among the -Jews or Turks.” After protesting that Tyndale has no -right to change the signification of a word, as, for example, -to speak of “a football,” and to mean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> “the world,” -More continues: “Most certainly the word <i>Congregation</i>, -taken in conjunction with the text, would not, when he -translated it first, have served to make the English -reader understand by it the Church any more than -when he uses the word <i>idols</i> for <i>images</i>, or <i>images</i> for -<i>idols</i>, or the word <i>repenting</i> for <i>doing penance</i>, which he -also does. And indeed he has since added to his translation -certain notes, viz., that the order of the priesthood -is really nothing, but that every man, woman, and child -is a priest as much as a real priest, and that every man -and woman may consecrate the body of Christ, and say -mass as well as a priest, and hear confessions and -absolve as well as a priest can; and that there is no -difference between priests and other folks, but that all -are one congregation and company without any difference, -save appointment to preach.”</p> - -<p>This enables men to understand “what Tyndale -means by using the word <i>Congregation</i> in his translation -in place of <i>Church</i>. They also see clearly by these circumstances -that he purposely changed the word to set -forth these his heresies, though he will say he takes -them for no heresies. But, on the other hand, all good -and faithful people do, and therefore they call the -Church the Church still, and will not agree to change -the old <i>Church</i> for his new <i>Congregation</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_263" id="FNanchor_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a></p> - -<p>In reply to Tyndale’s claim to be able to use the -word <i>Congregation</i> to signify the <i>Church</i>, More declares -that words must be used in their ordinary signification. -“I say,” he writes, “that this is true of the usual -signification of these words in the English tongue, by -the common custom of us English people that now -use these words in our language, or have used them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> -before our days. And I say that this common custom -and usage of speech is the only way by which we know -the right and proper signification of any word. So -much so that if a word were taken from Latin, French, -or Spanish, and from lack of understanding the tongue -from which it came, was used in English for something -else than it signified in the other tongue; then in England, -whatsoever it meant anywhere else, it means only -what we understand it. Then, I say, that in England -this word <i>Congregation</i> never did signify the body of -Christian people … any more than the word <i>assembly</i>, -which has been taken from French … as -<i>congregation</i> is from the Latin.… I say now that -the word Church never has been used to signify in -the ordinary speech of this realm, any other than the -body of all those that are christened. For this reason, -and more especially because of Tyndale’s evil intent, I -said, and still say, that he did wrong to change <i>Church</i> -for <i>Congregation</i>; a holy word for a profane one, so far -as they have signification in our English tongue, into -which Tyndale made his translation.…<a name="FNanchor_264" id="FNanchor_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> -<p>“If Tyndale had done it either accidentally, or purposely -merely for pleasure, and not with an evil intent, -I would never have said a word against it. But inasmuch -as I perceive that he has been with Luther, and -was there at the time when he so translated it, and -because I knew well the malicious heresies that Luther -had begun to bring forth, I must needs mistrust him in -this change. And now I say that even from his own -words here spoken, you may perceive his cankered -mind in his translation, for he says that Demetrius -had gathered a company against Paul for preaching -against <i>images</i>. Here the Christian reader may easily -perceive the poison of this serpent. Every one knows -that all good Christian people abhor the idols of the -false pagan gods, and also honour the images of Christ -and our Lady, and other holy saints. And as they call -the one sort images, so they call the other sort idols. -Now, whereas St. Paul preached against idols, this good -man comes and says he preached against images. And -as he here speaks, even so he translates, for in the 15th -chapter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, where St. Paul -says, ‘I have written to you that ye company not -together … if any that is called a brother be … a -worshipper of <i>idols’</i>—there Tyndale translates worshipper -of <i>images</i>. Because he would have it seem -that the Apostle had in that place forbidden Christian -men to worship images.… Here you may see the -sincerity and plain meaning of this man’s translation.”<a name="FNanchor_265" id="FNanchor_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a>…</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p> -<p>“As he falsely translated <i>Ecclesia</i> into the unknown -word <i>congregation</i>, in places where he should have translated -it into the known word of <i>holy Church</i>, and this -with a malicious purpose to set forth his heresy of the -secret and unknown church wherein is neither good -works nor sacraments, in like manner is it now proved, -in the same way and with like malice, he has translated -<i>idols</i> into <i>images</i> … to make it seem that Scripture -reprobates the goodly images of our Saviour Himself -and His holy saints.… Then he asks me why I have -not contended with Erasmus whom he calls my darling, -for translating this word <i>Ecclesia</i> into the word -<i>congregatio</i>.… I have not contended with Erasmus, -my darling, because I found no such malicious intent -with Erasmus, my darling, as I found with Tyndale; -for had I found with Erasmus, my darling, the cunning -intent and purpose that I found with Tyndale, Erasmus, -my darling, should be no more ‘my darling.’ But I -find in Erasmus, my darling, that he detests and abhors -the errors and heresies that Tyndale plainly teaches and -abides by, and therefore Erasmus, my darling, shall be -my darling still.… For his translation of <i>Ecclesia</i> by -<i>congregatio</i> is nothing like Tyndale’s, for the Latin -tongue had no Latin word used for Church, but the -Greek word, Ecclesia, therefore Erasmus, in his new -translation gave it a Latin word. But we in our English -had a proper English word for it, and therefore -there was no cause for Tyndale to translate it into a -worse. Erasmus, moreover, meant therein no heresy, -as appears by his writings against heretics, but Tyndale, -intended nothing else thereby, as appears by the heresies -that he himself teaches and abides by. Therefore, -there was in this matter no cause for me to contend -with Erasmus, as there was to contend with Tyndale, -with whom I contended for putting ‘congregation’ -instead of ‘Church.’”<a name="FNanchor_266" id="FNanchor_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a></p> - -<p>Further, More blames Tyndale’s translation in its -substitution of <i>senior</i> or <i>elder</i> for the old-established -word <i>priest</i>. This word, presbyter, in the Greek, he -says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> “as it signifies the thing that men call priest in -English, was sometimes called <i>senior</i> in Latin. But -the thing that Englishmen call a priest, and the Greek -church called <i>presbyter</i>, and the Latin church also -sometimes called <i>senior</i>, was never called elder either -in the Greek church, or the Latin or the English.”<a name="FNanchor_267" id="FNanchor_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> He -considers, therefore, the change made by Tyndale, in -the second edition of his translation, from senior into -elder was not only no improvement, but a distinct -and reiterated rejection of the well-understood word -of priest.… “I said and say,” he continues, “that -Tyndale changed the word priest into senior with the -heretical mind and intent to set forth his heresy, in -which he teaches that the priesthood is no sacrament -… for else I would not call it heresy if any one -would translate <i>presbyteros</i> a block, but I would say -he was a blockhead. And as great a blockhead were -he that would translate <i>presbyteros</i> into an elder instead -of a priest, for this English word no more signifies -an elder than the Greek word <i>presbyteros</i> signifies an -elderstick.”<a name="FNanchor_268" id="FNanchor_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> “For the same reason he might change -bishop into overseer, and deacon into server, both of -which he might as well do, as priest into elder; and -then with his English translation he must make us an -English vocabulary of his own device, and so with such -provision he may change chin into cheek, and belly -into back, and every word into every other at his own -pleasure, if all England like to go to school with Tyndale -to learn English—but else, not so.”<a name="FNanchor_269" id="FNanchor_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a></p> - -<p>In the same way More condemns Tyndale for -deliberately changing the word “Grace,” the meaning -of which was fully understood by Catholic Englishmen, -into “favour,” “thinking that his own scoffing is sufficient -reason to change the known holy name of virtue -through all Scripture into such words as he himself -liketh.”<a name="FNanchor_270" id="FNanchor_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> He says the same of the change of the old -familiar words <i>Confession</i> into <i>knowledge</i>, and <i>penance</i> into -<i>repentance</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> “This is what Tyndale means: he would -have all willing confession quite cast away and all -penance doing too.”<a name="FNanchor_271" id="FNanchor_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> And “as for the word <i>penance</i>, -whatsoever the Greek word be, it ever was, and still is, -lawful enough (if Tyndale give us leave) to call anything -in English by whatever word Englishmen by -common custom agree upon.… Now, the matter -does not rest in this at all. For Tyndale is not angry -with the word, but with the matter. For this grieves -Luther and him that by <i>penance</i> we understand, when -we speak of it … not mere repenting … but also -every part of the Sacrament of Penance; oral confession, -contrition of heart, and satisfaction by good deeds. -For if we called it the Sacrament of repentance, and by -that word would understand what we now do by the -word penance, Tyndale would then be as angry with -repentance as he is now with penance.”<a name="FNanchor_272" id="FNanchor_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a></p> - -<p>Speaking specially in another place about the -change of the old word <i>charity</i> into <i>love</i> in Tyndale’s -translation, More declared that he would not much -mind which word was used were it not for the evident -intention to change the teaching. When it is done -consistently through the whole book<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> “no man could -deem but that the man meant mischievously. If he -called <i>charity</i> sometimes by the bare name <i>love</i>, I would -not stick at that. But since charity signifies in Englishmen’s -ears not every common love, but a good virtuous -and well-ordered love, he that will studiously flee from -the name of good love, and always speak of ‘love,’ and -always leave out ‘good,’ I would surely say he meant -evil. And it is much more than likely. For it is to -be remembered that at the time of this translation -Huchins (or Tyndale) was with Luther in Wittenberg, -and put certain glosses in the margins, made to uphold -the ungracious sect.”… And “the reason why he -changed the name of <i>charity</i> and of the <i>church</i> and of -<i>priesthood</i> is no very great difficulty to perceive. For -since Luther and his fellows amongst their other -damnable heresies have one that all salvation rests on -Faith alone—therefore he purposely works to diminish -the reverent mind that men have to charity, and for -this reason changes the name of holy virtuous affection -into the bare name of love.”</p> - -<p>In concluding his justification of the condemnation -of Tyndale’s Testament and his criticism of the translator’s -<i>Defence</i>, Sir Thomas More says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> “Every man -knows well that the intent and purpose of my <i>Dyalogue</i> -was to make men see that Tyndale in his translation -changed the common known words in order to make -a change in the faith. As for example: he changed -the word <i>Church</i> into this word <i>congregation</i>, because he -would raise the question which the church was, and -set forth Luther’s heresy that the church which we -should believe and obey is not the common known -body of all Christian realms remaining in the faith of -Christ and not fallen away or cut off with heresies.… -But the church we should believe and obey was -some secret unknown kind of evil living and worse -believing heretics. And he changed <i>priest</i> into <i>senior</i>, -because he intended to set forth Luther’s heresy teaching -that priesthood is no sacrament, but the office of a -layman or laywoman appointed by the people to preach. -And he changed <i>Penance</i> into <i>repenting</i>, because he would -set forth Luther’s heresy teaching that penance is no -sacrament. This being the only purpose of my <i>Dyalogue</i>, -Tyndale now comes and expressly confesses what I -proposed to show. For he indeed teaches and writes -openly these false heresies so that he himself shows -now that I then told the people the truth … his own -writing shows that he made his translation to the intent -to set forth such heresies as I said he did.”<a name="FNanchor_273" id="FNanchor_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a></p> - -<p>John Standish in the tract on the vernacular -Scriptures, published in Queen Mary’s reign, uses in -some places the same language as Sir Thomas More -in condemning the translations which had been later -in vogue. “At all times,” he writes, “heretics have -laboured to corrupt the Scriptures that they might -serve for their naughty purposes and to confirm their -errors therewith, but especially now in our time. O -good Lord, how have the translators of the Bible into -English purposely corrupted the texts, oft maliciously -putting in such words as in the readers’ ears might -serve for the proof of such heresies as they went about -to sow. These are not only set forth in the translations, -but also in certain prologues and glosses added -thereunto, and these things they have so handled (as -indeed it is no great mastery to do) with probable -reasons very apparent to the simple and unlearned, -that an infinite number of innocents they have spiritually -poisoned and corrupted within this realm, and -caused them to perish obstinately.”<a name="FNanchor_274" id="FNanchor_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a></p> - -<p>If further proof were wanting that the New Testament -as set forth by Tyndale was purposely designed -to overthrow the then existing religious principles held -by English churchmen, it is furnished by works subsequently -published by the English Lutherans abroad. -The tract named <i>The Burying of the Mass</i>, printed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> -Germany shortly after the burning of Tyndale’s Testament, -was, as Sir Thomas More points out, intended -as a direct attack upon the Sacrifice of the Mass and -the Sacramental system. In it the author poured out -the vials of his wrath upon all those who caused -Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament to be -destroyed, saying that they burned it because it -destroyed the Mass. “By this,” adds More, “you -may see that the author accounted the translation -very good for the destruction of the Mass.”<a name="FNanchor_275" id="FNanchor_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> Moreover, -in a book called <i>The Wicked Mammon</i>, published -by Tyndale himself shortly after this, although he -blames the style of the author of <i>The Burying of the -Mass</i>, he tacitly accepts his assertion that his translation -of the New Testament was intended to bring about -the abolition of the Sacrifice of the Mass.<a name="FNanchor_276" id="FNanchor_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a></p> - -<p>In later times, after the experience of the religious -changes in the reign of Edward VI., some writers -pointed to the evils, religious and social, as evidence -of the harm done by the promiscuous reading of the -Scriptures. In their opinion, what More had feared -and foretold had come to pass. “In these miserable -years now past,” says Standish of Mary’s reign, in this -tract on the vernacular Scriptures:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> “In these miserable -years now past, what mystery is so hard that the -ignorant with the Bible in English durst not set upon, -yea and say they understood it: all was light! They -desired no explanation but their own, even in the -highest mysteries.… Alas! experience shows that -our own men through having the Bible in English -have walked far above their reach, being sundry ways -killed and utterly poisoned with the letter of the -English Bible.”<a name="FNanchor_277" id="FNanchor_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a></p> - -<p>The spirit in which the study of Sacred Scripture -was taken up by many in those days is described by -the Marian preacher, Roger Edgworth, already referred -to. “Scripture,” he says, “is in worse case -than any other faculty: for where other faculties take -upon them no more than pertaineth to their own -science, as (for example) the physician of what pertains -to the health of man’s body, and the carpenter -and smith of their own tools and workmanship—the -faculty of Sacred Scripture alone is the knowledge -which all men and women challenge and claim to -themselves and for their own. Here and there the -chattering old wife, the doting old man, the babbling -sophister, and all others presume upon this faculty, -and tear it and teach it before they learn it. Of all -such green divines as I have spoken of, it appeareth -full well what learning they have by this, that when -they teach any of their disciples, and when they give -any of their books to other men to read, the first -suggestion why he should labour (at) such books is -‘because of this,’ say they, ‘thou shalt be able to -oppose the best priest in the parish, and tell him he -lies.’”<a name="FNanchor_278" id="FNanchor_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> - -<p>The result is patent in the history of the religious -confusions which followed, for this much must be -allowed, whatever view may be taken of the good -or evil which ultimately resulted. Dr. Richard Smith, -in 1546, then states the position as he saw it:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> “In -old times the faith was respected, but in our days -not a few things, and not of small importance, but -(alack the more the pity) even the chiefest and most -weighty matters of religion and faith, are called in -question, babbled about, talked and jangled upon -(reasoned, I cannot and ought not to call it).”<a name="FNanchor_279" id="FNanchor_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a></p> - -<p>Although the cry for the open Bible which had -been raised by Tyndale and the other early English -reformers generally assumed the right to free and -personal interpretation of its meaning, no sooner was -the English Scripture put into circulation than its -advocates proclaimed the need of expositions to teach -people the meaning they should attach to it. In fact, -the marginal notes and glosses, furnished by Tyndale -chiefly from Lutheran sources, are evidence that even -he had no wish that the people should understand or -interpret the sacred text otherwise than according to -his peculiar views. Very quickly after the permission -of Henry VIII. had allowed the circulation of the -printed English Bible, commentators came forward -to explain their views. Lancelot Ridley, for example, -issued many such explanations of portions of the -Sacred Text with the object, as he explains, of enabling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> -“the unlearned to declare the Holy Scriptures now -suffered to all people of this realm to read and study -at their pleasure.” For the Bible, “which is now -undeclared (<i>i.e.</i> unexplained) to them, and only had in -the bare letter, appears to many rather death than -life, rather (calculated) to bring many to errors and -heresies than into the truth and verity of God’s Word. -For this, when unexplained, does not bring the simple, -rude, and ignorant people from their ignorant blindness, -from their corrupt and backward judgments, false -trusts, evil beliefs, vain superstitions, and feigned holiness, -in which the people have long been in blindness, for -lack of a knowledge of Holy Scripture which the man -of Rome kept under latch and would not suffer to -come to light, that his usurped power should not have -been espied, his worldly glory diminished, and his -profit decayed.”<a name="FNanchor_280" id="FNanchor_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a></p> - -<p>Again, in another exposition made eight years later, -the same writer complains that still, for lack of teaching -what he considers the true meaning of Scripture, the -views of the people are still turned towards the “old -superstitions” in spite of “the open Bible.” “Although -the Bible be in English,” he says, “and be suffered to -every man and woman to read at their pleasures, and -commanded to be read every day at Matins, Mass, and -Evensong, yet there remain great ignorance and corrupt -judgments … and these will remain still, except the -Holy Scriptures be made more plain to the lay people -who are unlearned by some commentary or annotation, -so that lay people may understand the Holy Scripture -better.”<a name="FNanchor_281" id="FNanchor_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> Commentaries would help much, he says in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> -another place, “to deliver the people from ignorance, -darkness, errors, heresy, superstitions, false trusts, and -from evil opinions fixed and rooted in the hearts of -many for lack of true knowledge of God’s Holy Word, -and expel the usurped power of the bishop of Rome -and all Romish dregs.”<a name="FNanchor_282" id="FNanchor_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a></p> - -<p>It is interesting to find that from the first, whilst -objecting to the interpretation of the old teachers of -the Church, and claiming that the plain text of Scripture -was a sufficient antidote and complete answer -to them and their traditional deductions, the “new -teachers” found that without teaching and exposition -on their part, the open Bible was by no means sufficient -to wean the popular mind from what they regarded as -superstitious and erroneous ways. Their attitude in -the matter is at least a confirmation of the contention -of Sir Thomas More and other contemporary Catholic -writers, that the vernacular Scriptures would be useless -without a teaching authority to interpret their meaning.</p> - -<p>A brief word may now be said as a summary of -the attitude towards the vernacular Bible taken up by -the ecclesiastical authorities on the eve of the Reformation. -The passages quoted from Sir Thomas More -make it evident that no such hostility on the part of -the Church, as writers of all shades of opinion have too -hastily assumed, really existed.<a name="FNanchor_283" id="FNanchor_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> In fact, though those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> -responsible for the conduct of affairs, both ecclesiastical -and lay, at this period objected to the circulation -of Tyndale’s printed New Testament, this objection -was based, not on any dread of allowing the English -Bible as such, but on the natural objection to an -obviously incorrect translation. It is difficult to see -how those in authority could have permitted a version -with traditional words changed for the hardly concealed -purpose of supporting Lutheran tenets, with texts -garbled and marginal explanations inserted for the -same end. Those who hold that Tyndale’s views were -right, and even that his attempt to enforce them in -this way was justifiable, can hardly, however, blame -the authorities at that time in England, secular or lay, -who did not think so, from doing all they could to -prevent what they regarded as the circulation of a -book calculated to do great harm if no means were -taken to prevent it. Men’s actions must be judged -by the circumstances under which they acted, and it -would be altogether unjust to regard the prohibition -of the Tyndale Scriptures as a final attempt on the part -of the English Church to prevent the circulation of the -vernacular Scriptures. To the authorities in those days -at least, the book in question did not represent the -Sacred Text at all. That it was full of errors, to say -the least, is confessed by Tyndale himself; and as to -the chief points in his translation which he defended -and which Sir Thomas More so roundly condemned, -posterity has sided with More and not with Tyndale, -for not one of these special characteristics of the translation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> -in which so much of Tyndale’s Lutheran teaching -was allowed to appear, was suffered to remain in -subsequent revisions. From this point of view alone, -those who examine the question with an unbiassed -mind must admit that there was ample justification for -the prohibition of Tyndale’s printed Testament. If this -be so, the further point may equally well be conceded, -namely, that the Church on the eve of the Reformation -did not prohibit the vernacular Scriptures as such at -all, and that many churchmen in common with the -king, Sir Thomas More, and other laymen, would, -under happier circumstances, have been glad to see a -properly translated English Bible.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> -<span class="smaller">TEACHING AND PREACHING</span></h2> - -<p>It is very commonly assumed that on the eve of the -Reformation, and for a long period before, there was -little in the way of popular religious instruction in -England. We are asked to believe that the mass of -the people were allowed to grow up in ignorance of -the meaning of the faith that was in them, and in a -studied neglect of their supposed religious practices. -So certain has this view of the pre-Reformation Church -seemed to those who have not inquired very deeply -into the subject, that more than one writer has been -led by this assumption to assert that perhaps the most -obvious benefit of the religious upheaval of the sixteenth -century was the introduction of some general and -systematic teaching of the great truths of religion. -Preaching is often considered as characterising the -reforming movement, as contrasted with the old ecclesiastical -system, which it is assumed certainly admitted, -even if it did not positively encourage, ignorance as the -surest foundation of its authority. It becomes of importance, -therefore, to inquire if such a charge is -founded upon fact, and to see how far, if at all, the -people in Catholic England were instructed in their -religion.</p> - -<p>At the outset, it should be remembered that the -questions at issue in the sixteenth century were not, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> -the first place at least, connected with the influence of -religious teaching on the lives of the people at large. -No one contended that the reformed doctrines would -be found to make people better, or would help them -to lead lives more in conformity with Gospel teaching. -The question of what may be called practical religion -never entered into the disputes of the time. Mr. Brewer -warns the student of the history of this period that he -will miss the meaning of many things altogether, and -quite misunderstand their drift, if he starts his inquiry -by regarding the Reformation as the creation of light -to illuminate a previous period of darkness, or the -evolution of practical morality out of a state of antecedent -chaotic corruption. “In fact,” he says, “the -sixteenth century was not a mass of moral corruption -out of which life emerged by some process unknown to -art or nature; it was not an addled egg cradling a -living bird; quite the reverse.” For, as the historian of -the German people, Janssen, points out, the truth is that -the entire social order of the Middle Ages “was established -on the doctrine of good works being necessary -for the salvation of the Christian soul.” Whilst, as -Mr. Brewer again notes, Luther’s most earnest remonstrances -were directed not against <i>bad</i> works, but against -the undue stress laid by the advocates of the old religion -upon <i>good</i> works. Moreover, an age which could busy -itself about discussions of questions as to “righteousness,” -whether of “faith or works,” “is not a demoralised -or degenerate age. These are not the -thoughts of men buried in sensuality.”</p> - -<p>Two questions are contained in the inquiry as to -pre-Reformation religious teaching, namely, as to its -extent and as to its character. There can hardly be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> -much doubt that the duty of giving instruction to the -people committed to their charge was fully recognised -by the clergy in mediæval times. In view of the positive -legislation of various synods on the subject of -regular and systematic teaching, as well as of the -constant repetition of the obligation in the books of -English canon law, it is obvious that the priests were -not ignorant of what was their plain duty. From the -time of the constitution of Archbishop Peckham at the -Synod of Oxford in 1281, to the time of the religious -changes, there is every reason to suppose that the -ordinance contained in the following words was observed -in every parish church in the country: “We -order,” says the Constitution, “that every priest having -the charge of a flock do, four times in each year (that -is, once each quarter) on one or more solemn feast -days, either himself or by some one else, instruct the -people in the vulgar language simply and without any -fantastical admixture of subtle distinctions, in the -articles of the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the -Evangelical Precepts, the seven works of mercy, the -seven deadly sins with their offshoots, the seven principal -virtues, and the seven Sacraments.”</p> - -<p>This means that the whole range of Christian -teaching, dogmatic and moral, was to be explained to -the people four times in every year; and in order that -there should be no doubt about the matter, the Synod -proceeds to set out in considerable detail each of the -points upon which the priest was to instruct his people. -During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the great -number of manuals intended to help the clergy in the -execution of this law attest the fact that it was fully -recognised and very generally complied with. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> -at the close of the latter century, the invention of -printing made the multiplication of such manuals easy, -the existence both of printed copies of this Constitution -of Archbishop Peckham, and of printed tracts drawn -up to give every assistance to the parochial clergy in -the preparation of these homely teachings, proves that -the law was understood and acted upon. In the face -of such evidence it is impossible to doubt that, whatever -may have been the case as to set sermons and -formal discourses, simple, straightforward teaching was -not neglected in pre-Reformation England, and every -care was taken that the clergy might be furnished with -material suitable for the fundamental religious teaching -contemplated by the law. As late as 1466, a synod of -the York Province, held by Archbishop Nevill, not -only reiterated this general decree about regular quarterly -instructions of a simple and practical kind, but -set out at great length the points of these lessons in -the Christian faith and life upon which the parish -priests were to insist.</p> - -<p>Even set discourses of a more formal kind, though -probably by no means so frequent as in these times, -when they have to a great extent superseded the simple -instructions of old Catholic days, were by no means -neglected. Volumes of such sermons in manuscript -and in print, as well as all that is known of the great -discourses constantly being delivered at St. Paul’s -Cross, may be taken as sufficient evidence of this. -For the conveyance of moral and religious instruction, -however, the regular and homely talks of a parish -priest to his people were vastly more important than -the set orations, and it is with these familiar instructions -that the student of this period of our history has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> -chiefly to concern himself. All the available evidence -goes to show that the giving of these was not only -regarded as an obligation on the pastor; but attendance -at them was looked upon as a usual and necessary -portion of the Christian duty. For example, in the -examinations of conscience intended to assist lay -people in their preparation for the Sacrament of penance, -there are indications that any neglect to attend -at these parochial instructions was considered sufficiently -serious to become a matter of confession. It -is, of course, hardly conceivable that this should be -so, if the giving of these popular lessons in the duties -of the Christian life was neglected by the priests, or -if they were not commonly frequented by the laity. -To take a few instances. “Also,” runs one such examination, -“I have been slow in God’s service, and -negligent to pray and to go to church in due time … -loth to hear the Word of God, and the preacher of -the Word of God. Neither have I imprinted it in my -heart and borne it away and wrought thereafter.”<a name="FNanchor_284" id="FNanchor_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> -Again: “I have been setting nought by preaching -and teaching of God’s Word, by thinking it an idle -thing.”<a name="FNanchor_285" id="FNanchor_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> And, to take an example of the view taken -in such documents as to the priest’s duty:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> “If you are -a priest be a true lantern to the people both in speaking -and in living, and faithfully and truly do all things -which pertain to a priest. Seek wisely the ground of -truth and the true office of the priesthood, and be -not ruled blindly by the lewd customs of the world. -Read God’s law and the Expositions of the Holy -Doctors, and study and learn and keep it, and when -thou knowest it, preach and teach it to those that are -unlearned.”<a name="FNanchor_286" id="FNanchor_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a></p> - -<p>Richard Whitford, the Monk of Sion, in his <i>Work -for Householders</i>, published first in 1530, lays great -stress upon the obligation of parents and masters to -see that those under their charge attended the instructions -given in the parish church. Some may perhaps -regard his greater anxiety for their presence at sermons -rather than at Mass, when it was not possible for them -to be at both, as doubtful advice. In this, however, he -agrees with the author of what was the most popular -book of instructions at this period, and the advice itself -is proof that the obligation of attending instructions was -regarded as sufficiently serious to be contrasted with -that of hearing Mass. Speaking of the Sunday duties, -Whitford says: “At church on Sundays see after those -who are under your care. And charge them also -to keep their sight in the church close upon their book -and beads. And whilst they are young accustom them -always to kneel, stand, and sit, and never walk in the -church. And let them hear the Mass quietly and -devoutly, much part kneeling. But at the Gospel, the -Preface, and at the Paternoster teach them to stand -and to make curtesy at the word Jesus, as the priest -does.… If there be a sermon any time of the day -let them be present, all that are not occupied in needful -and lawful business; all other (occupations) laid -aside let them ever keep the preachings, rather than -the Mass, if, perchance, they may not hear both.”</p> - -<p>Nothing could possibly be more definite or explicit -upon the necessity of popular instructions and upon -the duty incumbent upon the clergy of giving proper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> -vernacular teaching to their flocks than the author of -<i>Dives et Pauper</i>, the most popular of the fifteenth-century -books of religious instruction. In fact, on this -point his language is as strong and uncompromising as -that which writers have too long been accustomed to -associate with the name of Wycliffe. No more unwarranted -assumption has ever been made in the name -of history than that which classed under the head of -Lollard productions almost every fifteenth-century tract -in English, especially such as dealt openly with abuses -needing correction, and pleaded for simple vernacular -teaching of religion. This is what the author of <i>Dives -et Pauper</i> says about preaching:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> “Since God’s word is -life and salvation of man’s soul, all those who hinder -them that have authority of God, and by Orders taken, -to preach and teach, from preaching and teaching God’s -word and God’s law, are manslayers ghostly. They are -guilty of as many souls that perish by the hindering of -God’s word, and namely those proud, covetous priests -and curates who can neither teach, nor will teach, nor -suffer others that both can and will and have authority -to teach and preach of God and of the bishop who gave -them Orders, but prevent them for fear lest they should -get less from their subjects, or else the less be thought -of, or else that their sins should be known by the -preaching of God’s word. Therefore, they prefer to -leave their own sins openly reproved generally, among -other men’s sins. As St. Anselm saith, God’s word -ought to be worshipped as much as Christ’s body, and -he sins as much who hindereth God’s word and despiseth -God’s word, or taketh it recklessly as he that despiseth -God’s body, or through his negligence letteth it -fall to the ground. On this place the gloss showeth -that it is more profitable to hear God’s word in preaching -than to hear a Mass, and that a man should rather -forbear his Mass than his sermon. For, by preaching, -folks are stirred to contrition, and to forsake sin and -the fiend, and to love God and goodness, and (by it) -they be illumined to know their God, and virtue from -vice, truth from falsehood, and to forsake errors and -heresies. By the Mass they are not so, but if they -come to Mass in sin they go away in sin, and shrews -they come and shrews they wend away.… Nevertheless, -the Mass profiteth them that are in grace to get -grace and forgiveness of sin.… Both are good, but -the preaching of God’s word ought to be more discharged -and more desired than the hearing of Mass.”<a name="FNanchor_287" id="FNanchor_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a></p> - -<p>In the same way the author of a little book named -<i>The Interpretatyon and Sygnyfycacyon of the Masse</i>, printed -by Robert Wyer in 1532, insists on the obligation of -attending the Sunday instruction. “On each Sunday,” -he says, “he shall also hear a sermon, if it be possible, -for if a man did lose or omit it through -contempt or custom, he would sin greatly.”<a name="FNanchor_288" id="FNanchor_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> And in -<i>The Myrrour of the Church</i>, the author tells those who -desire “to see the Will of God in Holy Scripture,” but -being of “simple learning” and “no cunning” cannot -read, that they may do so “in open sermon, or in -secret collation” with those who can. And in speaking -of the Sunday duties he tells his readers not to -lie in bed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> “but rising promptly you shall go to the -church, and with devotion say your matins without -jangling. Also sweetly hear your Mass and all the -hours of the day. And then if there is any preacher -in the church who proposes to make a sermon, you -shall sweetly hear the Word of God and keep it in -remembrance.”<a name="FNanchor_289" id="FNanchor_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> And lastly, to take one more example, -in Wynkyn de Worde’s <i>Exornatorium Curatorum</i>, -printed to enable those having the cure of souls to -perform the duties of instruction laid down by Archbishop -Peckham’s Provincial Constitution, whilst setting -forth a form of examination of conscience under the -head of the deadly sins, the author bids the curate -teach his people to ask themselves: “Whether you -have been slothful in God’s service, and specially upon -the Sunday and the holy day whether you have been -slothful to come to church, slothful to pray when you -have been there, and slothful to hear the Word of -God preached. Furthermore, whether you have been -negligent to learn your <i>Pater Noster</i>, your <i>Ave Maria</i>, -or your Creed, or whether you have been negligent -to teach the same to your own children or to your -god-children. Examine yourself also whether you have -taught your children good manners, and guarded them -from danger and bad company.” The same book -insists on the need of such examination of conscience -daily, or at least weekly.<a name="FNanchor_290" id="FNanchor_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a></p> - -<p>The following in this connection is of interest as -being a daily rule of life recommended to laymen -in the English Prymer printed at Rouen in 1538:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> -“First rise up at six o’clock in the morning -at all seasons, and in rising do as follows: Thank -our Lord who has brought you to the beginning of -the day. Commend yourself to God, to Our Lady -Saint Mary, and to the saint whose feast is kept that -day, and to all the saints in heaven. When you have -arrayed yourself say in your chamber or lodging, -Matins, Prime, and Hours, if you may. Then go to -the church before you do any worldly works if you -have no needful business, and abide in the church the -space of a low mass time, where you shall think on God -and thank Him for His benefits. Think awhile on the -goodness of God, on His divine might and virtue.… -If you cannot be so long in the church on account of -necessary business, take some time in the day in your -house in which to think of these things.”… Take -your meal “reasonably without excess or overmuch -forbearing of your meat, for there is as much danger -in too little as in too much. If you fast once in a -week it is enough, besides Vigils and Ember days out -of Lent.” After dinner rest “an hour or half-an-hour, -praying God that in that rest He will accept your health -to the end, that after it you may serve Him the more -devoutly.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p> -<p>“… As touching your service, say up to <i>Tierce</i> -before dinner, and make an end of all before supper. -And when you are able say the <i>Dirge</i> and <i>Commendations</i> -for all Christian souls, at least on holy days, and -if you have leisure say them on other days, at least -with three lessons. Shrive yourself every week to your -curate, except you have some great hindrance. And -beware that you do not pass a fortnight unless you -have a very great hindrance. If you have the means -refuse not your alms to the first poor body that asketh -it of you that day. Take care to hear and keep the -Word of God. Confess you every day to God without -fail of such sins you know you have done that day.” -Think often of our Lord’s Passion, and at night when -you wake turn your thoughts to what our Lord was -doing at that hour in His Passion. In your life look -for a faithful friend to whom you may open “your -secrets,” and when found follow his advice. No doubt -this “manner to live well” will perhaps hardly represent -what people at this time ordinarily did. But -the mere fact that it could be printed as a Christian’s -daily rule of life as late as 1538, is evidence at -any rate that people took at the least as serious a -view of their obligations in religious matters as we -should.<a name="FNanchor_291" id="FNanchor_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> In the same way <i>The art of good lyvyng</i>, -quoted above, suggests as the proper way to sanctify -the Sunday: Meditations on death, the pains of hell, -and the joys of Paradise. Time should be given to -reading the lives of the saints, to saying Matins, and -studying the Paternoster and the Creed. Others -should be exhorted to enter into God’s service, and -fathers of families are bound to see that “their -children, servants, and families go to church and hear -the preachings.”<a name="FNanchor_292" id="FNanchor_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a></p> - -<p>By far the most interesting and important part of -any inquiry on the subject of pre-Reformation instructions, -regards of course their nature and effect. We are -asked to believe that the people were allowed to grow -up in ignorance of the true nature of religion, and with -superstitions in their hearts which the clergy could -easily have corrected; but which they, on the contrary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> -rather fostered as likely to prove of pecuniary value to -themselves. To keep the people ignorant (it is said) was -their great object, as it was through the ignorance of the -lay folk that the clergy hoped to maintain their influence -and ascendency, and, it is suggested, to draw money -out of the pockets of the faithful. The reverence -which was paid at this time to images of the saints, -and in an especial manner to the crucifix, is often -adduced as proof that the people were evidently badly -instructed in the nature of religious worship; and the -destruction of statues, paintings, and pictured glass by -the advanced reformers is thought to be explained, if -not excused, by the absolute need of putting a stop -once for all to a crying abuse. The explanation given -to the people by their religious teachers on the eve -of the religious changes on this matter of devotion to -the saints, and of the nature of the reverence to be -paid to their representations, may be taken as a good -sample of the practical nature of the general instructions -imparted in those times. The question divested -of all ambiguity is really this: Were the people taught -to understand the nature of an image or representation, -or were they allowed to regard them as objects of -reverence in themselves—that is, as <i>idols</i>? The material -for a reply to this inquiry is fortunately abundant. -The <i>Dyalogue</i> of Sir Thomas More was written in 1528, -in order to maintain the Catholic teaching about images, -relics, and the praying to saints. To this, then, an inquirer -naturally turns in the first place for an exposition -of the common belief in these matters; for Sir Thomas -claims that in his tract he is defending only “the -common faith and belief of Christ’s Church.” “What -this is,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> “I am very sure; and perceive it -well not only by experience of my own time and the -places where I have myself been to, with the common -report of other honest men from all other places of -Christendom.” After having explained that the commandment -of God had reference to idols or images -worshipped as gods, and not to mere representations -of Christ, our Lady, or the Saints,<a name="FNanchor_293" id="FNanchor_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> he continues:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> “but -neither Scripture nor natural reason forbids a man to -reverence an image, not fixing his final intent on the -image, but referring the honour to the person the -image represents. In such reverence shown to an -image there is no honour withdrawn from God; but -the saint is honoured in his image, and God in His -saint. When a man of mean birth and an ambassador -to a great king has high honour done to him, to whom -does that honour redound, to the ambassador or to the -king? When a man on the recital of his prince’s letter -puts off his cap and kisses it, does he reverence the -paper or his prince?… All names spoken and all -words written are no material signs or images, but are -made only by consent and agreement of men to betoken -and signify such things, whereas images painted, -graven, or carved, may be so well wrought and so -near to the life and the truth, that they will naturally -and much more effectually represent the thing than the -name either spoken or written.… These two words, -<i>Christus crucifixus</i>, do not represent to us, either to laymen -or to the learned, so lively a remembrance of His -bitter Passion as does a blessed image of the crucifix, -and this these heretics perceive well enough. Nor do -they speak against images in order to further devotion, -but plainly with a malicious mind to diminish and -quench men’s devotions. For they see clearly that no -one who loves another does not delight in his image -or in anything of his. And these heretics who are -so sore against the images of God and His holy saints, -would be right angry with him that would dishonestly -handle an image made in remembrance of one of -themselves, whilst the wretches forbear not to handle -villainously, and in despite cast dirt upon the holy -crucifix, an image made in remembrance of our -Saviour Himself, and not only of His most blessed -Person, but also of His most bitter Passion.”<a name="FNanchor_294" id="FNanchor_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a></p> - -<p>Later on, in the same tract, rejecting the notion -that people did not fully understand that the image -was intended merely to recall the memory of the person -whose image it was, and was not itself in any sense the -thing or person, More says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> “The flock of Christ is -not so foolish as those heretics would make them to -be. For whereas there is no dog so mad that he does -not know a real coney (<i>i.e.</i> rabbit) from a coney carved -and painted, (yet they would have it supposed that) -Christian people that have reason in their heads, and -therefore the light of faith in their souls, would think -that the image of our Lady were our Lady herself. -Nay, they be not so mad, I trust, but that they do -reverence to the image for the honour of the person -whom it represents, as every man delights in the image -and remembrance of his friend. And although every -good Christian man has a remembrance of Christ’s -passion in his mind, and conceives by devout meditation -a form and fashion thereof in his heart, yet there -is no man I ween so good nor so learned, nor so well -accustomed to meditation, but that he finds himself -more moved to pity and compassion by beholding the -holy crucifix than when he lacks it.”<a name="FNanchor_295" id="FNanchor_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a></p> - -<p>In his work against Tyndale, More again takes up -this subject in reference to the way in which the -former in his new translation of the Bible had substituted -the word <i>idol</i> for <i>image</i>, as if they were practically -identical in meaning. “Good folk who worship images -of Christ and His saints, thereby worship Christ and -His saints, whom these images represent.” Just as -pagan worshippers of idols did evil in worshipping -them, “because in them they worshipped devils (whom -they called gods and whom those idols represented), so -Christian men do well in worshipping images, because -in them they worship Christ and His holy saints.”<a name="FNanchor_296" id="FNanchor_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a></p> - -<p>Roger Edgworth, the preacher, describes at Bristol -in Queen Mary’s reign how the Reforming party endeavoured -to confuse the minds of the common people -as to the meaning of the word idol. “I would,” he -says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> “that you should not ignorantly confound and -abuse those terms ‘idol’ and ‘image,’ taking an image -for an idol and an idol for an image, as I have heard -many do in this city, as well fathers and mothers (who -should be wise) as their babies and children who have -learned foolishness from their parents. Now, at the -dissolution of the monasteries and friars’ houses many -images have been carried abroad and given to children -to play with, and when the children have them in -their hands, dancing them in their childish manner, the -father or mother comes and says, ‘What nase, what -have you there?’ The child answers (as she is taught), -‘I have here my idol.’ Then the father laughs and -makes a gay game at it. So says the mother to -another, ‘Jugge or Tommy, where did you get that -pretty idol?’ ‘John, our parish clerk gave it to me,’ -says the child, and for that the clerk must have thanks -and shall not lack good cheer. But if the folly were -only in the insolent youth, and in the fond unlearned -fathers and mothers, it might soon be redressed.” The -fact is, he proceeds to explain, that the new preachers -have been doing all in their power to obscure the -hitherto well-recognised difference in meaning between -an image and an idol. He begs his hearers to try and -keep the difference in meaning between an image and -an idol clearly before their minds. “An image is a -similitude of a natural thing that has been, is, or may -be,” he tells them. “An idol is a similitude of what -never was or may be. Therefore the image of the -crucifix is no idol, for it represents and signifies Christ -crucified as He was in very deed, and the image of St. -Paul with a sword in his hand as the sign of his martyrdom -is no idol, for the thing signified by it was a -thing indeed, for he was beheaded with a sword.”<a name="FNanchor_297" id="FNanchor_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a></p> - -<p>In another part of the <i>Dialogue</i> Sir Thomas More -pointed out that what the reforming party said against -devotion to images and pilgrimages could be summed -up under one of three heads. They charge the people -with giving “to the saints, and also to their images, -honour like in kind to what they give to God Himself”; -or (2) that “they take the images for the things -themselves,” which is plain idolatry; or (3) that the -worship is conducted in a “superstitious fashion with -a desire of unlawful things.” Now, as to these three -accusations, More replies:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> “The first point is at once -soon and shortly answered, for it is not true. For -though men kneel to saints and images, and incense -them also, yet it is not true that they for this reason -worship them in every point like unto God.… They -lack the chief point (of such supreme worship). That -is, they worship God in the mind that He is God, which -intention in worship is the only thing that maketh it -<i>latria</i>, and not any certain gesture or bodily observance.” -It would not be supreme or divine worship even if “we -would wallow upon the ground unto Christ, having in -this a mind that He were the best man we could think -of, but not thinking Him to be God. For if the lowly -manner of bodily observance makes <i>latria</i>, then we -were in grave peril of idolatry in our courtesy used to -princes, prelates, and popes, to whom we kneel as low -as to God Almighty, and kiss some their hands and -some our own, ere ever we presume to touch them; -and in the case of the Pope, his foot; and as for -incensing, the poor priests in every choir are as well -incensed as the Sacrament. Hence if <i>latria</i>, which is -the special honour due to God, was contained in these -things, then we were great idolaters, not only in our -worship of the saints and of their images, but also of -men, one to another among ourselves.” Though indeed -to God Almighty ought to be shown as “humble and -lowly a bodily reverence as possible, still this bodily -worship is not <i>latria</i>, unless we so do it in our mind -considering and acknowledging Him as God, and with -that mind and intention do our worship; and this, as I -think,” he says, “no Christian man does to any image -or to any saint either.”</p> - -<p>“Now, as touching the second point—namely, that -people take the images for the saints themselves, I trust -there is no man so mad, or woman either, that they do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> -not know live men from dead stones, and a tree from -flesh and bone. And when they prefer our Lady at -one pilgrimage place before our Lady at another, or -one rood before another, or make their invocations and -vows some to the one and some to the other, I ween it -easy to perceive that they mean nothing else than that -our Lord and our Lady, or rather our Lord for our -Lady, shows more miracles at the one than the other. -They intend in their pilgrimages to visit, some one -place and some another, or sometimes the place is -convenient for them, or their devotion leads them; -and yet (this is) not for the place, but because our -Lord pleases by manifest miracles to provoke men to -seek Him, or His Blessed Mother, or some Holy Saint -of His, in these places more especially than in some -others.”</p> - -<p>“This thing itself proves also that they do not take -the images of our Lady for herself. For if they did, -how could they possibly in any wise have more mind -to one of them than to the other? For they can have -no more mind to our Lady than to our Lady. Moreover, -if they thought that the image at Walsingham was -our Lady herself then must they needs think that our -Lady herself was that image. Then, if in like manner -they thought that the image at Ipswich was our Lady -herself, and as they must then need think that our -Lady was the image at Ipswich, they must needs think -that all these three things were one thing.… And so -by the same reason they must suppose that the image -at Ipswich was the self-same image as at Walsingham. -If you ask any one you take for the simplest, except -a natural fool, I dare hold you a wager she will tell -you ‘nay’ to this. Besides this, take the simplest fool<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> -you can find and she will tell you our Lady herself is -in heaven. She will also call an image an image, and -she will tell you the difference between an image of -a horse and a horse in very deed. And this appears -clearly whatever her words about her pilgrimage are -calling, according to the common manner of speech, -the image of our Lady, our Lady. As men say, ‘Go -to the King’s Head for wine,’ not meaning his real -head, but the sign, so she means nothing more in the -image but our Lady’s image, no matter how she may -call it. And if you would prove she neither takes our -Lady for the image, nor the image for our Lady—talk -with her about our Lady and she will tell you that our -Lady was saluted by Gabriel; that our Lady fled into -Egypt with Joseph; and yet in the telling she will never -say that ‘our Lady of Walsingham,’ or ‘of Ipswich,’ -was saluted by Gabriel, or fled into Egypt. If you -would ask her whether it was ‘our Lady of Walsingham,’ -or ‘our Lady of Ipswich,’ that stood by the cross -at Christ’s Passion, she will, I warrant you, make -answer that it was neither of them; and if you further -ask her, ‘which Lady then,’ she will name you no -image, but our Lady who is in heaven. And this I -have proved often, and you may do so, too, when you -will and shall find it true, except it be in the case of -one so very a fool that God will give her leave to -believe what she likes. And surely, on this point, -I think in my mind that all those heretics who make -as though they had found so much idolatry among the -people for mistaking (the nature) of images, do but -devise the fear, to have some cloak to cover their -heresy, wherein they bark against the saints themselves, -and when they are marked they say they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> -only mean the wrong beliefs that women have in -images.”<a name="FNanchor_298" id="FNanchor_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a></p> - -<p>As regards the third point—namely, that honour -is sometimes shown to the saints and their images -in “a superstitious fashion with a desire of unlawful -things,” More would be ready to blame this as much -as any man if it could be shown to be the case. “But -I would not,” he says, “blame all things which are -declared to be of this character by the new teachers. -For example, to pray to St. Apollonia for the help -of our teeth is no witchcraft, considering that she had -her teeth pulled out for Christ’s sake. Nor is there any -superstition in other suchlike things.” Still, where -abuses can be shown they ought to be put down as -abuses, and the difference between a lawful use and -an unlawful abuse recognised. But because there may -be abuses done on the Sunday, or in Lent, that is no -reason why the Sunday observance, or the fast of Lent, -should be swept away.<a name="FNanchor_299" id="FNanchor_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> “In like manner it would not -be right that all due worship of saints and reverence of -relics, and honour of saints’ images, by which good -and devout folk get much merit, should be abolished -and put down because people abuse” these things. -“Now, as touching the evil petitions,” he continues,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> -“though they who make them were, as I trust they -are not, a great number, they are not yet so many -that ask evil petitions of saints as ask them of God -Himself. For whatsoever such people will ask of a -good saint, they will ask of God Himself, and where -as the worst point it is said, ‘that the people do idolatry -in that they take the images for the saints themselves, -or the rood for Christ Himself,’—which, as I -have said, I think none do; for some rood has no -crucifix thereon, and they do not believe that the cross -which they see was ever at Jerusalem, or that it was -the holy cross itself, and much less think that the -image that hangs on it is the body of Christ Himself. -And though some were so mad as to think so, yet it -is not ‘the people’ who do so. For a few doddering -dames do not make the people.”<a name="FNanchor_300" id="FNanchor_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a></p> - -<p>It is hard to imagine any teaching about the use -and abuse of images clearer than that which is contained -in the foregoing passages from Sir Thomas -More’s writings. The main importance of his testimony, -however, is not so much this clear statement -of Catholic doctrine on the nature of devotion to -images, as his positive declaration that there were not -such abuses, or superstitions, common among the -people on the eve of the religious changes, as it suited -the purpose of the early reformers to suggest, and of -later writers with sectarian bias to believe.</p> - -<p>For evidence of positive and distinct teaching on -the matter of reverence to be shown to images, and -on its nature and limits, we cannot do better than -refer to that most popular book of instruction in the -fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, already referred -to, called <i>Dives et Pauper</i>, a treatise on the Ten Commandments. -It was multiplied from the beginning -of the fifteenth century in manuscript copies, and -printed editions of it were issued from the presses of -Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde, and Thomas Berthelet. -These editions published by our early printers are -sufficient to attest its popularity, and the importance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> -attached to it as a book of instruction by the ecclesiastical -authorities on the eve of the Reformation.</p> - -<p>This is how the teacher lays down the general -principle of loving God: “The first precept of charity is -this: Thou shalt love the Lord God with all thy heart, -with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, with all thy -might. When He saith thou shalt love thy God with all -thy heart, He excludeth all manner of idolatry that is -forbidden by the first commandment; that is, that man -set not his heart, nor his faith, nor his trust in any -creature more than in God, or against God’s worship.… -God orders that thou shouldst love Him with all -thy heart, that is to say, with all thy faith, in such a -way that thou set all thy faith and trust in Him before -all others, as in Him that is Almighty and can best -help thee in thy need.” Later on, under the same -heading, we are taught that: “by this commandment -we are bound to worship God, who is the Father of all -things, who is called the Father of mercies and God -of all comfort. He is our Father, for He made us of -nought: He bought us with His blood, He findeth us -all that we need, and much more, He feedeth us. He -is our Father by grace, for by His grace He hath -made us heirs of heavenly bliss. Was there ever a -father so tender of his child as God is tender of us? -He is to us both father and mother, and therefore we -are bound to love Him and worship Him above all -things.”<a name="FNanchor_301" id="FNanchor_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a></p> - -<p>Under the first commandment the whole question -as to images, and the nature of the reverence to be -paid to them, is carefully considered, and the matter -put so plainly, that there is no room for doubt as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> -the nature of the instructions given to the people in -pre-Reformation days. Images, the teacher explains, -are ordered for three great ends, namely: “To stir -men’s minds to meditate upon the Incarnation of Christ -and upon His life and passion, and upon the lives of -the saints;” secondly, to move the heart to devotion -and love, “for oft man is stirred more by sight than -by hearing or reading;” thirdly, they “are intended -to be a token and a book to the ignorant people, that -they may read in images and painting as clerks read -in books.”</p> - -<p>And in reply to a question from <i>Dives</i>, who pretended -to think that it would be difficult to read a -lesson from any painting, <i>Pauper</i> explains his meaning -in calling them “books to the unlearned.” “When -thou seest the image of the crucifix,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> “think -of Him that died on the cross for thy sins and thy -sake, and thank Him for His endless charity that He -would suffer so much for thee. See in images how -His head was crowned with a garland of thorns till -the blood burst out on every side, to destroy the great -sin of pride which is most manifested in the heads of -men and women. Behold, and make an end to thy -pride. See in the image how His arms were spread -abroad and drawn up on the tree till the veins and -sinews cracked, and how His hands were nailed to -the cross, and streamed with blood, to destroy the sin -that Adam and Eve did with their hands when they -took the apple against God’s prohibition. Also He -suffered to wash away the sin of the wicked deeds and -wicked works done by the hands of men and women. -Behold, and make an end of thy wicked works. See -how His side was opened and His heart cloven in two -by the sharp spear, and how it shed blood and water, -to show that if He had had more blood in His body, -more He would have given for men’s love. He shed -His blood to ransom our souls, and water to wash -us from our sins.”</p> - -<p>But whilst the instructor teaches the way in which -the crucifix may be a book full of deep meaning to -the unlearned, he is most careful to see that the true -signification of the image is not misunderstood. In -language which for clearness of expression and simplicity -of illustration cannot be excelled, he warns <i>Dives</i> -not to mistake the real nature of the reverence paid to the -symbol of our redemption. “In this manner,” he says, -“read thy book and fall down to the ground and thank -thy God who would do so much for thee. Worship -Him above all things—not the stock, nor the stone, nor -the wood, but Him who died on the tree of the cross -for thy sins and thy sake. Thou shalt kneel if thou -wilt before the image, but not to the image. Thou -shalt do thy worship before the image, before the -thing, not to the thing; offer thy prayer before the -thing, not to the thing, for it seeth thee not, heareth -thee not, understandeth thee not: make thy offering, if -thou wilt, before the thing, but not to the thing: make -thy pilgrimage not to the thing, nor for the thing, for -it may not help thee, but to Him and for Him the -thing represents. For if thou do it for the thing, or to -the thing, thou doest idolatry.”</p> - -<p>This plain teaching as to the only meaning of -reverence paid to images, namely, that it is relative -and intended for that which the image represents, our -author enforces by several examples. Just as a priest -when saying mass with a book before him, bends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> -down, holds up his hands, kneels, and performs other -external signs of worship, not to the book, but to God, -“so should the unlettered man use his book, that is -images and paintings, not worshipping the thing, but -God in heaven and the saints in their degree. All the -worship which he doth before the thing, he doth, not -to the thing, but to Him the thing represents.”</p> - -<p>The image of the crucified Saviour on the altar is -specially intended, our author says, to remind all that -“Mass singing is a special mind-making of Christ’s -passion.” For this reason, in the presence of the -crucifix, the priest says “his mass, and offers up the -highest prayer that Holy Church can devise for the -salvation of the quick and the dead. He holds up his -hands, he bows down, he kneels, and all the worship -he can do, he does—more than all, he offers up the -highest sacrifice and the best offering that any heart -can devise—that is Christ, the Son of the God of -heaven, under the form of bread and wine. All this -worship the priest doth at mass before the thing—the -crucifix; and I hope there is no man nor woman so -ignorant that he will say that the priest singeth his -mass, or maketh his prayer, or offers up the Son of -God, Christ Himself, to the thing.… In the same -way, unlettered men should worship before the thing, -making prayer before the thing, and not to the thing.”</p> - -<p>One of the special practices of the mediæval church -to which the English reformers objected, and to which -they gave the epithet “superstitious,” was the honour -shown to the cross on Good Friday, generally known -as “the creeping to the cross.” The advocates of -change in insisting upon this time-honoured ceremony -being swept away, claimed that in permitting it the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> -Church had given occasion to wrong ideas of worship -in the minds of the common people, and that the -reverence shown to the symbol of our redemption on -that occasion amounted practically to idolatry. In -view of such assertions, it is not without interest to -see how <i>Pauper</i> in this book of simple instructions -treats this matter. “On Good Friday especially,” says -<i>Dives</i>, “men creep to the cross and worship the cross.” -“That is so,” replies the instructor, “but not in the -way thou meanest. The cross that we creep to and -worship so highly at that time is Christ Himself, who -died on the cross on that day for our sin and our -sake.… He is that cross, as all doctors say, to -whom we pray and say, ‘<i>Ave crux, spes unica</i>,’ ‘Hail, -thou cross, our only hope.’” But rejoins <i>Dives</i>, -“On Palm Sunday, at the procession the priest draweth -up the veil before the rood and falleth down to the -ground with all the people, saying thrice thus, ‘<i>Ave -Rex noster</i>,’ ‘Hail, be Thou our King.’ In this he worships -the thing as King! <i>Absit!</i>” “God forbid!” -replies <i>Pauper</i>, “he speaks not to the image that the -carpenter hath made and the painter painted, unless -the priest be a fool, for the stock and stone was never -king. He speaketh to Him that died on the cross -for us all—to Him that is King of all things.… For -this reason are crosses placed by the wayside, to remind -folk to think of Him who died on the cross, and to -worship Him above all things. And for this same -reason is the cross borne before a procession, that -all who follow after it or meet it should worship Him -who died upon a cross as their King, their Head, their -Lord and their Leader to Heaven.”</p> - -<p>Equally clear is the author of <i>Dives et Pauper</i> upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> -the distinction between the worship to be paid to God -and the honour it is lawful to give to His saints. It -is, of course, frequently asserted that the English pre-Reformation -church did not recognise, or at least did -not inculcate, this necessary difference, and consequently -tolerated, even if it did not suggest, gross -errors in this matter. No one who has examined -the manuals of instruction which were in use on the -eve of the Reformation can possibly maintain an -opinion so opposed to the only evidence available. -In particular, the real distinction between the supreme -worship due to God alone, and the honour, however -great, to be paid to His creatures is drawn out with -great care and exactness in regard to the devotion paid -to our Lord’s Blessed Mother. Thus, after most carefully -explaining that there are two modes of “service -and worship” which differ not merely in degree, but -in kind and nature, and which were then, as now, -known under the terms <i>latria</i> and <i>dulia</i>, our author -proceeds, “Latria is a protestation and acknowledgment -of the high majesty of God; the recognition -that He is sovereign goodness, sovereign wisdom, -sovereign might, sovereign truth, sovereign justice; -that He is the Creator and Saviour of all creatures -and the end of all things; that all we have we have -of Him, and that without Him we have absolutely -nothing; and that without Him we can neither have -nor do anything, neither we nor any other creature. -This acknowledgment and protestation is made in three -ways: by the heart, and by word, and by deed. We -make it by the heart when we love Him as sovereign -goodness; when we love Him as sovereign wisdom -and truth, that may not deceive nor be deceived;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> -when we hope in Him and trust Him as sovereign -might that can best help us in need; as sovereign -greatness and Lord, who may best yield us our -deserts; and as sovereign Saviour, most merciful and -most ready to forgive us our misdeeds.… Also the -acknowledgment is done in the prayer and praise of -our mouths.… For we must pray to Him and -praise Him as sovereign might, sovereign wisdom, -sovereign goodness, sovereign truth; as all-just and -merciful as the Maker and Saviour of all things, &c.</p> - -<p>“And in this manner we are not to pray to or -praise any creature. Therefore, they who make their -prayers and their praises before images, and say their -<i>Paternoster</i> and their <i>Ave Maria</i> and other prayers -and praises commonly used by holy Church, or any -such, if they do it to the image, and speak to the -image, they do open idolatry. Also they are not -excused even if they understand not what they say, -for their lights, and their other wits, and their inner -wit also, showeth them well that there ought that no -such prayer, praise, or worship be offered to such images, -for they can neither hear them, nor see them, nor help -them in their needs.”</p> - -<p>Equally definite and explicit is another writer, just -on the eve of the Reformation. William Bond, the -brother of Sion, in 1531 published his large volume -of instructions called <i>The Pilgrymage of Perfeccyon</i>, to -which his contemporary, Richard Whitford, refers his -readers for the fullest teaching on sundry points of -faith and practice. In setting forth the distinction -between an <i>image</i> and an <i>idol</i> this authority says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> -“Many nowadays take the Scripture wrongly, and -thereby fall into heresy as Wycliffe did with his -followers, and now this abominable heretic, Luther, -with his adherents.… And (as I suppose) the cause -of their error is some of these following:—First, that -they put no difference between an idol and an image; -secondly, that they put no difference between the service -or high adoration due to God, called in the Greek -tongue <i>latria</i>, and the lower veneration or worship exhibited -and done to the saints of God, called in Greek -<i>dulia</i>.… The veneration or worship that is done to -the images (as Damascene, Basil, and St. Thomas say) -rest not in them, but redound unto the thing that is -represented by such images: as for example, the great -ambassador or messenger of a king shall have the same -reverence that the king’s own person should have if -he were present. This honour is not done to this man -for himself, or for his own person, but for the king’s -person in whose name he cometh, and all such honour -and reverence so done redoundeth to the king and -resteth in him.… So it is in the veneration or worshipping -of the images of Christ and His saints. The -honour rests not in the image, nor in the stock, nor -in the stone, but in the thing that is represented thereby.” -According to St. Thomas, he says the images -in churches are intended to “be as books to the rude -and unlearned people,” and to “stir simple souls to -devotion.”<a name="FNanchor_302" id="FNanchor_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a></p> - -<p>Bond then draws out most carefully the distinction -which the Church teaches as to the kinds of honour -to be given to the saints. “Our lights, oblations, or -Paternosters and creeds that we say before images of -saints,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> “are as praisings of God, for His -graces wrought in His saints, by whose merits we -trust that our petitions shall be the sooner obtained -of God.… We pray to them, not as to the granters -of our petitions, but as means whereby we may the -sooner obtain the same.”<a name="FNanchor_303" id="FNanchor_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a></p> - -<p>Speaking specially of the reverence shown to the -crucifix, our author uses the teaching of St. Thomas -to explain the exact meaning of this honour. “The -Church in Lent, in the Passion time,” he continues, -“worships it, singing, ‘<i>O crux ave, spes unica</i>,’ ‘Hail, -holy cross, our only hope.’ That is to be understood -as ‘Hail, blessed Lord crucified, Who art our only -hope’—for all is one worship and act. Christ, our -Maker and Redeemer, God and man in one person, -is of duty worshipped with the high adoration only due -to God, called <i>latria</i>. His image also, or his similitude, -called the crucifix, is to be worshipped, just as the -Blessed Sacrament is adored with the worship of -<i>latria</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_304" id="FNanchor_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a></p> - -<p>To this testimony may be added that of another -passage from Sir Thomas More. He was engaged in -refuting the accusation made by Tyndale against the -religious practices of pre-Reformation days, to which -charges, unfortunately, people have given too much -credence in later times. “Now of prayer, Tyndale -says,” writes More,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> “that we think no man may pray -but at church, and that (<i>i.e.</i> the praying before a crucifix -or image) is nothing but the saying of a <i>Paternoster</i> -to a post. (Further) that the observances and ceremonies -of the Church are vain things of our own -imagination, neither needful to the taming of the flesh, -nor profitable to our neighbour, nor to the honour of -God. These lies come in by lumps; lo! I dare say -that he never heard in his life men nor women say -that a man might pray only in church. Just as true -is it also that men say their <i>Paternosters</i> to the post, by -which name it pleases him of his reverent Christian -mind to call the images of holy saints and our Blessed -Lady, and the figure of Christ’s cross, the book of His -bitter passion. Though we reverence these in honour -of the things they represent, and in remembrance of -Christ do creep to the cross and kiss it, and say <i>Paternoster</i> -at it, yet we say not our <i>Paternoster</i> to it, but to -God; and that Tyndale knows full well, but he likes to -rail.”<a name="FNanchor_305" id="FNanchor_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a></p> - -<p>Finally a passage on the subject of pre-Reformation -devotion to the saints and angels, from the tract <i>Dives et -Pauper</i>, may fitly close this subject. “First,” says the -author,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> “worship ye our Lady, mother and maid, above -all, next after God, and then other saints both men and -women, and then the holy angels, as God giveth the -grace. Worship ye them not as God, but as our -tutors, defenders and keepers, as our leaders and -governors under God, as the means between us and -God, who is the Father of all and most Sovereign -Judge, to appease Him, and to pray for us, and to -obtain us grace to do well, and for forgiveness of -our misdeeds.… And, dear friend, pray ye heartily -to your angel, as to him that is nearest to you and -hath most care of you, and is, under God, most busy -to save you. And follow his governance and trust -in him in all goodness, and with reverence and purity -pray ye to him faithfully, make your plaints to him, -and speak to him homely to be your helper, since he -is your tutor and keeper assigned to you by God. Say -oft that holy prayer, <i>Angele qui meus est</i>, &c.”</p> - -<p>This prayer to the Guardian Angel, so highly commended, -was well known to pre-Reformation Catholics. -Generations of English mothers taught it to their -children; it is found frequently recommended in the -sermons of the fifteenth century, and confessors are -charged to advise their penitents to learn and make -use of it. For the benefit of those of my readers who -may not know the prayer, I here give it in an English -form, from a Latin version in the tract <i>Dextra Pars -Oculi</i>, which was intended to assist confessors in the -discharge of their sacred ministry—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">“O angel who my guardian art,</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Through God’s paternal love,</div> -<div class="verse">Defend, and shield, and rule the charge</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Assigned thee from above.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">From vice’s stain preserve my soul,</div> -<div class="verse indent2">O gentle angel bright,</div> -<div class="verse">In all my life be thou my stay,</div> -<div class="verse indent2">To all my steps the light.”</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It is, of course, impossible here to do more than -refer to the books of instruction, and those intended to -furnish the priests on the eve of the Reformation with -material for the familiar teaching they were bound to -give their people. Such works as Walter Pagula’s <i>Pars -Oculi Sacerdotis</i>, and the <i>Pupilla Oculi</i> of John de Burgo, -both fourteenth-century productions, were in general -use during the fifteenth century among the clergy. -The frequent mention of these works in the inventories -and wills of the period shows that they were in great -demand, and were circulated from hand to hand, whilst -an edition of the latter, printed in 1510 by Wolffgang,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> -at the expense of an English merchant, William Bretton, -attests its continued popularity. In a letter from -the editor, Augustine Aggeus, to Bretton, printed on -the back of the title-page, it is said that the <i>Pupilla</i> was -printed solely with the desire that the rites and sacraments -of the church might be better understood and -appreciated, and to secure “that nowhere in the English -Church” should there be any excuse of ignorance -on those matters.<a name="FNanchor_306" id="FNanchor_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a></p> - -<p>The contents of the first-named tract, the <i>Pars -Oculi Sacerdotis</i>, show how very useful a manual it must -have been to assist the clergy in their ministrations. It -consists of three parts: the first portion forms what -would now be called the <i>praxis confessarii</i>, a manual for -instructing priests in the science of dealing with souls, -and giving examples of the kind of questions that should -be asked of various people, for example, of religious, -secular priests, merchants, soldiers, and the like. This -is followed by a detailed examination of conscience, -and pious practices are suggested for the priest to -recommend for the use of the faithful. For example, -in order that the lives of lay people might be associated -in some way with the public prayer of the church, the -Divine office, the priest is advised to get his penitents -to make use of the Pater and Creed, seven times a -day, to correspond with the canonical hours. Those -having the cure of souls are reminded that it is their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> -duty to see that all at least know the Lord’s Prayer, -the Creed, and the Hail Mary by heart, and they are -urged to do all in their power to inculcate devotions to -our Lady, Patron Saints, and the Guardian Angels.</p> - -<p>The second part of the <i>Dextra Pars Oculi</i> deals -minutely and carefully with the instructions which a -priest should give his people in their religion, and this -includes not only points of necessary belief and Christian -practice, but such matters as the proper decorum -and behaviour in Church, and the cemetery, &c. The -materials for these familiar instructions are arranged -under thirty-one headings, and following on these are -the explanations of Christian faith and practice to be -made in the simple sermons the clergy were bound to -give to their people quarterly. The third part, called -the <i>Sinistra Pars Oculi</i>, is an equally careful treatise -on the sacraments. The instructions on the Blessed -Eucharist are excellent, and in the course of them many -matters of English religious practice are touched upon -and the ceremonies of the Mass are fully explained.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_307" id="FNanchor_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a></p> - -<p>It is obvious that much of the real religious instruction -in pre-Reformation days, as indeed in all ages, had -to be given at home by parents to their children. The -daily practices by which the home life is regulated and -sanctified are more efficacious in the formation of early -habits of solid piety and the fear of God in the young -than any religious instructions given at school or at -Church. This was fully understood and insisted upon -in pre-Reformation books of instruction. Such, for -example, is the very purpose of Richard Whitford’s -book, called <i>A werke for Housholders, or for them that -have the guyding or governance of any company</i>, printed by -Wynkyn de Worde in 1534, and again by Robert -Redman in 1537. After reminding his readers that -life is short, and that it is impossible for any man to -know when he shall be called upon to give an account<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> -of his stewardship, he turns to the consideration of the -Christian’s daily life. Begin the day well, he says; on -first awakening, turn your thoughts and heart to God, -“and then use by continual custom to make a cross with -your thumb upon your forehead or front, whilst saying -these words, <i>In nomine Patris</i>; and another cross upon -your mouth, with these words, <i>Et filii</i>; and then a third -cross upon your breast, saying, <i>Et spiritus Sancti</i>.” After -suggesting a form of morning and evening prayer, and -urging a daily examination of conscience, he continues: -Some may object that all this is very well for religious, -or people secluded from the world, “but we lie two -or three sometimes together, and even in one chamber -divers beds, and so many in company, that if we should -use these things in the presence of our fellows some -would laugh us to scorn and mock at us.” But to -this objection Whitford in effect replies that at most it -would be a nine days’ wonder, and people would quickly -be induced to follow an example of such a good Christian -practice if set with courage and firmness.<a name="FNanchor_308" id="FNanchor_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a></p> - -<p>Speaking of the duty of instructing others, “the -wretch of Syon,” as Whitford constantly calls himself, -urges those who can read to use their gifts for the -benefit of others not so fortunate. They should get -their neighbours together on holidays, he says, especially -the young, and teach them the daily exercise, and -in particular the “things they are bound to know or -can say: that is the <i>Paternoster</i>, the <i>Ave</i>, and the <i>Creed</i>.” -Begin early to teach those that are young, for “our -English proverb saith that the young cock croweth as -he doth hear and learn of the old.” Parents, above -all things, he urges to look well after their children<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> -and to take care of the company they keep. Teach -them to say their grace at meals. “At every meal, -dinner or supper, I have advised, and do now counsel, -that one person should with loud voice say thus, -‘Paternoster,’ with every petition paraphrased and -explained, and the Hail Mary and Creed likewise. -This manner of the Paternoster, Ave, and Creed,” he -says, “I would have used and read from the book at -every meal, or at least once a day with a loud voice -that all the persons present may hear it.” People are -bound to see that all in their house know these prayers -and say them.<a name="FNanchor_309" id="FNanchor_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a></p> - -<p>Very strongly indeed does Whitford in this volume -write against belief in charms and giving way to superstitions. -There is no question about his strong condemnation -of anything, however slight, which might -savour of reliance on these external things, and as an -instance of what he means, he declares that the application -of a piece of bread, with a cross marked upon it, -to a tooth to cure its aching, savours of superstition, as -showing too great a reliance on the material cross. In -the same place our author urges parents to correct -their children early for any use of oaths and strong -expressions. “Teach your children,” he says, “to -make their additions under this form: ‘yea, father,’ -‘nay, father,’ ‘yea, mother,’ ‘nay, mother,’ and ever to -avoid such things as ‘by cock and pye,’ and ‘by my -hood of green,’ and such other.”<a name="FNanchor_310" id="FNanchor_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a></p> - -<p>Finally, to take but one more example of the -advice given in this interesting volume to parents and -others having the charge of the young, Whitford says:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> -“Teach your children to ask a blessing every night, -kneeling, before they go to rest, under this form: -‘Father, I beseech you a blessing for charity.’” If the -child is too stubborn to do this, he says let it “be well -whisked.” If too old to be corrected in this way, let it -be set out in the middle of the dining-room and made -to feed by itself, and let it be treated as one would -treat one who did not deserve to consort with its -fellows. Also teach the young “to ask a blessing -from every bishop, abbot, and priest, and of their godfathers -and godmothers also.”<a name="FNanchor_311" id="FNanchor_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a></p> - -<p>In taking a general survey of the books issued by -the English presses upon the introduction of the art of -printing, the inquirer can hardly fail to be struck with -the number of religious, or quasi-religious, works which -formed the bulk of the early printed books. This fact -alone is sufficient evidence that the invention which at -this period worked a veritable revolution in the intellectual -life of the world, was welcomed by the ecclesiastical -authorities as a valuable auxiliary in the work of -instruction. In England the first presses were set up -under the patronage of churchmen, and a very large -proportion of the early books were actually works of -instruction or volumes furnishing materials to the clergy -for the familiar and simple discourses which they were -accustomed to give four times a year to their people. -Besides the large number of what may be regarded as -professional books chiefly intended for use by the -ecclesiastical body, such as missals, manuals, breviaries, -and horæ, and the prymers and other prayer-books used -by the laity, there was an ample supply of religious -literature published in the early part of the sixteenth -century. In fact, the bulk of the early printed English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> -books were of a religious character, and as the publication -of such volumes was evidently a matter of business -on the part of the first English printers, it is obvious -that this class of literature commanded a ready sale, -and that the circulation of such books was fostered by -those in authority at this period. Volumes of sermons, -works of Instruction on the Creed and the Commandments, -lives of the saints, and popular expositions of -Scripture history, were not only produced but passed -through several editions in a short space of time. The -evidence, consequently, of the productions of the first -English printing-presses goes to show not only that -religious books were in great demand, but also that so -far from discouraging the use of such works of instruction, -the ecclesiastical authorities actively helped in -their diffusion.</p> - -<p>In considering the religious education of the people -in the time previous to the great upheaval of the sixteenth -century, some account must be taken of the -village mystery plays which obviously formed no inconsiderable -part in popular instruction in the great truths -of religion. The inventories of parish churches and -the churchwardens’ accounts which have survived -show how very common a feature these religious plays -formed in the parish life of the fifteenth century, and -the words of the various dramas, of which we still -possess copies, show how powerful a medium of teaching -they would have been among the simple and unlettered -villagers of Catholic England, and even to -the crowds which at times thronged great cities like -Coventry and Chester, to be present at the more -elaborate plays acted in these traditional centres of -the religious drama.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> - -<p>As to their popularity there can be no question. -Dramatic representations of the chief events in the life -of our Lord, &c., were commonly so associated with -the religious purposes for which they were originally -produced, that they were played on Sundays and feast -days, and not infrequently in churches, church porches, -and churchyards. “Spectacles, plays, and dances that -are used on great feasts,” says the author of <i>Dives et -Pauper</i>, quoted above, “as they are done principally -for devotion and honest mirth, and to teach men to love -God the more, are lawful if the people be not thereby -hindered from God’s service, nor from hearing God’s -word, and provided that in such spectacles and plays -there is mingled no error against the faith of Holy -Church and good living. All other plays are prohibited, -both on holidays and work days (according -to the law), upon which the gloss saith that the representation -in plays at Christmas of Herod and the -Three Kings, and other pieces of the Gospel, both -then and at Easter and other times, is lawful and commendable.”</p> - -<p>A few examples of the kind of teaching imparted in -these plays will give a better idea of the purpose they -served in pre-Reformation days than any description. -There can be no reasonable doubt that such dramatic -representations of the chief mysteries of religion and -of scenes in the life of our Lord or of His saints served -to impress these truths and events upon the imaginations -of the audiences who witnessed them, and to -make them vivid realities in a way which we, who -are not living in the same religious atmosphere, find -it difficult now to understand. The religious drama -was the handmaid of the Church, and was intended<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> -to assist in instructing the people at large in the truths -and duties of religion, just as the paintings upon the -walls of the sacred buildings were designed to tell their -own tale of the Bible history, and form “a book” ever -open to the eyes of the unlettered children of the -Church, easy to be understood, graphically setting -forth events in the story of God’s dealings with -men, and illustrating truths which often formed -the groundwork for oral instruction in the Sunday -sermon.</p> - -<p>Whatever we may be inclined to think of these -simple plays as literary works, or however we may -be inclined now to smile at some of the characters -and “situations,” as to the pious spirit which dictated -their composition and presided over their production -there can be no doubt. “In great devotion and discretion,” -says the monk and chronicler, “Higden -published the story of the Bible, that the simple in -their own language might understand.”<a name="FNanchor_312" id="FNanchor_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a></p> - -<p>This was the motive of all these mediæval religious -plays. As a popular writer upon the English drama says: -“There is abundant evidence that the Romish ecclesiastics -in the mystery plays, especially that part of them -relating to the birth, passion, and resurrection of Christ, -had the perfectly serious intention of strengthening the -faith of the multitude in the fundamental doctrines of -the Church, and it seems the less extraordinary that -they should have resorted to this expedient when we -reflect that, before the invention of printing, books had -no existence for the people at large.”<a name="FNanchor_313" id="FNanchor_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a></p> - -<p>The subjects treated of in these plays were very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> -varied, although those which were performed at the -great feasts of Christmas and Easter generally had some -relation to the mystery then celebrated. In fact, the -mystery plays of the sacred seasons were only looked -upon as helping to make men realise more deeply the -great drama of the Redemption, the memory of which -was perpetuated in the sequence of the great festivals -of the Christian year. In such a collection as that -known as the <i>Towneley Mysteries</i>, and published by the -Surtees Society, we have examples of the subjects -treated in the religious plays of the period. The collection -makes no pretence to be complete, but it comprises -some three and thirty plays, including such -subjects as the Creation, the death of Abel, the story -of Noah, the sacrifice of Isaac and other Old Testament -histories, and a great number of scenes from -the New Testament, such as the Annunciation, the -Visitation, Cæsar Augustus, scenes from the Nativity, -the Shepherds and the Magi, the Flight into Egypt, -various scenes from the Passion and Crucifixion, the -parable of the Talents, the story of Lazarus, &c.</p> - -<p>Any one who will take the trouble to read these -plays as they are printed in this volume cannot fail -to be impressed not only with the vivid picture of the -special scene in the Old or New Testament that is -presented to the imagination, but by the extensive -knowledge of the Bible which the production of -these plays must have imparted to those who listened -to them, and by the way in which, incidentally, the -most important religious truths are conveyed in the -crude and rugged verse. Again and again, for instance, -the entire dependence of all created things -upon the Providence of Almighty God is declared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> -and illustrated. Thus, the confession of God’s Omnipotence, -put into the mouth of Noah at the beginning -of the play of “Noah and his Sons,” contains a profession -of belief in the Holy Trinity and in the work of -the three Persons: it describes the creation of the -world, the fall of Lucifer, the sin of our first parents, -and their expulsion from Paradise. In the story of -Abraham, too, the prayer of the patriarch with which -it begins:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“Adonai, thou God very,</div> -<div class="verse">Thou hear us when to Thee we call,</div> -<div class="verse">As Thou art He that best may,</div> -<div class="verse">Thou art most succour and help of all,”</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>gives a complete résumé of the Bible history before the -days of Abraham, with the purpose of showing that all -things are in the hands of God, and that complete obedience -is due to Him by all creatures whom He has -made.</p> - -<p>The same teaching as to the entire dependence -of the Christian for all things upon God’s Providence -appears in the address of the soul to its Maker in -the “morality” of Mary Magdalene, printed by Mr. -Sharpe from the Digby Manuscript collection of -religious plays:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse center">“<i>Anima</i>:</div> -<div class="verse">‘Sovereign Lord, I am bound to Thee;</div> -<div class="verse">When I was nought, Thou made me thus glorious;</div> -<div class="verse">When I perished through sin, Thou saved me;</div> -<div class="verse">When I was in great peril, Thou kept me, Christus;</div> -<div class="verse">When I erred, Thou reduced me, Jesus;</div> -<div class="verse">When I was ignorant, Thou taught me truth;</div> -<div class="verse">When I sinned, Thou corrected me thus;</div> -<div class="verse">When I was heavy, Thou comforted me by truth (<i>i.e.</i> Thy mercy);</div> -<div class="verse">When I stand in grace, Thou holdest me that tide;</div> -<div class="verse">When I fall, Thou raisest me mightily;</div> -<div class="verse">When I go well, Thou art my guide;</div> -<div class="verse">When I come, Thou receivest me most lovingly;</div> -<div class="verse">Thou hast anointed me with the oil of mercy;</div> -<div class="verse">Thy benefits, Lord, be innumerable:</div> -<div class="verse">Wherefore laud endless to Thee I cry;</div> -<div class="verse">Recommending me to Thy endless power endurable.’”</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The more these old plays which delighted our -forefathers are examined, the more clear it becomes -that, although undoubtedly unlearned and unread, the -people in pre-Reformation days, with instruction such -as is conveyed in these pious dramas, must have had -a deeper insight into the Gospel narrative, and a more -thorough knowledge of Bible history generally, not to -speak of a comprehension of the great truths of -religion, than the majority of men possess now in -these days of boasted enlightenment. Some of the -plays, as for example that representing St. Peter’s -fall, exhibit a depth of genuine feeling, of humble -sorrow, for instance, on the part of St. Peter, and of -loving-kindness on the part of our Lord, which must -have come home to the hearts as well as to the minds -of the beholders. At the same time, the lesson deduced -by our Saviour from the apostle’s fall, namely, the -need of all learning by their own shortcomings to be -merciful to the trespasses of others, must have impressed -itself upon them with a force which would -not easily have been forgotten.</p> - -<p>In that most popular of all representations—that -of Doomsday—“people learnt that before God there -is no distinction of persons, and that each individual -soul will be judged on its own merits, quite apart -from any fictitious human distinctions of rank, wealth, -or power.” Thus, as types, appear a <i>saved</i> pope, -emperor, king and queen, and amongst the <i>damned</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> -we also find a pope, emperor, king and queen, -justiciar and merchant. And the words of thankfulness -uttered by the Pope that has obtained his crown -betrays “no self-satisfaction at the attainment of salvation; -on the contrary, the true ring of Christian -humility betokens a due appreciation of God’s unutterable -holiness, and our unworthiness to stand -before His face till the uttermost blemish left by sin -has been wiped away” by the healing fires of Purgatory. -No less clearly is the full doctrine of responsibility -taught in the lament of the Pope, who is -represented as having lost his soul by an evil life, -and as being condemned to eternal punishment. The -mere fact of a pope being so represented was in -itself, when the Office was held in the highest regard, -a lesson of the highest importance in the teaching -of the true principles of holiness. In a word, these -mystery plays provided a most useful means of impressing -upon the minds of all the facts of Bible -history, the great truths of religion, and the chief -Christian virtues. The people taught in such a school -and the people who delighted in such representations, -as our forefathers in pre-Reformation days unquestionably -did, cannot, even from this point of view alone, be -regarded as ignorant of scriptural or moral teaching.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> -<span class="smaller">PARISH LIFE IN CATHOLIC ENGLAND</span></h2> - -<p>To understand the attitude of men’s minds to the -ecclesiastical system on the eve of the great religious -changes of the sixteenth century, some knowledge of -the parochial life of Catholic England is necessary. -Under present conditions, when unity has given place -to diversity, and three centuries of continuous wrangling -“over secret truths which most profoundly affect the -heart and mind” have done much to coarsen and -deaden our spiritual sense; when the religious mind -of England manifests every shade of belief and unbelief -without conscious reflection on the logical absurdity of -the position, it is by no means easy to realise the influence -of a state of affairs when all men, from the -highest to the lowest, in every village and hamlet -throughout the length and breadth of the land, had -but one creed, worshipped their Maker in but one way, -and were bound together with what most certainly -were to them the real and practical ties of the Christian -brotherhood. It is hardly possible to overestimate the -effect of surroundings upon individual opinion, or the -influence of a congenial atmosphere both on the growth -and development of a spirit of religion and on the -preservation of Christian morals and religious practices -generally. When all, so far as religious faith is concerned, -thought the same, and when all, so far as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> -religious observance is concerned, did the same, the -very atmosphere of unity was productive of that spirit -of common brotherhood, which appears so plainly in -the records of the period preceding the religious revolt -of the sixteenth century. Those who will read below -the surface and will examine for themselves into the -social life of that time must admit, however much they -feel bound to condemn the existing religious system, -that it certainly maintained up to the very time of -its overthrow a hold over the minds and hearts of -the people at large, which nothing since has gained. -Religion overflowed, as it were, into popular life, and -helped to sanctify human interests, whilst the affection -of the people was manifested in a thousand ways in -regard to what we might now be inclined to consider -the ecclesiastical domain. Whether for good or evil, -religion in its highest and truest sense, at least as it -was then understood, was to the English people as the -bloom upon the choicest fruit. Whatever view may -be taken as to advantage or disadvantage which came -to the body politic, or to individuals, by the Reformation, -it must be admitted that at least part of the price -paid for the change was the destruction of the sense -of corporate unity and common brotherhood, which -was fostered by the religious unanimity of belief and -practice in every village in the country, and which, as -in the main-spring of its life, and the very central -point of its being, centred in the Church with its rites -and ceremonies.</p> - -<p>A Venetian traveller at the beginning of the sixteenth -century bears witness to the influence of religion -upon the English people of that time. His opinion is -all the more valuable, inasmuch as he appeals to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> -experience of his master, who was also the companion -of his travels, to confirm his own impressions, and as -he was fully alive to the weak points in the English -character, of which he thus records his opinion: “The -English are great lovers of themselves and of everything -belonging to them; they think that there are no -other men but themselves and no other world but -England. Whenever they see a handsome foreigner -they say that ‘he looks like an Englishman,’ or that -‘it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishman,’ -and when they partake of any delicacy with a -foreigner they ask him whether such a thing is made -in his country.”<a name="FNanchor_314" id="FNanchor_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> In regard to the religious practices -of the people, this intelligent foreigner says, “They all -attend mass every day, and say many <i>Paternosters</i> in -public. The women carry long rosaries in their hands, -and any who can read take the Office of Our Lady -with them, and with some companion recite it in -Church verse by verse, in a low voice, after the -manner of churchmen. On Sundays they always hear -Mass in their parish church and give liberal alms, -because they may not offer less than a piece of money -of which fourteen are equivalent to a golden ducat. -Neither do they omit any form incumbent on good -Christians.”<a name="FNanchor_315" id="FNanchor_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a></p> - -<p>In these days perhaps the suggestion that the -English people commonly in the early sixteenth century -were present daily at morning Mass is likely to be -received with caution, and classed among the strange -tales proverbially told by travellers, then as now. It -is, however, confirmed by another Venetian who visited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> -England some few years later, and who asserts that -every morning “at daybreak he went to Mass arm-in-arm -with some English nobleman or other.”<a name="FNanchor_316" id="FNanchor_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> And, -indeed, the same desire of the people to be present -daily at the Sacrifice of the Mass is attested by Archbishop -Cranmer when, after the change had come, he -holds up to ridicule the traditional observances previously -in vogue. What he specially objected to was -the common practice of those who run, as he says, -“from altar to altar, and from sacring, as they call it, -to sacring, peeping, tooting, and gazing at that thing -which the priest held up in his hands … and saying, -‘this day have I seen my Maker,’ and ‘I cannot be -quiet except I see my Maker once a day.’”<a name="FNanchor_317" id="FNanchor_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a></p> - -<p>If there were no other evidence of the affection -of the English people on the eve of the Reformation -for their religion, that of the stone walls of the churches -would be sufficient to prove the sincerity of their love. -In the whole history of English architecture nothing is -more remarkable than the activity in church building -manifested during the later half of the fifteenth and -the early part of the sixteenth centuries. From one -end of England to the other in the church walls are to -be seen the evidences of thought and skill, labour and -wealth, spent freely upon the sacred buildings during -a period when it might not unnaturally have been -thought that the civil dissensions of the Wars of the -Roses, and the consequent destruction of life and -property, would have been fatal to enterprise in the -field of church building and church decoration and -enrichment. It is not in any way an exaggeration to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> -say that well-nigh every village church in England can -show signs of this marvellous activity, whilst in many -cases there is unmistakable evidence of personal care -and thought in the smallest details.</p> - -<p>No less remarkable than the extent of this movement -is the source from which the money necessary -for all the work upon the cathedrals and parish churches -of the country came. In previous centuries, to a -great extent churches and monastic buildings owed -their existence and embellishment mainly to the individual -enterprise of the powerful nobles or rich -ecclesiastics; but from the middle of the fifteenth -century the numerous, and, in many cases, even vast -operations, undertaken in regard to ecclesiastical buildings -and ornamentation, were the work of the people -at large, and were mainly directed by their chosen -representatives. At the close of the fifteenth century, -church work was in every sense of the word a -popular work, and the wills, inventories, and churchwardens’ -accounts prove beyond question that the people -generally contributed generously according to their -means, and that theirs was the initiative, and theirs -the energetic administration by which the whole was -accomplished.<a name="FNanchor_318" id="FNanchor_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> Gifts of money and valuables, bequests -of all kinds, systematic collections by parish officials, or -by directors of guilds, often extending over considerable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> -periods, and the proceeds of parish plays and parish -feasts, were the ordinary means by which the sums -necessary to carry out these works of building and -embellishment were provided. Those who had no -money to give brought articles of jewellery, such as -rings, brooches, buckles, and the like, or articles of -dress or of domestic utility, to be converted into vestments, -banners, and altar hangings to adorn the images -and shrines, to make the sacred vessels of God’s house, or -to be sold for like purposes. For the same end, and -to secure the perpetuity of lamps before the Blessed -Sacrament, or lights before the altars of saints, people -gave houses and lands into the care of the parish -officials, or made over to them cattle and sheep to -be held in trust, which, when let out at a rent, -formed a permanent endowment for the furtherance -of these sacred purposes.</p> - -<p>Undoubtedly the period with which we are concerned -was not merely an age of building, but an age -of decoration, and of decoration which may almost -be described as “lavish.” The very architecture of -the time is proof of the wealth of ornament with which -men sought to give expression to their enthusiastic -love of the Houses of God, which they had come to -regard as the centre of their social no less than of -their religious life. Flowing lines in tracery and arch -moulding gave place to straight lines, groined roofs -were enriched by extra ribs, and panels of elaborate -work covered the plain surfaces of former times; the -very key-stones of the vaulting became pendants, and -the springers branched out like palm trees, forming -that rich and entirely English variety of groin called -“fan-tracery,” such as we see at Sherborne, Eton,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> -King’s College, Cambridge, and Henry VII.’s Chapel -at Westminster. “In other respects,” says a modern -writer, “the architects of the fifteenth century were -very successful. Few things can be seen more beautiful -than the steeples of Gloucester Cathedral and -St. Mary’s, Taunton. The open roofs, as for example -that of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, are superb, and -finally they have left us a large number of enormous -parish churches all over the country, full of interesting -furniture and decoration.”</p> - -<p>The fact is, that this was the last expression of Gothic -as a living art. The builders and beautifiers of the -English churches on the eve of the religious changes -spoke still a living language, and their works still tell -us of the fulness of the hearts which planned and -executed such works. It is somewhat difficult for us -to understand this, when living in an age of imitation, -and at a time when architecture has no longer a language -of its own. “Imitation,” writes Mr. Ferguson, -“is in fact all we aim at in the architectural art of -the present day. We entrust its exercise to a specially -educated class, most learned in the details of the style -they are called upon to work in, and they produce -buildings which delight the scholars and archæologists -of the day, but which the less educated classes neither -understand nor appreciate, and which will lose their -significance the moment the fashion which produced -them has passed away.</p> - -<p>“The difference between this artificial state of -things and the practice of a true style will not be -difficult to understand. When, for instance, Gothic -was a living art in England, men expressed themselves -in it as in any other part of the vernacular. Whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> -was done was a part of the usual, ordinary every-day -life, and men had no more difficulty in understanding -what others were doing than in comprehending what -they were saying. A mason did not require to be -a learned man to chisel what he had carved ever since -he was a boy, and what alone he had seen being done -during his lifetime, and he adapted new forms just in -the same manner and as naturally as men adapt new -modes of expression in language as they happen to be -introduced, without even remarking it. At that time -any educated man could design in Gothic Art, just as -any man who can read and write can now compose and -give utterance to any poetry or prose that may be in him.</p> - -<p>“Where art is a true art, it is naturally practised and -as easily understood, as a vernacular literature of which, -indeed, it is an essential and most expressive part, and -so it was in Greece and Rome, and so, too, in the Middle -Ages. But with us it is little more than a dead corpse, -galvanised into spasmodic life by a few selected practitioners -for the amusement and delight of a small section -of the specially educated classes. It expresses truthfully -neither our wants nor our feelings, and we ought not -to be surprised how very unsatisfactory every modern -building really is, even when executed by the most -talented architects as compared with the productions -of our village mason or parish priest at an age when -men sought only to express clearly what they felt -strongly, and sought to do it only in their natural -mother tongue, untrammelled by the fetters of a dead -or familiar foreign form of speech.”<a name="FNanchor_319" id="FNanchor_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a></p> - -<p>To any one who will examine the churchwardens’ -accounts of the period previous to the religious changes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> -the truth of the above quotation will clearly appear. -Then, if ever, ecclesiastical art and architecture was -the living expression of popular feeling and popular -love of religion, and the wholesale destruction of -ancient architectural monuments throughout the land, -the pulling down of rood and screen and image, the -casting down of monuments sacred to the memory of -the best and holiest and most venerated names in the -long roll of English men of honour, the breaking up of -stone-work and metal-work upon which the marks of -the chisel of the mason and graver were yet fresh, the -whitewash daubed over paintings which had helped to -make the parish churches objects of beauty and interest -to the people, the ruthless smashing of the pictured -window lights, and the pillage of the sacred vessels and -vestments and hangings, which the people and their -fathers had loved to provide for God’s service—all this -and much more of the same kind, the perhaps inevitable -accompaniments of the religious change, was nothing -less to the people than proscription by authority of the -national language of art and architecture, such as they -had hitherto understood it. And never probably had -the language been more truly the language of the people -at large. For reasons just assigned, the work of church -building and church decoration, and the provision of -vestments and plate, the care of the fabric and the very -details of things necessary for the church services, were -in the hands of the people. The period in question had -given rise to the great middle class, and here, as in -Germany, the burgher folk, the merchants and traders, -began literally to lavish their gifts in adornment of their -parish churches, and to vie one with another in the -profusion of their generosity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span></p> - -<p>It is somewhat difficult for us, as we look upon the -generally bare and unfurnished churches that have been -left to us as monuments of the past about which we are -concerned, to realise what they must have been before -what a modern writer has fitly called “the great pillage” -commenced. All, from the great minsters and cathedral -churches down to the poorest little village sanctuary, -were in those days simply overflowing with wealth and -objects of beauty which loving hands had gathered -together to adorn God’s house, and to make it the best -and brightest spot in their little world, and so far as -their means would allow the very pride of their hearts. -This is no fancy picture. The inventories of English -churches in this period when compared, say, with those -of Italy, reveal the fact that the former were in every -way incomparably better furnished than the latter. -The Venetian traveller in England in 1500 was impressed -by this very thing during his journeyings -throughout the country. He notes and comments -upon the great sums of money regularly given to the -church as a matter of course by Englishmen of all -sorts. Then after speaking of the important wealth -of the country as evidenced by the silver plate possessed -by all but the poorest in the land, he continues:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> -“But above all are their riches displayed in the -church treasures, for there is not a parish church in the -kingdom so mean as not to possess crucifixes, candlesticks, -censers, patens and cups of silver, nor is there a -convent of mendicant friars so poor as not to have all -these same articles in silver, besides many other ornaments -worthy of a cathedral church in the same metal. -Your magnificence may therefore imagine what the -decorations of those enormously rich Benedictine, Carthusian, -and Cistercian monasteries must be.… I -have been informed that amongst other things many of -these monasteries possess unicorns’ horns of an extraordinary -size. I have also been told that they have some -splendid tombs of English saints, such as St. Oswald, -St. Edmund, and St. Edward, all kings and martyrs. -I saw, one day being with your magnificence, at Westminster, -a place out of London, the tomb of that saint, -King Edward the Confessor, in the church of the foresaid -place, Westminster; and indeed, neither St. Martin -of Tours, a church in France, which I have heard is -one of the richest in existence, nor anything else that -I have ever seen, can be put into comparison with it. -The magnificence of the tomb of St. Thomas the -Martyr, Archbishop of Canterbury, surpasses all belief.”</p> - -<p>Our present concern, however, is not with the -greater churches of the kingdom, but with the parish -churches which were scattered in such profusion all -over the country. An examination of such parochial -accounts as are still preserved affords an insight into -the working of the parish, and evidences the care -taken by the people to maintain and increase the -treasures of their churches. What is most remarkable -about the accounts that remain, which are, of -course, but the scanty survivals from the wreck, is -their consistent tenor. They one and all tell the -same story of general and intelligent interest taken -by the people as a whole in the beautifying and -supporting of their parish churches. In a very real -sense, that seems strange to us now, it was <i>their</i> -church; their life centred in it, and they were intimately -concerned in its working and management. -The articles of furniture and plate, the vestments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> -and hangings had a well-known history, and were -regarded as—what in truth they were—the common -property of every soul in the particular village or district. -Such accounts as we are referring to prove that specific -gifts and contributions continued to flow in an ample -stream to the churches from men and women of every -sort and condition up to the very eve of the great -religious changes.</p> - -<p>From these and similar records we may learn a -good deal about parochial life and interests in the -closing period of the old ecclesiastical system. The -church was the common care and business. Its -welfare was the concern of the people at large, and -took its natural place in their daily lives. Was there -any building to be done, a new peal of bells to be -procured, the organs to be mended, new plate to be -bought, or the like, it was the parish as a corporate -body that decided the matter, arranged the details, and -provided for the payment. At times, say for example -when a new vestment was in question, the whole parish -would be called to sit in council in the church house -upon this matter of common interest, and discuss the -cost, and stuff, and make.</p> - -<p>To take some examples: the inventory of Cranbrook -parish church for 1509 shows that all benefactors were -regularly noted down on a roll of honour, that their -gifts might be known and remembered. The presents, -of course, vary greatly in value: thus, there was a -monstrance of silver and gilt of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> “value of £20, -of Sir Robert Egelonby’s gift; which Sir Robert was -John Roberts’ priest thirty years, and he never had -other service nor benefice; and the said John Roberts -was father to Walter Roberts, Esquire.” And the foresaid -Sir Robert gave also to the common treasury of -the parish “two candlesticks of silver and twenty marks -of old nobles.” Again John Hendely “gave three copes -of purple velvet, whereof one was of velvet upon velvet -with images broidered,” and, adds the inventory, “for -a perpetual memory of this deed of goodness to the -common purposes of the parish church, his name is to -be read out to the people on festival days.” “He is -grandfather of Gervase Hendely of Cushorn, and of -Thomas of Cranbrook Street.” Or once more, it is -recorded that “old mother Hopper” gave the “two -long candlesticks before Our Lady’s altar, fronted with -lions, and a towel on the rood of Our Lady’s chancel.”</p> - -<p>So, too, the inventory of the church goods of St. -Dunstan’s, Canterbury, includes a wonderful list of -furniture, plate, and vestments to which the names of -the donors are attached. Thus, the best chalice was -the gift of one “Harry Bole”; the two great candlesticks -of laten of John Philpot; and “a kercher for Our -Lady and a chapplet and a powdryd cap for her Son,” -the gift of Margery Roper.</p> - -<p>The memory of these gifts was kept alive among the -people by the “bede-roll” or list of those for whom -the parish was bound to pray in return for their benefactions -to the public good. Thus to take an example: -at Leverton, in the county of Lincoln, the parson, Sir -John Wright, presented the church with a suit of red -purple vestments, “for the which,” says the note in the -churchwardens’ accounts,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> “you shall all specially pray -for the souls of William Wright and Elizabeth his wife -(father and mother of the donor), and for the soul of -Sir William Wright, their son, and for the soul of Sir -John, sometime parson of this place, and for the souls of -Richard Wright and Isabel his wife, John Trowting and -Helen his wife, and for all benefactors, as well them -that be alive as them that be departed to the mercy of -God, for whose lives and souls are given here (these vestments) -to the honour of God, His most blessed Mother, -Our Lady Saint Mary, and all His Saints in Heaven, and -the blessed matron St. Helen his patron, to be used at -such principal feasts and times as it shall please the -curates as long as they shall last. For all these souls -and all Christian souls you shall say one Paternoster.”<a name="FNanchor_320" id="FNanchor_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a></p> - -<p>In this way the memory of benefactors and their -good deeds was ever kept alive in the minds of those -who benefited by their gifts. The parish treasury was -not to them so much stock, the accumulation of years, -without definite history or purpose; but every article, -vestment, banner, hanging, and chalice, and the rest -called for the affectionate memories of both the living -and the dead. On high day and festival, when the -church was decked with all that was best and richest in -the parochial treasury, the display of the parish ornaments -recalled to the mind of the people assembled -within its walls the memory of good deeds done by -neighbours for the common good. “The immense -treasures in the churches,” writes Dr. Jessop, “were the -joy and boast of every man and woman and child in -England, who day by day and week by week assembled -to worship in the old houses of God which they and their -fathers had built, and whose every vestment and chalice -and candlestick and banner, organs and bells and picture -and image and altar and shrine, they looked upon -as their own and part of their birthright.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_321" id="FNanchor_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a></p> - -<p>What seems so strange about the facts revealed to -us in these church accounts of bygone times is that, -where now we might naturally be inclined to look for -poverty and meanness, there is evidence of the contrary, -so far as the parish church is concerned. Even when -the lives of the parishioners were spent in daily labours -to secure the bare necessities of life, and the village was -situated in the most out-of-the-way part of the country, -the sordid surroundings of a hard life find no counterpart -in the parish accounts so far as the church is concerned, -but even under such unfavourable circumstances -there is evidence of a taste for things of art and beauty, -and of both the will and power to procure them. To -take some examples: Morebath was a small uplandish -parish of no importance lying within the borders of -Devon, among the hills near the sources of the river Exe. -The population was scanty, and worldly riches evidently -not abundant. Morebath may, consequently, be taken -as a fair sample of an obscure and poor village community. -For this hamlet we possess fairly full accounts -for the close of the period under consideration, namely, -from the year 1530. At this time, in this poor place, -there were no less than eight separate accounts kept of -money intended for the support of different altars, or -for carrying out definite decorations, such as, for -example, the chapels of St. George and Our Lady, -and the guilds of the young men and maidens of the -parish. To the credit of these various accounts, or -“stores,” as they are called, are entered numerous gifts -of money, or articles of value, and even of kind, like -cows and swarms of bees. Most of them are possessed -of cattle and sheep, the proceeds from the rent of which -form a considerable portion of their endowment. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> -accounts as a whole furnish abundant evidence of active -and intelligent interest in the support and adornment of -the parish church on the part of the people at large. -Voluntary rates to clear off obligations contracted for -the benefit of the community, such as the purchase of -bells, the repair of the fabric, or even the making of -roads and bridges, were raised. Collections for Peter’s -pence, for the support of the parish clerk, and for various -other church purposes, are recorded, and the spirit of -self-help is evidenced in every line of these records. In -1528 the vicar gave up his rights to certain wool tithes -in order to purchase a complete set of black vestments, -which were only finished and paid for, at the cost of -£6, 5s. 0d., in 1547. In the year 1538, the parish -made a voluntary rate to purchase a new cope, and the -collection for the purpose secured £3, 6s. 8d. When -in 1534 the silver chalice was stolen, “ye yong men -and maydens of ye parysshe dru themselffe together, -and at ther gyfts and provysyon they bought in another -chalice without any charge of the parysshe.” Sums of -money big and small, specific gifts in kind, the stuff or -ornaments needed for vestments, were apparently always -forthcoming when occasion required. Thus at one -time a new cope is suggested, and Anne Tymwell of -Hayne gave the churchwardens her “gown and ring,” -Joan Tymwell a cloak and girdle, and Richard Norman -“seven sheep and three shillings and four pence in -money,” towards the expenses. At another time it is a -set of black vestments; at another a chalice; at another -a censer; but whatever it was, the people were evidently -ready and desirous of taking their share in the common -work of the parish. In 1529 the wardens state that -Elinor Nicoll gave to the store of St. Sydwell her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> -wedding-ring—“the which ring,” they add, “did help to -make Saint Sydwell’s shoes.” Then she gave to “the -store of Jesus” a little silver cross, parcel gilt, of the -value of 4d. In 1537 there is one item which deserves -to be noted, as it records the arrival of a piece of spoil -from Barlinch Abbey Church, which was dissolved by -the king’s orders the previous year. “Memorandum,” -runs the entry, “Hugh Poulett gave to the church -one of the glass windows of the Barlinch, with the -iron and stone and all the price” for setting it up.<a name="FNanchor_322" id="FNanchor_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a></p> - -<p>To understand the working of the pre-Reformation -parish, it is necessary to enter in detail into some one -of the accounts that are still preserved to us. We may -conveniently take those of Leverton in Lincolnshire, -printed in the <i>Archæologia</i>, which commence in the -year 1492. It is well to note, however, that the same -story of self-help and the same evidence of a spirit of -affection for the parish church and its services, is manifested -in every account of this kind we possess. It -must be remembered that it was popular government -in a true sense that then regulated all parochial matters. -Every adult of both sexes had a voice in this system of -self-government, and what cannot fail to strike the -student of these records is that, in the management of -the fabric, in the arrangements for the services, and all -things necessary for the due performance of these, diocesan -authorities evidently left to the parish itself a wise -discretion. No doubt the higher ecclesiastical officials -could interfere in theory, but in practice such interference -was rare. If the means necessary to carry out -repairs and keep the church in an efficient state, both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> -as to fabric and ornaments, were apparently never -wanting, it must be borne in mind that it was then -regarded as a solemn duty binding on the conscience of -each parishioner to maintain the House of God and the -parochial services. Bishop Hobhouse, from an examination -of the churchwardens’ accounts for some parishes -in Somerset, is able to describe the various ways in -which the parochial exchequer was replenished. First, -there were the voluntary rates, called “setts,” and these, -though voluntary in the sense that their imposition -depended on the will of the people at large, when -once the parish had declared for the rate, all were -bound to pay. Then the mediæval church authorities -cultivated various methods of eliciting the goodwill -of the people, and after prohibiting work on Sundays -and certain festivals, busied themselves with the finding -of amusements. Amongst these were the parish feasts -and church ales, at which collections for various public -purposes were made, which, together with the profits -made from such entertainments by those who managed -them for the benefit of the public purse, formed one of -the chief sources of parochial income. Beyond this, -the principle of association was thoroughly understood -and carried out in practice in the village and town communities. -People banded themselves together in religious -guilds and societies, the <i>raison d’être</i> of which was -the maintenance of special decorations at special altars, -the support of lamps and lights, or the keeping of obits -and festivals. These societies, moreover, became the -centres of organisation of any needed special collections, -and from their funds, or “stores” as they were called, -they contributed to the general expenses of maintaining -the fabric and the services. Popular bounty was, moreover,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> -elicited by means of the “bede-roll,” or list of -public benefactors, for whom the prayers of the parishioners -were asked in the church on great festivals. -On this list of honour, all—even the poorest—were -anxious that their names should appear, and that their -memory be kept and their souls prayed for in the House -of God which they had loved in life. Even more than -money, which in those days, especially in out-of-the-way -places, was not over plentiful, the churchwardens’ -accounts show that specific gifts of all kinds, either to -be sold for the profit of the purpose for which they -were bestowed, or to form a permanent part of the -church treasury, were common in pre-Reformation times.</p> - -<p>Added to these sources of income were the profits -of trade carried on in the “church house.” Besides the -church itself, the wardens’ accounts testify to the existence -of a church house, if not as a universal feature in -mediæval parish life, at least as a very common one. -It was the parish club-house—the centre of parochial -life and local self-government; the place where the -community would assemble for business and pleasure. -It was thus the focus of all the social life of the parish, -and the system was extending in influence and utility up -to the eve of the great religious changes which put an -end to the popular side of parochial life. At Tintinhull, -a small village in Somerset, for example, the accounts -help us to trace the growth of this parish club-house. -Beginning as a place for making the altar bread, it -developed into a bakery for the supply of the community. -It then took up the brewing of beer to supply -the people and the church ales and similar parish festivals. -This soon grew into the brewing of beer to supply -those who required a supply, and at the same time the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> -oven and brewing utensils were let out to hire to private -persons. In the reign of Henry VII. a house was bought -by the wardens for parish purposes, and one Agnes Cook -was placed in it to manage it for the common benefit. -In 1533 it was in full swing as a parish club-house, -used for business and pleasure.<a name="FNanchor_323" id="FNanchor_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> The “ale”—the -forerunner of the wardens’ “charity dinner”—was the -ordinary way of raising money to meet extraordinary -expenses; and as an incidental accompaniment came -invitations to other parishes in the neighbourhood, and -we find items charged for the expenses of churchwardens -attending at other parochial feasts, and the -sums they there put into the collection plate.</p> - -<p>Beyond this, the parish, as a corporate body generally, -if not invariably, possessed property in land and -houses, which was administered by the people’s wardens -for the public good. The annual proceeds lightened -the common burdens, as indeed it was intended that -they should. A further source of occasional income -was found in the parish plays which were managed for -the common profit. Very frequently the production -was entrusted to some local guild, and the expenses of -mounting were advanced by the parochial authorities, -who not infrequently had amongst the church treasures -the dress and other stage properties necessary for the -proper productions. At Tintinhull, in Somerset, for -instance, in 1451, five parishioners got up a Christmas -play for the benefit of the fund required for the erection -of the new rood loft. At Morebath there was an Easter -play representing the Resurrection of our Lord, to -defray the expenses incurred by the parish on some -extensive repairs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_324" id="FNanchor_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a></p> - -<p>With this general notion of the working of pre-Reformation -parochial accounts, we are now in a -position to turn by way of a particular example to those -of Leverton. The village is situated about six miles from -Boston. The church, until the neglect of the past three -hundred years had disfigured it, must have been very -beautiful when decked with the furniture and ornaments -which the loving care of the people of the -neighbourhood had collected within its walls. When -first the accounts open in 1492, the parish was beginning -to be interested, as indeed, by the way, so many -parishes were at this period, in the setting up of a new -peal of bells. The people had evidently made a great -effort to get these, and they contributed most generously. -The rector promised ten shillings and sixpence—which -sum, by the way, some one paid for him—but -the whole arrangement for the purchase and hanging -of the bells was in the hands of the churchwardens. -The bell chamber was mended and timber was bought -to strengthen the framework. When this was ready, -the great bell was brought over from the neighbouring -town, and money is disbursed for the carriage and the -team of horses, not forgetting a penny for the toll in -crossing a bridge. One William Wright of Benington -came over professionally to superintend the hanging -and “trossyng” of this great service bell. We may -judge, however, that it was not altogether satisfactory, -for in 1498 the two wardens made a “move” to “the -gathering of the township of Leverton in the kirk,” in -which they collected £4, 13s. 0d., and they forthwith -commenced again the building of a steeple for another -set of bells. The stone was given to them, but they -had to see to the work of quarrying it, and to all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> -business of collecting material and of building. Trees -in a neighbouring wood were bought, were cut and -carried, and sawn into beams and boards, and poles -were selected for scaffolding. Lime was burnt and -sand was dug for the mortar, and tubs were purchased -to mix it in, whilst Wreth, the carpenter, was retained -to look after the building in general, and the timberwork -of the new belfry in particular.</p> - -<p>This seems to have exhausted the parish exchequer -for a year or two, but in 1503 the two wardens attended -at Boston to see their bell “shot,” and to provide for -its transport to Leverton. Here Richard Messur, the -local blacksmith, had prepared the necessary bolts and -locks to fasten it to the swinging beam, and he was in -attendance professionally to see the bell hung, with -John Red, the bellmaker of Boston, who, moreover, -remained for a time to teach the parish men how to -ring a peal upon their new bells.</p> - -<p>As the sixteenth century progressed, a great deal -of building and repairs was undertaken by the parish -authorities. In 1503, a new font was ordered, and a -deputation went to Frieston, about three miles from -Leverton, to inspect and pass the work. The lead for -the lining was procured, and it was cast on the spot. -In 1517, repairs on the north side of the church were -undertaken, and these must have been extensive, judging -from the cost of the timber employed to shore up -the walls during the progress of the work. Two years -later, on the completion of these extensive building -operations, which had been going on for some time, -the church and churchyard were consecrated at a cost -to the public purse of £3. In 1526, the rood loft was -decorated, and the niches intended for images of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> -saints, but which had hitherto been vacant, were filled. -One of the parishioners, William Frankish, in that year -left a legacy of 46s. 8d. for the purpose. The wardens -hired a man, called sometimes “the alabaster man,” and -sometimes “Robert Brook the carver,” and in earnest for -the seventeen images of alabaster of the rood loft they -gave him a shilling. At the same time a collection was -made for the support of the artist during his stay; some -of the parishioners gave money, but most of them apparently -contributed “cheese” for his use.</p> - -<p>So much with regard to the serious building operations -which were continued up to the very eve of the Reformation. -They by no means occupied all the energies -of the parish officials. If the books required binding, a -travelling workman was engaged on the job, and leather, -thread, wax, and other necessary materials were purchased -for the work; the binder’s wife was paid extra -for stitching, and he was apparently lodged by one of -the townspeople as a contribution to the common work. -Then there were vestments to be procured, and surplices -and other church linen to be made, washed, and marked; -the very marks, by the way, being given in the accounts. -So entirely was the whole regarded as the work of the -people, that just as we have seen how the parish paid for -the consecration of their parish church and graveyard, -so did they pay a fee to their own vicar for blessing -the altar linen and the new vestments, and entering -the names of benefactors on the parish bede-roll.<a name="FNanchor_325" id="FNanchor_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a></p> - -<p>Details such as these, which might be multiplied to -any extent, make it abundantly clear that the church -was the centre and soul of village life in pre-Reformation -times, and that up to the very eve of the religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> -revolution it had not lost its place in the hearts of the -people. In this connection it is useful to bear in mind, -though somewhat difficult to realise, inasmuch as it is -now too foreign to our modern experience, that in the -period about which we are concerned the “parish” -meant the whole community of a well-defined area -“organised for church purposes and subject to church -authority.” In such a district, writes Bishop Hobhouse, -“every resident was a parishioner, and, as such, owed his -duty of confession and submission to the official guidance -of a stated pastor. There was no choice allowed. -The community was completely organised with a constitution -which recognised the rights of the whole and -of every adult member to a voice of self-government -when assembled for consultation under” their parish -priest.<a name="FNanchor_326" id="FNanchor_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> In this way the church was the centre of all -parish life, in a way now almost inconceivable. “From -the font to the grave,” says an authority on village life at -this time, “the greater number of the people lived -within the sound of its bells. It provided them with -all the consolations of religion, and linked itself with -such amusements as it did not directly supply.”<a name="FNanchor_327" id="FNanchor_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a></p> - -<p>The writer of the above words was specially interested -in the accounts of the parish of St. Dunstan in the -city of Canterbury, and some few notes on those accounts -founded upon his preface may usefully be added -to what has already been said. The parochial authorities -evidently were possessed of considerable power -either by custom or consent over the inhabitants. In -St. Dunstan’s, for example, somewhere about 1485,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> -there was some disagreement between a man named -Baker and the parish, and an item of 2½d. appears -in the accounts as spent on the arbitration that settled -it. Later on, two families fell out, and the vicar and a -jury of four parishioners met in council to put an end -to what was considered a scandal. A parish so managed -had necessarily some place in which the inhabitants of -the district could meet, and this in St. Dunstan’s is called -the <i>church house</i>, and sometimes the <i>parish house</i>. It is -frequently mentioned in the matters of repairs, &c., and -two dozen trenchers and spoons, the property of the -parish, were placed there for use at the common feasts, -and for preparation of food distributed to the poor. -The annual dinner is named in the accounts, and there -is no doubt the young people too had dancing, bowling, -and other games, while “the ancients sat gravely by.”</p> - -<p>The money needed for the repairs of the fabric and -for parish work generally was here collected by the -various brotherhoods connected with the church. -Some wore “scutchons” or badges to show that they -were authorised to beg. These brotherhoods were -possessed of more than money; malt, wheat, barley, -besides parish sheep and parish cows let out to the -highest bidder, are mentioned in the accounts as belonging -to them. One Nicholas Reugge, for example, left -four cows to the people of the parish to free them -for ever from the cost of supplying the “paschal,” or -great Easter candle. These four cows were valued by -the churchwardens at 10s. apiece, and were each let at -a rent of 2s. a year. In 1521, one John Richardson -rented five-and-twenty of the parish sheep, and the -wardens received rent of lambs, wool, &c. The chief -of the brotherhoods connected with St. Dunstan’s was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> -that named the “Schaft,” and it had the principal voice -in the ultimate management of parochial affairs. Besides -this, however, there were many other associations, such -as that of St. Anne for women and that of St. John for -youths, and various wardens were appointed to collect -the money necessary to keep the various lights, such as -St. Anne’s light, St. John’s light, St. Katherine’s light, -and the light of the Holy Rood. “These things,” writes -the editor of these interesting accounts, “all go to show -what life and activity there was in this little parish, which -never wanted willing men to devote their time and influence -to the management of their own affairs.”</p> - -<p>The parish was small, numbering perhaps hardly -more than 400 souls. “But if small,” says the same -authority, “it was thoroughly efficient, and the religious -and intellectual work was as actively carried on as the -social.” At the close of the reign of Henry VIII. the -church possessed a library of some fifty volumes. Of -these about a dozen were religious plays, part, no -doubt, of the Corpus Christi mystery plays, which were -carried out at St. Dunstan’s with undiminished splendour -till the advent of the new ideas in the reign of -Edward VI.</p> - -<p>These parish accounts prove that many cases of -disagreement and misunderstanding, which in modern -times would most likely lead to long and protracted -cases in the Law Courts, were not infrequently settled -by arbitration, or by means of a parish meeting or a -jury of neighbours. Sometimes, undoubtedly, the law -had to be invoked in defence of parochial rights. A -case in point is afforded in the accounts of St. Dunstan’s, -Canterbury. Nicholas Reugge, as we have said -above, had left money to purchase four cows as an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> -endowment for the Paschal candle and the Font taper. -Things went well, apparently, till 1486, when William -Belser, who rented the stock, died, and his executors -either could not or would not, or, at any rate, did not pay. -To recover the common property, the churchwardens, as -trustees for the parish, had to commence a suit at law. -Chief-Justice Fineux and Mr. Attorney-General John -Roper were two of the parishioners, and the parish -had their advice, it may be presumed gratuitously. -The case, however, seems to have dragged on for -five years, as it was finally settled only in 1491, when -the parish scored a pyrrhic victory, for although they -recovered 30s., the value of three of the cows, their -costs had mounted up to 35s. 2d., and as they never -could get more than a third of that amount from the -defendants, on the whole they were out of pocket by -their adventure with the law.</p> - -<p>For the most part, however, the parish settled its -own difficulties in its own way. Documents preserved -almost by chance clearly show that a vast number -of small cases—police cases we should call them—were -in pre-Reformation days arranged by the ecclesiastical -authority. Disputes, brawls, libels, minor immoralities, -and the like, which nowadays would have -to be dealt with by the local justices of the peace or -by the magistrates at quarter sessions, or even by the -judges at assizes, were disposed of by the parson and -the parish. It may not have been an ideal system, but -it was patriarchal and expeditious. The Sunday pulpit -was used not only for religious instruction, properly -so called, and for the “bedes-bidding,” but for the publication -of an endless variety of notices of common -interest. The church was, as we have said, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> -centre of popular life, and it was under these circumstances -the natural place for the proclamation of -the commencement of some inquiry into a local suit, -or one in which local people were concerned. It was -here, in the house of God, and at the Sunday service -at which all were bound to be present, that witnesses -were cited and accused persons warned of proceedings -against them. Here was made the declaration of the -probate of wills of deceased persons, and warning given -to claimants against the estate to come forward and -substantiate their demands. Here, too, were issued -proclamations against such as did not pay their just -debts or detained the goods of others; here those who -had been guilty of defamation of character were ordered -to restore the good name of those they had calumniated; -and those who, having been joined in wedlock, -had separated without just and approved cause, were -warned of the obligations of Christian marriage. The -transactions of business of this kind in the parish church -by the parish officials made God’s house a practical -reality and God’s law a practical code in the ordinary -affairs of life, and gave religion a living importance -in the daily lives of every member of every parish -throughout the country.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> -<span class="smaller">PRE-REFORMATION GUILD LIFE</span></h2> - -<p>It would be impossible to fully understand the conditions -of life on the eve of the Reformation without -some knowledge of the working and purposes of -mediæval guilds. These societies or brotherhoods -were so common, formed such a real bond of union -between people of all ranks and conditions of life, and -fulfilled so many useful and even necessary purposes -before their suppression under Edward VI., that a study -of their principles of organisation and of their practical -working cannot but throw considerable light on the -popular social life of the period. To appreciate the -position, it is necessary to bear in mind the very real -hold the Gospel principles of the Christian brotherhood -had over the minds of all in pre-Reformation days, the -extinction of the general sense that man did not stand -alone being distinctly traceable to the tendencies in regard -to social matters evolved during the period of -turmoil initiated by the religious teachings of the Reformers. -What M. Siméon Luce says about the spirit -of common life existing in the villages of Normandy in -the fourteenth century might be adopted as a picture of -English life in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. -“Nobles, priests, religious clerks, sons of the soil who -laboured at various manual works,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> “lived -then, so to say, in common, and they are found continually -together in all their daily occupations. So -far from this community of occupations, this familiar -daily intercourse, being incompatible with the great -inequality of conditions which then existed, in reality -it resulted from it. It was where no strict line of demarcation -divided the various classes that they ordinarily -affected to keep at a distance one from the other.”<a name="FNanchor_328" id="FNanchor_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a></p> - -<p>There can be no doubt as to the nature of the -teaching of the English Church in regard to the relation -which, according to true Christian principles, -should exist between all classes of society. In particular -is this seen in all that pertained to the care of -the poorer members of the Christian family. The -evidence appears clear and unmistakable enough in -pre-Reformation popular sermons and instructions, in -formal pronouncements of Bishops and Synods, and in -books intended for the particular teaching of clergy -and laity in the necessary duties of the Christian -man. Whilst fully recognising as a fact that in -the very nature of things there must ever be the -class of those who “have,” and the class of those who -“have not,” our Catholic forefathers in pre-Reformation -days knew no such division and distinction between the -rich man and the poor man as obtained later on, when -pauperism, as distinct from poverty, had come to be recognised -as an inevitable consequence of the new era. To -the Christian moralist, and even to the bulk of Catholic -Englishmen, whether secular or lay, in the fifteenth -century, those who had been blessed by God’s providence -with worldly wealth were regarded not so -much as the fortunate possessors of personal riches, -their own to do with what they listed, and upon which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> -none but they had right or claim, as in the light of -stewards of God’s good gifts to mankind at large, -for the right use and ministration of which they were -accountable to Him who gave them.</p> - -<p>Thus, to take one instance: the proceeds of ecclesiastical -benefices were recognised in the Constitutions of -Legates and Archbishops as being in fact as well as in -theory the <i>eleemosynæ et spes pauperum</i>—the alms and -the hope of the poor. Those ecclesiastics who consumed -the revenues of their cures on other than necessary -and fitting purposes were declared to be “defrauders -of the rights of God’s poor,” and “thieves of Christian -alms intended for them;” whilst the English canonists -and legal professors who glossed these provisions of the -Church law gravely discussed the ways in which the -poor of a parish could vindicate their right to their -share in the ecclesiastical revenues of the Church.</p> - -<p>This “<i>jus pauperum</i>,” which is set forth in such a -text-book of English Law as Lyndwood’s <i>Provinciale</i>, is -naturally put forth more clearly and forcibly in a -work intended for popular instruction such as <i>Dives -et Pauper</i>. “To them that have the benefices and -goods of Holy Church,” writes the author, “it belonged -principally to give alms and to have the cure of poor -people.” To him who squanders the alms of the -altar on luxury and useless show, the poor may justly -point and say: “It is ours that you so spend in pomp -and vanity!… That thou keepest for thyself of the -altar passing the honest needful living, it is raveny, it -is theft, it is sacrilege.” From the earliest days of -English Christianity the care of the helpless poor was -regarded as an obligation incumbent on all; and in -1342, Archbishop Stratford, dealing with <i>appropriations</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> -or the assignment of ecclesiastical revenues to the support -of some religious house or college, ordered that a -portion of the tithe should always be set apart for the -relief of the poor, because, as Bishop Stubbs has -pointed out, in England, from the days of King -Ethelred, “a third part of the tithe” which belonged -to the Church was the acknowledged birthright of the -poorer members of Christ’s flock.</p> - -<p>That there was social inequality is as certain as it was -inevitable, for that is in the very constitution of human -society. But this, as M. Luce has pointed out in regard -to France, and Professor Janssens in regard to Germany, -in no way detracted from the frank and full acknowledgment -of the Christian brotherhood. Again and -again in the sermons of the fifteenth century this truth, -with all its practical applications, was enforced by the -priest at the altar, where both poor and rich alike met -on a common footing—“all, poor and rich, high and -low, noble and simple, have sprung from a common -stock and are children of a common father, Adam:” -“God did not create a golden Adam from whom the -nobles are descended, nor a silver Adam from whom -have come the rich, and another, a clay Adam, from -whom are the poor; but all, nobles, rich and poor, -have one common father, made out of the dust of the -earth.” These and similar lessons were constantly repeated -by the religious teachers of the pre-Reformation -English Church.</p> - -<p>Equally definite is the author of the book of popular -instruction, <i>Dives et Pauper</i>, above referred to. The sympathy -of the writer is with the poor, as indeed is that of -every ecclesiastical writer of the period. In fact, it is -abundantly clear that the Church of England in Catholic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> -days, as a <i>pia mater</i>, was ever ready to open wide her -heart to aid and protect the poorer members of Christ’s -mystical body. This is how <i>Pauper</i> in the tract in -question states the true Christian teaching as to the -duties of riches, and impresses upon his readers the -view that the owners of worldly wealth are but stewards -of the Lord: “All that the rich man hath, passing his -honest living after the degree of his dispensation, it is -other men’s, not his, and he shall give full hard reckoning -thereof at the day of doom, when God shall say to -him, ‘Yield account of your bailywick.’ For rich men -and lords in this world are God’s bailiffs and God’s -reeves, to ordain for the poor folk and to sustain them.” -Most strongly does the same writer insist that no -property gives any one the right to say “<i>this is mine</i>” -and that is “<i>thine</i>,” for property, so far as it is of God, -is of the nature of governance and dispensation, by -which those who, by God’s Providence “have,” act -as His stewards and the dispensers of His gifts to such -as “have not.”<a name="FNanchor_329" id="FNanchor_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a></p> - -<p>It would, of course, be affectation to suggest that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> -poverty and great hardness of life were not to be found -in pre-Reformation days, but what did not exist was -pauperism, which, as distinguished from poverty, certainly -sprung up plentifully amid the ruins of Catholic -institutions, overthrown as a consequence—perhaps as -a necessary and useful consequence—of the religious -changes in the sixteenth century. Bishop Stubbs, -speaking of the condition of the poor in the Middle -Ages, declares that “there is very little evidence -to show that our forefathers in the middle ranks of -life desired to set any impassable boundary between -class and class.… Even the villein, by learning a -craft, might set his foot on the ladder of promotion. -The most certain way to rise was furnished by education, -and by the law of the land, ‘every man or -woman, of what state or condition that he be, shall -be free to set their son or daughter to take learning -at any school that pleaseth him within the realm.’” -Mr. Thorold Rogers, than whom no one has ever -worked so diligently at the economic history of England, -and whom none can suspect of undue admiration -of the Catholic Church, has also left it on record that -during the century and a half which preceded the era -of the Reformation the mass of English labourers were -thriving under their guilds and trade unions, the -peasants were gradually acquiring their lands and -becoming small freeholders, the artisans rising to -the position of small contractors and working with -their own hands at structures which their native genius -and experience had planned. In a word, according to -this high authority, the last years of undivided Catholic -England formed “the golden age” of the Englishman -who was ready and willing to work.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span></p> - -<p>“In the age which I have attempted to describe,” -writes the same authority, “and in describing which -I have accumulated and condensed a vast amount of -unquestionable facts, the rate of production was small, -the conditions of health unsatisfactory, and the duration -of life short. But, on the whole, there were none -of those extremes of poverty and wealth which have -excited the astonishment of philanthropists and are -exciting the indignation of workmen. The age, it is -true, had its discontents, and these discontents were -expressed forcibly and in a startling manner. But of -poverty which perishes unheeded, of a willingness to -do honest work and a lack of opportunity there was -little or none. The essence of life in England during -the days of the Plantagenets and Tudors was that every -one knew his neighbour, and that every one was his -brother’s keeper.”<a name="FNanchor_330" id="FNanchor_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a></p> - -<p>In regard to the general care of the poorer brethren -of a parish in pre-Reformation England, Bishop Hobhouse, -after a careful examination of the available -sources of information, writes as follows:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> “I can -only suppose that the brotherhood tie was so strongly -realised by the community that the weaker ones were -succoured by the stronger, as out of a family store. -The brotherhood tie was, no doubt, very much stronger -then, when the village community was from generation -to generation so unalloyed by anything foreign, when -all were knit together by one faith and one worship -and close kindred; but, further than this, the guild -fellowships must have enhanced all the other bonds -in drawing men to share their worldly goods as a -common stock. Covertly, if not overtly, the guildsman -bound himself to help his needy brother in sickness and -age, as he expected his fellow-guildsman to do for him -in his turn of need, and these bonds, added to a far -stronger sense of the duty of children towards aged -parents than is now found, did, I conceive, suffice for -the relief of the poor, aided only by the direct almsgiving -which flowed from the parsonage house, or in -favoured localities from the doles or broken meat of a -monastery.”<a name="FNanchor_331" id="FNanchor_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a></p> - -<p>To relieve the Reformation from the odious charge -that it was responsible for the poor-laws, many authors -have declared that not only did poverty largely exist -before, say, the dissolution of the monastic houses, but -that it would not long have been possible for the -ancient methods of relieving the distressed to cope -with the increase in their numbers under the changed -circumstances of the sixteenth century. It is of course -possible to deal with broad assertions only by the production -of a mass of details, which is, under the present -circumstances, out of the question, or by assertions -equally broad, and I remark that there is no evidence -of any change of circumstances, so far as such changes -appear in history, which could not have been fully met -by the application of the old principles, and met in a -way which would never have induced the degree of -distressing pauperism which, in fact, was produced by -the application of the social principles adopted at the -Reformation. The underlying idea of these latter was -property in the sense of absolute ownership in place of -the older and more Christian idea of property in the -sense of stewardship.</p> - -<p>Most certainly the result was not calculated to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> -improve the condition of the poorer members of the -community. It was they who were made to pay, -whilst their betters pocketed the price. The well-to-do -classes, in the process, became richer and more prosperous, -whilst the “masses” became, as an old writer -has it, “mere stark beggars.” As a fact, moreover, -poverty became rampant, as we should have expected, -immediately upon the great confiscations of land and -other property at the dissolution of the religious houses. -To take one example: Dr. Sharpe’s knowledge of the -records of the city of London enables him to say that -“the sudden closing of these institutions caused the -streets to be thronged with the sick and poor.”</p> - -<p>“The devil,” exclaims a preacher who lived through -all these troublous times—“the devil cunningly turneth -things his own way.” “Examples of this we have seen -in our time more than I can have leisure to express or -to rehearse. In the Acts of Parliament that we have -had made in our days what godly preambles hath gone -afore the same; even <i>quasi oraculum Apollinis</i>, as though -the things that follow had come from the counsel of the -highest in heaven; and yet the end hath been either to -destroy abbeys or chauntries or colleges, or such like, -by the which some have gotten much land, and have -been made men of great possessions. But many an -honest poor man hath been undone by it, and an innumerable -multitude hath perished for default and lack -of sustenance. And this misery hath long continued, -and hath not yet (1556) an end. Moreover, all this -commotion and fray was made under pretence of a -common profit and common defence, but in very deed -it was for private and proper lucre.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_332" id="FNanchor_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a></p> - -<p>In the sixty years that followed the overthrow of -the old system, it was necessary for Parliament to pass -no less than twelve acts dealing with the relief of distress, -the necessity for which, Thorold Rogers says, “can be -traced distinctly back to the crimes of rulers and agents.” -I need not characterise the spirit which is manifested in -these acts, where poverty and crime are treated as indistinguishable.</p> - -<p>Dr. Jessop writes: “In the general scramble of the -<i>Terror</i> under Henry the Eighth, and of the <i>anarchy</i> in -the days of Edward the Sixth … the monasteries -were plundered even to their very pots and pans. The -almshouses, in which old men and women were fed and -clothed, were robbed to the last pound, the poor almsfolk -being turned out in the cold at an hour’s warning -to beg their bread. The splendid hospitals for the -sick and needy, sometimes magnificently provided with -nurses and chaplains, whose very <i>raison d’être</i> was that -they were to look after the care of those who were past -caring for themselves, these were stripped of all their -belongings, the inmates sent out to hobble into some -convenient dry ditch to lie down and die in, or to crawl -into some barn or house, there to be tended, not without -fear of consequences, by some kindly man or -woman, who could not bear to see a suffering fellow-creature -drop down and die at their own doorposts.”<a name="FNanchor_333" id="FNanchor_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a></p> - -<p>Intimately connected with the subject of the care of -the poor in pre-Reformation days is obviously that of -the mediæval guilds which, more than anything else, -tended to foster the idea of the Christian brotherhood -up to the eve of the religious changes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span></p> - -<p>It would probably be a mistake to suppose that -these societies existed everywhere throughout the country -in equal numbers. Mr. Thorold Rogers, it is true, -says—and the opinion of one who has done so much -work in every kind of local record must carry great -weight—that “few parishes were probably without -guild lands.” But there is certainly no distinct evidence -that this was the case, especially in counties say -like Hampshire, always sparsely populated as compared -with other districts in the east of England, and where -the people largely depended on agricultural pursuits for -a living. It was in the great centres of trade and manufacture -that the guilds were most numerous and most -important, for it was precisely in those parts that the -advantages of mutual help and co-operation outside the -parish bond were most apparent and combination was -practically possible.</p> - -<p>An examination of the existing records leads to a -general division of mediæval guilds into two classes—<i>Craft</i> -or <i>Trade</i> associations, and <i>Religious</i> or, as some -prefer now to call them, <i>Social</i> guilds. The former, -as their name implies, had, as the special object of their -existence, the protection of some work, trade or handicraft, -and in this for practical purposes we may include -those associations of traders or merchants known under -the name of “guild-merchants.” Such, for instance, -were the great companies of the city of London, and it -was in reality under the plea that they were trading -societies that they were saved in the general destruction -which overtook all similar fraternities and associations -in the sixteenth century. The division of guilds -into the two classes named above is, however, after all -more a matter of convenience than a real distinction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> -founded on fact. All guilds, no matter for what special -purpose they were founded, had the same general characteristic -of brotherly aid and social charity; and no -guild was divorced from the ordinary religious observances -commonly practised by all such bodies in those -days.</p> - -<p>It is often supposed that, for the most part, what -are called religious guilds existed for the purpose of -promoting or encouraging the religious practices, such -as the attendance at church on certain days, the taking -part in ecclesiastical processions, the recitations of -offices and prayers, and the like. Without doubt, there -were such societies in pre-Reformation days—such as, -for example, the great Guild of Corpus Christi, in the -city of York, which counted its members by thousands. -But such associations were the exception, not the rule. -An examination of the existing statutes and regulations -of ancient guilds will show how small a proportion these -purely <i>Ecclesiastical</i> guilds formed of the whole number -of associations known as Religious guilds. The origin of -the mistaken notion is obvious. In mediæval days—that -is, in times when such guilds flourished—the word -“religious” had a wider, and what most people who -reflect will be inclined to think, a truer signification -than has obtained in later times. Religion was then -understood to include the exercise of the two commandments -of charity—the love of God and the love -of one’s neighbour—and the exercises of practical -charity to which guild brethren were bound by their -guild statutes were considered as much religious practices -as attendance at church or the taking part in an -ecclesiastical procession. In these days, as Mr. Brentano -in his essay <i>On the History and Development of Guilds</i> has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> -pointed out, most of the objects, to promote which -the guilds existed, would now be called social duties, -but they were then regarded as true objects of Christian -charity. Mutual assistance, the aid of the poor, of -the helpless, of the sick, of strangers, of pilgrims and -prisoners, the burial of the dead, even the keeping of -schools and schoolmasters, and other such like works -were held to be “exercises of religion.”<a name="FNanchor_334" id="FNanchor_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a></p> - -<p>If the word “religious” be thought now to give a -wrong impression about the nature of associations, the -main object of which was to secure the performance of -duties we should now call “social,” quite as false an -impression would be conveyed by the word “social” as -applied to them. A “social” society would inevitably -suggest to many in these days an association for -convivial meetings, and this false notion of the nature -of a mediæval guild would be further strengthened by -the fact that in many, if not most, of them a yearly, and -sometimes a more frequent feast existed under an item -in their statutes. This guild feast, however, was a mere -incident in the organisation, and in no case did it form -what we might consider the end or purpose of the -association.</p> - -<p>By whichever name we call them, and assuming -the religious basis which underlay the whole social -life in the fifteenth century, the character and purpose -of these mediæval guilds cannot in reality be -misunderstood. Broadly speaking, they were the -benefit societies and the provident associations of the -middle ages. They undertook towards their members -the duties now frequently performed by burial clubs, -by hospitals, by almshouses, and by guardians of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> -poor. Not infrequently they acted for the public good -of the community in the mending of roads and the -repair of bridges, and for the private good of their -members, in the same way that insurance companies -to-day compensate for loss by fire or accident. The -very reason of their existence was the affording of -mutual aid and assistance in meeting the pecuniary -demands which were constantly arising from burials, -legal exactions, penal fines and all other kinds of payments -and compensations. Mr. Toulmin Smith thus -defines their object: “The early English guild was -an institution of local self-help which, before the poor-laws -were invented, took the place in old times of the -modern friendly or benefit society, but with a higher -aim; while it joined all classes together in the care of -the needy and for objects of common welfare, it did -not neglect the forms and practice of religion, justice, -and morality,”<a name="FNanchor_335" id="FNanchor_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> which I may add was, indeed, the -main-spring of their life and action.</p> - -<p>“The guild lands,” writes Mr. Thorold Rogers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> -“were a very important economical fact in the social -condition of early England. The guilds were the -benefit societies of the time from which impoverished -members could be, and were, aided. It was an age in -which the keeping of accounts was common and -familiar. Beyond question, the treasurers of the village -guild rendered as accurate an annual statement of their -fraternity as a bailiff did to his lord.… It is quite -certain that the town and country guilds obviated -pauperism in the middle ages, assisted in steadying -the price of labour, and formed a permanent centre -for those associations which fulfilled the function that -in more recent times trades unions have striven to -satisfy.”<a name="FNanchor_336" id="FNanchor_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a></p> - -<p>An examination of the various articles of association -contained in the returns made into the Chancery in -1389, and other similar documents, shows how wide -was the field of Christian charity covered by these -“fraternities.” First and foremost amongst these works -of religion must be reckoned the burial of the dead; -regulations as to which are invariably to be found in all -the guild statutes. Then, very generally, provisions for -help to the poor, sick, and aged. In some, assistance -was to be given to those who were overtaken by misfortune, -whose goods had been damaged or destroyed -by fire or flood, or had been diminished by loss or -robbery; in others, money was found as a loan to such -as needed temporary assistance. In the guild at -Ludlow, in Shropshire, for instance, “any good girl -of the guild had a dowry provided for her if her father -was too poor to find one himself.” The “guild-merchant” -of Coventry kept a lodging-house with -thirteen beds, “to lodge poor folk coming through the -land on pilgrimage or other work of charity,” with a -keeper of the house and a woman to wash the pilgrims’ -feet. A guild at York found beds and attendance -for poor strangers, and the guild of Holy Cross in -Birmingham kept almshouses for the poor in the -town. In Hampshire, the guild of St. John at Winchester, -which comprised men and women of all sorts -and conditions, supported a hospital for the poor and -infirm of the city.</p> - -<p>The very mass of material at hand makes the task -of selecting examples for illustrating some of the objects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> -for which mediæval guilds existed somewhat difficult. -I take a few such examples at haphazard. The organisation -of these societies was the same as that which has -existed in similar associations up to the time of our -modern trades unions. A meeting was held at which -officers were elected and accounts audited; fines for -non-acceptance of office were frequently imposed, as -well as for absence from the common meeting. Often -members had to declare on oath that they would fulfil -their voluntary obligations, and would keep secret the -affairs of the society. Persons of ill-repute were not -admitted, and members who disgraced the fraternity -were expelled. For example, the first guild statutes -printed by Mr. Toulmin Smith are those of Garlekhithe, -London. They begin: “In worship of God Almighty -our Creator and His Mother Saint Mary, and all Saints, -and St. James the Apostle, a fraternity is begun by good -men in the Church of St. James, at Garlekhith in London, -on the day of Saint James, the year of our Lord -1375, for the amendment of their lives and of their -souls, and to nourish greater love between the brethren -and sisters of the said brotherhood.” Each of them -has sworn on the Book to perform the points underwritten.</p> - -<p>“First: all those that are, or shall be, in the said -brotherhood shall be of good life, condition, and -behaviour, and shall love God and Holy Church and -their neighbours, as Holy Church commands.” Then, -after various provisions as to meetings and payments to -be made to the general funds, the statutes order that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> “if -any of the foresaid brethren fall into such distress that -he hath nothing, and cannot, on account of old age or -sickness, help himself, if he has been in the brotherhood -seven years, and during that time has performed all -duties, he shall have every week after from the common -box fourteen pence (<i>i.e.</i> about £1 a week of our money) -for the rest of his life, unless he recovers from his -distress.”<a name="FNanchor_337" id="FNanchor_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> In one form or other this provision for the -assistance of needy members is repeated in the statutes -of almost every guild. Some provide for help in case -of distress coming “through any chance, through fire -or water, thieves or sickness, or any other haps.” Some, -besides granting this kind of aid, add: “and if so befall -that he be young enough to work, and he fall into distress, -so that he have nothing of his own to help himself -with, then the brethren shall help him, each with a -portion as he pleases in the way of charity.”<a name="FNanchor_338" id="FNanchor_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> Others -furnish loans from the common fund to enable brethren -to tide over temporary difficulties: “and if the case -falleth that any of the brotherhood have need to borrow a -certain sum of silver, he (can) go to the keepers of the -box and take what he hath need of, so that the sum be -not so large that any one may not be helped as well as -another, and that he leave a sufficient pledge, or else -find a sufficient security among the brotherhood.”<a name="FNanchor_339" id="FNanchor_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> -Some, again, make the contributions to poor brethren -a personal obligation on the members, such as a farthing -a week from each of the brotherhood, unless the distress -has been caused by individual folly or waste. Others -extend their Christian charity to relieve distress beyond -the circle of the brotherhood—that is, of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> “whosoever -falls into distress, poverty, lameness, blindness, -sent by the grace of God to them, even if he be a thief -proven, he shall have seven pence a week from the -brothers and sisters to assist him in his need.”<a name="FNanchor_340" id="FNanchor_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> Some -of the guilds in seaside districts provide for help in case -of “loss through the sea,” and there is little doubt that -in mediæval days the great work carried on by such a -body as the Royal Lifeboat Society would have been -considered a work of religion, and the fitting object of -a religious guild.</p> - -<p>It would be tedious to multiply examples of the -purposes and scope of the old fraternities, and it is -sufficient to repeat that there was hardly any kind of -social service which in some form or other was not -provided for by these voluntary associations. As an -illustration of the working of a trade or craft guild, we -may take that of the “Pinners” of the city of London, -the register of which, dating from <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1464, is now in -the British Museum.<a name="FNanchor_341" id="FNanchor_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> These are some of the chief -articles approved for the guild by the Mayor and Corporation -of the city of London: (1) No foreigner to be -allowed to keep a shop for the sale of pins. (2) No -foreigner to take to the making of pins without undergoing -previous examinations and receiving the approval -of the guild officers. (3) No master to receive another -master’s workman. (4) If a servant or workman who -has served his master faithfully fall sick he shall be kept -by the craft. (5) Power to the craft to expel those -who do ill and bring discredit upon it. (6) Work at -the craft at nights, on Saturdays, and on the eves of -feasts is strictly prohibited. (7) Sunday closing is -rigidly enforced.</p> - -<p>It is curious to find, four hundred years ago, so -many of the principles set down as established, for -which in our days trades unions and similar societies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> -are now contending. It has been remarked above, that -even in the case of craft guilds, such as this Society of -Pinners undoubtedly was, many of the ordinary purposes -of the religious guilds were looked to equally -with the more obvious object of protecting the special -trade or handicraft of the specific society. The accounts -of this Pinners’ Guild fully bear out this view. For -example: We have the funeral services for departed -brethren, and the usual <i>trentals</i>, or thirty masses, for -deceased members. Then we find: “4d. to the wax -chandlers’ man for setting up of our lights at St. James.” -One of the members, William Clarke, borrowed 5s. 10d. -from the common chest, to secure which he placed a -gold ring in pledge. There are also numerous payments -for singers at the services held on the feast days -of the guild, and for banners and other hangings for -processions.</p> - -<p>Of payments for the specific ends of the guild -there are, of course, plenty of examples. For instance: -spurious pins and “other ware” are searched for and -burnt by the craft officers, and this at such distances -from London as Salisbury and the fair at Stourbridge, -near Cambridge, the great market for East Anglia and -the centre of the Flanders trade. “William Mitchell is -paid 8d. for pins for the sisters, on Saint James’ day.” -In 1466, a man is fined 2s. for setting a child to -work before he had been fully apprenticed; and -also another had to pay 2s. for working after seven -o’clock on a winter night. Later on in the accounts -we have a man mulcted for keeping a shop before he -was a “freeman” of the society, and another “for -that he sold Flaundres pynnes for English pynnes.” -At another time, a large consignment of no less than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> -12,000 “pynnes of ware” were forfeited to the craft, -and sold by them for 8s., which went to the common -fund. These accounts show also the gradual rise in -importance and prosperity which the Pinners’ Guild, -under the patronage of St. James, manifested. At -first, the warden and brethren at their yearly visit to -Westminster were content to hire an ordinary barge -upon the Thames, but after a few years they had -started “a keverid boote” of their own at the cost of -half-a-crown, in place of the sixpence formerly paid. -So, too, in the early days of their incorporation they -had their annual dinner and audited their accounts at -some London tavern—the “Mayremayde in Bread -Street” and “the brew house atte the Sygne of the -Rose in Old Jury” are two of the places named. Later -on they met in some hall belonging to another guild, -such as the “Armourers’” Hall, and later still they -built their own Guild Hall and held their banquet there. -This building made a great demand upon their capital, -and the officers evidently began to look more carefully -after the exaction of fines. For late working at this -time one of the brethren was mulcted in the sum of -twenty pence; another was fined twopence for coming -late to the guild mass, and several others had to pay -for neglecting to attend the meeting. From the period -of starting their own hall, ill-fortune seems to have -attended the society. About the year 1499, they got -involved in a great lawsuit with one Thomas Hill, upon -which was expended a large sum of money. A special -whip was made to meet expenses and keep up the -credit of the guild; for what with counsel’s fees, the -writing of bills, and the drawing of pleas, the general -fund was unable to find the necessary munitions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> -war to continue the suit. To the credit of the members, -most of them apparently responded generously to this -call, and, in consequence of this unfortunate litigation, -to many subsequent demands which the empty exchequer -necessitated.</p> - -<p>There would be no difficulty whatever in multiplying -the foregoing illustrations of the working of these -mediæval societies. The actual account books of -course furnish us with the most accurate knowledge, -even to minute details, and any one of them would -afford ample material.</p> - -<p>The funds at the disposal of the guilds were derived -chiefly from voluntary subscriptions, entrance fees, gifts, -and legacies of members. Frequently these societies -became in process of time the trustees of lands and -houses which they either held and administered for the -purposes of the guilds, or for some specific purpose -determined by the will of the original donor. Thus, to -take one or two examples from the account rolls of the -Guild of Tailors in the city of Winchester. In the time -of King Richard II.—say 1392—the usual entrance -fee for members was 3s. 4d., and the annual -subscription was 1s. There were 106 members at -that time, seven of whom had been enrolled during -the previous year. Among others who had thus -entered was one Thomas Warener, or Warner, a -cousin of Bishop William of Wykeham, and the -Bishop’s bailiff of the Soke; his payment was 4s. 8d. -instead of the usual entrance fee. In the same year we -find the names of Thomas Hampton, lord of the manor -of Stoke Charity, and Thomas Marleburgh, who was -afterwards Mayor of Winchester. In the following -year, seventeen new members were enrolled, one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> -them being a baker of Southampton, called Dunster. -Turning over these accounts, we come upon examples -of presents either in kind or money made to the society. -Thus in one place Thomas Marleburgh makes a present -of a hooded garment which was subsequently sold for -eighteen pence; and in another, one Maurice John -Cantelaw presented for the service of the guild, “a -chalice and twelve pence in counted money,” requesting -the members “to pray for his good estate, for the -souls of his parents, friends, benefactors, and others for -whom he was bound to pray.” In return for this -valuable present, the guild granted that it should be -accounted as Cantelaw’s life-subscription.</p> - -<p>Having spoken of the sources of income, which -were practically the same in all guilds, something must -be said as to the expenditure over and above the -purposes for which the guilds existed. This may be -illustrated from the accounts of this same fraternity of -tailors of Winchester.<a name="FNanchor_342" id="FNanchor_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> In the first place, as in almost -every similar society, provision was made for the -funerals of members and for the usual daily mass for -thirty days after the death of the deceased members. -The sum set down is 2s. 6d. for each trental of thirty -masses. Then we find mention of alms to the poor -and sick; thus in 1403, the sum of 36s., about one-tenth -of the annual revenue, was spent upon this object. -This, of course, was charity of a general kind, and -wholly unconnected with the assistance given by rule -to necessitous members of the guild.<a name="FNanchor_343" id="FNanchor_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span></p> - -<p>One expense, very common in these mediæval -guilds, was the preparation for taking a fitting part -in the great annual religious pageant or procession -on Corpus Christi day. In the case of this Tailors’ -Guild at Winchester, we find sums of money charged -for making wax torches and ornamenting them with -flowers and red and blue wax, with card shields and -parchment streamers, or “pencils,” as they are called. -The members of the guild apparently carried small -tapers; but the four great torches were borne by hired -men, who received a shilling each for their trouble. -It is somewhat difficult for us nowadays to understand -the importance attached to these great ecclesiastical -pageants by our ancestors four hundred years or -so ago. But as to the fact, there can be no doubt. -Among the documents in the municipal archives of -Winchester there exists an order of the Mayor and -Corporation as to the disposition of this solemn procession -in 1435. It runs thus:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> “At a convocation -holden in the city of Winchester the Friday next after -the Feast of Corpus Christi in the thirteenth year of the -reign of King Harry the Sixth, after the conquest; it -was ordained by Richard Salter, mayor of the city of -Winchester, John Symer and Harry Putt, bailiffs of -the city aforesaid, and also by all the citizens and -commonalty of the same city: It is agreed of a certain -general procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi, of -divers artificers and crafts within the said city: that is -to say the carpenters and felters shall go together first; -smiths and barbers, second; cooks and butchers, third; -shoemakers with two lights, fourth; tanners and japanners, -fifth; plumers and silkmen, sixth; fishers and -farriers, seventh; taverners, eighth; weavers, with two -lights, ninth; fullers, with two lights, tenth; dyers, -with two lights, eleventh; chaundlers and brewers, -twelfth; mercers, with two lights, thirteenth; the wives -with one light and John Blake with another light, -fourteenth; and all these lights shall be borne orderly -before the said procession before the priests of the city. -And the four lights of the brethren of St. John’s shall -be borne about the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the -same day in the procession aforesaid.”</p> - -<p>The brethren of St. John’s just named, as the chief -object of their association, kept a hospital for the poor -and sick in the city. They paid a chaplain of their -own, as indeed did most of the guilds, and had a -master and matron to look after the comfort of the -poor. They provided bed and bedding, and carefully -administered not only their own subscriptions, but the -sums of money freely bequeathed to them to be spent -on charity. At every market held within the precincts -of Winchester an officer, paid by the society, attended -and claimed for the support of the poor a tax of two -handfuls of corn from every sack exposed for sale. -The mayor and bailiffs were apparently the official -custodians of this guild, and numerous legacies in wills,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> -even in the reign of Henry VIII., attest its popularity. -For example, on February 19, 1503, John Cornishe, -alias Putte, late Mayor of Winchester, died and left to -the guardians his tenements and gardens under the -penthouse in the city for the charity, on condition that -for ten years they would spend 6s. 8d. in keeping his -annual obit. In 1520, a draper of London, named -Calley, bequeathed ten shillings to the hospital for -annually repairing and improving the bedding of the -poor. The accounts of this Fraternity of St. John’s -Hospital for a considerable period in the fourteenth -century are still in existence. They show large receipts, -sometimes amounting to over £100, from lands, -shops, houses, and from the sale of cattle and farm -produce, over and above the annual subscriptions of -members. On the other side, week by week we have -the payments for food provided for the service of the -poor: fish, flesh, beer, and bread are the chief items. -One year, for instance, the bread bought for the sick -amounted to 36s. 6d.; beer to 36s. 8d.; meat to 32s. 2d.; -fish to 28s. 3½d., &c. Besides this seven shillings were -expended in mustard, and 3s. 6d. for six gallons of -oil. This same year the guardians also paid 2s. 2d. for -the clothes and shoes for a young woman named Sibil -“who nursed the poor in the hospital.” The above represents -only the actual money expended over the sick -patients, and from the same source, most minute and -curious information might be added as to the other expenses -of the house, including, for instance, even the -purchase of grave-clothes and coffins for the dead poor, -the wages and clothing of the matron and servant, and -the payment of the officer who collected the handfuls of -corn in the market-place. At times we have evidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> -of the arrival and care of strange poor people—we -should perhaps call them “tramps” in our day. For -instance, here is one heading: “The expenses of three -poor strangers in the hospital for 21 days and nights, -15¾d.; to each of whom is given ¾d. <i>Item</i>: the -expenses of one other for 5 days, 3¾d. <i>Item</i>: the expenses -of the burial of the said sick person, 3d. <i>Item</i>: -the expenses of four pilgrims lodged for a night, 2d. -<i>Item</i>: new straw to stuff the beds of the sick, 8d. -<i>Item</i>: paid to the laundress for washing the clothes of -the sick during one year, 12d.”</p> - -<p>To speak of guilds without making any mention of -the feasts—the social meetings—which are invariably -associated with such societies, would be impossible. -The great banquets of the city companies are proverbial, -and, in origin at least, they arose out of the guild -meeting for the election of officers, followed by the -guild feast. As a rule, these meetings took place on -the day on which the Church celebrated the memory -of the Saint who had been chosen as patron of the -society, and were probably much like the club dinners -which are still cherished features of village life in -many parts of England.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_344" id="FNanchor_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a></p> - -<p>It has been said that the wardens of guilds were -frequently named in mediæval wills as trustees of money -for various charitable purposes. As an example of -property thus left to a guild, take the Candlemas Guild, -established at Bury St. Edmunds: the society was -established in the year 1471, and a few years later one -of the members made over to the brethren considerable -property for the common purposes of the guild and -other specified objects. His name was John Smith, a -merchant of Bury, and he died, we are told, on “St. -Peter’s even at Midsummer, 1481.” His will, which -is witnessed by the Abbot and Prior of St. Edmund’s -Abbey, provides, in the first place, for the keeping of -an obit “devoutly.” The residue of the income was -to accumulate till the appointment of each new abbot, -when, on the election, the entire amount was to be -paid over to the elect in place of the sum of money -the town was bound to pay on every such occasion. -Whatever remained over and above this was to be -devoted to the payments of any tenth, fifteenth, or -other tax, imposed upon the citizens by royal authority. -This revenue was to be administered by the guardians -of the guild, who were bound at the yearly meeting at -Candlemas to render an account of their stewardship. -Year by year John Smith’s will was read out at the -meeting, and proclamation was made before the anniversary -of his death in the following manner:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> “Let us -all of charity pray for the soul of John. We put you -in remembrance that you shall not miss the keeping of -his <i>Dirge</i> and also of his Mass.” Round about the -town the crier was sent to recite the following lines:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“We put you in remembrance all that the oath have made,</div> -<div class="verse">To come to the Mass and the <i>Dirge</i> the souls for to glade:</div> -<div class="verse">All the inhabitants of this town are bound to do the same,</div> -<div class="verse">To pray for the souls of John and Anne, else they be to blame:</div> -<div class="verse">The which John afore-rehearsed to this town hath been full kind,</div> -<div class="verse">Three hundred marks for this town hath paid, no penny unpaid behind.</div> -<div class="verse">Now we have informed you of John Smith’s will in writing as it is,</div> -<div class="verse">And for the great gifts that he hath given, God bring his soul to bliss. Amen.”<a name="FNanchor_345" id="FNanchor_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a></div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The example set by this donor to the Candlemas -Guild at Bury was followed by many others in the -later part of the fifteenth century. For instance, a -“gentlewoman,” as she calls herself, one Margaret -Odom, after providing by will for the usual obit and -for a lamp to burn before “the holie sacrament in St. -James’s Church,” desires that the brethren of the guild -shall devote the residue of the income arising from -certain houses and lands she has conveyed to their -keeping, to paying a priest to “say mass in the chapel -of the gaol before the prisoners there, and giving them -holy water and holy bread on all Sundays, and to give -to the prisoners of the long ward of the said gaol every -week seven faggots of wood from Hallowmass (November -1) to Easter Day.”<a name="FNanchor_346" id="FNanchor_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a></p> - -<p>Intimately connected with the subject of the guilds -is that of the fairs, which formed so great a feature in -mediæval commercial life, and at which the craft guilds -were represented. For the south of England, the -great fair held annually at Winchester became the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> -centre of our national commerce with France. The -following account of it is given in Mr. W. J. Ashley’s -most interesting <i>Introduction to English Economic History</i>:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> -“A fair for three days on the eastern hill outside -Winchester was granted to the bishop by William II.; -his immediate successors granted extension of time, -until by a charter of Henry II. it was fixed at sixteen -days, from 31st August to 15th September. On the -morning of 31st August ‘the justiciars of the pavilion of -the bishop’ proclaimed the fair on the hilltop, then -rode on horseback through the city proclaiming the -opening of the fair. The keys of the city and the -weighing machine in the wool market were taken -possession of, and a special mayor and special bailiffs -were appointed to supersede the city officials during -the fair time. The hilltop was quickly covered with -streets of wooden shops: in one, the merchants from -Flanders; in another, those of Caen or some other -Norman town; in another, the merchants from Bristol. -Here were placed the goldsmiths in a row, and there -the drapers, &c., whilst around the whole was a wooden -palisade with guarded entrance, a precaution which did -not always prevent enterprising adventurers from -escaping payment of the toll by digging a way in for -themselves under the wall.… In Winchester all trade -was compulsorily suspended, and within ‘a seven league -circuit,’ guards being stationed at outlying posts, on -bridges and other places of passage, to see that the -monopoly was not infringed. At Southampton nothing -was to be sold during the fair time but victuals, and even -the very craftsmen of Winchester were bound to transfer -themselves to the hill and there carry on their occupations -during the fair. There was a graduated scale of -tolls and duties: all merchants of London, Winchester, -or Wallingford who entered during the first week were -free from entrance tolls.… In every fair there was a -<i>court of pie-powder</i> (of dusty feet) in which was decided -by merchant law all cases of dispute that might arise, -the ordinary jurisdiction being for a time suspended in -the town; at Winchester this was called the Pavilion -Court. Hither the bishop’s servants brought all the -weights and measures to be tested; here the justices -determined on an assize, or fixed scale, for bread, wine, -beer, and other victuals, adjudging to the pillory any -baker whose bread was found to be of defective weight; -and here every day disputes between merchants as to -debts were decided by juries upon production and -comparison of the notched wooden tallies.”<a name="FNanchor_347" id="FNanchor_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a></p> - -<p>A few words must be said about the final destruction -of the English guilds. At the close of the reign of -Henry VIII. an act of Parliament was passed vesting -the property of colleges, chantries, fraternities, brotherhoods -and guilds in the Crown (38 Hen. VIII., c. 4). -The king was empowered to send out his commissioners -to take possession of all such property, on the plea that -it might be “used and exercised to more godly and -virtuous purposes.” Henry died before the provisions -of the act could be complied with, and a second act -was passed through the first Parliament in the reign of -Edward VI. (1 Ed. VI., c. 14). This went beyond the -former decree of destruction, for after providing for -the demolition of colleges, free chapels, and chantries, -it proceeded not only separately by name to grant to -the king all sums of money devoted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> “by any manner -of corporations, guilds, fraternities, companies or fellowships -or mysteries or crafts,” to the support of a priest, -obits or lights (which may be taken under colour of -religion), but to hand over to the crown “all fraternities, -brotherhoods and guilds, being within the realm of -England and Wales and other the king’s dominions, -and all manors, lands, tenements, and other hereditaments -belonging to them, other than such corporations, -guilds, fraternities, &c., and the manors, lands, &c., -pertaining to the said corporations, &c., above -mentioned.”</p> - -<p>The Parliament of Henry VIII. assigned as a reason -for this seizure of the property of the corporate bodies -the need “for the maintenance of these present wars,” -and cleverly put into one group “colleges, free chapels, -chantries, hospitals, fraternities, brotherhoods, and -guilds.” “The act of Edward VI.,” writes Mr. Toulmin -Smith, “was still more ingenious, for it held up the -dogma of purgatory to abhorrence, and began to hint -at grammar schools. The object of both acts was the -same. All the possessions of all the guilds (except -what could creep out as being mere trading guilds, -which saved the London guilds) became vested by -these two acts in the Crown; and the unprincipled -courtiers who had advised and helped the scheme -gorged themselves out of this wholesale plunder of -what was, in every sense, public property.”<a name="FNanchor_348" id="FNanchor_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a></p> - -<p>It is clear that in seizing the property of the guilds -the Crown destroyed far more than it gained for itself. -A very large proportion of their revenues was derived -from the entrance fees and the annual subscriptions of -the existing members, and in putting an end to these -societies the State swept away the organisation by which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> -these voluntary subscriptions were raised, and this -not in one or two places, but all over England. In -this way far more harm was in reality done to the -interests of the poor, sick, and aged, and, indeed, to -the body politic at large, than the mere seizure of -their comparatively little capital, whether in land or -money.</p> - -<p>It is not, of course, meant to imply that the injury -to the poor and sick was not fully recognised at the -time of these legal confiscations. People deeply resented -the idea that what generations of benefactors -had intended for the relief of distress should thus be -made to pass into the pocket of some “new” man who -had grown great upon the spoils. The literature of -the period affords abundant evidence of the popular -feeling. Crowley, for instance, wrote about 1550—just -at this very time—and although no one would -look for any accurate description of facts in his rhyming -satires, he may be taken as a reliable witness as to what -the people were saying. This is what he writes on the -point:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">“A merchant, that long time</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Had been in strange lands</div> -<div class="verse">Returned to his country,</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Which in Europe stands.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">And in his return</div> -<div class="verse indent2">His way lay to pass</div> -<div class="verse">By a spittle house not far from</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Where his dwelling-house was.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">He looked for this hospital,</div> -<div class="verse indent2">But none could he see,</div> -<div class="verse">For a lordly house was built</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Where the hospital should be.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">‘Good Lord!’ (said the merchant),</div> -<div class="verse indent2">‘Is my country so wealthy</div> -<div class="verse">That the very beggars’ houses</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Are built so gorgeously?’</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Then by the wayside</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Him chanced to see</div> -<div class="verse">A poor man that craved</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Of him for charity.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">‘Why’ (quoth the merchant),</div> -<div class="verse indent2">‘What meaneth this thing?</div> -<div class="verse">Do ye beg by the way,</div> -<div class="verse indent2">And have a house for a king?’</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">‘Alas! sir’ (quoth the poor man),</div> -<div class="verse">‘We are all turned out,</div> -<div class="verse">And lie and die in corners</div> -<div class="verse">Here and there about.’”</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It has frequently been asserted that although grave -injury was undoubtedly done to the poor of the land -by this wholesale confiscation, it was done unwittingly -by the authorities, or that, at the worst, the portions -of revenue derived from the property which had been -intended for the support of the sick, aged, &c., was -so bound up with those to which religious obligations -(now declared superstitious and illegal) were attached, -that it was impossible to distinguish the latter from -the former, and all perished together, or rather passed -undistinguished into the royal pocket. Such a view is -not borne out by facts, and however satisfactory it -might be to believe that this robbery of the poor and -sick by the Crown was accidental and unpremeditated, -the historian is bound by the evidence to hold that the -pillage was fully premeditated and deliberately and consciously -carried out. It is of course obvious, that some -may regard it as proper that funds given for the support<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> -of priests to say masses or offer prayers for the souls of -the departed should have been confiscated, although it -would have been better had the money been devoted to -some purpose of local utility rather than that it should -have been added to the Crown revenues or have gone -to enrich some royal favourite. For example it may, for -the sake of argument, be admitted that the two fields -at Petersfield in Hampshire thus taken by the royal -commissioners—one called <i>White field</i>, in the tenure -of Gregory Hill, the rent of which was intended to -keep a perpetual light burning in the parish church, -and the other held by John Mill, given to support a -priest “called the Morrow Masse priest” (<i>i.e.</i> the -priest employed to say the early morning mass for the -convenience of people going to work)—were under the -circumstances fair articles of plunder for the royal -officials, when the mass was prohibited and the doctrine -symbolised by the perpetual light declared superstitious. -But this will not apply to the money intended for the -poor. It might have been easy to justify the Crown’s -action in taking the priest’s portion, and even the little -pittance intended for the serving clerk, but the seizure -of the benefactions to the poor cannot be defended. -It was not accidental; for an examination of the original -documents relating to the guilds and chantries now in -the Record Office will show not only that the Royal -Commissioners were as a rule careful to distinguish -between the portions intended for religious purposes -and those set aside for perpetual charity to the -sick and poor, but in many cases they actually proposed -to the Court of Augmentation to protect the -latter and preserve them for the objects of Christian -charity intended by the original donors. In every such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> -case the document reveals the fact that this suggestion -in the interest of common justice was rejected by the -ultimate Crown officials, and a plain intimation is -afforded on the face of the documents that even those -sums intended by the original donors for the relief of -poverty were to be confiscated.</p> - -<p>The destruction of the guilds is, from any point of -view, a sad and humiliating story, and, perhaps fortunately, -history has so far permitted the thick veil of -obscurity drawn over the subject at the time to remain -practically undisturbed. A consideration of the -scope and purposes of English mediæval guilds cannot -but raise our opinion of the wisdom of our forefathers -who fostered their growth, and convince us that many -and useful ends were served by these voluntary societies. -This opinion we can hold, wholly apart from any views -we may entertain about the religious aspects of these -societies generally. Socialistic they were, but their -socialism, so far from being adverse to religion, as the -socialism of to-day is generally considered to be, was -transfused and directed by a deeply religious spirit, -carried out into the duties of life, and manifesting itself -in practical charities of every kind.</p> - -<p>One or two points suggested by consideration of -the working of mediæval guilds may be emphasized. -The system of these voluntary societies would be, of -course, altogether impossible and out of place in this -modern world of ours. They would not, and could -not, meet the wants and needs of these days; and yet -their working is quite worth studying by those who are -interested in the social problems which nowadays -are thrusting themselves upon the public notice and -demanding a solution. The general lessons taught by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> -these voluntary associations may be summed up under -one or two heads suggested by Mr. Ashley’s volume -already referred to: (1) It is obvious that, unlike what we -find to-day in the commercial enterprises of the world, -capital played but a very small part in the handicrafts -of those times; skill, perseverance, and connection -were more important. (2) The middle ages had no -knowledge of any class of what may be called permanent -wage-labourers. There was no working-class -in our modern sense: if by that is meant a class -the greater portion of which never rises. In the -fourteenth century, a few years of steady work as a -journeyman meant, in most cases, that a workman was -able to set up as a master craftsman. Every hardworking -apprentice expected as a matter of course to -be able to become in time a master. The collisions -between capital and labour to which we are so much -accustomed had no place in the middle ages. (3) -There was no such gulf between master and man as -exists in our days. The master and his journeyman -worked together side by side, in the same shop, at the -same work, and the man could earn fully half as much -as his master. (4) If we desire to institute a comparison -between the status of the working-classes in the -fourteenth century and to-day, the comparison must -be between the workman we know and the old master -craftsman. The shop-keeping class and the middle-man -were only just beginning to exist. The consumer -and producer stood in close relation, and public control -was exercised fully, as the craft guilds were subject -to the supervision and direction of the municipal or -central authority of the cities in which they existed.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> -<span class="smaller">MEDIÆVAL WILLS, CHANTRIES, AND OBITS</span></h2> - -<p>The value of side-lights in an historical picture is frequently -overlooked, or not duly appreciated. The main -facts of a story may be presented with accuracy and -detail, and yet the result may be as unlike the reality -as the fleshless skeleton is to the living man. More -especially are these side-lights requisite when the object -of the inquirer is to ascertain the tone and temper -of minds at some given time, and to discover what men, -under given circumstances, were doing and thinking -about. In trying, therefore, to gauge the mental attitude -of Englishmen towards the ecclesiastical system -existing on the eve of the Reformation, it is important -not to neglect any faint glimmer of light which may -be reflected from the records of the past, the brightness -of which in its setting has been obscured only too well -by the dark storm-clouds of controversy and prejudice.</p> - -<p>Not the least valuable among what may be described -as the minor sources of information about the real feeling -of the people generally towards their religion on the -eve of the Reformation are the wills, of which we have -abundant examples in the period in question. It may, -of course, appear to some that their spirit was in great -measure dictated by what they now hold to be the -erroneous opinions then in vogue as to Purgatory and -the efficacy of prayer for the dead. That these doctrines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> -of the Church had a firm hold on the minds and -hearts of the people at large is certain. The evidence -that this was so is simply overwhelming, and it may be -taken to prove, not merely the existence of the teaching, -but the cordial and unhesitating way in which it -was accepted as a necessary part of the Christian faith. -But this, after all, is merely a minor point of interest in -the wills of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. What -clearly appears in these documents, however, is the -Catholic tone which pervades them, and enables the -reader to realise perhaps more than he is able to do -from any other class of document, the strong hold their -religion must have had on the love and intelligence of -the people of those days. The intelligences may not, -indeed, have been of any very high order, but the souls -were certainly penetrated by true Christian ideals. To -those who penned those early wills, Faith was clearly no -mere intellectual apprehension of speculative truth. Religion, -and religious observance, was to them a practical -reality which entered into their daily lives. The kindly -Spirit that led them, brought them strength to bear -their own and others’ burdens, in sickness and health, -in adversity and prosperity, from childhood till their -eyes closed in their last sleep. If we may judge from -these last aspirations of the Christian soul as displayed -in mediæval wills, we must allow that religion was very -real indeed to our English forefathers in the sixteenth -century, and that in reality the whole social order was -founded upon a true appreciation of the Christian -brotherhood in man, and upon the doctrine of the -efficacy of good works for salvation. These truths of -the social order were not indeed taught perhaps scientifically, -and we might look in vain for any technical expression<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> -of them in the books of religious instruction -most used during this period, but they formed none the -less part of the traditional Christian teaching of the -Middle Ages founded on the great principles of the -Bible which then dominated popular thought.<a name="FNanchor_349" id="FNanchor_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a></p> - -<p>Those who would understand what this Christian -spirit meant and the many ways in which it manifested -itself, need only compare the wills of the late fifteenth -and the early sixteenth centuries with those, say, of the -later years of Queen Elizabeth, when the religious revolution -had been accomplished, and note the obvious -difference in tone and purpose. The comparison need -not be searching or entail much study; the change is -patent and striking, and lies on the very surface.</p> - -<p>Some examples of notes taken from pre-Reformation -wills may be here given from the collection of Northern -wills published by the Surtees Society under the title -<i>Testamenta Eboracensia</i>, the fourth volume of which contains -many wills made during the period in question. -It may be useful to remark that one and all of these -documents manifest the same spirit of practical Christianity, -though of course in various degrees. Most of -them contain bequests to churches with which the -donors were chiefly connected; money is frequently -left to the fabric, or to some special altar, or for -the purchase of vestments, or to furnish some light<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> -to burn before the Blessed Sacrament, the rood or -some image, to which the deceased had a particular -devotion. Specific gifts of silks, rich articles of -clothing and embroidered hangings fitted to adorn -the Church of God, to make chasubles and copes, -or altar curtains and frontals, are common. Practical -sympathy with the poor is manifested by provision -for distributions of doles at funerals and at -anniversaries, and by gifts of cloaks and other articles -of clothing, to those of the parish who were engaged in -carrying torches at the burial, or had promised to offer -up prayers for the soul of the testator. Besides these -general features of interest, the wills in question show -us that building operations of great magnitude were -being carried on at this time in the parish churches of -the North, and they thus furnish an additional proof of -the very remarkable interest thus taken by the people -at large in the rebuilding and adornment of the parish -churches of England right up to the very overthrow of -the old ecclesiastical system. These particular wills -also bear a singular testimony to the kindly feelings -which existed at this time between the general body of -the clergy and the regular orders. Nearly every will of -any cleric of note contains bequests of money to monks, -nuns, and friars, whilst, in particular, those of the canons -and officials of the great metropolitan church of York -bear testimony to the affection and esteem in which -they held the Abbot and monks of St. Mary’s Abbey in -the same city, which from its close proximity to the -minster might in these days have been regarded as its -rival.</p> - -<p>As an illustration of the religious spirit which pervades -these documents, we may take the following preface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> -to the will of one John Dalton of Hull, made in -1487.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> “In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. -Amen. I, John Dalton of the Kingstown upon Hull—considering -and remembering, think in my heart that -the days of man in this mortal life are but short, that -the hour of death is in the hand of Almighty God, and -that He hath ordained the terms that no man may pass. -I remember also that God hath ordained man to die, -and that there is nothing more uncertain than the hour -of death. I seeing princes and (men of) great estates -die daily, and men of all ages end their days, and that -death gives no certain respite to any living creature, but -takes them suddenly. For these considerations, I, being -in my right wit and mind, loved be God, whole not -sick, beseech Almighty God that I may die the true son -of Holy Church and of heart truly confessed, with contrition -and repentance, of all my sins that ever I did -since the first hour I was born of my mother into -this sinful world, to the hour of my death. Of these -offences I ask and beseech Almighty God pardon and -forgiveness; and in this I beseech the Blessed Virgin -Mary and her blessed Son Jesu, our Saviour, that -suffered pain and passion for me and all sinful -creatures, and all the holy company of Paradise to -pray for me.… For these causes aforesaid, I, being -alive of whole mind and memory, loved be God, dispose -and ordain such goods as God hath lent me movable -and immovable by my testament, and ordain this -my last will in the form and manner that followeth: -First, I recommend in humble devotion, contrition, and -true repentance of my faults and sins, praying and -craving mercy of our Saviour Jesus Christ … my -soul to our Lord Jesus Christ when it shall depart from -my body, and to our Lady St. Mary, Saint Michael, St. -John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, St. Katherine -and St. Barbara, and to all the whole company and -saints of heaven: and my body I will to the earth -whereof it came.”</p> - -<p>The testator then proceeds to direct that his executors -shall give his wife a third of his property, and his -children another third. The rest he wishes to be bestowed -in charity as they may think best “to the -pleasure of God and the health of my soul” … “as -they shall answer before God at the dreadful day of -doom. (Especially) I will them to pay my debts, -charging them before God to discharge me and my -soul; and in this let them do for me as they would I -did for them, as I trust they will do.”<a name="FNanchor_350" id="FNanchor_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a></p> - -<p>Of much the same character is the briefer Latin -preface to the will of a sub-dean of York in 1490. “I -protest before God Almighty, the Blessed Mary, and all -saints, and I expressly proclaim that, no matter what -infirmity of mental weakness may happen to me in this -or any other sickness, it is not my intention in anything -to swerve from the Catholic faith. On the contrary -I firmly and faithly believe all the articles of faith, -all the sacraments of the Church; and that the Church -with its sacraments is sufficient for the salvation of any -one however guilty.”<a name="FNanchor_351" id="FNanchor_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a></p> - -<p>To take one more example of the same spirit, -Thomas Dalton, merchant of Hull—probably son of -the John Dalton whose will is quoted above—died in -1497. After charging his wife, whom he leaves his -executrix, to pay all his debts, he adds:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> “And I will -and give my mother forty shillings, beseeching her -meekly to pray for me and to give me her daily blessing, -and that she will forgive me all trespasses and faults -done by me to her since I was born of her, as she will -be forgiven before God at the great day of judgment.”<a name="FNanchor_352" id="FNanchor_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a></p> - -<p>Much the same spirit evidently dictated the following -clause in the will of John Sothill of Dewsbury, 1502: -“Also I pray Thomas my son, in my name and for the -love of God, that he never strive with his mother, as he -will have my blessing, for he will find her courteous to -deal with.”<a name="FNanchor_353" id="FNanchor_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a></p> - -<p>Other examples of the catholicity of these mediæval -wills may be here added as they are taken from the -volume almost at haphazard. In 1487, a late mayor -of the city of York leaves money to help in the repairs -of many churches of the city and its neighbourhood. -He charges his executors to provide for the maintenance -of lamps and lights in several places, and specially -names a gold ring with a diamond in it, which he desires -may be hung round the neck of Our Lady’s statue in -York Minster, and another with a turquoise “round our -Lord’s neck that is in the arms of the said image of Our -Lady.” After making provision for several series of -masses to be said, as for example one of thirty in -honour of the Holy Trinity, another in honour of the -Holy Cross, a third in that of Our Lady, &c., the testator -bequeaths a large sum of money to dower fifteen -poor girls, and to find fifty complete sets of beds and -bedding for the poor, as well as other extensive charities.<a name="FNanchor_354" id="FNanchor_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a></p> - -<p>Thomas Wood, a draper of Hull, was sheriff in -1479 and died in 1490. By will he left to his parish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> -church a piece of worked tapestry, and the clause by -which the bequest was conveyed shows that the church -already possessed many costly hangings of this kind. -It runs thus: “To the Trinity Church one of my best -beds of Arras work, upon condition that after my -decease the said bed shall yearly cover my grave at my -<i>Dirge</i> and Mass, done in the said Trinity Church with -note (in singing) for ever more. Also I will that the -said bed be yearly hung in the said church on the feast -of St. George the Martyr among other worshipful beds, -and when the said bed be taken down and delivered, -then I will that the same bed be re-delivered into the -vestry and there to remain with my cope of gold.”<a name="FNanchor_355" id="FNanchor_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a></p> - -<p>The same kind of gift appears in the last testament -of William Rowkshaw, Rector of Lowthorpe, in 1504. -“I leave,” he says, “to the Church of Catton a bed-covering -worked with great figures to lie in front of -the High Altar on the chief feasts. And I leave also a -bed-covering (worked) with the image of a lion (a blue -lion was the family arms) to place in front of the altar -in the parish church of Lowthorpe on the chief feasts.” -Also in the will of William Graystoke of Wakefield, -executed in 1508, there is made a gift to the parish -church of “a cloth of arras work sometime hanging -in the Hall.”<a name="FNanchor_356" id="FNanchor_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a></p> - -<p>Poor scholars at the universities were not forgotten -in the wills of the period. Mr. Martin Collins, Treasurer -of York, for instance, in 1508 charges his executors to -pay for a scholar at either Oxford or Cambridge for -seven years to study canon law, or the arts. The only -condition is that they are to choose him from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> -“poor and very needy, and even from the poorest and -most necessitous.”<a name="FNanchor_357" id="FNanchor_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> So, too, William Copley in 1489 -leaves money to support two poor priests for the purpose -of study at Cambridge. Archbishop Rotheram in -his long and most Christian will, executed in June 1500, -makes provision for the education of youth. He founds -a college in the place of his birth—the College of Jesus -at Rotheram—in thanksgiving for God’s providence in -securing his own education. “For,” he says, “there -came to Rotheram, I don’t know by what chance, but I -believe by the special grace of God, a teacher of grammar, -who taught me and other youths, and by whose -means I and others with me rose in life. Wherefore -desirous of returning thanks to our Saviour, and -to proclaim the reason, and lest I might seem ungrateful -and forgetful of God’s benefits and from whence I -have come, I have determined first of all to establish -there for ever a grammar master to teach all gratuitously. -And because I have seen chantry priests boarding with -lay people, one in one place one in another, to their -own scandal and in some places ruin, I have desired, in -the second place, to make them a common dwelling-house. -For these reasons I have commenced to build -the college of Jesus, where the head shall teach grammar -and the others may board and sleep.” Moreover, as -he has seen, he says, many unlettered and country -folk from the hills (<i>rudi et montam</i>) attracted to church -by the very beauty of ceremonial, he establishes at -Rotheram a choir-master and six singing boys to add -to the attraction of the services, and for such of these -boys, who may not want to become priests, he endows -a master to teach them the art of writing and arithmetic.<a name="FNanchor_358" id="FNanchor_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a></p> - -<p>A merchant of Holme, one John Barton, after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> -leaving legacies to his parish church, charges his -executors to pay the king’s taxes for all people of the -town assessed at 4d. and under, for two years after his -death. John Barton was a merchant of the staple, and -had made his wealth by the wool trade. At Holme -he built “a fair stone house and a fair chapel like a -parish church,” and to remind his descendants of the -source whence their means had come, and in humble -acknowledgment of God’s goodness to him, he set in -the windows of his home the following posie—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“I thank God, and ever shall,</div> -<div class="verse">It is the sheep hath payed for all.”<a name="FNanchor_359" id="FNanchor_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a></div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>As an example of specific bequests for pious -purposes, we may take the following: Sir Gervase -Clifton in 1491 gives many sums of money to churches -in Yorkshire and to various chantries in Southwell -Minster. For the use of these latter also, he directs -that “all the altar cloths of silk, a bed of gold bawdkyne -and another bed of russet satin, which belonged to -(Archbishop Boothe of York) be delivered to make -vestments.”<a name="FNanchor_360" id="FNanchor_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> In 1493-4, John Vavasour, Justice of -the Common Pleas, leaves £100 in money to the -monastery of Ellerton, to which he says he had previously -given all his vestments. He names the Priors -of Ellerton and Thorneholme his executors, and tells -them that the Prior of the Charterhouse of Axholme -has £800 of his in his keeping, and also that a chest of -his plate is in charge of the London Carthusians.<a name="FNanchor_361" id="FNanchor_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a></p> - -<p>Again Agnes Hildyard of Beverley, in 1497-8, -leaves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> “an old gold noble to hang round the neck of -the image of Our Lady in the church of Beverley,” some -money to purchase a mantle for the statue of the -Blessed Virgin at Fisholme, and another gold piece for -the statue at Molescroft.<a name="FNanchor_362" id="FNanchor_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> About the same time Lady -Scrope of Harling left “to the Rood of Northdor my -heart of gold with a diamond in the midst. To Our -Lady of Walsingham, ten of my great gold beads joined -with silk of crimson and gold, with a button of gold, -tasselled with the same.… To Our Lady of Pew ten -of the same beads; to St. Edmund of Bury ten of the -same; to St. Thomas of Canterbury, ten of the same; -to my Lord Cardinal, ten aves with two <i>Paternosters</i> -of the same beads; to Thomas Fynchman ten aves and -two <i>Paternosters</i> of the same beads.”<a name="FNanchor_363" id="FNanchor_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> Again, in 1502, -Elizabeth Swinburne bequeathed to the Carmelites of -Newcastle a piece of silver to make a crown for the -image of Our Lady at her altar “where my mother is -buried,” and to Mount Grace a rosary, “fifty beads of -gold, a hundred of corall, with all the gaudys of gold,” -on condition that she and her mother might be considered -<i>consorores</i> of the house, and that thirteen poor -people might be fed on the day of her burial.<a name="FNanchor_364" id="FNanchor_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> So, too, -a chain of gold is left to make a cup for the Blessed -Sacrament, velvet and silk dresses to make vestments,<a name="FNanchor_365" id="FNanchor_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> -plate to make a new chrismatory, crystal beads to -adorn the monstrance used on Corpus feast day.<a name="FNanchor_366" id="FNanchor_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a></p> - -<p>William Sheffield, Dean of York, whose will is dated -1496, after some few bequests to friends, leaves the -residue to the poor, and he thus explains the reason:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> -“Also I will that the residue of my goods be distributed -among the poor parishioners in each of the benefices -I have held, according to the discretion of my -executors, so that they may be bestowed more or less -in proportion to the time of my living and keeping -hospitality in them; for the goods of the church are -the riches of the poor, and so the distribution of church -goods is a serious matter of conscience, and on those -badly disposing of them Jesus have mercy.”<a name="FNanchor_367" id="FNanchor_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a></p> - -<p>The Vicar of Wighill, William Burton, in 1498-9, -left a sum of money to remain in the hands of his -successors for ever “to ease poor folk of the parish, for -to pay their farms with, so that the said people set not -their goods at wainworth (<i>i.e.</i> cartloads—what they -would fetch), and that they have a reasonable day to -pay the said silver again duly and truly to the Vicar for -the time being, and the said Vicar to ask and keep eyes -(aye) to the same intent, as he will answer for it at the -dreadful day of judgment betwixt God and the devil; -and he shall not lend the foresaid money for any tax or -tallage, nor for any common purpose of the town, but -only to the said poor men.” With kindly thought for -the young among his old flock, the Vicar adds a -bequest of 4d. “to every house poor and rich among -the children.”<a name="FNanchor_368" id="FNanchor_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a></p> - -<p>The above is not by any means an isolated instance -of a sum, or sums, of money being left to assist the -poorer members of the Christian brotherhood, represented -by the parish, with temporary loans. One -document sets out the working of such a common -parish chest under the supervision of the priest. The -original chest and the necessary funds for starting this -work of benevolence were furnished by one of the -parishioners. In order to maintain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> “this most pious -object,” as it is called, the rector undertakes to read -out the name of the original donor at the “bedes-bidding” -on principal feasts, together with those of all -who may subsequently add to the capital sum by alms -or legacies, in order that people might be reminded of -their duty to offer up prayers for the eternal welfare of -their benefactors. The chest was to have three locks, -the keys being kept by the rector and the two wardens. -Those who might need to borrow temporarily from the -common stock to meet their rent, purchase of seed or -stock, or for any other purpose, were to bring pledges -to the full value of the loan, or else to find known -sureties for the amount. No single person was to be -surety for more than six shillings and eightpence, and -for wise and obvious reasons the parish priest was not -to be allowed to stand security under any circumstances. -The loan was for a year, and if at the end of that time -the pledge was not redeemed, it was to be sold, but all -that it might fetch over and above the amount of the -original loan was to be returned to the borrower.<a name="FNanchor_369" id="FNanchor_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a></p> - -<p>In close connection with the subject of wills in -pre-Reformation times is that of chantries and obits. -Both these two institutions of the later mediæval church -in England have been commonly much misunderstood -and misrepresented. Most writers regard them only -in the light of the doctrine of Purgatory, and as illustrating -the extent to which the necessity of praying for -the dead was impressed upon the people by the ecclesiastical -authorities, and that with a view to their own -profit. It has come, therefore, to be believed that a -“chantry” only meant a place (chapel or other locality) -connected with the parish church, where masses were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span> -offered for the repose of the soul of the donor, and -other specified benefactors. No doubt there were such -chantries existing, but to imagine that all followed this -rule is wholly to mistake the purpose of such foundations. -Speaking broadly, the chantry priests were the -assistant priests or, as we should nowadays say, the -curates of the parish, who were supported by the -foundation funds which benefactors had left or given -for that purpose, and even not infrequently by the -contributions of the inhabitants. To speak the language -of our own time the system held the place of -the “additional curates” or “pastoral aid” societies. -For the most part the <i>raison d’être</i> of these chantry -priests was to look after the poor of the parish, to visit -the sick, and to assist in the functions of the parish -church. By universal custom, and even by statute -law of the English Church, every chaplain and chantry -priest, besides the fulfilment of the functions of his -own special benefice, was bound to be at the disposition -of the parish priest in the common services of -the parish church. His presence was required in the -choir, vested in a surplice or other ecclesiastical dress -proper to his station, or as one of the sacred ministers -of the altar, should his services be so required. In -this way the existence of guild chaplains, chantry -priests, and others, added to the dignity of the ecclesiastical -offices and the splendour of the ceremonial -in most parish churches throughout the country, and -afforded material and often necessary assistance in the -working of the parish.</p> - -<p>It will give, perhaps, a better idea of the functions -of a chantry priest on the eve of the Reformation than -can be obtained by any description, to take an example<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> -of the foundation made for a chantry at the altar of -Saint Anne in the church of Badsworth. It was -founded in 1510 to pray for the soul of Isabella, wife -of William Vavasour, and daughter of Robert Urswick. -The charter deed ordains that the chaplain shall be a -secular priest, without other benefice, and that he should -say a Requiem each week with <i>Placebo</i> and <i>Dirige</i>. At -the first lavatory of the Mass he is to turn to the people -and exhort them to pray for the soul of the founder, -saying <i>De Profundis</i> and the prayer <i>Inclina Domine</i>. -Once every year there is to be an anniversary service -on Tuesday in Easter week, when ten shillings and -eightpence is to be distributed to the poor under the -direction of the rector. The chaplain is to be learned -in grammar and plain song, and should be present in -the choir of the parish church at Matins, Mass, Vespers, -and Compline, with other divine services on Sundays -and feasts, when he is to take what part the rector shall -ordain. He is not to be absent for more than a month, -and then only with leave of the rector, by whom, for -certain specified offences, he may be deprived of his -office.<a name="FNanchor_370" id="FNanchor_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a></p> - -<p>In these chantries were established services for the -dead commonly called “obits.” These were not, as we -have been asked to believe, mere money payments to the -priest for anniversary services, but were, for the most -part, bequests left quite as much for annual alms to the -poor as for the celebration of those services. A few -examples will illustrate this better than any explanation. -In the town of Nottingham there were two chantries -connected with the parish church of St. Mary, that of -our Lady and that called Amyas Chantry. The former,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> -according to the record, was founded “to maintain the -services and to be an aid to the Vicar and partly to -succour the poor;” the latter, to assist in “God’s service,” -and to pray for William Amyas the founder. When the -commissioners, in the first year of Edward VI., came to -inquire into the possession of these chantries, they were -asked to note that in this parish there were “1400 -houseling people, and that the vicar there had no other -priests to help but the above two chantry priests.” -They were not, of course, spared on this account, for -within two years the property, upon which these two -priests were supported, had been sold to two speculators -in such parcels of land—John Howe and John Broxholme.</p> - -<p>Then again, in the parish of St. Nicholas, in the -same town, we find from the returns that the members -of the Guild of the Virgin contributed to the support of -a priest. In that parish there were more than 200 -houseling people, and as the living was very poor, there -was absolutely no other priest to look after them but -this one, John Chester, who was paid by the guild. -The king’s officials, however, did not hesitate on this -account to confiscate the property. It is needless to -adduce other instances of this kind, some scores of -which might be given in the county of Nottingham -alone. As an example of “obits” and the purposes -for which they were intended, the following instances -may be given, which it must be remembered could be -multiplied to any extent. From the returns of the commissioners -in Nottinghamshire we find that in the parish -of South Wheatley there were parish lands let out to farm -which produced eighteenpence a year, say from eighteen -shillings to a pound of our money. Of this sum, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> -shilling was for the poor, and sixpence for church lights; -that is two-thirds, or, say, 16s. of our money, was for the -relief of the distressed. So in the parish of Tuxford, the -church “obit” lands produced £1, 5s. 4d., or about -£16 a year; of which 16s. 4d. was for the poor and -9s. for the church services.</p> - -<p>Mr. Thorold Rogers, speaking of the endowments -left by generations of Englishmen for the support of -chantries, obits, &c., says: “The ancient tenements -which are still the property of the London companies -were originally burdened with masses for donors. In -the country, the parochial clergy undertook the services -of these chantries … and the establishment of a mass -or chantry priest at a fixed stipend in a church with -which he had no other relation, was a common form of -endowment. The residue, if any, of the revenue derivable -from these tenements was made the common -property of the guild, and as the continuity of the -service was the great object of its establishment, the -donor, like the modern trustee of a life income, took -care that there should be a surplus from the foundation. -The land or house was let, and the guild consented -to find the ministration which formed the motive of the -grant.”<a name="FNanchor_371" id="FNanchor_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a></p> - -<p>This is very true, but it is questionable whether Mr. -Thorold Rogers appreciated the extent to which these -chantry funds were intended to be devoted to purposes -other than the performance of the specified religious -services. A couple of examples have been given in -Nottinghamshire, and to these may be added one in -the south of England. In connection with the parish -church of Alton, in Hampshire, there were, on the eve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> -of the Reformation, six foundations for obits. The following -is the account of these taken from the chantry -certificates made by the king’s commissioners in the -first year of the reign of Edward VI.: (1) “Issues of -land for an obit for John Pigott, growing and coming -out of certain houses and lands in Alton for to maintain -for ever a yearly obit there, in the tenure of Thomas -Mathew, of the yearly value of 23s. 4d.; whereof to the -poor 15s. 4d., to the parish priest and his clerk 8s. (2) -The same for an obit for William Reding, of the annual -value of 15s., of which the poor were to have 10s. and -the priest and his clerk 5s. (3) The same for Alice -Hacker, of the yearly value of 10s., of which the poor -were to get 7s. 8d. and the priest 2s. 4d. (4) Another -of the value of 4s., the poor to get 2s. 10d. and the priest -1s. 2d. (5) Another for the soul of Nicholas Bailey, -worth annually 11s., and of this 7s. 8d. was intended -for the poor and 3s. 4d. for the clergy. (6) Another -for Nicholas Crushelon, worth annually 4s. 4d., the poor -to have 3s. 1d. and the priest 1s. 3d.” In this parish -of Alton, therefore, these six foundations for “obits” or -anniversaries produced a total of 77s. 8d., but so far -from the whole sum being spent upon priests’ stipends, -lights, and singing men, we find that considerably more -than half, namely 46s. 7d., was bestowed upon the relief -of the poor of the parish. Or if we take the value of -money in those days as only twelve times that of our -present money, out of a total of £36, 12s. some £27, 19s. -went to the support of the poor.</p> - -<p>It is obvious that the general advantages derived by -a parish from the foundation of these chantries and -obits have been commonly overlooked, and the notion -that they were intended for no other purpose than procuring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span> -prayers for the dead, and that in fact they served -no other end, is altogether misleading and erroneous. -Without the assistance of the clergy, so supported by -the generosity of those who left money for these foundations, -the religious services in many of the parish -churches of England in pre-Reformation times could -not have been so fittingly or even adequately provided -for. Wherever information is available this view is -borne out, and it is altogether to mistake the true bearing -of facts to suppose that in suppressing the chantries -and appropriating the endowment of obits the officials of -Edward VI. merely put an end to superstitious prayers -for the souls in Purgatory. In reality they deprived -the poor of much property left by deceased persons for -their relief, and took away from every parish in England -the assistance of the unbeneficed clergy who had hitherto -helped to support the dignity of God’s worship and look -after the souls of the people in the larger districts.</p> - -<p>One instance may be given to illustrate how far the -chantry clergy actually took part in the work of the -parish. At Henley on Thames, on the eve of the -Reformation, there were seven chapels or chantries—namely, -those of Our Lady, St. Katherine, St. Clement, -St. Nicholas, St. Ann, St. John, and St. Leonard. These -were all supported by various bequests, and the four -priests who served them all resided in a common house -situated in the churchyard known as “the chapel-house,” -or “the four priest chambers.” The disposition of the -services of these chaplains was apparently in the hands -of the “Warden and the commonalty” of the township, -and for the convenience of the people they arrange, for -example, that the chaplain of the Lady altar shall say -his mass there every day at six in the morning, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> -the priest in charge of St. Katherine’s shall always begin -his at eight.<a name="FNanchor_372" id="FNanchor_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a></p> - -<p>“To maintain God’s service” is perhaps the most -common reason assigned to King Edward’s commission -for the existence of a chantry, or chantries, in connection -with a parish church. Thus at Edwinstowe, in -Nottinghamshire, there was a chantry chapel a mile -from the parish church known as Clipston Chantry. -The priest was John Thompson, and he had £5 a year, -and “hath no mansion but a parlour under the chapel.”<a name="FNanchor_373" id="FNanchor_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> -At Harworth in the same county there was the hospital -of St. Mary’s of Bawtree, founded by Robert Morton to -serve the people two miles from the parish church. -The priest had a mansion and close, “and had to say -Mass every morning before sunrise, for such as be -travellers by the way and to maintain God’s service -there, which towne is also a thoroughfare towne.”<a name="FNanchor_374" id="FNanchor_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> At -Hayton, still in the same county, also two miles from -the parish church, was the chantry of Tilne, founded -for a priest to serve the villages of North and South -Tilne “to celebrate mass and minister the sacraments -to the inhabitants adjoining, for that they for the greatness -of the waters cannot divers times in the year repair -to the parish church.” For “the water doth abound -so much within the said hamlets that the inhabitants -thereof can by no means resort into their parish church -of Hayton, being two miles distant from the said chapel, -neither for christening, burying, nor other rights.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_375" id="FNanchor_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a></p> - -<p>The purposes which these chantry priests were -intended to serve is seen to be the same all over England. -To take Suffolk for example: at Redgrave, near -Eye, or rather at Botesdale, a hamlet about a mile and -a half from Redgrave, there was a chapel of “ancient -standing for the ease of the inhabitants of the said street, -which was first built at their cost, whereunto do belong -no other than the chapel yard.” The “street” consisted -of forty-six householders, and by estimation -a hundred and sixty houselings. It was “a common -thoroughfare and hath a liberty of market.” These -matters “the poor inhabitants” submitted to the King; -it is unnecessary to say without success.<a name="FNanchor_376" id="FNanchor_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> At Levenham -the alderman of St. Peter’s Guild held certain -lands to find a priest who was to teach the children of -the town, and was to be “secondary to the curate, who -without help of another priest is not able to serve the -cure there,” as there were two thousand souls in the -district.<a name="FNanchor_377" id="FNanchor_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> So, too, at Mildenhall there was a chantry -established, as the parish was long and populous, “having -a great number of houseling people and sundry -hamlets, divers of them having chapels distant from the -parish church one mile or two miles, where the said -priest did sing Mass sundry festival days and other holy -days, and also help the curate to minister the Sacraments, -who without help were not able to discharge his cure.”<a name="FNanchor_378" id="FNanchor_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> -At Southwold were four cottages left by one John Perce -for an “obit.” The property produced twenty shillings -a year, and of this sum ten shillings were to be distributed -to the poor; eight shillings to maintain the town -and pay the taxes of the poor, and two shillings to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> -paid to the parson and his clerk for their services in -church. There was also in the same town a tenement -called Skilman’s, intended to supply a stipendiary priest -for sixteen years to the parish, and after that to go to -the town. The sixteen years were up when the royal -commissioners visited the town, and the whole sum was -then being spent on the town. In vain the people -pleaded that “it was to be considered that the said -town of Southwold is a very poor town, whereupon the -sea lies beating daily, to the great ruin and destruction -of the said town, if that the power and violence of the -same were not broken by the maintenance of jetties -and piers there, and that the maintenance of the haven -and bridge of the same town is likewise very chargeable.” -The marsh belonging to the said tenement, called Skilman’s, -is let to the poor inhabitants of the same town, -every man paying for his cowgate by the year 20d. only -“to the great relief of the poor.”<a name="FNanchor_379" id="FNanchor_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a></p> - -<p>So, too, the Aldermen of the Guild of the Holy -Ghost in Beccles held lands to supply a priest to assist -in the parish for ninety-nine years, to find money to -pay the tenths, fifteenths, and other taxes, and for -other charitable purposes. The property brought in -£10, 9s. 4d., and each year the poor received forty -shillings; thirty shillings went to pay for the taxes, -and the rest—some £6—to the priest. In order to -induce the king to leave this fund untouched, the commissioners -of 1547 are asked to note “that Beccles is -a great and populous town,” there being eight hundred -houselings, “and the said priest is aiding unto the -curate there, who without help is not able to discharge -the said cure.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_380" id="FNanchor_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a></p> - -<p>The case of Bury St. Edmunds is particularly -distressing. Amongst other charities, lands had been -left by will or given by various benefactors to find -priests to serve St. Mary’s, to sing “the Jesus Mass,” -and to act as chaplain at the Lady altar. Property also -was given in charge of St. Nicholas Guild of the annual -value of 25s. 4d., of which sum 22s. was to be distributed -to the poor of the town, and the rest was to go to the -annual anniversary services for members of the guild. -More property, too, had been left by one Margaret -Oldham for a priest to say Mass in the church of St. -James on the week days, and in the jail on the Sundays, -and to find the poor prisoners in wood for a fire during -winter months. There were several other similar benefactions -of the same kind, and the parishioners of St. -James’s church “gathered weekly of their devotion” -the stipend of a priest paid to say “the morrow Mass”—that -is, the Mass at daybreak intended for those who -had to go early to their daily work. When the royal -commissioners came on behalf of the said Edward VI. -to gather in these spoils at Bury, they were asked -to forward to the authorities in London the following -plea for pity: “It is to be considered that the said -town of Bury is a great and populous town, having in -it two parish churches, and in the parishes of the same -above the number of 3000 houseling persons, and a -great number of youth. And the king’s majesty hath -all the tithes and all the profits yearly coming and -growing within the same parishes,<a name="FNanchor_381" id="FNanchor_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> finding two parish -priests there. And the said two parish priests are not -able to serve and discharge the said cures without aid -and help of other priests. And further, there is no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> -school, nor other like foundation, within the said town, -nor within twenty miles of it, for the virtuous education -and bringing up of youth, nor any hospital or other -like foundation for the comfort and relief of the poor, -of which there is an exceeding great number within the -said town other than what are before mentioned, of -which the said incumbents do now take the whole<a name="FNanchor_382" id="FNanchor_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> -yearly revenues and profits, and distribute no part -thereof to the aid and comfort or relief of the said -poor people.</p> - -<p>“In consideration whereof it may please the king’s -majesty of his most charitable benignity, moved with -pity in that behalf, to convert the revenues and profits -of the sum of the said promotions into some godly -foundation, whereby the said poor inhabitants, daily -there multiplying, may be relieved, and the youth instructed -and brought up virtuously, or otherwise, according -to his most godly and discreet wisdom, and the -inhabitants shall daily pray to God for the prosperous -preservation of his most excellent majesty, long to -endure.”<a name="FNanchor_383" id="FNanchor_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a></p> - -<p>It is hardly necessary to say that the petition had -no effect. At Bury, as indeed all over England, the -claims of the sick and poor were disregarded and the -money passed into the possession of the crown. The -hospitals that mediæval charity had erected and supported<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> -were destroyed; the youth remained untaught; -the poor were deprived of the charity which had -been, as it was supposed, secured to them for ever by -the wills of generations of Catholic benefactors; the -poor prisoners in the jail at Bury had to go without -their Sunday Mass and their winter fire; whilst the -money that had hitherto supported chaplains and -chantry priests to assist the parish priests in the care -of their districts was taken by the crown.</p> - -<p>For Yorkshire the certificates of the commissioners -have been published by the Surtees Society. The -same impression as to the utility and purpose of the -chantry and other assisting priests may be gathered -from almost every page. For example, the chantry -of St. Katherine in the parish church of Selby: -“The necessity thereof is to do divine service, and -help the parish priest in time of necessity to minister -sacraments and sacramentals and other divine services.”… -For “the said parish of Selby is a great -parish, having but one curate, and in the same parish -is a thousand houseling people; and the said curate has -no help in time of necessity but only the said chauntry -priest.”<a name="FNanchor_384" id="FNanchor_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a></p> - -<p>Again: “Two chantries of our Lady in the parish -church of Leeds, ‘founded by the parishioners there to -serve in the choir and to minister sacraments and other -divine service, as shall be appointed by the vicar and -other honest parishioners there, which they do.… -The necessity thereof is to do divine service, to help the -curate, and minister the Sacraments, having 3000 -houseling people.’”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_385" id="FNanchor_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a></p> - -<p>In the same parish church, the chantry of St. Mary -Magdalene was “founded by William Evers, late vicar -of Leeds, to pray for the soul of the founder and all -Christian souls, to minister at the altar of St. Mary -Magdalene, to keep one yearly obit, with seven shillings -to be distributed, and to serve in the choir at divine -service all holy days and festival days, as appears by -the foundation deed thereof, dated <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1524.”<a name="FNanchor_386" id="FNanchor_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a></p> - -<p>One more example may be taken out of the hundreds -in these volumes: “The chantry, or donative, within -the chapel of Holbecke in the parish of Leeds, ‘the -incumbent is used to say daily mass there and is taken -for a stipendiary priest paying tithes. And there is a -great river between the said parish church and the -chapel, whereby they can by no means often pass to -the said church.… The said chantry is distant from -the said parish church one mile. The necessity thereof -is to do divine service according to the foundation.’”<a name="FNanchor_387" id="FNanchor_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a></p> - -<p>A few words enforcing the lesson to be learned -from these extracts taken from the preface to the second -part of these interesting Yorkshire records may be here -given. Mr. Page, the editor, says: “Up to the time of -the Reformation nearly all education was maintained -by the church, and when the chantries were dissolved -practically the whole of the secondary education of the -country would have been swept away, had not some -provision for the instruction of the middle and lower -classes been made by continuing, under new ordinances, -some of the educational endowments which pious -founders had previously provided.”<a name="FNanchor_388" id="FNanchor_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span></p> -<p>“The next most important class of foundations, -some of which were continued under the commission -… consisted of the chapels of ease, which were much -required in extensive parishes with a scattered population, -and had been generally founded by the parishioners -for their own convenience. It seems, therefore, that -the dissolution of these chapels was a peculiar hardship. -As early as 1233, the Pope granted licence to the archbishop -of York to build oratories or chapels and to -appoint to them priests, in places so distant from the -parish churches that the people could with difficulty -attend divine service, and the sick died before the priest -could get to them to administer the last sacraments. -The necessity for these chapels of ease was especially -felt in Yorkshire, where the inhabitants of so many -outlying hamlets were cut off from their parish churches -in winter time by impassable roads and flooded rivers, -which is the reason time after time assigned by the commissioners, -for the necessity of the existence of such -chapels; and yet comparatively few of them were recommended -for continuance by Sir Walter Mildmay and -Robert Kelway in the returns to the commission. -Possibly, it was the loss of the endowments of Ayton -chapel which occasioned the insurrection at Leamer -… which chapel the inhabitants so piously kept up -afterwards at their own expense.”<a name="FNanchor_389" id="FNanchor_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span></p> - -<p>“In most cases, the chantry priest seems to have -acted in much the same capacity in a parish as that -now occupied by the curate; he assisted the parish -priest in performing mass, hearing confessions and -visiting the sick, and also helped in the ordinary -services of the church; the few only were licensed to -preach, like the schoolmaster at Giggleswick. In the -Cathedral Church at York, besides praying for the soul -of his founder and all Christian souls, each chantry -priest had to be present in the choir in his habit of a -parson on all principal and double feast days, Sundays, -and nine lections, at Matins, Mass, Evensong, and processions, -when he had to read lessons, begin anthems, -and to minister at the high altar as should be appointed -to him by the officers of the choir. Besides these -purely ecclesiastical duties, very many of the chantry -priests were bound to teach a certain number of the -children of the neighbourhood, which was the origin of -most of our Grammar schools.”<a name="FNanchor_390" id="FNanchor_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> -<span class="smaller">PILGRIMAGES AND RELICS</span></h2> - -<p>Pilgrimages and the honour shown to relics are -frequently pointed out as, with Indulgences, among -the most objectionable features of the pre-Reformation -ecclesiastical system. It is assumed that on the eve of -the religious changes the abuses in these matters were -so patent, that no voice was, or indeed could have been, -raised in their defence, and it is asserted that they were -swept away without regret or protest as one of the most -obvious and necessary items in the general purification -of the mediæval church initiated in the reign of Henry -VIII. That they had indeed been tolerated at all even -up to the time of their final overthrow was in part, if -not entirely, due to the clergy, and in particular to the -monks who, as they derived much pecuniary benefit -from encouraging such practices, did not scruple to -inculcate by every means in their power the spiritual -advantages to be derived from them. That the objectionable -features of these so-called works of piety had -long been recognised, is taken for granted, and the -examinations of people suspected of entertaining Wycliffite -opinions are pointed to as proof that earnest men -were alive to these abuses for more than a century -before religion was purified from them. As conclusive -evidence of this, the names, too, of Chaucer for early -times, and of Erasmus for the Reform period, are given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> -as those whose condemnation and even scornful rejection -of such practices cannot be doubted. It becomes -important, then, for a right understanding of the mental -attitude of the people generally to the existing ecclesiastical -system at the time of its overthrow, to see how -far the outcry against pilgrimages and the devotion to -relics was really popular, and what were the precise -objections taken to them by the innovators.</p> - -<p>It is difficult to exaggerate the importance attached -to pilgrimages by our pre-Reformation forefathers. -From very early times the practice was followed -with eagerness, not to say with devotion, and included -not merely visits to the shrines situated within -the country itself, but long and often perilous journeys -into foreign lands—to Compostella, Rome, and to the -Holy Land itself. These foreign pilgrimages of course -could be undertaken only by the rich, or by those for -whom the requisite money was found by some one -unable to undertake the journey in person. Not infrequently -the early English wills contain injunctions -upon the executors to defray the cost of some poor -pilgrim to Spain, to Rome, or to some of the noted -shrines on the Continent. The English love for these -works of piety in nowise showed any sign of decadence -even right up to the period of change. Books furnishing -intending pilgrims with necessary information, -and vocabularies, even in Greek, were prepared to assist -them in their voyages. The itineraries of William -Wey, printed by the Roxburghe Club, give a very -good idea of what these great religious pilgrimages must -have been like at the close of the fifteenth century. In -1462 Wey was in the Holy Land, and describes how -joyfully the pilgrims on landing at Jaffa sang the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span> -“<i>Urbs beata Jerusalem</i> in faburthyn.” In 1456 he -took part in a large English pilgrimage to St. James -of Compostella, leaving Plymouth with a shipload of -English fellow-pilgrims on May 17. William Wey’s -ship was named the <i>Mary White</i>, and in company with -them six other English ships brought pilgrims from -Portsmouth, Bristol, Weymouth, Lymington, and a -second from Plymouth. They reached Corunna on -May 21st, and Compostella for the great celebration of -Trinity Day. Wey was evidently much honoured by -being pointed out to the church officials as the chief -Englishman of note present, and he was given the post -of first bearer of the canopy in the procession of the -Blessed Sacrament. Four out of the six poles were -carried by his countrymen, whom he names as Austill, -Gale, and Fulford.</p> - -<p>On their return the pilgrims spent three days at -Corunna. They were not allowed to be idle, but religious -festivities must have occupied most of their time. -On Wednesday, the eve of Corpus Christi day, there -was a procession of English pilgrims throughout the -city and a mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin. On -Corpus Christi itself their procession was in the Franciscan -church, and a sermon was preached in English -by an English Bachelor in Theology on the theme, <i>Ecce -ego; vocasti me</i>. “No other nation,” says William Wey, -somewhat proudly, “had these special services but the -English.” In the first port there were ships belonging -to English, Welsh, Irish, Norman, French, and Breton, -and the English alone had two and thirty.</p> - -<p>Such journeys were not, of course, in those days -devoid of danger, especially from sickness brought on, -or developed in the course of the travels. Erasmus, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> -his <i>Colloquy on Rash Vows</i>, speaks of losing three in a -company. “One dying on the way commissioned us -to salute Peter (in Rome) and James (at Compostella) -in his name. Another we lost at Rome, and he desired -that we should greet his wife and children for him. -The third we left behind at Florence, his recovery -entirely despaired of, and I imagine he is now in -heaven.” That this account of the mortality among -pilgrims is not exaggerated is shown in the diary of Sir -Richard Torkington, Rector of Mulbarton, in Norfolk. -In 1517 he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and records -on “the 25th of August, that was Saynt Bertolmew’s -day, deceased Robert Crosse of London, and was -buried in the churchyard of Salyus (in the island of -Cyprus); and the 27th day of August deceased Sir -Thomas Tappe, a priest of the West country, and was -cast over the board; as were many more whose souls -God assoyl; and then there remained in the ship four -English priests more.”<a name="FNanchor_391" id="FNanchor_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a></p> - -<p>If Englishmen went abroad to the celebrated -shrines, foreigners in turn found their way to the -no less renowned places of pilgrimage in England. -Pilgrims’ inns and places of rest were scattered over -the great roads leading to Glastonbury, Walsingham, -and Canterbury, and other “holy spots” in this island, -and at times these places were thronged with those who -came to pay their devotion. At one time we are told -that more than a hundred thousand pilgrims were together -in the city of Canterbury to celebrate one of the -Jubilee celebrations of the martyr St. Thomas; whilst -the road to Walsingham was so much frequented, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> -in the common mind the very “milk way” had been -set by Providence in the heaven to point the path to -Our Lady’s shrine.</p> - -<p>With the very question of pilgrimages, Sir Thomas -More actually deals in the first portion of his <i>Dyalogue</i>, -and it would be difficult to find any authority who -should carry greater weight. He first deals with the -outcry raised by the followers of Luther against the -riches which had been lavished upon the churches, and -in particular upon the shrines containing the relics of -saints.</p> - -<p>Those who so loudly condemn this devotion shown -by the church to the saints should know, he says “that -the church worships not the saints as God, but as God’s -servants, and therefore the honour that is done to them -redoundeth principally to the honour of their Master; -just as by common custom of people we sometimes, for -their master’s sake, reverence and make great cheer for -people to whom perhaps except for this we would not -have said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span> ‘good morrow.’</p> - -<p>“And sure if any benefit or alms, done to one of -Christ’s poor folk for his sake, be reputed and accepted -by His high goodness, as done unto Himself: and if -whosoever receiveth one of His apostles or disciples receives -Himself, every wise man may well think that -in like manner he who honours His holy saints for His -sake, honours Himself, except these heretics think that -God were as envious as they are themselves, and that -He would be wroth to have any honour done to any -other, though it thereby redoundeth unto Himself. In -this matter our Saviour Christ clearly declares the contrary, -for He shows Himself so well content that His -holy saints shall be partakers of His honour that He -promises His apostles that at the dreadful doom (when -He shall come in His high majesty) they shall have -their honourable seats and sit with Himself upon the -judgment of the world. Christ also promised that Saint -Mary Magdalene should be worshipped through the -world and have here an honourable remembrance -because she bestowed that precious ointment upon -His holy head. When I consider this thing it -makes me marvel at the madness of these heretics -that bark against the old ancient customs of Christ’s -church, mocking at the setting up of candles, and with -foolish facetiousness (fallacies) and blasphemous mockery -demand whether God and His saints lack light, or -whether it be night with them that they cannot see -without a candle. They might as well ask what good -did that ointment do to Christ’s head? But the heretics -grudge the cost now as their brother Judas did then, -and say it were better spent on alms upon a poor folk, -and thus say many of them who can neither find in -their heart to spend on the one nor the other. And -some spend sometimes on the one for no other intent, -but the more boldly to rebuke against and rail against -the other.”</p> - -<p>After pointing out how riches were lavished on the -temple by God’s special ordinance, Sir Thomas More -continues:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span> “If men will say that the money were better -spent among poor folk by whom He (<i>i.e.</i> God) setteth -more store as the living temples of the Holy Ghost -made by His own hand than by the temples of stone -made by the hand of men, this would perhaps be -true if there were so little to do it with that we should -be driven by necessity to leave the one undone. But -God gives enough for both, and gives divers men divers -kinds of devotion, and all to His pleasure. Luther, in a -sermon of his, wished that he had in his hand all the -pieces of the holy cross, and said if he had he would -throw them where the sun should never shine on them. -And for what worshipful reason would the wretch do -such villainy to the cross of Christ? Because, as he -says, there is so much gold now bestowed on the garnishing -of the pieces of the cross that there is none left -for poor folks. Is not this a high reason? As though -all the gold that is now bestowed about the pieces of -the holy cross would not have failed to be given to poor -men if they had not been bestowed on the garnishing -of the cross; and as though there was nothing lost -except what is bestowed about Christ’s cross. Take -all the gold that is spent about all the pieces of Christ’s -cross through Christendom (albeit many a good Christian -prince and other godly people have honourably garnished -many pieces of it), yet if all the gold were gathered -together it would appear a poor portion in comparison -with the gold that is bestowed upon cups—what do we -speak of cups for? in which the gold, though it is not -given to poor men, is saved, and may be given in alms -when men will, which they never will; how small a -portion, ween we, were the gold about all the pieces of -Christ’s cross, if it were compared with the gold that is -quite cast away about the gilding of knives, swords, &c.”</p> - -<p>Our author then goes on to put in the mouth of the -“objector” the chief reasons those who were then the -advocates of the religious changes were urging against -pilgrimages to the shrines of saints and to special places -of devotion to our Blessed Lady. Protesting that he -had, of course, no desire to see the images of the saints -treated in any way disrespectfully, the objector declares<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span> -that “yet to go in pilgrimages to them, or to pray to -them, not only seemed vain, considering that (if they -can do anything) they can do no more for us among -them all than Christ can Himself alone who can do all -things, nor are they so ready to hear (if they hear us -at all) as Christ that is everywhere.”… Moreover, to -go a pilgrimage to one place rather than to another -“seems to smell of idolatry,” as implying that God was -not so powerful in one place as He is in another, and, -as it were, making God and His saints “bound to a -post, and that post cut out and carved into images. -For when we reckon we are better heard by our Lord -in Kent than at Cambridge, at the north door of Paul’s -than at the south door, at one image of our Lady than -at another,” is it not made plain that we “put our trust -and confidence in the image itself, and not in God and -our Lady,” and think of the image and not of what the -image represents.</p> - -<p>Further, “men reckon that the clergy gladly favour -these ways, and nourish this superstition under the name -and colour of devotion, to the peril of people’s souls for -the lucre and temporal advantage that they themselves -receive from the offerings” (p. 120).</p> - -<p>Lest it may be thought that these objections to -places of pilgrimage were merely such as Sir Thomas -More invented to put into the mouth of the “objector” -in order to refute them, the reader may like to have the -words of a known advocate of the new ideas. Lancelot -Ridley, in his expositions of some of the Epistles, -states his views very clearly. “Ignorant people,” he -writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span> “have preferred the saints before God, and put -more trust, more confidence, (look for) more help and -succour, in a saint than in God. Yea, I fear me that -many have put their help and succour in an image made -of stone or of wood by men’s hand, and have done -great honour and reverence to the image, believing -that great virtue and great holiness was in that image -above other images. Therefore that image must have -a velvet coat hanged all over with brooches of silver, -and much silver hanged about it and on it, with much -light burning before it, and with candles always burning -before it. I would no man (should put out the light) -in contempt of the saint whose image there is, but I -would have this evil opinion out of the simple hearts -that they should esteem images after the value they are, -and put no more holiness in one image than in another, -no more virtue in one than in another. It holds the -simple people in great blindness, and makes them put -great trust and (esteem) great holiness in images, because -one image is called our Lady of Grace, another our -Lady of Pity, another our Lady of Succour or Comfort; -the Holy Rood of such a place, &c.” And this he maintained, -though he did not condemn images generally -in churches. These he thought useful to remind people -of God’s saints and their virtues, and “to stir up our -dull hearts and slothful minds to God and to goodness.” -What he objected to chiefly was the special places of -pilgrimage and special images to which more than -ordinary devotion was shown.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_392" id="FNanchor_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a></p> - -<p>In another of his <i>Expositions</i>, printed in 1540, Ridley -again states his objections to the places of pilgrimage. -“Some think,” he writes, “that they have some things -of God, and other part of saints, of images, and so -divide God’s glory, part to God and part to an image, -of wood or of stone made by man’s hand. This some -ignorant persons have done in times past, and thanked -God for their health and the blessed Lady of Walsingham, -of Ipswich, St. Edmund of Bury, Etheldred of -Ely, the Lady of Redbourne, the Holy Blood of Hayles, -the Holy Rood of Boxley, of Chester, &c., and so other -images in this realm to the which have been much -pilgrimage and much idolatry, supposing the dead -images could have healed them or could have done -something for them to God. For this the ignorant -have crouched, kneeled, kissed, bobbed and licked the -images, giving them coats of cloth, of gold, silver, and -of tissue, velvet, damask, and satin, and suffered the -living members of Christ to be without a russet coat -or a sackcloth to keep them from the cold.”<a name="FNanchor_393" id="FNanchor_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a></p> - -<p>Again in another place he says that his great -objection to images is not that they may not be -good in themselves and as a reminder of the holiness -of the saints, but that they are used as a means of -making money. “Who can tell,” he writes, “half the -ways they have found to get, yea to extort money from -men by images, by pardons, by pilgrimages, by indulgences, -&c. … all invented for money.” The above -passages may be taken as fair samples of the outcry -against shrines and pilgrimages raised by the English -followers of Luther and the advocates of the religious -changes generally. It will be noticed that the ground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span> -of the objections was in reality only the same as that -which induced them to declare against any honour -shown to images, whether of Christ or His saints. -There is no suggestion of any special abuses connected -with particular shrines and places of pilgrimage, such -as is often hinted at by those who refer to Chaucer and -Erasmus. In addition to the general ground of objection, -the only point raised in regard to pilgrimages by -the advocates for their suppression was that money was -spent upon them which might have been bestowed more -profitably on the poor, and that the clergy were enriched -by the offerings made at the shrines visited. Sir Thomas -More’s reply to the latter suggestion has been already -given, and elsewhere his views as to the general question -of the danger of people mistaking the nature of the -honour shown to images of the saints have been stated -at length. With regard to his approval of the principle -of pilgrimages there is no room for doubt.</p> - -<p>“If the thing were so far from all frame of right -religion,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span> “and so perilous to men’s souls, I -cannot perceive why the clergy, for the gain they get -thereby, would suffer such abuses to continue. For, -first, if it were true that no pilgrimage ought to be -used, no image offered to, nor worship done nor -prayer offered to any saint, then—if all these things -were all undone (if that were the right way, as I wot -well it were wrong), then to me there is little question -but that Christian people who are in the true faith and -in the right way Godward would not thereby in any -way slack their good minds towards the ministers of -His church, but their devotion towards them would -more and more increase. So that if by this way they -now get a penny they would not then fail to receive a -groat; and so should no lucre be the cause to favour -this way if it be wrong, whilst they could not fail to -win more by the right.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span></p> -<p>“Moreover, look through Christendom and you will -find the fruit of those offerings a right small part of the -living of the clergy, and such as, though some few -places would be glad to retain, yet the whole body -might easily forbear without any notable loss. Let us -consider our own country, and we shall find that these -pilgrimages are for the most part in the hands of such -religious persons or of such poor parishes as have no -great authority in the convocations. Besides this you -will not find, I suppose, that any Bishop in England -has the profit of even one groat from any such offering -in his diocese. Now, the continuance or breaking of -this manner and custom stands them specially in the -power of those who take no profit by it. If they -believed it to be (as you call it) superstitious and -wicked they would never suffer it to continue to the -perishing of men’s souls (something whereby they -themselves would destroy their own souls and get -no commodity either in body or goods). And beyond -this, we see that the bishops and prelates themselves -visit these holy places and pilgrimages, and make as -large offerings and (incur) as great cost in coming and -going as other people do, so that they not only take no -temporal advantage, but also bestow their own money -therein. And surely I believe this devotion so planted -by God’s own hand in the hearts of the whole Church, -that is to say, not the clergy only, but the whole congregation -of all Christian people, that if the spirituality -were of the mind to give it up, yet the temporality -would not suffer it.”</p> - -<p>It would be impossible, without making extensive -quotations, to do justice to Sir Thomas More’s argument -in favour of the old Catholic practice of pilgrimages. -He points out that the whole matter turns upon -the question whether or no Almighty God does manifest -His power and presence more in one place of His world -than in another. That He does so, he thinks cannot be -questioned; why He should do so, it is not for us to -guess, but the single example of the Angel and the pool -of Bethsaida related in St. John’s Gospel is sufficient -proof of the fact—at least to Sir Thomas More’s intelligence. -Moreover, he thinks also that in many cases -the special holiness of a place of pilgrimage has been -shown by the graces and favours, and even miracles, -which have been granted by God at that particular -spot, and on the “objector” waiving this argument -aside on the plea that he does not believe in modern -miracles, More declares that what is even more than -miracles in his estimation is the “common belief in -Christ’s Church” in the practice.</p> - -<p>As to believing in miracles; they, like every other -fact, depend on evidence and proof. It is unreasonable in -the highest degree to disbelieve everything which we -have not seen or which we do not understand. -Miracles, like everything else, must be believed on -the evidence of credible witnesses. What in their day, -he says, is believed in by all would have been deemed -impossible a century or two before; for example, that -the earth is round and “sails in mid-air,” and that -“men walk on it foot to foot” and ships sail on its seas -“bottom to bottom.” Again, “It is not fifty years ago,” -he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span> “since the first man, as far as men have heard, -came to London who ever parted the silver gilt from -the silver, consuming shortly the silver into dust -with a very fair water.” At first the gold and silver -smiths laughed at the suggestion as absurd and impossible. -Quite recently also More had been told that -it was possible to melt iron and make it “to run as silver -or lead doeth, and make it take a print.” More had -never, he says, seen this, but he had seen the new invention -of drawing out silver into thread-like wires. The -“objector” was incredulous, and when More went on to -tell him that if a piece of silver had been gilded, it -could be drawn out with the gilding into gilt wires, he -expressed his disbelief in the possibility of such a thing, -and was hardly more satisfied that he was not being -deceived when the process was shown to him the next -day.</p> - -<p>These and such like things, argues More, show us -that our knowledge is, after all, very limited, and that -while some supposed miracles may be doubted, it is -most unreasonable to doubt or deny the possibility of -miracles generally. If nature and reason tell us there -is a God, the same two prove that miracles are not impossible, -and that God can act when He wills against -the course of nature. Whether He does in this or that -case is plainly a matter of evidence. The importance -of Sir Thomas More’s opinion on the matter of Pilgrimage -does not, of course, rest upon the nature of his -views, which were those naturally of all good Catholic -sons of Holy Church, but upon the fact that, in face of -the objections which were then made and which were -of the kind to which subsequent generations have -been accustomed, so learned and liberal a man as he -was, did not hesitate to treat them as groundless, and to -defend the practice as it was then known in England.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span> -That there may have been “abuses” he would have -no doubt fully admitted, but that the “abuses” were -either so great or so serious as to be any reasonable -ground against the “use” he would equally have indignantly -denied.</p> - -<p>No less clear and definite are his opinions as to -“relics” and the honour shown them. The “adversary” -in the <i>Dyalogue</i> takes up the usual objections urged -against the reverence shown to the remains of the -saints, and in particular to the wealth which was -lavished upon their shrines. “May the taking up of a -man’s bones,” he says, “and setting his carcase in a gay -shrine, and then kissing his bare scalp, make a man a -saint? And yet are there some unshrined, for no man -knoweth where they lie. And men doubt whether some -ever had any body at all or not, but to recompense -that again some there are who have two bodies, to lend -one to some good fellow that lacketh his. For … -some one body lies whole in two places asunder, or else -the monks of the one be beguiled. For both places -plainly affirm that it lieth there, and at either place they -show the shrine, and in the shrine they show a body -which they say is <i>the</i> body, and boldly allege old -writings and miracles also for the proof of it. Now -must he confess that either the miracles at the one -place be false and done by the devil, or else that the -same saint had indeed two bodies. It is therefore likely -that a bone worshipped for a relic of some holy saint -in some place was peradventure ‘a bone (as Chaucer -says) of some holy Jew’s sheep.’” More’s “adversary” -then goes on to say that our Lord in reproving the -Pharisees for “making fresh the sepulchres of the -prophets” condemns the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span> “gay golden shrines made for -saints’ bodies, especially when we have no certainty that -they are saints at all.”<a name="FNanchor_394" id="FNanchor_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a></p> - -<p>What all this really amounts to, replies More, is not -that your reasons would condemn honour and worship -to true relics of the saints, but that “we may be deceived -in some that we take for saints—except you -would say that if we might by any possibility mistake -some, therefore we should worship none.” Few people -would say this, and “I see,” says More, “no great -peril to us from the danger of a mistake. If there -came, for example, a great many of the king’s friends -into your country, and for his sake you make them all -great cheer; if among them there come unawares to -you some spies that were his mortal enemies, wearing -his badge and seeming to you and so reported as his -familiar friends, would he blame you for the good cheer -you made his enemies or thank you for the good cheer -you gave his friends?” He then goes on at great -length to suggest that, as in the case of the head of St. -John the Baptist in which portions only existing in each -place are each called “the head,” so, very frequently, -only a portion of the body of a saint is called “the body.” -He mentions having himself been present at the abbey -of Barking thirty years before (<i>i.e.</i> in 1498), when a -number of relics were discovered hidden in an old -image, which must have been put there four or five -hundred years since “when the abbey was burned by the -infidels.” He thinks that in this way the names of relics -are frequently either lost or changed. But he adds,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span> -“the name is not so very requisite but that we may -mistake it without peril, so that we nevertheless have -the relics of holy men in reverence.”</p> - -<p>In replying to Tyndale also, More declares that he -had never in all his life held views against relics of the -saints or the honour due to their holy images. Tyndale -had charged him with being compromised by the words -used by Erasmus in the <i>Enconium Moriæ</i>, which was -known to have been composed in More’s house, and -was commonly regarded as almost the joint work of -the two scholars. If there were anything like this in -the <i>Moriæ</i>—any words that could mean or seem to -mean anything against the true Catholic devotion to -relics and images—then More rejects them from his -heart. But they are not my words, he adds, “the book -being made by another man, though he were my darling -never so dear” (p. 422). But the real truth is that -in the <i>Moriæ</i> Erasmus never said more or meant more -than to “jest upon the abuses of such things.”</p> - -<p>In this regard it is of interest to understand what -was the real opinion of Erasmus in regard to devotions -to particular saints and their images and relics. This -is all the more important, as most people regard the -account of his two pilgrimages to Walsingham and to -Canterbury as full and conclusive evidence of his sentiments. -In his tract <i>Enchiridion Militis Christiani</i>, published -at Louvain in 1518, his views are stated with absolute -clearness. “There are some,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span> “who honour -certain saints with some special ceremonies.… One -salutes St. Christopher each day, and only in presence -of his image. Why does he wish to see it? Simply -because he will then feel safe that day from any evil -death. Another honours Saint Roch—but why? Because -he thinks that he will drive away infection from -his body. Others murmur prayers to St. Barbara or -St. George, so as not to fall into the hands of any -enemy. One man fasts for St. Apollonia, not to have -toothache. Some dedicate a certain portion of their -gains to the poor so that their merchandise is not -destroyed in shipwreck,” &c.<a name="FNanchor_395" id="FNanchor_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a></p> - -<p>Our author’s point is that in these and such-like -things people pray for riches, &c., and do not think -much about the right use of them; they pray for health -and go on living evil lives. In so far such prayers to -the saints are mere superstitions, and do not much differ -from the pagan superstitions; the cock to Æsculapius, -the tithe to Hercules, the bull to Neptune. “But,” he -says, “I praise those who ask from St. Roch a life protected -from disease if they would consecrate that life to -Christ. I would praise them more if they would pray -only for increased detestation of vice and love virtue. -I will tolerate infirmity, but with Paul I show the -better way.” He would think it, consequently, a more -perfect thing to pray only for grace to avoid sin and to -please God, and to leave life and death, sickness, health -and riches to Him and His will.</p> - -<p>“You,” he says farther on,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span> “venerate the saints, -you rejoice to possess their relics, but you despise -the best thing they have left behind them, namely, -the example of a pure life. No devotion is so pleasing -to Mary as when you imitate her humility; no religion -is so acceptable to the saints and so proper in -itself as striving to copy their virtue. Do you wish -to merit the patronage of Peter and Paul? Imitate the -faith of the one and the charity of the other and you will -do more than if you had made ten journeys to Rome. -Do you wish to do something to show high honour to -St. Francis? You are proud, you are a lover of riches, -you are quarrelsome; give these to the saint, rule your -soul and be more humble by the example of Francis; -despise filthy lucre, and covet rather the good of the -soul. Leave contentions aside and overcome evil by -good. The saint will receive more honour in this way -than if you were to burn a hundred candles to him. -You think it a great thing if clothed in the habit of St. -Francis you are borne to the grave. This dress will -not profit you when you are dead if, when alive, your -morals were unlike his.”</p> - -<p>“People,” he continues, “honour the relics of St. -Paul, and do not trouble to listen to his voice still -speaking. They make much of a large portion of one -of his bones looked at through a glass, and think little -of honouring him really by understanding what he -teaches and trying to follow that.” It is the same so -often with the honour shown to the crucifix. “You -honour,” he says, “the representation of Christ’s face -fashioned of stone or of wood or painted in colours, -the image of His mind ought to be more religiously -honoured, which, by the work of the Holy Spirit, is -set forth in the gospels. No Apelles ever sketched the -form and figure of a human body in such a perfect -way as to compare with the mental image formed in -prayer.”</p> - -<p>Erasmus then passes on to speak at length of what -should lie at the foundation of all true devotion to the -saints. The spirit which actuates is that which matters. -To put up candles to images of the saints and not -to observe God’s laws; to fast and to abstain and not to -set a guard on the tongue, to give way to detraction -and evil speaking of all kinds; to wear the religious -habit and to live the life of a worldling under it; to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span> -build churches and not to build up the soul; to keep -Sunday observances externally but not to mind what -the spirit gives way to—these are the things that really -matter. “By your lips you bless and in your heart -you curse. Your body is shut up in a narrow cell, -and in thought you wander over the whole world. -You listen to God’s word with the ears of your body; -it would be more to the purpose if you listened inwardly. -What doth it profit not to do the evil which -you desire to accomplish? What doth it profit to do -good outwardly and to do the opposite inwardly? Is -it much to go to Jerusalem in the body when in the -spirit it is to thee but Sodom and Egypt and Babylon?”<a name="FNanchor_396" id="FNanchor_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a></p> - -<p>In his tract <i>De amabili Ecclesiæ concordia</i>, printed in -1533, Erasmus lays down the same principle. It is, he -writes, a pious and good thing to believe that the saints -who have worked miracles in the time of their lives on -earth, can help us now that they are in heaven. As -long as there is no danger of real superstition, it is -absurd to try to prevent people invoking the saints. -Though superstition in the cultus of the saints is, of -course, to be prevented, “the pious and simple affection -is sometimes to be allowed even if it be mixed with -some error.” As for the representations of the saints -in churches, those who disapprove of them should not -for that reason “blame those who, without superstition, -venerate these images for the love of those they represent, -just as a newly-married woman kisses a ring or -present left or sent by her absent spouse out of affection -for him.” Such affection cannot be displeasing to -God, since it comes not from superstition, but from an -abundance of affectionate feeling, and exactly the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span> -view should be taken of the true devotion shown to -the relics of the saints, provided that it be ever borne -in mind that the highest honour that can be paid to -them consists in imitation of their lives.</p> - -<p>Considering the importance of “indulgences” or -“pardons,” as they were frequently called, in the Reformation -controversies, it is curious that very little is -made of them in the literature of the period preceding -the religious changes. If we except the works of professed -followers of Luther, there is hardly any trace of -serious objection being raised to the fundamental idea -of “indulgences” in their true sense. Here and there -may be found indications of some objection to certain -abuses which had been allowed to creep into the system, -but these proceeded from loyal sons of the Church -rather than from those ill affected to the existing -ecclesiastical authority, or those who desired to see -the abolition of all such grants of spiritual favours. -The lawyer Saint-German, for instance, may be taken -as an example of the acute layman, who, although -professing to be a Catholic and an obedient son of -the Church, was credited by his contemporaries with -holding advanced if not somewhat heterodox views on -certain matters of current controversy. What he has -to say about “pardons” and “indulgences” is neither -very startling nor indeed very different from what all -serious-minded churchmen of that day held. He considered -that the people generally were shocked at -finding “the Pope and other spiritual rulers” granting -“pardons” for the payment of money. This, he considered, -had been brought prominently into notice at -the time he was writing, by the indulgences granted -to those who should contribute to the building of St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span> -Peter’s when “it has appeared after, evidently that it -has not been disposed to that use. And that has caused -many to think that the said pardons were granted rather -of covetousness than of charity, or for the health of the -souls of the people. And thereupon some have fallen -in a manner into despising ‘pardons’ as though pardons -granted upon such covetousness would not -avail … and verily it were a great pity that any -misliking of pardons should grow in the hearts of the -people for any misdemeanour in the grantor or otherwise, -for they are right necessary. And I suppose that -if certain pardons were granted freely without money, -for the saying of certain appointed prayers, then all -misliking of pardons would shortly cease and vanish -away.”<a name="FNanchor_397" id="FNanchor_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a></p> - -<p>Christopher Saint-German speaks much in the -same way as to the evil of connecting payment of -money with the granting of indulgences, in the work -in connection with which his name is chiefly known, -<i>A Dyaloge in English between a Student and a Doctor of -Divinity</i>. “If it were so ordered by the Pope,” he -writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span> “that there might be certain general pardons -of full remission in diverse parts of the realm, which -the people might have for saying certain orisons and -prayers without paying any money for it, it is not -unlikely that in a short time there would be very few -that would find any fault with ‘pardons.’ For verily -it is a great comfort to all Christian people to remember -that our Lord loved His people so much that to their -relief and comfort leave behind Him so great a treasure -as is the power to grant pardons, which, as I suppose, -next unto the treasure of His precious body in the -Sacrament of the altar, may be accounted among the -greatest, and therefore he would labour greatly to his -own hurt and to the great heaviness of all others also -who would endeavour to prove that there was no such -power left by God.”<a name="FNanchor_398" id="FNanchor_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a></p> - -<p>In the literature of the period, it must be remembered, -there is nothing to show that the true nature of -a “pardon” or indulgence was not fully and commonly -understood. There is no evidence that it was in any -way interpreted as a remission of sin, still less that any -one was foolish enough to regard it as permission to -commit this or that offence against God. Tyndale, -indeed, had suggested that by purchasing an indulgence -“thou mayest quench almost the terrible fire of hell for -three halfpence.” But Sir Thomas More meets the -point directly. “Nay, surely,” he says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span> “that fire is -not so lightly quenched that folk upon the boldness of -pardons should stand out of the fear of purgatory. For -though the sacrament of penance is able to put away -the eternal (nature) of the pain, yet the party for all -that has cause to fear both purgatory and hell too, lest -some default on his own part prevented God working -such grace in him in the Sacrament as should serve for -this. So, though the pardon be able to discharge a -man of purgatory, yet there may be such default in the -party to whom the pardon is granted that although -instead of three halfpence he gives three hundred -pounds, still he may receive no pardon at all, and -therefore he cannot be out of fear of purgatory, but -ever has cause to fear it. For no man without a -revelation can be sure whether he be partaker of the -pardon or not, though he may have and ought to have -both in that and every good thing good hope.”<a name="FNanchor_399" id="FNanchor_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a></p> - -<p>Bishop Gardiner in 1546, in writing against George -Joye, incidentally makes use of some strong expressions -about the granting of pardons for the payment of money, -and blames the friars as being instrumental in spreading -them. He has been asserting that by every means in -his power the devil, now in one way and now in -another, attempts to prevent men from practising the -good works necessary for salvation. “For that purpose,” -he says, “he procured out pardons from Rome, -wherein heaven was sold for a little money, and to -retail that merchandise the devil used friars for his -ministers. Now they be all gone with all their trumpery; -but the devil is not yet gone, for now the cry is -that ‘heaven needs no works at all, but only belief, -only, only, and nothing else.’”<a name="FNanchor_400" id="FNanchor_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a></p> - -<p>This, after all, was very little more than the abuse -which previously was pointed out by the cardinal -who, conjointly with Cardinal Caraffa, afterwards Pope -Paul IV., had been directed to draw up suggestions for -improvement of ecclesiastical discipline. The document -drawn up by Caraffa himself was submitted to the -Pope by his command, and amongst the points which -were declared to need correction were the granting of -indulgences for money payments and permission given -to travelling collectors, such as the Questors of the -Holy Spirit, &c., to bestow “pardons” in return for -subscriptions. This, in the judgment of the four -cardinals, is likely to lead to misunderstandings as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span> -to the real nature of the indulgences granted, to deceive -rustic minds, and to give rise to all manner of -superstitions.<a name="FNanchor_401" id="FNanchor_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a></p> - -<p>Cardinal Sadolet, one of the four cardinals who -formed the Papal Commission just referred to, in an -appeal to the German princes makes the same adverse -criticism about the money payments received for the -granting of indulgences. “The whole of Germany,” he -says, “has been convulsed by the indulgences granted -by Pope Leo. X. to those who would contribute to the -building of St. Peter’s. These indulgences,” he says, -“and consequently the agents in distributing them, I -do not now defend. And I remember that, as far as -my position and honour would then allow, I spoke -against them when those decrees were published, and -when my opinion had no effect I was greatly grieved.” -He did not, he continued, doubt the power of the Pope -in granting the indulgences, but held that “in giving -them, the manner now insisted on with every care by -the supreme Pontiff, Paul III., ought to be maintained, -namely, that they should be granted freely, and that -there should be no mention of money in regard to -them. The loving-kindness and mercy of God should -not be sold for money, and if anything be asked for -at the time, it should be requested as a work of -piety.”<a name="FNanchor_402" id="FNanchor_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a></p> - -<p>The above will show that earnest-minded men were -fully alive to the abuses which might be connected with -the granting of indulgences, and no condemnation could -have been stronger than that formulated by the Council -of Trent. At the same time, it is clear that the abuses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span> -of the system were, so far as England at least is concerned, -neither widespread nor obvious. The silence -of Sir Thomas More on the matter, and the very -mild representations of his adversary, Christopher Saint-German, -show that this is the case. Saint-German’s objection -was not against the system, but against the same -kind of abuses against which subsequently the Fathers -of Trent legislated. The reformers attacked not the -abuses only but the whole system, and their language -has quite unjustly been frequently interpreted by subsequent -writers as evidence of the existence everywhere -of widespread abuses. In this regard it is well to bear -in mind that the translation of the works of the German -reformers into English cannot be taken as contemporary -evidence for England itself.</p> - -<p>The cry of the advanced party which would sweep -away every vestige of the old religious observances was -certainly not popular. One example of a testimony to -the general feeling in London is given in a little work -printed by one of the reforming party in 1542, when it -was found that Henry VIII. did not advance along the -path of reformation marked out by the foreign followers -of Luther as quickly as his rejection of papal -supremacy and the overthrow of the religious houses -had caused some people to hope. The tract in question -is called <i>The lamentation of a Christian against the Citie of -London, made by Roderigo Mors</i>,<a name="FNanchor_403" id="FNanchor_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> and some quotations -from it will show what view an ardent reformer took of -the spirit of Londoners towards the new doctrines. -“The greater part of these inordinate rich, stiff-necked -citizens,” he writes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span> “will not have in their houses that -lively word of our souls<a name="FNanchor_404" id="FNanchor_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> nor suffer their servants to -have it, neither yet (will they) gladly read it or hear it -read, but abhors and disdains all those who would -live according to the Gospel, and instead thereof they -set up and maintain idolatry and other innumerable -wickedness of man’s invention daily committed in the -city of London.</p> - -<p>“The greatest part of the seniors and aldermen, with -the multitude of the inordinate rich … with the -greatest multitude of thee, O city of London, take the -part and be fully bent with the false prophets, the -bishops and other strong, stout, and sturdy priests of -Baal, to persecute unto death all and every godly person -who either preaches the word or setteth it forth in writing -… O Lord! how blind are these citizens who -take so good care to provide for the dead which is not -commanded of them nor availeth the dead.<a name="FNanchor_405" id="FNanchor_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a>… When -they feel themselves worthily plagued, which comes of -Thee only, then they will run a-gadding after their false -prophets through the streets once or twice a week, crying -and calling to creatures of the Creator, or with <i>ora -pro nobis</i>, and that in a tongue which the greatest part -of them understand not, unto Peter, Paul, James and -John, Mary and Martha: and I think within a few years -they will (without Thy great mercy) call upon Thomas -Wolsey, late Cardinal, and upon the unholy (or as they -would say holy) maid of Kent. Why not, as well as -upon Thomas Becket? What he was, I need not write. -It is well known.<a name="FNanchor_406" id="FNanchor_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span></p> -<p>“And think ye not that if the Blessed Virgin Mary -were now upon earth and saw her Son and only Redeemer -robbed of His glory, which glory, you blind citizens give -to her, would she not rend her clothes like as did the -Apostles, for offering oblations with their forefathers’ -kings’ heads unto the Queen of Heaven? How many -queens of Heaven have ye in the Litany? O! dear -brethren, be no longer deceived with these false prophets -your bishops and their members.”<a name="FNanchor_407" id="FNanchor_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a></p> - -<p>“The great substance which you bestow upon chantries, -obits, and such like dregs of … Rome, which most -commonly ye give for three causes, as ye say, first, -that you will have the service of God maintained in the -church to God’s honour, and yet by the same service is -God dishonoured, for the Supper of the Lord is perverted -and not used after Christ’s institution … and -the holy memory turned into a vain superstitious ceremonial -Mass, as they call it, which Mass is an abominable -idol, and of all idols the greatest; and never shall -idolatry be quenched where that idol is used after antichrist’s -institution … which no doubt shall be reformed -when the time is come that God hath appointed, even as -it is already in divers cities of Germany, as Zurich, Basle, -and Strasburg and such other.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span></p> -<p>“The second cause is for redeeming your souls and -your friends, which is also abominable.… The idolator -nowadays, if he set a candle before an image and idol, -he says he does not worship the image, but God it represents. -For say they, who is so foolish as to worship -an image? The third cause of your good intent is that -the profit of your goods may come to the priests; as -though they were the peculiar people of God and only -beloved; as indeed to those who preach the Gospel the -people are bound to give sufficient living … but not -that their prayers can help the dead no more than a -man’s breath blowing a sail can cause a great ship to -sail. So is this also become an abomination, for those -be not Christ’s ministers, but the ministers of a rabble -of dirty traditions and popish ceremonies, and you find -a sort of lusty lubbers who are well able to labour for -their living and strong to get it with the sweat of their -face.”<a name="FNanchor_408" id="FNanchor_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a></p> - -<p>“… O ye citizens, if ye would turn but even the -profits of your chantries and obits to the finding of the -poor, what a politic and goodly provision! whereas now -London being one of the flowers of the world as touching -worldly riches hath so many, yea innumerable poor -people, forced to go from door to door and to sit openly -in the streets begging, and many not able to do otherwise -but lie in their houses in most grievous pains and -die for lack of the aid of the rich, to the great shame of -thee, oh London!”<a name="FNanchor_409" id="FNanchor_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a></p> - -<p>After exclaiming against the amount of money spent -by the authorities of the city of London on civic entertainments, -and railing against the support given to “the -Mass of Scala cœli, of the Five wounds, and other such -like trumpery,” our author continues:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span> “Have you not -slain the servants of the Lord, only for speaking against -the authority of the false bishop of Rome, that monstrous -beast, whom now you yourselves do, or should, abhor? -I mean all his laws being contrary to Christ and not His -body, and yet you see that a few years past you burnt -for heretics abominable those who preached or wrote -against his usurped power, and now it is treason to -uphold or maintain any part of his usurped power, -and he shall die as a traitor who does so, and well -worthy.”<a name="FNanchor_410" id="FNanchor_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a></p> - -<p>After declaiming against the Mass and confession, -and declaring that the bishops and cathedral churches -should be despoiled of their wealth as their “companions -and brethren in antichrist, the abbots” had -been, the author of the tract goes on: “God gave the -king a heart to take the wicked mammon from you, as -he may rightfully do with the consent of the Commons by -Act of Parliament, so that it may be disposed of according -to God’s glory and the commonwealth, and to take -himself as portion, as (say) eight or ten of every hundred, -for an acknowledgment of obedience and for the maintenance -of his estate. The rest politically to be put -into a commonwealth, first distributed among all the -towns in England in sums according to the quantity and -number of the occupiers and where most need is, and -all the towns to be bound to the king so that he may -have the money at his extreme need to serve him, he -rendering it again. And also a politic way (should -be) taken for provision of the poor in every town, with -some part to the marriage of young persons that lack -friends.”<a name="FNanchor_411" id="FNanchor_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p> - -<p>The bishops the writer considers to be the greatest -obstacles to the reformation of religion in England -on the model of what had already taken place in -Germany. “You wicked mammon,” he continues,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span> -“your inordinate riches was not of your heavenly -Father’s planting; therefore it must be plucked up -by the roots with the riches of your other brethren -of the Romish church or church malignant, which of -late were rightfully plucked up. I would to God that -the distribution of the same lands and goods had been -as godly distributed as the act of the rooting up was; -which distribution of the same I dare say all Christian -hearts lament. For the fat swine only were greased, -but the poor sheep to whom that thing belonged had -least or nothing at all. The fault will be laid to those -of the Parliament House, especially to those who bear -the greatest swing. Well, I touch this matter here, to -exhort all that love God’s word unfeignedly to be diligent -in prayer only to God to endue the Lords, Knights, -and Burgesses of the next Parliament with His spirit, -that the lands and goods of these bishops may be put -to a better use, as to God’s glory, the wealth of the -commonalty and provision for the poor.”<a name="FNanchor_412" id="FNanchor_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a></p> - -<p>The above lengthy extracts will show what the advanced -spirits among the English followers of Luther -hoped for from the religious revolution which had -already, when the tract was written, been begun. It -will also serve to show that even in London, which -may be supposed to have been in the forefront of the -movement, the religious changes were by no means -popular; but the civic authorities and people clung to -the old faith and traditions, which the author well and -tersely describes as “the Romish religion.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The readers of the foregoing pages will see that no -attempt has been made to draw a definite conclusion -from the facts set down, or expound the causes of the -ultimate triumph of the Reformation principles in England. -It has already been pointed out that the time for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span> -a satisfactory synthesis is not yet come; but it may not -be unnecessary to deprecate impatience to reach an -ultimate judgment.</p> - -<p>The necessary assumption which underlies the inherited -Protestant history of the Reformation in the -sixteenth century is the general corruption of manners -and morals no less than of doctrine, and the ignorance -of religious truths no less than the neglect of religious -precepts on the part of both clergy and people. On -such a basis nothing can be easier and simpler than -to account for the issue of the English religious changes. -The revival of historical studies and the alienation of -the minds of many historians from traditional Christianity, -whether in its Catholic or Protestant form, has, -however, thrown doubt on this great fundamental assumption—a -doubt that will be strengthened the more -the actual conditions of the case are impartially and -thoroughly investigated. Many of the genuine sources -of history have only within this generation become -really accessible; what was previously known has been -more carefully examined and sifted, whilst men have -begun to see that if the truth is to be ascertained -inquiries must be pursued in detail within local limits, -and that it does not suffice to speak in general terms -of “the corrupt state of the Church.”</p> - -<p>If we are to know the real factors of the problem -to be solved, separate investigations have to be pursued -which lead to very varying conclusions as to the state -of the Church, the ecclesiastical life and the religious -practices of the people in different countries. It is -already evident that the corruptions or the virtues -prevailing in one quarter must not straightway be -credited to the account of another; that the reason<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span> -why one country has become Protestant, or another -remained Catholic, has to be sought for in each case, -and that it may be safely asserted that the maintenance -of Catholicity or the adoption of Protestantism in -different regions, had comparatively little to do with -prevalence or absence of abuses, or as little depended on -the question whether these were more or less grievous.</p> - -<p>Unquestionably those who desire to have a ready -explanation of great historical movements or revolutions, -find themselves increasingly baulked in the -particular case of the Reformation by the new turn -which modern historical research has given to the -consideration of the question. Recent attempts to -piece up the new results with the old views afford -a warning against precipitation, and have but shown -that the explanation of the successful issue of the Reformation -in England is a problem less simple or obvious -than many popular writers have hitherto assumed. The -factors are clearly seen now to be many—sometimes -accidental, sometimes strongly personal—whilst aspirations -after worldly commodities, though destined not to -be realised for the many, were often and in the most -influential quarters a stronger determinant to acquiescence -or active co-operation in the movement than thirst -after pure doctrine, love of the open Bible, or desire for -a vernacular liturgy. The first condition for the understanding -of the problem at all is the most careful -and detailed examination possible of the state of -popular religion during the whole of the century -which witnessed the change, quite apart from the -particular political methods employed to effect the -transition from the public teaching of the old faith, -as it was professed in the closing years of the reign<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[448]</a></span> -of Henry VIII., and the new as it was officially practised -a dozen years after Elizabeth had held the reins -of power.</p> - -<p>The interest of the questions discussed in the -present volume is by no means exclusively, perhaps -to some persons is even by no means predominantly, -a religious one. It has been insisted upon in the -preceding pages that religion on the eve of the Reformation -was intimately bound up with the whole social -life of the people, animating it and penetrating it at -every point. No one who is acquainted with the -history of later centuries in England can doubt for a -moment that the religion then professed presented in -this respect a contrast to the older faith; or as some -writers may put it, religion became restricted to what -belongs to the technically “religious” sphere. But this -was not confined to England, or even to Protestant -countries. Everywhere, it may be said, in the centuries -subsequent to the religious revolution of the sixteenth -century, religion became less directly social in its -action; and if the action and interference of what is -now called the State in every department of social -life is continually extending, this may not inaptly be -said to be due to the fact that it has largely taken up -the direct social work and direction from which the -Church found herself perhaps compelled to recede, in -order to concentrate her efforts more intensely on -the promotion of more purely and strictly religious -influences. It is impossible to study the available -sources of information about the period immediately -preceding the change without recognising that, so far -from the Church being a merely effete or corrupt agency -in the commonwealth, it was an active power for popular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[449]</a></span> -good in a very wide sense. At any rate, whatever view -we may take of the results of the Reformation, to -understand rightly the conditions of religious thought -and life on the eve of the religious revolution, is a -condition of being able really to read aright our own -time and to gauge the extent to which present tendencies -find their root or their justification in the past.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Opera</i> (ed. Frankfort), tom. x. p. 56, quoted by Janssen.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> J. L. Andre, in <i>Sussex Archæological Journal</i>, xxxix. p. 31.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The use of the expression “New Learning” as meaning the revival of -letters is now so common that any instance of it may seem superfluous. -Green, for example, in his <i>History of the English People</i>, vol. ii. constantly -speaks of it. Thus (p. 81), “Erasmus embodied for the Teutonic peoples the -quickening influence of the New Learning during the long scholar-life which -began at Paris and ended amidst sorrow at Basle.” Again (p. 84), “the -group of scholars who represented the New Learning in England.” Again -(p. 86), “On the universities the influence of the New Learning was like a -passing from death to life.” Again (p. 125), “As yet the New Learning, -though scared by Luther’s intemperate language, had steadily backed him in -his struggle.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Sermons.</i> London: Robert Caly, 1557, p. 36.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>The Praier and Complaynte of the Ploweman unto Christ</i>, sig. Aij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> R. V. <i>The olde Faith of Great Brittayne, &c.</i>—The style of the book -may be judged by the following passages:—“How say you (O ye popish -bishops and priests which maintain Austen’s dampnable ceremonies)—For -truly so long as ye say masse and lift the bread and wine above your heads, -giving the people to understand your mass to be available for the quick and -the dead, ye deny the Lord that bought you; therefore let the mass go again -to Rome, with all Austen’s trinkets, and cleave to the Lord’s Supper”.… -Again:—“Gentle reader: It is not unknown what an occasion of sclander -divers have taken in that the king’s majesty hath with his honourable council -gone about to alter and take away the abuse of the communion used in the -mass.… The ignorant and unlearned esteem the same abuse, called the mass, -to be the principal point of Christianity, to whom the altering thereof appears -very strange.… Our popish priests still do abuse the Lord’s Supper or Communion, -calling it still a new name of <i>Missa</i> or Mass.” The author strongly -objects to those like Bishop Gardiner and Dr. Smythe who have written in -defence of the old doctrine of the English Church on the Blessed Sacrament: -“Yea, even the mass, which is a derogation of Christ’s blood. For Christ -left the sacrament of his body and blood in bread and wine to be eaten and -drunk in remembrance of his death, and not to be looked upon as the Israelites -did the brazen serpent.… Paul saith not, as often as the priest lifts the -bread and wine above his shaven crown, for the papists to gaze at.” All this, -as “the New Learning” brought over to England by St. Augustine of -Canterbury, the author would send back to Rome from whence it came.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Urbanus Regius, <i>A comparison betwene the old learnynge and the newe</i>, -translated by William Turner. Southwark: Nicholson, 1537, sig. Aij to Cvij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Opera</i> (ed. Le Clerc), Ep. 583.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 751.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Remigio Sabbadini, <i>La Scuola e gli studi di Guarino Guarini Veronese</i>, -pp. 217-18.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> R. Sabbadini, <i>Guarino Veronese et il suo epistolario</i>, p. 57.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The Earl was a confrater and special friend of the monks of Christchurch, -Canterbury. In 1468-69, Prior Goldstone wrote to the Earl, who -had been abroad “on pilgrimage” for four years, to try and obtain for Canterbury -the usual jubilee privileges of 1470. In his Obit in the Canterbury -<i>Necrology</i> (MS. Arund. 68 f. 45d) he is described as “vir undecumque doctissimus, -omnium liberalium artium divinarumque simul ac secularium litterarum -scientia peritissimus.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Leland (<i>De Scriptoribus Britannicis</i>, 482) calls him Tillœus, and this -has been generally translated as Tilly. In the <i>Canterbury Letter Books</i> (Rolls -Series, iii. 291) it appears that Prior Selling was greatly interested in a boy -named Richard Tyll. In 1475, Thomas Goldstone, the warden of Canterbury -Hall, writes to Prior Selling about new clothes and a tunic and other expenses -“scolaris tui Ricardi Tyll.” In the same volume, p. 315, is a letter of -fraternity given to “Agnes, widow of William Tyll,” and on February 7, 1491, -she received permission to be buried where her husband, William Tyll, had -been interred, “juxta tumbam sancti Thomæ martyris.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Canterbury Letters</i> (Camden Soc.), pp. 13, 15.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> C. C. C. C. MS. 417 f. 54d: “Item hoc anno videlicet 6 Kal. Oct. -D. Willms Selling celebravit primam suam missam et fuit sacerdos summæ -missæ per totam illam ebdomadam.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Literæ Cantuarr.</i> (Rolls Series), iii. 239.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Leland, <i>De Scriptoribus Britannicis</i>, p. 482. <i>Cf.</i> also <i>Canterbury -Letters</i> (Camden Soc.), p. xxvii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Leland, <i>ut supra</i>.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Umberto Dallari, <i>I rotuli dei Lettori, &c., dello studio Bolognese dal -1384 al 1799</i>, p. 51.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Serafino Mazzetti, <i>Memorie storiche sopra l’università di Bologna</i>, p. 308.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Leland, <i>ut supra</i>.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> B. Mus. Arundel MS. 68, f. 4. The Obit in Christchurch MS. D. 12, -says: “Sacræ Theologiæ Doctor. Hic in divinis agendis multum devotus et -lingua Græca et Latina valde eruditus.… O quam laudabiliter se habuit -opera merito laudanda manifesto declarant.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> In the Canterbury Registers (Reg. R.) there is a record which evidently -relates to Selling’s previous stay in Rome as a student. On October 3, 1469, -the date of Selling’s second departure for Rome, the Prior and convent of -Christchurch granted a letter to Pietro dei Milleni, a citizen of Rome, making -him a <i>confrater</i> of the monastery in return for the kindness shown to Dr. -William Selling, when in the Eternal City. This letter, doubtless, Selling -carried with him in 1469.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>The Old English Bible and other Essays</i>, p. 306.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> B. Mus. Cotton MS. Julius F. vii., f. 118.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> One of Prior Selling’s first acts of administration was apparently to procure -a master for the grammar school at Canterbury. He writes to the Archbishop: -“Also please it your good faderhood to have in knowledge that -according to your commandment, I have provided for a schoolmaster for your -gramerscole in Canterbury, the which hath lately taught gramer at Wynchester -and atte Seynt Antonyes in London. That, as I trust to God, shall so guide -him that it shall be worship and pleasure to your Lordship and profit and -encreas to them that he shall have in governance.”—<i>Hist. MSS. Com.</i> 9th -Report, App. p. 105.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> I. Noble Johnson, <i>Life of Linacre</i>, p. 11. Among the great benefactors -to Canterbury College, Oxford, was Doctor Thomas Chaundeler, Warden of -New College. In 1473, the year after the election of Prior Selling, the -Chapter of Christchurch, Canterbury, passed a resolution that, in memory of -his great benefits to them, his name should be mentioned daily in the conventual -mass at Canterbury, and that at dinner each day at Oxford he should -be named as founder.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Galeni, <i>De Temperamentis libri tres, Thoma Linacro interpretante</i>, is -dedicated to Pope Leo X., with a letter from Linacre dated 1521. “The -widow’s mite was approved by Him whose vicar on earth” Pope Leo is, so -this book is only intended to recall common studies, though in itself of little -interest to one having the care of the world.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> G. Lilii, <i>Elogia</i>, ed. P. Jovii, p. 91.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Ibid., lxiii. p. 145.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Sir Thomas More writing to Colet says: “I pass my time here (at -Oxford) with Grocyn, Linacre, and our (George) Lilly: the first as you -know the only master of my life, when you are absent; the second, the -director of my studies; the third, my dearest companion in all the affairs -of life” (J. Stapleton, <i>Tres Thomæ</i>, p. 165.) Another constant companion -of More at Oxford was Cuthbert Tunstall, one of the most learned men of -his day, afterwards in succession Bishop of London and Durham. Tunstall -dedicated to More his tract <i>De arte supputandi</i>, which he printed at Paris -in 1529.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Reg. Warham, in Knight’s <i>Erasmus</i>, p. 22 <i>note</i>.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Encyclop. Brit. <i>sub nomine</i>.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Ugo Balzani, <i>Un’ ambasciata inglese a Roma</i>, Società Romana di -storia patria, iii. p. 175 <i>seqq.</i> Of this an epitome is given in Bacon’s -<i>Henry VII.</i>, p. 95. Count Ugo Balzani says: “Il prior di Canterbury sembra -essere veramente stato l’anima dell’ ambasciata.” Burchardus, <i>Rerum Urbanarum -Commentarii</i> (ed. Thuasne), i. p. 257, gives a full account of the -reception of this embassy in Rome and by the Pope.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Harl. MS. 6237, and Add. MS. 15,673.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> In the same beautifully written volume is a printed tract addressed to the -Venetian Senate in 1471 against princes taking church property. The tract -had been sent to the Prior of Christchurch by Christopher Urswick, with a -letter, in which, to induce him to read it, he says it is approved by Hermolaus -Barbarus and Guarini. Christopher Urswick was almoner to Henry VII., -and to him Erasmus dedicated three of his works.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Leland, <i>De Scriptoribus Britannicis</i>, 482.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> This information I owe to the kindness of Dr. Montague James.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Canterbury Letters</i> (Camden Soc.), p. xxvii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Ibid., p. 36, a letter in which Dr. Langton asks Prior Selling to “attend -to the drawing of it.” The draft sermon is in Cleop. A. iii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Richard Pace, <i>De Fructu</i>, p. 27. The work <i>De Fructu</i> was composed -at Constance, where Pace was ambassador, and where he had met his old -master, Paul Bombasius. He dedicates the tract to Colet, who had done so -much to introduce true classical Latin into England, in place of the barbarous -language formerly used. The work was suggested to him by a conversation -he had in England two years before, on his return from Rome, with a gentleman -he met at dinner, who strongly objected to a literary education for his -children, on the ground that he disapproved of certain expressions made use of -by Erasmus. The tract shows on what a very intimate footing Pace was with -Bombasius.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>De Fructu</i>, p. 99. Pace published at Venice in 1522, <i>Plutarchi Cheronei -Opuscula</i>, and dedicated the work to Bishop Tunstall. He reminds the bishop -of their old student days, and says the translation has been examined by their -“old master, Nicholas Leonicus.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Ibid., p. 51. “Quas vocant proportionum inductiones … antiquitatem -superasse.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> More to the University of Oxford, in Knight’s <i>Erasmus</i>, p. 31.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Bishop Fisher’s love and zeal for learning is notorious. He did all in his -power to assist in the foundation of schools of sound learning at Cambridge, -and especially to encourage the study of Greek. Richard Croke, the protégé -of Archbishop Warham and Bishop Fisher, after teaching Greek in 1516 at -Leipzig, was sent by Fisher in 1519 to Cambridge to urge the utility of Greek -studies at that university. In the <i>Orationes</i> he delivered there, after speaking -of the importance of Greek for all Biblical study, he says that Oxford had -taken up the work with great avidity, since “they have there as their patrons -besides the Cardinal (Wolsey), Canterbury (Warham), and Winchester, all -the other English bishops except the one who has always been your great stay -and helper, the Bishop of Rochester, and the Bishop of Ely.” It was entirely -owing to Bishop Fisher’s generosity, and at his special request, that Croke had -gone to Cambridge rather than to Oxford, whither his connection with Warham, -More, Linacre, and Grocyn would have led him, in order to carry on the work -begun by Erasmus.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Thomas Lupset was educated by Colet, and learnt his Latin and Greek -under William Lilly, going afterwards to Oxford. There he made the acquaintance -of Ludovico Vives, and at his exhortation went to Italy. He joined -Reginald Pole in his studies at Padua, and on his return, after acting as -Thomas Winter’s tutor in Paris, he held a position first as a teacher and then in -Cardinal Wolsey’s household. In his <i>Exhortation to Young Men</i>, persuading -them to a good life, “written at More, a place of my Lord Cardinal’s,” in 1529, -he gives a charming account of his relation with a former pupil. “It happeneth,” -he says, “at this time (my heartily beloved Edmund) that I am in -such a place where I have no manner of books with me to pass the time after -my manner and custom. And though I had here with me plenty of books, yet -the place suffereth me not to spend in them any study. For you shall understand -that I lie waiting on my Lord Cardinal, whose hours I must observe, -to be always at hand lest I be called when I am not bye, which would be -straight taken for a fault of great negligence. I am well satiated with the beholding -of these gay hangings that garnish here every wall.” As a relief he -turns to address his young friend Edmund. Probably Edmund doesn’t understand -his affection, because he had always acted on the principle he has “been -taught, that the master never hurteth his scholar more than when he uttereth -and sheweth by cherishing and cokering the love he beareth to his scholars.” -Edmund is now “of age, and also by the common board of houseling admitted -into the number of men, and to be no more in the company of children,” and -so now he can make known his affection. “This mind had I to my friend -Andrew Smith, whose son Christopher, your fellow, I ever took for my son.… -If you will call to your mind all the frays between you and me, or me -and Smith, you will find that they were all out of my care for ‘your manners.’ -When I saw certain fantasies in you or him that jarred from true opinions, the -which true opinions, above all learning, I would have masters ever teach their -scholars. Wherefore, my good withipol, take heed of my lesson.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> John Clement, a protégé of Sir Thomas More, was afterwards a doctor -of renown not only in medicine but in languages. He had been a member -of More’s household, which Erasmus speaks of as “schola et gymnasium -Christianæ religionis.” He is named at the beginning of the <i>Eutopia</i>, and -Sir Thomas, in writing to Erasmus, says that Linacre declared that he had had -no pupil at Oxford equal to him. John Clement translated several ancient Greek -authors into Latin, amongst others many letters of St. Gregory Nazianzen and -the Homilies of Nicephorus Callistus on the Saints of the Greek Calendar. -Stapleton, in his <i>Tres Thomæ</i> (p. 250), says he had himself seen and examined -with the originals these two voluminous translations at the request of John -Clement himself. He had married Margaret, the ward of Sir Thomas More, -and in the most difficult places of his translation he was helped by his wife, -who, with the daughters of Sir Thomas, had been his disciple and knew -Greek well. Mary Roper, More’s granddaughter, and the daughter of -Margaret Roper, translated Eusebius’s <i>History</i> from Greek into Latin, but it -was never published, because Bishop Christopherson had been at work on a -similar translation. On the change of religion in Elizabeth’s reign, John -Clement and his wife, with the Ropers, took refuge in the Low Countries. -Paulus Jovius, in his <i>Descriptio Britanniæ</i>, p. 13, speaks of all three daughters -of Sir Thomas More being celebrated for their knowledge of Latin.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Erasmi <i>Opera</i> (ed. 1703), Col. 40.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 241.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 363.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> To take one example, Thomas Millyng, who as Bishop of Hereford -died in 1492, had studied at Gloucester Hall, Oxford, as a monk of Westminster. -During the old age of Abbot Fleet, of Westminster, he governed -the monastery, and became its abbot in 1465. He was noted for his love of -studies, and especially for his knowledge of Greek. This, says the writer of his -brief life in the <i>National Biographical Dictionary</i>, was “a rare accomplishment -for <i>monks</i> in those days.” He might have added, and for any one -else!</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Dennistoun, <i>Memorials of the Dukes of Urbino</i>, iii., pp. 415 <i>seqq.</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Erasmus to Abbot Bere. <i>Opera</i>, Ep. 700.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> MS. Bodl. 80. It is the autograph copy of Free, <i>cf.</i> J. W. Williams, -<i>Somerset Mediæval Libraries</i>, p. 87. It was Abbot Bere who, in 1506, presented -John Claymond, the learned Greek scholar, to his first benefice of -Westmonkton, in the county of Somerset. In 1516 Claymond became first -President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, often after signing himself, -<i>Eucharistiæ servus</i>. Dr. Claymond procured for his college several Greek -manuscripts which had belonged to Grocyn and Linacre, which are still -possessed by it. At the end of MS. XXIII., which is a volume containing -ninety homilies of St. John Chrysostom in Greek, is an inscription stating that -this, and MS. XXIV., were copied in the years 1499 and 1500 by a Greek -from Constantinople, named John Serbopylas, then living and working at -Reading.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Ludovico Vives had been invited over to England by Cardinal Wolsey to -lecture on rhetoric at Oxford. He lived at Corpus Christi College, then ruled -by Dr. John Claymond, whom in his tract <i>De conscribendis Epistolis</i> he calls -his “father.” The fame of this Spanish master of eloquence drew crowds to his -lectures at the university, and amongst the audience Henry and Queen Katherine -might sometimes be seen. For a time he acted also as tutor to the -Princess Mary, and dedicated several works to the queen, to whose generosity -he says he owed much. He took her side in the “divorce” question, and was -thrown into prison for some weeks for expressing his views on the matter. -Fisher, More, and Tunstall were his constant friends in England, and of -Margaret Roper he writes, “from the time I first made her acquaintance I -have loved her as a sister.” Among his pupils at Louvain, besides the above-named -Canterbury monk, John Digon, he mentions with great affection -Nicholas Wotton, whom the antiquary Twyne speaks of as returning to England -with Digon and Jerome Ruffaldus, who calls Vives his “Jonathan,” and -who subsequently became abbot of St. Vaast, Arras.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> J. Venn, <i>Gonville and Caius College</i> (1349-1897), Vol. I.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Ibid., p. xvi.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Ibid., p. 18.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Ibid., p. 23.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Ibid., p. 21.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Ibid., p. xviii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Sermons</i> (1557), f. 54.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> A. Chalmers, <i>History of the Colleges, &c. of Oxford</i>, ii. p. 351.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Hearne, <i>John of Glastonbury</i>, ii. p. 490; from MS. Cott. Vitellius c. vii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Saint-German was born 1460. He was employed by Thomas Cromwell -on some business of the State, and died in 1540. The <i>Dyalogue</i> was printed -apparently first in Latin, but subsequently in English. It consisted of three -parts (1) published by Robert Wyer, (2) by Peter Treveris, 1531, and (3) by -Thomas Berthalet, also in 1531.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Dyalogue</i>, <i>ut sup.</i>, 3rd part, f. 2.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> One of the first Acts of King Henry VII. on his accession, was to obtain -from the Pope a Bull agreeing to some changes in the Sanctuary customs. -Prior Selling of Canterbury was despatched as King’s Orator to Rome with -others to Pope Innocent VIII. in 1487, and brought back the Pope’s -approval of three points in which the king proposed to change these laws. -<i>First</i>, that if any person in Sanctuary went out at night and committed mischief -and trespass, and then got back again, he should forfeit his privilege of -Sanctuary. <i>Secondly</i>, that though the person of a debtor might be protected -in Sanctuary, yet his goods out of the precincts were not so protected from his -creditors. <i>Thirdly</i>, that where a person took Sanctuary for treason, the king -might appoint him keepers within the Sanctuary.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Robert Keilway, <i>Relationes quorundam casuum</i>, f. 188, <i>seqq.</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> <i>Dyalogue</i>, <i>ut sup.</i>, f. 12.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Dyalogue</i>, f. 23.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Ibid., f. 23.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Ibid., f. 21.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Ibid., f. 21.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>A treatyse concerning the power of the clergie and the laws of the realme.</i> -London, J. Godfray.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>A treatyse</i>, &c., <i>ut supra</i>, cap. 4.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>A treatyse</i>, &c., <i>ut supra</i>, cap. xii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> <i>A treatyse</i>, &c., <i>ut supra</i>, cap. xii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Ibid., cap. xiii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Ibid., cap. vi.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>English Works</i> (ed. 1557), p. 1017.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>A treatyse</i>, &c., <i>ut sup.</i>, cap. vi., sig. E. i.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>Salem and Bizance, a dialogue betwixte two Englishmen, whereof one was -called Salem and the other Bizance</i> (Berthelet, 1533), f. 76.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Ibid., f. 84.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 892.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> <i>A Dialogue</i>, &c., <i>ut sup.</i>, f. 8.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Ibid., f. 11.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Ibid., f. 14.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> <i>A Dialogue</i>, &c., <i>ut sup.</i>, p. 17.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> <i>History of English Law</i>, i., p. 93-4. Mr. James Gairdner, in a letter to -<i>The Guardian</i>, March 1, 1899, says: “There were, in the Middle Ages, in -every kingdom of Europe that owned the Pope’s jurisdiction, two authorities, -the one temporal and the other spiritual, and the head of the spiritual jurisdiction -was at Rome. The bishops had the rule over their clergy, even in -criminal matters, and over the laity as well in matters of faith. Even a -bishop’s decision, it is true, might be disputed, and there was an appeal to the -Pope; nay, the Pope’s decision might be disputed, and there was an appeal to a -general council. Thus there was, in every kingdom, an <i>imperium in imperio</i>, -but nobody objected to such a state of matters, not even kings, seeing that -they could, as a rule, get anything they wanted out of the Popes—even some -things, occasionally, that the Popes ought not to have conceded.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> William Bond, <i>The Pilgrymage of perfeccyon</i>, 1531, f. 223.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Roger Edgworth, <i>Sermons</i>, 1557, fol. 102</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Edward Powell, <i>Propugnaculum summi sacerdotii, &c., adversus M. -Lutherum</i>, 1523, fol. 22 and fol. 35.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 171.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Ibid. p. 185.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Ibid., p. 528.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Ibid., p. 538.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 616.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Ibid., p. 798.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> <i>Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries</i> (popular edition), p. 367.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> In his work against Luther, Bishop Fisher teaches the supremacy of the -Pope without any ambiguity. In the <i>Sermon had at Paulis</i> against Luther -and his followers, he also put his position perfectly clearly. The Church that -has a right to the name <i>Catholic</i> has derived the right from its communion -with the See of Peter. Our Lord called Cephas, Peter, or rock, to signify that -upon him as a rock He would build His church. Unto Peter He committed His -flock, and “the true Christian people which we have at this day was derived -by a continual succession from the See of Peter” (fol. e. 4. d.).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Simon Matthew, <i>Sermon made in the Cathedrall Church of Saynt-Paule, -27 June 1535</i> (Berthelet, 1535).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Joannis Longlondi <i>Tres conciones</i> (R. Pynson), f. 45.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Assertion of the Seven Sacraments against Luther</i> (translation by J. W., -1687), f. a. i.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> <i>A treatise of the donation or gift and endowment of possessions given</i> (by -Constantine) <i>with the judgement of certain great men</i>, 1517, Thomas Godfray.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> London, Thomas Berthelet.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> <i>A dyalogue</i>, <i>ut sup.</i>, ff. 3-7.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> f. A. ii.; c. i.; c. iiij. The author recommends those who would understand -the Pope’s power to “resort unto <i>The glasse of truth</i> or to the book named -the <i>Determinations of the universities</i>.” The book named here <i>A glasse of -truth</i> is written in favour of the divorce. “Some lawyers,” the author says, -“attribute too much to the Pope—at length there shall be no law, but only -his will.” The work was published by Berthelet anonymously, but Richard -Croke, in a letter written at this period (Ellis, <i>Historical Letters</i>, 3rd series, -ii. 195), says that the book was written by King Henry himself. It was -generally said that Henry had written a defence of his divorce; but Strype -did not think it was more than a State paper. Croke (p. 198) says that -people at Oxford, “Mr. John Roper and others,” did not believe that the -king was really the author. He says that the tract has done more than -anything else to get people to take the king’s side.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> <i>Of the olde God and the new</i>, B. 1. As another sample of what was at -this time said about the Popes, we may take the following: Rome, says -the author, “was by Justinian restored from ruin and decay, from whence also -came the riches of the Church. At the coming of these riches, forthwith the -book of the gospel was shut up, and the Bishops of Rome, instead of evangelical -poverty, began to put forth their heads garnished with three crowns.” -This is taken from the preface of Hartman Dulechin, who claims to have -“taught the book to speak Latin.” It was originally printed and published -in German. The English version is a translation of the Latin.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> <i>The Defence of Peace, written in Latin more than 200 years ago, and set -forth in the English tongue by Wyllyam Marshall.</i> R. Wyer, 1535, folio.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> <i>The Defence of Peace</i>, f. 42. The well-known anti-papal opinions of -Marsilius of Padua are, of course, of no interest in themselves, but their publication -at this time in English shows the methods by which it was hoped to -undermine the Papal authority in the country.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> <i>Exposition</i>, &c., <i>ut supra</i>, f. i.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Johann Sturmius, <i>Epistle sent to the cardinals and prelates that were -appointed by the Bishop of Rome to search out the abuses of the Church</i>. -Translated by Richard Morysine. Berthelet, 1538. -</p> -<p> -A later copy of the <i>Concilium de emendanda Ecclesia</i>, printed by -Sturmius with his letter in 1538, in the British Museum, formerly belonged -to Cecil. The title-page has his signature, “Gulielmus Cecilius, 1540,” and -there are marks and words underlined, and some few observations from his -pen in the margin. It is interesting to note that what struck the statesman -as a youth were just the points which could be turned against the temporal -claims of the Roman See. -</p> -<p> -The special evils needing correction which the committee of cardinals -note, and which they call <i>abuses</i>, are collected under 22 headings, some of -which are the following:— -</p> -<p> -(1) Ordination of priests without cure of souls, not learned, of lower order -in life, and too young and of doubtful morals: They suggest that each diocese -should have a <i>magistrum</i> to see that candidates are properly instructed—none -to be ordained except by their own bishop. -</p> -<p> -(2) Benefices, and in particular, episcopal sees, are given to people with -interest, and not because their elevation would be good for the church. -They suggest that the best man should be chosen, and residence should be -insisted on, and consequently “non Italo conferendum est beneficium in -Hispania aut in Britannia aut ex contra.” -</p> -<p> -(3) <i>Pensions</i> reserved from Benefices. Though the Pope, “who is the -universal dispenser of the goods of the church,” may reserve a part for a -pious use, <i>e.g.</i> for the poor, &c., still not to reserve sufficient for the proper -purpose of the beneficiary, and still more to give a pension out of a benefice -to one rich enough without, is wrong. -</p> -<p> -(4) Change of benefices for the sake of gain, and handing on benefices by -arrangement or always assigning episcopal sees to coadjutors, is the cause of -outcry against the clergy, and is in reality making private property out of what -is public. -</p> -<p> -(5) Permission to clergy to hold more than one benefice. -</p> -<p> -(6) Cardinals being allowed to hold sees. They ought to be counsellors -to the Pope in Rome, and when holding sees they are more or less dependent -on the will of the kings, and so cannot give independent advice and speak -their minds. -</p> -<p> -(7) Absence of bishops from their sees. -</p> -<p> -(8) Such religious houses as needed correction should be forbidden to -profess members, and when they die out, their places should be taken by -fervent religious. Confessors for convents must be approved by the ordinaries -of the place. -</p> -<p> -(9) The use of the keys ought never, under any pretext, to be granted for -money. -</p> -<p> -(10) Questors of the Holy Spirit, St. Anthony, &c., who foster superstition -among the poor people, should be prohibited. -</p> -<p> -(11) Confessional privileges and use of portable altars to be very rarely -allowed. -</p> -<p> -(12) No indulgences to be granted except once a year, and in the great -cities only. -</p> -<p> -Finally they say of Rome: “Hæc Romana civitas et ecclesia mater -est et magistra aliarum ecclesiarum,” and hence it should be a model to all. -Foreigners, however, who come to St. Peter’s find that priests “sordidi, -ignari, induti paramentis et vestibus quibus nec in sordidis ædibus honeste -uti possent, missas celebrant.” -</p> -<p> -Cardinal Sadolet, on receiving a copy of Sturmius’s letter, replied in kindly -terms. He had, he declared, a high opinion of “Sturmius, Melanchthon, and -Bucer, looking on them as most learned men, kindly disposed, and cordially -friendly to him. He looked upon it as the peculiar characteristic of Luther -to try and overwhelm all his opponents with shouts and attacks.” He speaks -of the great piety of Pope Clement from personal knowledge. His wars were, -he said, rather the work of his adversaries than his own (<i>De consilio</i>, ed. -J. G. Schelhorn, 1748, p. 91). -</p> -<p> -He also, in 1539, penned the <i>De Christiana Ecclesia</i> (in <i>Specilegium -Romanum</i>, ii. p. 101 <i>seqq.</i>), sending it to Cardinal Salicati, and asking him to -pass it on to Cardinal Contarini. It was the outcome of conversations about -the troubles of the Church, and the result of the movement was the Council -of Trent, to restore, as Sadolet says, ecclesiastical discipline “quæ nunc tota -pæne nobis e manibus elapsa est.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> <i>Sermon on Palm Sunday</i>, Berthelet, 1539.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Lancelot Ridley, <i>Commentary in Englyshe on Sayncte Paule’s Epystle -to the Ephesians</i>, L. 4.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> This important paper was printed for the first time in the <i>Dublin Review</i>, -April 1894, pp. 390-420.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> <i>A treatise concerning the division between the spiritualtie and temporaltie.</i> -London: Robert Redman, f. 2.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_122" id="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 871. In the quotations made from the works of -Sir Thomas More and other old writings, for the sake of the general reader -the modern form of spelling has been adopted, and at times the words transposed -to ensure greater clearness.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_123" id="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Ibid., p. 875.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_124" id="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Ibid., p. 882.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_125" id="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> <i>Salem and Bizance. A dialogue betwixte two Englishmen, whereof one -was called Salem and the other Bizance.</i> London: Berthelet, 1533, f. 5.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_126" id="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 934.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_127" id="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Ibid., p. 870.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_128" id="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Ibid., p. 877.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_129" id="Footnote_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Ibid., p. 877.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_130" id="Footnote_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Ibid., p. 878.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_131" id="Footnote_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Ibid., pp. 937, 938.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_132" id="Footnote_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> <i>A treatise concerning the division</i>, f. 8.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_133" id="Footnote_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 880.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_134" id="Footnote_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Ibid., p. 951.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_135" id="Footnote_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> <i>A treatise concerning the division</i>, f. 3.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_136" id="Footnote_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> <i>A treatise concerning the division</i>, f. 41.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_137" id="Footnote_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 884.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_138" id="Footnote_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Ibid., p. 895.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_139" id="Footnote_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_140" id="Footnote_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Ibid., p. 896.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_141" id="Footnote_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Ibid., p. 885.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_142" id="Footnote_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Bishop Fisher gives much the same testimony to the moral character of -the religious generally in his sermon against Luther. After praising the state -of virginity, he continues: “And it is not to be doubted but that there is in -Christendom at this day many thousands of religious men and women that full -truly keep their religion and their chastity unto Christ.… If Almighty God -did reserve in that little portion of Jewry so great a multitude beyond the estimation -of the prophet, what number suppose ye doth yet remain in Christendom -of religious men and women, notwithstanding this great persecution of -religious monasteries, both of men and women, done by these heretics by this -most execrable doctrine? It is not to be doubted but in all Christendom be -left many thousands who at this hour live chaste, and truly keep their virginity -unto Christ.” (<i>A Sermon had at Paulis</i>, Berthelet, f. g. ii.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_143" id="Footnote_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Ibid., p. 735. Sir Thomas More, in his <i>Dyalogue</i>, thinks that the -number of priests without very definite work had tended to diminish the -respect paid to them by the laity. “But were I Pope,” he says, … “I -could not well devise better provisions than by the laws of the Church are -provided already, if they were as well kept as they are well made. But as for -the number, I would surely see such a way therein that we should not have -such a rabble that every mean man must have a priest in his house to wait upon -his wife. This no mean man lacketh now, to the contempt of the priesthood, -(placed) in as vile an office as his horsekeeper. That is truth indeed, quod he, -and in worse, too, for they keep hawks and dogs.” If the laws of the Church -were kept, there would not be the excessive number of priests for fit and -proper positions, so that “the whole order is rebuked by the priests’ begging -and lewd living who are either obliged to walk as rovers, and live upon -trentals or worse, or serve in a secular man’s house” (<i>English Works</i>, -p. 223).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_144" id="Footnote_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> <i>A treatise concerning the division</i>, ff. 14-16.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_145" id="Footnote_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> <i>Dyalogue</i>, &c., f. 2.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_146" id="Footnote_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> <i>A treatise concerning the division</i>, f. 23.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_147" id="Footnote_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Ibid., f. 25.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_148" id="Footnote_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Ibid., f. 26.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_149" id="Footnote_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 936.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_150" id="Footnote_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 620.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_151" id="Footnote_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> <i>A Sermonde … made in 1538.</i> By John Longlande, Bishop of Lincolne. -London: f. 2.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_152" id="Footnote_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> <i>Henry VIII.</i>, vol. ii. pp. 50-1.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_153" id="Footnote_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Ibid., vol. i. p. 600.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_154" id="Footnote_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Ibid., ii. p. 470.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_155" id="Footnote_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> Wilkins, <i>Concilia</i>, iii. 717.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_156" id="Footnote_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> <i>Sermo Exhortatorius</i>, W. de Worde.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_157" id="Footnote_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Gairdner, <i>Calendar of Papers Foreign and Domestic</i>, v., preface, ix.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_158" id="Footnote_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Froude’s translation.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_159" id="Footnote_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> <i>Opera</i>, ed. Leclerc, iii. col. 102.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_160" id="Footnote_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 144.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_161" id="Footnote_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> In one of his works Erasmus gives the highest praise to English -ecclesiastics for their single-minded devotion to their clerical duties. He -contrasts them with clerics of other nations in regard to worldly ambitions, -&c. “Those who are nearest to Christ,” he writes, “should keep themselves -free from the baser things of this world. How ill the word ‘general’ sounds -when connected with that of ‘Cardinal,’ or ‘duke’ with that of ‘bishop,’ -‘earl’ with that of ‘abbot,’ or ‘commander’ with that of ‘priest.’ In -England the ecclesiastical dignity is the highest, and the revenues of churchmen -abundant. In that country, however, no one who is a bishop or abbot has -even a semblance of temporal dominion, or possesses castles or musicians or -bands of retainers, nor does any of them coin his own money, excepting only -the Archbishop of Canterbury, as a mark of dignity and honour, which has -been conferred on him on account of the death of Saint Thomas; he is, however, -never concerned in matters of war, but is occupied only in the care of -the churches.” (<i>Consultatio de Bello Turcico.</i> <i>Opera</i>, ed. Leclerc, tom. v. -p. 363.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_162" id="Footnote_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> <i>Opera</i>, &c., <i>ut sup.</i>, Ep. 149.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_163" id="Footnote_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 175.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_164" id="Footnote_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 216.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_165" id="Footnote_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 272.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_166" id="Footnote_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 474.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_167" id="Footnote_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> Thomas More, <i>Epigrammata</i> (ed. Frankfort, 1689), p. 284 <i>seqq.</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_168" id="Footnote_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Ibid., Ep. 148.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_169" id="Footnote_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> <i>Erasmus</i>, p. 63.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_170" id="Footnote_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> <i>Quarterly Review</i>, January 1895, p. 23.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_171" id="Footnote_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> The question about Erasmus’s translation of this word came up in the -discussion between Sir Thomas More and Tyndale about the use made by -the latter of the word <i>congregatio</i> for Church in his version of the New -Testament. More writes: “Then he asketh me why I have not contended -with Erasmus, whom he calls my darling, all this long time, for translating -this word <i>ecclesia</i> into this word <i>congregatio</i>, and then he cometh forth with -his proper taunt, that I favour him of likelihood for making of his book -of <i>Moriæ</i> in my house.… Now for his translation of <i>ecclesia</i> by <i>congregatio</i> -his deed is nothing like Tyndale’s. For the Latin tongue had no Latin -word used before for the Church but the Greek word <i>ecclesia</i>, therefore -Erasmus in his new translation gave it a Latin word.… Erasmus also -meant no heresy therein, as appears by his writings against the heretics.” -(<i>English Works</i>, pp. 421, 422.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_172" id="Footnote_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Ep. 384.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_173" id="Footnote_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Ep. 423.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_174" id="Footnote_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Ep. 531. Lee’s account of his quarrel with Erasmus is given in his -<i>Apologia</i>, which he addressed to the University of Louvain. He states that -Erasmus had come to his house at that place, and had asked him to aid in -the corrected version of his New Testament which he was then projecting. -At first Lee refused, but finally, on being pressed by Erasmus, he consented, -and began the work of revision, but Erasmus quickly became angry at so -many suggested changes. Reports about the annotations and corrections -proposed by Lee began to be spread abroad, and Erasmus hearing of them, -suspected some secret design, and came from Basle to try and get a copy -of the proposed criticism. Lee wished that it should be considered rather -a matter of <i>theology</i> than of <i>letters</i>. Bishop Fisher wrote, on hearing -rumours of the quarrel, urging Lee to try and make his peace with Erasmus, -and in deference to this, Lee informed Erasmus that he would leave the -matter entirely in the hands of the bishop, and had forwarded to him the -book of his proposed criticisms. Erasmus, however, did not wait, but published -the <i>Dialogus Domini Jacobi Latomi</i>, which all regarded as an attack -upon Lee. The latter would have published a reply had he not received -letters from England from Fisher, Colet, Pace, and More, begging him to keep -his temper. Lee agreed to stop, and only asked Fisher to decide the matter -quickly. On returning to Louvain, Lee found that Erasmus had published -his <i>Dialogus bilingium et trilingium</i>, in which Lee was plainly indicated as -a man hostile to the study of letters in general. This Lee denied altogether, -and in brief, he does not, he says, condemn Erasmus’s notes on the New -Testament so much as the copy he had taken as the basis for his corrections -of the later text. “Politian,” says Lee, at the end of his <i>Apologia</i>, “Politian -declares that there are two great pests of literature—ignorance and envy. To -these I will add a third—‘adulation’—for I have no belief in any one who, -having made a mistake, is not willing to acknowledge it.” -</p> -<p> -Lee’s criticism of Erasmus’s translation appeared at Louvain in January -1520. It produced an immediate reply from Erasmus, published at Antwerp -in May 1520—a reply “all nose, teeth, nails, and stomach.” In this Erasmus -says that 1200 copies of the New Testament had been printed by Froben. In -the collation he had been much assisted by Bishop Tunstall, who had, in fact, -supplied the exemplar on which he had worked. Erasmus then gives what he -thinks is the correct version of the differences between Lee and himself. Lee, -he says, was only just beginning Greek, and Erasmus, who had been working -at the correction of his version of the Testament, showed him what he was -doing. The margins of the book were then full of notes, and here and -there whole pages of paper were added. Lee said that he had a few notes -that might be useful, and Erasmus expressed his pleasure at receiving help and -asked for them. Lee thereupon gave him some miscellaneous jottings, and of -these, according to Erasmus’s version of the facts, he made use of hardly anything. -Soon, however, reports were spread about that out of some three -hundred places in which Lee had corrected the first edition of the translation, -Erasmus had adopted two hundred. Bishop Fisher tried to make peace, -and to prevent two men who both meant well to the cause of religion from -quarrelling in public. His intervention was, however, too late, as already -the letter of Erasmus to Thomas Lupset had appeared and thus rendered reconciliation -impossible.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_175" id="Footnote_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Ep. 231.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_176" id="Footnote_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Ep. 380. This bishop must have been the Spaniard, George de Athegua, -who was appointed to the see of Llandaff in 1517, and held it for twenty years.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_177" id="Footnote_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> Ep. 380.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_178" id="Footnote_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Ep. 453.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_179" id="Footnote_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> Ep. 416.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_180" id="Footnote_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> Ep. 547.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_181" id="Footnote_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> Ep. 529. Erasmus wrote strongly against anything that seemed to -favour the idea of national churches. After declaring that national dislikes -and enmities were unmeaning and unchristian, he continues: “As an Englishman -you wish evil fortune to a Frenchman. Why not rather do your wishes -come as a man to a fellow-man? Why not as a Christian to a Christian? -Why do these frivolous things have greater weight than such natural ties, -such bonds of Christ? Places separate bodies, not souls. In old days the -Rhine divided a Frenchman from a German, but the Rhine cannot divide one -Christian from another. The Pyrenees cut off Spain from France, but these -mountains do not destroy the communion of the Church. The sea divides -the English and French peoples, but it cannot cut off the society of religion.…” -The world is the fatherland of all people; all men are sprung -from a common stock. “The Church is but one family, common to all.” -(<i>Opera.</i>, tom. iv. col. 638.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_182" id="Footnote_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Ep. 715.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_183" id="Footnote_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Ep. 723.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_184" id="Footnote_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> Ep. 477.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_185" id="Footnote_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> Ep. 528.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_186" id="Footnote_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> Ep. 656.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_187" id="Footnote_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Ep. 334 (second series.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_188" id="Footnote_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> <i>Spongia</i> (Basle, Froben, 1523), c. 5.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_189" id="Footnote_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Ibid., sig. d. 4.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_190" id="Footnote_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> Ibid., sig. e. 2.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_191" id="Footnote_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Ibid., sig. e. 2. The supreme authority of the Pope is asserted by -Erasmus in numberless places in his works. For example, in the tract <i>Pacis -Querimonia</i>, after saying that he cannot understand how Christians, who -understand Christ’s teaching and say their <i>Pater noster</i> with intelligence, can -always be at strife, he proceeds: “The authority of the Roman Pontiff is -supreme. But when peoples and princes wage impious wars, and that for -years, where then is the authority of the Pontiffs, where then is the power -next to Christ’s power?” &c. (<i>Opera.</i>, tom. iv. p. 635). So too in his -<i>Precatio pro Pace Ecclesiæ</i>, after praying that God would turn the eyes of -His mercy upon the Church, over which “Peter was made Supreme Pastor,” -he declares that there is but “one Church, out of which there is no salvation.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_192" id="Footnote_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> Ep. 478.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_193" id="Footnote_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> Ep. 501.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_194" id="Footnote_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Ep. 563.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_195" id="Footnote_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Ep. 600.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_196" id="Footnote_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Ep. 563.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_197" id="Footnote_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Ep. 667.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_198" id="Footnote_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Ep. 501 (Mr. Froude’s translation).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_199" id="Footnote_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Ep. 793.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_200" id="Footnote_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Ep. 823.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_201" id="Footnote_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Ep. 751.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_202" id="Footnote_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> The Pope himself read the <i>Enconium Moriæ</i> and understood the spirit -of the author; at least so Erasmus was told. He wrote at the time “the -Supreme Pontiff has read through <i>Moriæ</i> and laughed; all he said was, ‘I -am glad to see that friend Erasmus is in the <i>Moriæ</i>,’ and this though I have -touched no others so sharply as the Pontiffs” (Ep. p. 1667). What Sir -Thomas More thought about it may be given in his own words, written some -years later. “As touching <i>Moriæ</i>, in which Erasmus, under the name and -person of <i>Moria</i>, which word in Greek signifies ‘folly,’ merely touches and -reproves such faults and follies as he found in any kind of people pursuing -every state and condition, spiritual and temporal, leaving almost none untouched. -By this book, says Tyndale, if it were in English, every man should -then well see that I was then far otherwise minded than I now write. If this -be true, then the more cause have I to thank God for the amendment. God -be thanked I never had that mind in my life to have holy saints’ images or -their holy relics out of reverence. Nor if there were any such thing in <i>Moriæ</i> -this could not make any man see that I were myself of that mind, the book -being made by another man though he were my darling never so dear. Howbeit, -that book of <i>Moriæ</i> doth indeed but jest upon abuses of such things.… -But in these days, in which men by their own default misconstrue and take -harm from the very Scripture of God, until men better amend, if any man -would now translate <i>Moriæ</i> into English, or some work either that I have -myself written ere this, albeit there be no harm therein, folks being (as they -be) given to take harm of what is good, I would not only my darling’s books, -but my own also, help to burn them both with my own hands, rather than -folk should (though through their own fault) take any harm of them.” (<i>English -Works</i>, pp. 422-3.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_203" id="Footnote_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> <i>Opera Omnia</i> (Froben’s ed., 1540), i. p. 831.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_204" id="Footnote_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Pp. 832-33.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_205" id="Footnote_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> P. 837.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_206" id="Footnote_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> A case in point was the finding of the celebrated statue of the Laocöon -on January 14, 1506. This discovery was accidentally made in a vineyard, -near Santa Maria Maggiore, and no statue ever produced so general -and so profound an emotion as the uncovering of this work of art did upon -the learned world of Rome. The whole city flocked out to see it, and the -road to the vineyard was blocked day and night by the crowds of cardinals -and people waiting to look at it. “One would have said,” writes a contemporary, -“that it was a Jubilee.” And even to-day the visitor to the -Ara Cœli may read on the tomb of Felice de Fredis, the happy owner of the -vineyard, the promise of “immortality,” <i>ob proprias virtutes et repertum -Laocohontis divinum simulachrum</i> (I. Klaczki, <i>Jules II.</i>, p. 115). It is not -at all improbable that in the above passage Erasmus was actually thinking of -the delirium caused by the finding of this statue.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_207" id="Footnote_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> Ibid., p. 838.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_208" id="Footnote_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> For example, the Rev. W. H. Hutton states in the <i>Guardian</i>, January -25, 1899, as the result of his mature studies upon the Reformation period, -that “the so-called divorce question had very little indeed to do with the -Reformation.” Mr. James Gairdner, who speaks with all the authority of a -full and complete knowledge of the State papers of this period, in a letter -to a subsequent number of the <i>Guardian</i>, says, “When a gentleman of -Mr. Hutton’s attainments is able seriously to tell us this, I think it is -really time to ask people to put two and two together, and say whether -the sum can be anything but four. It may be disagreeable to trace the -Reformation to such a very ignoble origin, but facts, as the Scottish poet -says, are fellows you can’t coerce … and won’t bear to be disputed.” -What “we call <i>the</i> Reformation in England … was the result of Henry -VIII.’s quarrel with the Court of Rome on the subject of his divorce, -and <i>the same</i> results could not possibly have come about in any other -way.” When “Henry VIII. found himself disappointed in the expectation, -which he had ardently cherished for a while, that he could manage, by hook -or by crook, to obtain from the See of Rome something like an ecclesiastical -licence for bigamy,” he took matters into his own hands, “and self-willed as -he was, never did self-will lead him into such a tremendous and dangerous -undertaking as in throwing off the Pope. How much this was resented -among the people, what secret communications there were between leading -noblemen with the imperial ambassador, strongly urging the emperor to -invade England, and deliver the people from a tyranny from which they were -unable to free themselves, we know in these days as we did not know before.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_209" id="Footnote_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Camden Society, p. 163.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_210" id="Footnote_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> The same high authority, in a letter to the <i>Guardian</i>, March 1, 1899, -says, “People will tell you, of course, that the seeds of the Reformation were -sown before Henry VIII.’s days, and particularly that it was Wycliffe who -brought the great movement on. I should be sorry to depreciate Wycliffe, -who did undoubtedly bring about a great movement in his day, though a -careful estimate of that movement is still a <i>desideratum</i>. Even in theology -the cardinal doctrine of the Reformation—justification by faith—is in Wycliffe, -I should say, conspicuous by its absence. But, whatever may be the theological -debt of England to Wycliffe at the present day, twenty Wycliffes, -all highly popular, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries would not have -brought about a Reformation like that under which we have lived during the -last centuries. That was a thing which could only have been effected by -royal power—as in England, or by a subversion of royal authority through -the medium of successful rebellion—as in Scotland.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_211" id="Footnote_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> <i>Henry VIII.</i>, i. p. 51.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_212" id="Footnote_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Roger Edgworth, <i>Sermons</i> (London: Robert Caly, 1557), preface.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_213" id="Footnote_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 339.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_214" id="Footnote_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> Strype, <i>Eccl. Mem.</i> (ed. 1822), I. i. p. 254.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_215" id="Footnote_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> This book was apparently condemned for reflecting on the king’s -divorce rather than for its Lutheran tendencies. “The Soul’s Garden,” as -Bishop Tunstall calls it, was printed abroad, and “very many lately brought -into the realm, chiefly into London and into other haven towns.” The -objectionable portion was contained in “a declaration made in the kalendar -of the said book, about the end of the month of August, upon the day of the -decollation of St. John Baptist, to show the cause of why he was beheaded.” -(Strype, <i>ut supra</i>, ii. p. 274.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_216" id="Footnote_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> Wilkins, <i>Concilia</i>, iii. p. 737.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_217" id="Footnote_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> Ibid., 720.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_218" id="Footnote_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Wilkins, <i>Concilia</i>, iii. p. 727.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_219" id="Footnote_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> Richard Smythe, D.D., <i>The assertion and defence of the Sacrament of the -Altar</i>, 1546, f. 3.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_220" id="Footnote_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 940.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_221" id="Footnote_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 921.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_222" id="Footnote_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, pp. 341-344.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_223" id="Footnote_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> Ibid., p. 346.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_224" id="Footnote_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Ibid., p. 351.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_225" id="Footnote_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Germen Gardynare, <i>A letter of a yonge gentylman</i>, &c. London: W. -Rastell, 1534.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_226" id="Footnote_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, pp. 257-259.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_227" id="Footnote_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> Ibid., p. 1035.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_228" id="Footnote_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> Ibid., p. 409.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_229" id="Footnote_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> <i>The Werke for Householders.</i> London: John Waylande, 1537.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_230" id="Footnote_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> Richard Whitford, <i>Dyvers holy instructions</i>. London: W. Mydylton, -1541.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_231" id="Footnote_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> <i>Sermons</i>, sig. h. vij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_232" id="Footnote_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> <i>English Works</i> (ed. 1557), pp. 233-4. This positive declaration of Sir -Thomas More is generally ignored by modern writers. In a recently published -work, for example (<i>England in the Age of Wycliffe</i>, by George -Macaulay Trevelyan), it is stated that “we have positive proof that the -bishops denounced the dissemination of the English Bible among classes and -persons prone to heresy, burnt copies of it, and cruelly persecuted Lollards on -the charge of reading it” (p. 131). In proof of this statement the author -refers his readers to a later page (p. 342) of his volume. Here he culls from -Foxe (<i>Acts and Monuments</i>) the depositions of certain witnesses against people -suspected of teaching heresy. Amongst these depositions it is said by a few -of the witnesses that some of these teachers were possessed of portions of the -Scriptures in English. Mr. Trevelyan assumes, because witnesses speak to -this fact, that it was for this they were condemned, or, as he puts it, “cruelly -persecuted,” by the ecclesiastical authorities. Had he examined his authority, -Foxe, more carefully, he would have found the actual list of <i>articles</i> formulated -against these teachers of heresy. These alone are, of course, the <i>charges</i> -actually made against them; and the mere deposition of witnesses in those days -were, no more than they are in ours, the charges upon which the accused were -condemned. In the <i>articles</i> or charges we find no mention whatever of the -English Bible, and, according to the ordinary rules of interpretation of documents, -this absence of any mention of Bible-reading in the indictment, formulated -after the hearing of the evidence, and when witnesses had testified -to the fact, should be taken to show that the mere possession of the vernacular -Scriptures, &c., was not accounted an offence by the Church authorities. The -real charge in these cases, as in others, was of teaching what was then held -to be false and heretical, teaching founded upon false interpretations of the -Scripture text, or upon false translations.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_233" id="Footnote_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> Ibid., p. 235.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_234" id="Footnote_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> Ibid., p. 240.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_235" id="Footnote_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> Ibid., p. 241.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_236" id="Footnote_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> Ibid., p. 240.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_237" id="Footnote_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Ibid., p. 241.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_238" id="Footnote_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> Ibid., p. 245.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_239" id="Footnote_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> Ibid., p. 510.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_240" id="Footnote_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Ibid., p. 678.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_241" id="Footnote_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> Roger Edgworth, <i>Sermons</i>, London, Caly, 1557, f. 31.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_242" id="Footnote_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> Sir Thomas More, <i>English Works</i>, p. 108.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_243" id="Footnote_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> Thomas Lupset, <i>Collected Works</i>, 1546. <i>Gathered Counsails</i>, f. 202.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_244" id="Footnote_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> Ibid. <i>An Exhortation to young men</i>, written 1529. He insists much on -the obligation of following the teaching of the Church.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_245" id="Footnote_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> John Standish, <i>A discourse wherein is debated whether it be expedient -that the Scripture should be in English for all men to read that wyll</i> (1555), -A. iij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_246" id="Footnote_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 850.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_247" id="Footnote_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> J. S. Brewer, <i>Henry VIII.</i>, vol. ii. p. 468.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_248" id="Footnote_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Dore, <i>Old Bibles</i>, p. 13.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_249" id="Footnote_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> P. 15.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_250" id="Footnote_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> Ellis, <i>Historical Letters</i>, 3rd Series, ii. p. 71.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_251" id="Footnote_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> Johannes Cochlæus, <i>An expediat laicis legere Novi Testamenti libros -lingua vernacula</i>, 1533, A. i. The warning of Cochlæus was addressed to -the Scotch king, and as a result of this letter, pointing out the Lutheran -character of the English version of Tyndale, the Scotch bishops in the Synod -of St. Andrews in 1529 forbade the importation of Bibles into Scotland.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_252" id="Footnote_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Ibid., L. iij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_253" id="Footnote_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> Wilkins, <i>Concilia</i>, iii. p. 727.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_254" id="Footnote_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> Parker Soc. Tyndale’s <i>Doctrinal treatises</i>, &c., preface xxx.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_255" id="Footnote_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Probably on Sunday, February 11, when Cardinal Wolsey, with six and -thirty bishops and other ecclesiastics, were present at the burning of Lutheran -books before the great crucifix at the north gate. Amongst the books, according -to Tyndale, were copies of his translated Testament.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_256" id="Footnote_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Dore, <i>Old Bibles</i>, p. 26.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_257" id="Footnote_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> Dore, <i>ut sup.</i>, 32.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_258" id="Footnote_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 422.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_259" id="Footnote_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> Dore, 35.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_260" id="Footnote_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 849.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_261" id="Footnote_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 341.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_262" id="Footnote_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> Ibid., p. 410.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_263" id="Footnote_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> Ibid., p. 416.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_264" id="Footnote_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> Ibid., p. 417.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_265" id="Footnote_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Ibid., p. 419.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_266" id="Footnote_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> Ibid., p. 422.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_267" id="Footnote_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> Ibid., p. 424.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_268" id="Footnote_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Ibid., p. 425.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_269" id="Footnote_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Ibid., p. 427.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_270" id="Footnote_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> Ibid., p. 435.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_271" id="Footnote_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> Ibid., p. 437.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_272" id="Footnote_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Ibid., p. 493.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_273" id="Footnote_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> Ibid., p. 422. For examples of other false translations, see also p. 449.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_274" id="Footnote_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Standish, <i>A discourse</i>, &c., <i>ut supra</i>, sig. A. iiij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_275" id="Footnote_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 223.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_276" id="Footnote_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> Ibid., p. 223.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_277" id="Footnote_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> Standish, <i>ut supra</i>, sig. E. iiij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_278" id="Footnote_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> Roger Edgworth, <i>Sermons</i>, f. 31.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_279" id="Footnote_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> <i>The assertion and defence of the Sacrament of the Altar</i> (1546), f. 3. -The amateur theologians and teachers who sprung up so plentifully with -the growth of Lutheran ideas in England seem to have been a source of -trouble to the clergy. There was no difficulty in Scripture so hard which -these “barkers, gnawers, and railers,” as Roger Edgworth calls them, were -not ready to explain, and even women were ready to become teachers of -God’s Word, “and openly to dispute with men.” Speaking in Bristol, -in Mary’s reign, he advises his audience to stick to their own occupations -and leave theology and Scripture alone, “for when a tailor forsaking his -own occupation will be a merchant venturer, or a shoemaker will become -a grocer, God send him help. I have known,” he says, “many in this town -that studying divinity has killed a merchant, and some of other occupations by -their busy labours in the Scripture hath shut up the shop windows, and were -fain to take sanctuary, or else for mercery and grocery hath been fain to sell -godderds, steaves, pitchers, and such other trumpery.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_280" id="Footnote_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> <i>A Commentary in Englyshe upon Sayncte Paule’s Epistle to the Ephesians</i>, -1540.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_281" id="Footnote_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> <i>An Exposition in Englysh upon the Epistle of St. Paule to the Colossians</i>, -1548.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_282" id="Footnote_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> <i>An Exposition</i>, &c., <i>upon the Philippians</i>, 1545.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_283" id="Footnote_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> As an example of the open way in which the reading of the Bible was -advocated, take the following instance. Caxton’s translation of the <i>Vitæ -Patrum</i>, published by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495, contained an exhortation -to all his readers to study the Holy Scripture. “To read them is in part -to know the felicity eternal, for in them a man may see what he ought to do -in conversation … oft to read purgeth the soul from sin, it engendereth -dread of God, and it keeps the soul from eternal damnation.” As food -nourishes the body, “in like wise as touching the soul we be nourished by -the lecture and reading of Scripture.… Be diligent and busy to read the -Scriptures, for in reading them the natural wit and understanding are -augmented in so much that men find that which ought to be left (undone) -and take that whereof may ensue profit infinite” (p. 345).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_284" id="Footnote_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> B. Mus. Harl. MS. 172, f. 12b.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_285" id="Footnote_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> Harl. MS. 115, f. 51.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_286" id="Footnote_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> Ibid., f. 53.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_287" id="Footnote_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> In speaking of the third Commandment, <i>The art of good lyvyng and -good deyng</i> (1503) warns people of their obligation to “Layr the holy prechyngys, -that ys the word of God et the good techyngys, and shoold not go from -the seyd prechyngs” (fol. 8. 2).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_288" id="Footnote_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> Ibid., f. 1.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_289" id="Footnote_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> <i>The Myrrour of the Church</i> (1527), Sig. B4.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_290" id="Footnote_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> <i>Exornatorium Curatorum.</i> W. de Worde. In 1518 the Synod of Ely -ordered that all having the cure of souls should have a copy of this book, and -four times a year should explain it in English to their people. (Wilkins, -<i>Concilia</i>, III., p. 712.)</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_291" id="Footnote_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> <i>The Prymer of Salisbury Use.</i> Rouen: Nicholas le Rour, f. b. vij.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_292" id="Footnote_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> <i>The art of good lyvyng and good deyng.</i> Paris, 1503, f. g. 2.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_293" id="Footnote_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 116.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_294" id="Footnote_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 117.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_295" id="Footnote_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> Ibid., p. 121.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_296" id="Footnote_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> Ibid., p. 420.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_297" id="Footnote_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> <i>Sermons</i>, fol. 40.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_298" id="Footnote_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, pp. 196-7.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_299" id="Footnote_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> Ibid., p. 198.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_300" id="Footnote_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> Ibid., p. 199.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_301" id="Footnote_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> Ed. W. de Worde, 1496.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_302" id="Footnote_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> William Bond, <i>The Pilgrymage of Perfeccyon</i>, Wynkyn de Worde, 1531, -fol. 192.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_303" id="Footnote_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> Ibid., fol. 196.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_304" id="Footnote_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_305" id="Footnote_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> <i>English Works</i>, p. 408.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_306" id="Footnote_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> The full title of this book is: <i>Pupilla oculi omnibus presbyteris precipue -Anglicanis necessaria</i>. It is clear from the letter that W. Bretton had already -had other works printed in the same way, and it is known that amongst those -works were copies of Lynwode’s <i>Provinciale</i> (1505), <i>Psalterium et Hymni</i> -(1506), <i>Horæ</i>, &c. (1506), <i>Speculum Spiritualium</i>, and Hampole, <i>De Emendatione -Vitæ</i> (1510), (cf. <i>Ames</i>, Ed. Herbert, iii. p. 16). Pepwell the London -publisher, at “the sign of the Holy Trinity,” was the same who published many -books printed abroad, and had dealings with Bishops Stokesley and Tunstall.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_307" id="Footnote_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> For further information upon popular religious instruction in England, -see an essay upon the teaching in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in my -<i>The old English Bible, and other Essays</i>. The Rev. J. Fisher, in his tract -on <i>The Private Devotions of the Welsh</i> (1898), speaking of the vernacular -prayer-books, says, “they continued to be published down to the end of -Henry’s reign, and, in a modified form, even at a later date. Besides these -prymers and the oral instruction in the principal formulæ of the Church, the -scriptorium of the monastery was not behind in supplying, especially the -poor, with horn-books, on which were, as a rule, written in the vulgar tongue -the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Hail Mary.” In 1546 appeared a -prymer in Welsh in which, amongst other things, the seven capital or deadly -sins and their opposite virtues are given and analysed. This book, consequently, -besides being a prayer-book afforded popular instruction to the people -using it. The prymers in Welsh, we are told, were usually called “Matins’ -Books,” and continued to be published long after the change of religion. A -copy published in 1618 is called the fifth edition, and copies of it are recorded -under the years 1633 and 1783. “It is rather a curious fact,” writes Mr. -Fisher, “that nearly all the Welsh manuals of devotion and instruction, of -any size, published in the second half of the sixteenth and the first half of -the seventeenth century, were the productions of Welsh Roman Catholics, -and published on the Continent. In Dr. Gruffydd Roberts’s Welsh Grammar, -published at Milan in 1567, will be found poetical versions of the Apostles’ -Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Ten Commandments and the -Seven Sacraments. This work was followed by the <i>Athravaeth Gristnogavl</i>, -a short catechism of religious doctrine, translated or compiled by Morys -Clynog, the first Rector of the English College in Rome. It was published -at Milan in 1568, and contains the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, -the Ten Commandments, &c., in Welsh, with expositions.” -</p> -<p> -The above, with the prayer-books of 1567, 1586, 1599, were all the works -of religious instruction and devotion (private and public) that appeared in -Welsh down to the end of the sixteenth century. I might add that there is -in the Earl of Macclesfield’s collection a large folio volume of <i>Miscellanea</i> -(Shirburn MS. 113, D. 30), written between 1540 and 1560, which contains -a prymer occupying several pages. There is also in the Swansea Public -Library a Welsh-Latin MS. of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, written -in different hands and in the South Walian dialect, which forms a manual of -Roman Catholic devotion, containing in Welsh devotions for Mass, the usual -meditations and prayers for various occasions, instructions, &c. -</p> -<p> -With the seventeenth century there is a good crop of manuals of devotion -and instruction, such as the catechisms of Dr. Rosier Smith (1609-1611) and -Father John Salisbury (1618 <i>tacito nomine</i>), both Welsh Roman Catholics -(pp. 24-26).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_308" id="Footnote_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> <i>A Werke for Housholders.</i> London, R. Redman, 1537, sig. A. 8.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_309" id="Footnote_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> Ibid., sig. B. i.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_310" id="Footnote_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> Ibid., sig. C. 8.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_311" id="Footnote_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> Ibid., sig. D. 5.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_312" id="Footnote_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> B. Mus. Harl. MS. 2125, f. 272.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_313" id="Footnote_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> <i>Penny Cyclopædia.</i> Art., “English Drama.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_314" id="Footnote_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> <i>A Relation of the Island of England</i> (Camden Society), p. 20.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_315" id="Footnote_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> Ibid., p. 23.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_316" id="Footnote_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> <i>Venetian Calendar</i>, ii. p. 91.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_317" id="Footnote_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> <i>Works on the Supper</i> (Parker Society), p. 229.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_318" id="Footnote_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> To take one instance: the church of St. Neots possessed many stained glass -windows placed in their present positions between the years 1480 and 1530. -Almost all of them were put in by individuals, as the inscriptions below testify. -In the case of three of the lights it appears that groups of people joined together -to beautify their parish church. Thus below one of the windows in the -north aisle is the following: “<i>Ex sumptibus juvenum hujus parochiæ Sancti -Neoti qui istam fenestram fecerunt anno domini millessimo quingentessimo -vicessimo octavo</i>.” Another window states that it was made in 1529, “<i>Ex -sumptibus sororum hujus parochiæ</i>”; and a third in 1530, “<i>Ex sumptibus -uxorum</i>.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_319" id="Footnote_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> <i>History of Modern Architecture</i>, pp. 37, 87.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_320" id="Footnote_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> <i>Archæologia</i>, vol. xli. p. 355.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_321" id="Footnote_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> <i>Parish Life in England before the Great Pillage</i> (“Nineteenth Century,” -March 1898), p. 433.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_322" id="Footnote_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> <i>Churchwardens’ Accounts</i> (Somerset Record Soc.), ed. Bishop Hobhouse, -p. 200, <i>seqq.</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_323" id="Footnote_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> Ibid., p. xxi.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_324" id="Footnote_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> Ibid., p. xii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_325" id="Footnote_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> <i>Archæologia</i>, vol. xli., p. 333 <i>seqq.</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_326" id="Footnote_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> <i>Somerset Record Soc.</i>, preface, p. xi.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_327" id="Footnote_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> J. W. Cowper, <i>Accounts of the Churchwardens of St. Dunstan’s, Canterbury</i> -(<i>Archæologia Cantiana</i>, 1885).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_328" id="Footnote_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> Siméon Luce, <i>Histoire de Bertrand du Guesclin</i>, p. 19.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_329" id="Footnote_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> The words of Pope Leo XIII. as to the Catholic teaching most accurately -describe the practical doctrine of the English pre-Reformation Church on this -matter: “The chiefest and most excellent rule for the right use of money,” -he says, “rests on the principle that it is one thing to have a right to the -possession of money and another to have the right to use money as one -pleases.… If the question be asked, How must one’s possessions be used? -the Church replies, without hesitation, in the words of the same holy doctor -(St. Thomas), <i>Man should not consider his outward possessions as his own, but -as common to all</i>, so as to share <i>them without difficulty when others are in need</i>. -When necessity has been supplied and one’s position fairly considered, it is a -duty to give to the indigent out of that which is over. It is a duty, not of -justice (except in extreme cases) but of Christian charity … (and) to sum up -what has been said, Whoever has received from the Divine bounty a large -share of blessings … has received them for the purpose of using them for -the perfecting of his own nature, and, at the same time, that he may employ -them, as the minister of God’s Providence, for the benefit of others.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_330" id="Footnote_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> <i>The Economic Interpretation of History</i>, p. 63.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_331" id="Footnote_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> <i>Churchwardens’ Accounts</i> (Somerset Record Soc.), p. xxiv.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_332" id="Footnote_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> Roger Edgworth, <i>Sermons</i>, London, R. Caly, 1557, p. 309.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_333" id="Footnote_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> <i>Parish Life in England before the Great Pillage</i> (“Nineteenth Century,” -March 1898), p. 432.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_334" id="Footnote_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> <i>English Gilds</i> (Early English Text-Society), pp. lxxx.-civ.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_335" id="Footnote_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> Ibid., p. xiv.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_336" id="Footnote_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> <i>The Economic Interpretation of History</i>, p. 306.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_337" id="Footnote_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> <i>English Gilds</i> (Early English Text-Society), p. 3.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_338" id="Footnote_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> Ibid., p. 6.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_339" id="Footnote_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> Ibid., p. 8.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_340" id="Footnote_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> Ibid., p. 48.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_341" id="Footnote_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> Egerton MS., 142.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_342" id="Footnote_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> The existence of which I know from Mr. Francis Joseph Baigent, who -with his usual generosity allowed me to examine and take my notes from the -copies which he has among his great collection of materials for the history of -Hampshire.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_343" id="Footnote_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> One example of this latter, or as I might call it, ordinary expense of the -society, is worth recording. In 1411, and subsequent years, an annual payment -of 13s. 4d. is entered on the accounts as made to one Thomas -Deverosse, a tailor, and apparently a member of the fraternity. The history -of this man’s poverty is curious. When Bishop William of Wykeham, -desiring to build Winchester College, purchased certain lands for the purpose, -amongst the rest was a field which a tailor of Winchester, this Thomas -Deverosse, subsequently claimed; and to make good his contention, brought -a suit of ejectment against the Bishop. The case was tried in the King’s -Bench, and the tailor not only lost, but was cast in costs and so ruined. -With some writers, William of Wykeham’s good name had been allowed to -suffer most unjustly for his share in the misfortunes of the unlucky tailor; for -the Bishop not only undertook to pay the costs of the suit himself, but agreed -that the college should make the unfortunate claimant a yearly allowance of -8d. to assist him in his poverty. The Tailors’ Guild secured to him a -pension of 13s. 4d.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_344" id="Footnote_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> Here is the bill for the annual feast in the Guild of Tailors of Winchester -in 1411. The association was under the patronage of St. John the Baptist, and -they kept their feast on the Day of the beheading of the Saint, August 29. -In this year, 1411, the 29th of August fell upon a Saturday, which in mediæval -times, as all know, was a day of abstinence from flesh-meat. It is to be -noticed, consequently, that provision is made for a fish dinner: “6 bushels of -wheat at 8½d. the bushel; for grinding of the same, 3d.; for baking the same, -6d.; ready-made bread purchased, 12d.; beer, 7s. 1d.; salt fish bought of -Walter Oakfield, 6s. 8d.; mullet, bass, ray, and fresh conger bought of the -same Walter, 6s. 8d.; fresh salmon of the same, 8s.; eels, 10½d.; fresh fish -bought of John Wheller, ‘fisher,’ 2s.; ditto, of Adam Frost, 9s.; ditto, -bought of a stranger, 2s. 8d.; beans purchased, 9d.; divers spices, <i>i.e.</i> saffron, -cinnamon, sanders, 12½d.; salt, 2d.; mustard, 2½d.; vinegar, 1d.; tallow, 2d.; -wood, 18d.; coals, 3½d.; paid to Philip the cook, 2s.; to four labourers, -2s. 6d.; to three minstrels, 3s. 4d.; for rushes to strew the hall, 4d.; three -gallons and one pint of wine, 19d.; cheese, 8d.” Making in all a total of -£3, 4s. 3½d. This, no doubt, represented a large sum in those days, but it is -as well to remember that at this time the guild consisted of 170 men and -women, and the cost of the feast was not one-sixth part of the annual income.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_345" id="Footnote_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> Harl. MS. 4626, f. 26.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_346" id="Footnote_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> Ibid., f. 29. This was confiscated to the Crown on the dissolution of the -Guilds and Fraternities under Edward VI.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_347" id="Footnote_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> <i>Introduction to English Economic History</i> (2nd ed.), i. pp. 100-101.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_348" id="Footnote_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> <i>Old Crown House</i>, p. 36, cf. pp. 37-39.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_349" id="Footnote_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> See the remarks in regard to France of M. Charles de Ribbe, <i>La Société -Provençale à la fin du moyen age</i>, 1898, p. 60. Speaking of the fifteenth-century -wills, he says: “Nous en avons lu un grand nombre, et nous avons -été frappé de la haute inspiration, parfois meme du talent, avec lesquels des -notaires de village savaient traduire les élans de foi et de piété dont ils étaient -les interprètes chez leurs clients.… Cette foi et cette piété; trouvé d’abord -leur expression dans le vénérable signe de la sainte croix (lequel est plus -d’une fois figuré graphiquement). Suit la recommandation de l’âme à Dieu -Créateur du ciel et de la terre, au Christ rédempteur, à la Vierge Marie,” &c. -(p. 91).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_350" id="Footnote_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> <i>Testamenta Eboracensia</i> (Surtees Society), vol. iv. p. 21.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_351" id="Footnote_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> Ibid., p. 127.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_352" id="Footnote_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Ibid., p. 127.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_353" id="Footnote_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> Ibid., p. 170.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_354" id="Footnote_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> Ibid., p. 27.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_355" id="Footnote_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> Ibid., p. 60.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_356" id="Footnote_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> Ibid., p. 335.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_357" id="Footnote_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> Ibid., p. 277.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_358" id="Footnote_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> Ibid., p. 139, <i>seqq.</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_359" id="Footnote_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> Ibid., p. 61 and <i>note</i>.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_360" id="Footnote_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> Ibid., p. 69.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_361" id="Footnote_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> Ibid., p. 89.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_362" id="Footnote_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> Ibid., p. 132.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_363" id="Footnote_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> Ibid., p. 149.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_364" id="Footnote_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> Ibid., p. 208.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_365" id="Footnote_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> Ibid., p. 215.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_366" id="Footnote_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> Ibid., p. 230.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_367" id="Footnote_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> Ibid., p. 119.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_368" id="Footnote_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> Ibid., p. 160.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_369" id="Footnote_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> B. Mus. Harl. MS. 670, f. 77 b.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_370" id="Footnote_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> <i>Yorkshire Chantry Surveys</i> (Surtees Soc.), ii., preface, p. xiv.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_371" id="Footnote_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> <i>The Economic Interpretation of History</i>, p. 306.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_372" id="Footnote_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> J. S. Burn, <i>History of Henley on Thames</i>, pp. 173-175.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_373" id="Footnote_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> R. O. Chantry Certificate, No. 13 (account for year 37 H. VIII.), No. 17.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_374" id="Footnote_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> Ibid., No. 30 and No. 95, M. 6.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_375" id="Footnote_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> Ibid., No. 37, M. 12; also No. 95, M. 7; and No. 13 (38) Mins. Accts. -2, 3, Ed. VI., shows that the king received £11, 19s. 8d. for the property of -this chapel, which was granted to Robert Swift and his brother.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_376" id="Footnote_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> R. O. Chantry Certificate, No. 45 (m. i. d.).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_377" id="Footnote_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_378" id="Footnote_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> Ibid.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_379" id="Footnote_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> Ibid. (18).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_380" id="Footnote_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> Ibid. (20).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_381" id="Footnote_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> This was owing to the recent dissolution of the Abbey.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_382" id="Footnote_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> In one case it is said: “<i>Mem.</i>: The decay of rent is caused by the -fact that most came from lands in possession of the abbey; since the dissolution -these have been sold, and the purchasers do not allow that they are liable -to pay.” The hospital called St. Parvell’s, without the south gate, also -had been dissolved by Henry VIII., and the property granted to Sir George -Somerset (6th July, 37 H. VIII.). It had produced £16, 13s. 4d. a year, with -£5, 10s. “paid out of the late abbey of Bury to the sustentation of the poor.” -The whole charity, of course, by the dissolution of the abbey and the grant of -the remaining property as above, had come to an end.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_383" id="Footnote_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> Ibid. (No. 44).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_384" id="Footnote_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> <i>Yorkshire Chantry Surveys</i> (Surtees Soc.), p. 213.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_385" id="Footnote_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> Ibid., p. 214.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_386" id="Footnote_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> Ibid., p. 215.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_387" id="Footnote_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> Ibid., p. 216.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_388" id="Footnote_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> Ibid., p. 11.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_389" id="Footnote_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> Ibid., p. 12.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_390" id="Footnote_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> Ibid., p. 13.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_391" id="Footnote_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> <i>Gentleman’s Magazine</i>, vol. lxxxii., ii. 318. Quoted in J. Gough Nichol’s -<i>Pilgrimages</i>, &c. Introduction, xcv.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_392" id="Footnote_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> Lancelot Rydley. <i>Exposition in the Epistell of Jude.</i> London, -Thomas Gybson, 1538, sig. B. v. In sermons and writings, pre-Reformation -ecclesiastics strove to impress upon the minds of the people the true -principles of devotion to shrines and relics of the saints. To take one -example beyond what is given above. In <i>The Art of Good Lyvyng and -Good Deyng</i>, printed in 1503, the writer says: “We should also honour the -places that are holy, and the relics of holy bodies of saints and their images, -not for themselves, but for that in seeing them we show honour to what it -represents, the dread reverence, honour and love of God, after the intention -of Holy Church, otherwise it were idolatry” (fol. 6).</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_393" id="Footnote_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> <i>A Commentary in Englyshe upon the Ephesians</i>, 1540, sig. A. ii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_394" id="Footnote_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> P. 190.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_395" id="Footnote_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> <i>Opera omnia</i> (ed. Leclerc), tom. v., col. 26.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_396" id="Footnote_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> Col. 37.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_397" id="Footnote_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> <i>A treatise concerning the division between the spiritualitie and the temporalitie.</i> -London, R. Redman (1532?), fol. 27.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_398" id="Footnote_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> <i>Dyaloge in Englyshe</i>, 1531. Part 3, fol. 23.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_399" id="Footnote_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> English Works, p. 476.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_400" id="Footnote_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> Stephen Gardiner. <i>A declaration of such true articles as George Joye -hath gone about to confute as false.</i> 1546, f. 2.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_401" id="Footnote_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> <i>Consilium de emendanda ecclesia</i> (Ed. 1538), sig. B. 4.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_402" id="Footnote_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> Jacobi Sadoletti, <i>Opera Omnia</i>, Verona (1737). Tom ii., p. 437.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_403" id="Footnote_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> It is said to be “printed at Jericho in the land of Promes, by Thomas -Treuth.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_404" id="Footnote_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> The English Testament.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_405" id="Footnote_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> Sig. A. 3.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_406" id="Footnote_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> Ibid., sig. A. 4.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_407" id="Footnote_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> Ibid., sigs. A. 5 d., A. 6 d.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_408" id="Footnote_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> Ibid., sig. B. i.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_409" id="Footnote_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> Ibid., sig. B. ii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_410" id="Footnote_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> Ibid., sig. B. viii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_411" id="Footnote_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> Sig. D. vii.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_412" id="Footnote_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> Ibid., sig. D. viii.</p> -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[450]</a></span></p> - -<h2>INDEX</h2> - -<ul> -<li class="ifrst">Abbots, display in elections of, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="indx">Abraham, religious play, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li> -<li class="indx">Adrian VI., Pope, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> -<li class="indx">Aggeus, Augustine, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> -<li class="indx">Aldine press, at Venice, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="indx">Aldus, printer, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="indx">Alexander VI., Pope, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> -<li class="indx">Alms, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="indx">Alton, foundation for obits at, <a href="#Page_403">403-404</a></li> -<li class="indx">Amberbach, printer, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="indx">Amyas Chantry, <a href="#Page_401">401-402</a></li> -<li class="indx">Angels, devotion to, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> -<li class="indx">Anti-clerical spirit, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> -<li class="indx">Antoninus, St., Archbishop of Florence, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="indx">“Apology” of Sir Thomas More, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -<li class="indx">Archæology, pagan and Christian, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> -<li class="indx">Architecture, pre-Reformation activity in, <a href="#Page_9">9-10</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">decline of the art, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> -<li class="indx">Aretino, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="indx">Art, great activity of, prior to Reformation, <a href="#Page_10">10-12</a></li> -<li class="indx">Arundel, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> -<li class="indx">Ashley, Mr. W. J., cited, <a href="#Page_379">379</a></li> -<li class="indx">Augmentation, Court of, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Badsworth, chantry foundation at, <a href="#Page_401">401</a></li> -<li class="indx">Baigent, Mr. F. T., <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Baker, mediæval fresco painter, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> -<li class="indx">Baptism, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="indx">Barbarus, Hermolaus, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> -<li class="indx">Barnes, Friar, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> -<li class="indx">Basle, printing-press at, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> -<li class="indx">Baynard’s Castle, meeting at, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="indx">Beccles, foundation at, <a href="#Page_408">408</a></li> -<li class="indx">Becket, Thomas, <a href="#Page_441">441</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bede-roll, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> -<li class="indx">Benedict XII., <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> -<li class="indx">Benedictine Order, average of graduates at Oxford, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="indx">Benefices, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> -<li class="indx">Benefit of clergy, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bequests, mediæval, <a href="#Page_389">389</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Bere, Abbot, of Glastonbury, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Berthelet, publisher, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bible, the Bishops’, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bible, Erasmus’s translation, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Bible, English, hostility to, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">evidence of Catholic acceptance, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">supposed early Catholic version, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">persecutions for possession examined, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">translations authorised, <a href="#Page_242">242-243</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247-249</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">not prohibited, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275-276</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">absence of popular demand for, <a href="#Page_250">250-251</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Tyndale’s version and Luther’s share in it, <a href="#Page_252">252</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">useless without interpretation, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bishops, and ordination, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and spiritual jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">obstacles to Reformation, <a href="#Page_444">444</a></li> -<li class="indx">Blackfriars, meetings at, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bombasius, Paul, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bond, William, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> -<li class="indx">Boniface VIII., Pope, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> -<li class="indx">Books, heretical, prohibited, <a href="#Page_213">213-216</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">More on heretical, <a href="#Page_218">218</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">earliest printed largely religious, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bourbon, Duke of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> -<li class="indx">Boyer, Sebastian, Court physician, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="indx">Brentano, Mr., cited, <a href="#Page_362">362-363</a></li> -<li class="indx">Brethren of St. John’s, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and Hospital, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bretton, William, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Brewer, Mr., cited, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211-212</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> -<li class="indx">Brotherhoods, Parish, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[451]</a></span>Brunfels, Otto, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> -<li class="indx">Brygott, Richard, prior of Westacre, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bucer, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> -<li class="indx">Burials, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> -<li class="indx">Burnet, historian, cited, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="indx">Bury St. Edmunds, chantries at, <a href="#Page_409">409</a></li> -<li class="indx">Butley, Priory of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Calendar of papers, domestic and foreign, of reign of Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cambray, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cambridge, portions of Prior Selling’s library at, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">monastic students at, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">petition of scholars to the king, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> -<li class="indx">Campeggio, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -<li class="indx">Canterbury, Archbishop of, on clerical immunity, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> -<li class="indx"><a name="Canterbury" id="Canterbury"></a>Canterbury, entertainment of Emperor Manuel at Christchurch, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Selling and Hadley, monks of Christchurch, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Canterbury College at Oxford, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">St. Augustine’s and the literary movement, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> -<li class="indx">Caraffa, Cardinal, afterwards Paul IV., <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li> -<li class="indx">Carmelites, origin, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">responsibility for Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="indx">Caxton, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Chalcocondylas, Demetrius, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> -<li class="indx">Chantries, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a></li> -<li class="indx">Chapels of ease, <a href="#Page_413">413</a></li> -<li class="indx">Chaplains, evil effects of their position, <a href="#Page_138">138-139</a></li> -<li class="indx">Charnock, Prior, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> -<li class="indx">Chaucer, cited, <a href="#Page_415">415</a></li> -<li class="indx">Children, and idols, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">religious instruction of, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313-314</a></li> -<li class="indx">Christchurch, <i>see</i> <a href="#Canterbury">Canterbury</a></li> -<li class="indx">Christianity and the classical revival, <a href="#Page_203">203-206</a></li> -<li class="indx">Chrysoloras, Manuel, Greek scholar, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Chrysostom, St., cited, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> -<li class="indx">Church, position of, prior to Reformation, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">need of reform in, <a href="#Page_5">5</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to learning, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35-38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">hostility to “New Learning” explained, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">limits of jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and disputations entailed, <a href="#Page_51"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">State right to regulate temporalities of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">king as supreme head, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">rights, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">what constitutes, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">riches coveted, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Pope as head, <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Papal Commission appointed to save, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">evils in, and how caused, <a href="#Page_105">105-106</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">abuses pointed out by Commission, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">limitations of king’s Headship, <a href="#Page_111">111-112</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">controversy on riches of, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus’s attitude to, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_199">199-200</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus regarded as an enemy to, <a href="#Page_175">175-176</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Lutheran tenets concerning, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">need of reform obscured by Reformation, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attack on, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to vernacular Bibles, <a href="#Page_236">236</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_245">245-248</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">but hostility to denied, <a href="#Page_242">242-243</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246-247</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">religious teaching prior to Reformation, <a href="#Page_278">278</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">charges against on points of worship, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302-305</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">bequests to, <a href="#Page_390">390</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">suggested disposal of wealth of, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">abuses in, <a href="#Page_415">415</a></li> -<li class="indx">Church of Christ, sermon on, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> -<li class="indx">Church-building, activity of, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">contributions of people towards bequests for, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">decoration, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="indx">Church House, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> -<li class="indx">Churchyards, trees and grass in, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cicero, and the classical revival, <a href="#Page_203">203-206</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Ciceroniana</i> of Erasmus, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> -<li class="indx">Clark, Dr. John, English ambassador, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> -<li class="indx">Classical revival, Erasmus on, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">absurdities of, <a href="#Page_203">203-204</a></li> -<li class="indx">Claymond, John, Greek scholar, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Clement, John, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Clement, Pope, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Clergy, alleged encouragement of ignorance, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">mortuary dues, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140-144</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“benefit,” <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">rights and duties, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65-70</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">ordinations, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148-153</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">exemptions, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">immunity, <a href="#Page_66">66</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">not the Church, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">position as individuals, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attack on their temporalities, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">laity’s grievance against, <a href="#Page_114">114</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and its causes, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">defended by More, <a href="#Page_120">120-121</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">alleged mercenary spirit, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and idle laxity of living, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">prayers, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">alms, <a href="#Page_132">132-133</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">fasting and mortification, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">charges of corruption, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">lack of definite work, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">in households of laity, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">tithe exactions, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">faults, <a href="#Page_143">143-145</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[452]</a></span>alleged immorality, <a href="#Page_145">145-146</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">charge of simony, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Mr. Brewer cited on, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">ignorance of, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">hostility to vernacular scriptures examined, <a href="#Page_236">236</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and reasons for not encouraging, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">extent and character of their religious teaching, <a href="#Page_280">280</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books used by for teaching, <a href="#Page_309">309</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">chantry clergy, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405-409</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">pilgrimages and relics maintained by, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and motives for, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a></li> -<li class="indx">“Clericus,” <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cloth, clerical, State’s right to legislate on, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cochlæus, John, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Colet, Dean, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> -<li class="indx">Commerce, progress not due to Reformation, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> -<li class="indx">Commissioners, royal, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></li> -<li class="indx">Compostella, pilgrimages to, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a></li> -<li class="indx">Concordat, between Leo X. and Francis I., <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> -<li class="indx">Concubines, alleged licences for, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="indx">Confession, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> -<li class="indx">Congregation, denoting church, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_262">262-266</a></li> -<li class="indx">Conscience, examinations of, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> -<li class="indx">Constantine, donation to Pope, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> -<li class="indx">Constantine, George, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> -<li class="indx">Constantinople, effect of fall of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="indx">Constitution, Provincial, <a href="#Page_237">237-239</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> -<li class="indx">Contarini, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Convocation, grant of headship of Church to the king, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">enactment regarding ordination, <a href="#Page_148">148-149</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">powers of legislation transferred to Crown, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">draws up list of heretical books, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> -<li class="indx">Corpus Christi, feast of, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">procession of guilds, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">at Corunna, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> -<li class="indx">Council of Trent, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li> -<li class="indx">Courts, ecclesiastical, subject to Pope, <a href="#Page_80">80-81</a></li> -<li class="indx">Coverdale, Myles, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cranmer and English Bible, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on hearing mass, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> -<li class="indx">Creeping to the Cross, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> -<li class="indx">Criticism in the Church, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> -<li class="indx">Croke, Richard, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Cromwell, Thomas, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cross, honour to on Good Friday, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> -<li class="indx">Crowley, quoted, <a href="#Page_382">382</a></li> -<li class="indx">Crucifix, reverence of image of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289-290</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">not an idol, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> -<li class="indx">Curates and mortuaries, <a href="#Page_140">140-141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and tithes, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> -<li class="indx">Cuthbert, Bishop, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Dalton, John, of Hull, will of, <a href="#Page_391">391</a></li> -<li class="indx">Dead, prayers for, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a></li> -<li class="indx">De Athegua, George, Bishop, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">De Burgo, John, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="indx">Dee, Dr., supplication to Queen Mary, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Defence of Peace</i>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Degree, advantage of to religious, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> -<li class="indx">De Melton, William, Chancellor of York, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="indx">De Ribbe, M. Charles, on wills, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Determinations of the Universities</i>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Deventer, school, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> -<li class="indx">De Worde, Wynkyn, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> -<li class="indx">Digon, John, Canterbury monk, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Dislike of clergy, alleged, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">reasons for, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="indx">Dispensations, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Dives et Pauper</i>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> -<li class="indx">Division between spirituality and temporality, Saint-German’s work on, <a href="#Page_115">115</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="indx">Divorce question, the, and its share in Reformation, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Doctors of divinity, Erasmus’s satire on, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="indx">Döllinger, Dr., cited, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="indx">Dominicans, the, and Erasmus, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">responsibility for Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="indx">Dorpius, Marten, <a href="#Page_169">169-170</a></li> -<li class="indx">Dues of clergy, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="indx">Dunstan’s, St., Canterbury, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">parish accounts, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Dyalogue</i> of Saint-German, <a href="#Page_53">53</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of More, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Ecclesiastical authority, alleged discontent of laity under, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">limits of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> -<li class="indx">Ecclesiastical discipline, inquiry into, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li> -<li class="indx">Ecclesiastics, attitude to revival of learning, <a href="#Page_36">36-38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[453]</a></span>resistance to encroachment, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus’s satire on, <a href="#Page_201">201</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to English Bible, <a href="#Page_236">236</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">alleged encouragement of ignorance, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="indx">Edgworth, Roger, preacher, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> -<li class="indx">Education, fostered by monasteries, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Enconium Moriæ</i>, of Erasmus, <a href="#Page_161">161-162</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Erasmus, attitude to Reformation, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">made responsible for “New Learning,” <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">but attitude to defined, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his chief support in England, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">position and views, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">considered a Reformer, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180-181</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">birth and education, <a href="#Page_156">156-157</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">joins order of St. Augustine, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">ordained, <a href="#Page_157"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">unfitness for religious life, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">hostility to religious orders, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">denounces enticing of youths into cloister, <a href="#Page_158"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">leaves the religious life, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">takes pupils, <a href="#Page_159"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">at Oxford, <a href="#Page_159">159-160</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">in London, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">visits Italy, <a href="#Page_160"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his <i>Adagia</i>, <a href="#Page_160"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">visits Venice, <a href="#Page_160"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">returns to London, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his <i>Enconium Moriæ</i>, <a href="#Page_161">161-162</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">at Cambridge, <a href="#Page_161">161-162</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">testimony to Archbishop Warham’s kindness, <a href="#Page_162">162-163</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">praise of English ecclesiastics, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">amounts received from English friends, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">again leaves England, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">settles at Basle, <a href="#Page_165"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">superintends Froben’s press, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to Church, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_199">199-200</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">translation of New Testament, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attacks on, <a href="#Page_173">173</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">regarded as an enemy to the Church, <a href="#Page_175">175-176</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">opposition to his revival of Greek, <a href="#Page_177">177-178</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">defends himself to the Pope, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181-182</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">disclaims connection with Luther, <a href="#Page_180">180-182</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195-198</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">opposition to national churches, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to Luther, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196-198</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attacks Luther, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">replies to von Hutten’s attacks, <a href="#Page_187">187</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to the Pope, <a href="#Page_189">189-190</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194-195</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attacks Lutheran motives, <a href="#Page_191">191-192</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">letter to Bishop Marlianus on attitude to Luther, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">general attitude to religious movement of his age, <a href="#Page_200">200</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and to the classical revival, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on pilgrimages and relics, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on devotion to saints, <a href="#Page_431">431</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Eton College Chapel, wall paintings of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> -<li class="indx">Evensong, said before noon, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> -<li class="indx">Exemptions of clergy, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Fairs, <a href="#Page_378">378</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">at Winchester, <a href="#Page_379">379</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Faith, The Olde, of Great Brittayne and the New Learning of England</i>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Fasting, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> -<li class="indx">Ferguson, Mr., quoted on architectural art, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> -<li class="indx">Fineux, Chief-Justice, tries John Savage, <a href="#Page_57">57</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">opinion on spiritual courts, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> -<li class="indx">Fisher, Bishop, love of learning, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">object in studying Greek, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">views on Papal supremacy, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books against Luther, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">execution, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">sermon on, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on moral character of religious, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">invitation to Erasmus, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on Erasmus’s New Testament, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">supports study of Greek, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> -<li class="indx">Fisher, Rev. J., <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Fleming, Robert, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="indx">Foxe, cited, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> -<li class="indx">Francis I., <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> -<li class="indx">Francis, Order of St., <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> -<li class="indx">Free, John, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Frith, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> -<li class="indx">Froben, printer, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="indx">Froude, on Erasmus’s New Testament, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> -<li class="indx">Funerals, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Gairdner, James, cited on jurisdiction of Pope, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on the divorce question, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on Reformation influences, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Gardiner, Bishop, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li> -<li class="indx">Gardynare, Germen, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> -<li class="indx">Garlekhithe, St. James, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> -<li class="indx">German reformers, books prohibited, <a href="#Page_214">214-215</a></li> -<li class="indx">Gibbon, cited, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Glasse of Truth</i>, <a href="#Page_101">101-102</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Glastonbury monastery, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> -<li class="indx">Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="indx">God, love of, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[454]</a></span>worship of, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> -<li class="indx">Goldstone, Reginald, monk, companion of Selling, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="indx">Goldstone, Thomas, Prior of Christchurch, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="indx">Gonville Hall, Cambridge, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> -<li class="indx">Good Friday observances, <a href="#Page_302">302-303</a></li> -<li class="indx">Government, true principle of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> -<li class="indx">Grace at meals, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> -<li class="indx">Graduates at Oxford, register of, <a href="#Page_41">41-42</a></li> -<li class="indx">Greek emperors, journeys to courts of Western Europe, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="indx">Greek, influence in revival of learning, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">first schools of the revival, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">effect of fall of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_23">23-24</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">decline in study of after Reformation, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus and the Greek Testament, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">outcry against studies in, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> -<li class="indx">Green, historian, cited, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Gregory VII., Pope, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> -<li class="indx">Grocyn, William, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="indx">Grudge of laity against ecclesiastics, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> -<li class="indx">Guardian angel, prayer to, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="indx">Guarini, pupil of Chrysoloras, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="indx">Guilds, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">founded upon principle of Christian brotherhood, <a href="#Page_352">352</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">trade, and religious, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">benefit societies, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">their work, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">constitution, <a href="#Page_366">366</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“Pinners’” Guild, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">accounts, <a href="#Page_369">369-370</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">fees, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Guild of Tailors, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">members, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">expenditure, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">their part in Corpus Christi processions, <a href="#Page_373">373-374</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">brethren of St. John’s, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">feasts, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Candlemas Guild of Bury St. Edmunds, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">bequests, <a href="#Page_377">377-378</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">connection with fairs, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">final destruction, <a href="#Page_380">380</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Hadley, William, companion of Prior Selling, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">studies at foreign universities, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">returns to Christchurch, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="indx">Hair shirts, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> -<li class="indx">Headship of the Church, the king’s, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> -<li class="indx">Hegius, Alexander, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> -<li class="indx">Henley on Thames, chantries at, <a href="#Page_405">405</a></li> -<li class="indx">Henry IV., <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> -<li class="indx">Henry VII. obtains Bull from Innocent VIII., <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">purchases pardon for Westminster and Savoy, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> -<li class="indx">Henry VIII., calendar of papers of reign, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">exerts his influence on behalf of learning, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">determined to maintain rights of Crown, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">book against Luther, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">defends Church, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">reputed book, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">petition of Commons, &c., against spirituality, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">quarrel with Rome on divorce question, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">forbids Lutheran books, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">authorises English Bibles, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">destroys the guilds, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">the reformers and, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li> -<li class="indx">Heresy, spread by books, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="indx">Hobhouse, Bishop, cited, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> -<li class="indx">Holidays, determined by ecclesiastical law, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> -<li class="indx">Holy Land, pilgrimages to, <a href="#Page_416">416</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Hortulus Animæ</i>, the, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Huchin, William, <i>see</i> <a href="#Tyndale">Tyndale</a></li> -<li class="indx">Hunn, Richard, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="indx">Hunting, by priests, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> -<li class="indx">Hutton, Rev. W. H., cited, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Hytton, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Idolatry, charges of, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> -<li class="indx">Idols, distinguished from images, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_305">305-306</a></li> -<li class="indx">Ignorance, alleged prevalence of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="indx">Images, confused with idols, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">veneration of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Immunity of clergy, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Indulgences, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Innocent VIII. grants Bull to Henry VII., <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="ifrst">Janssen, historian, cited, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> -<li class="indx">Jerome, St., corrections in Testament, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">cited on Papal supremacy, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="indx">Jessop, Dr., cited, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on popular gifts to churches, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on poverty, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> -<li class="indx">Jesus, bowing at name of, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> -<li class="indx">Joye, George, or Clarke, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257-258</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li> -<li class="indx">Judges, English prelates as, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> -<li class="indx">Julius II., Pope, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> -<li class="indx">Jurisdiction, limits of ecclesiastical and lay, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">leading factor in Reformation, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Papal, <a href="#Page_78">78</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Roman curia as court of appeal, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Katherine, Queen, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[455]</a></span>Kent, Holy Maid of, <a href="#Page_441">441</a></li> -<li class="indx">King’s power, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his headship of Church, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> -<li class="indx">Knowledge, result of increase of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Laity, Reformation opposed to convictions of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">alleged disaffection to Church, <a href="#Page_1"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and reasons advanced, <a href="#Page_1"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to Church’s jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">absence of enthusiasm among in doctrinal disputes, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">grudge against ecclesiastics, <a href="#Page_114">114</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">charge clergy with mercenary spirit, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">dislike of clergy, and reasons for, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“mortuaries” a great offence to, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="indx">Langton, Thomas, Bishop of Winchester, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Languages, battle of, <a href="#Page_176">176-179</a></li> -<li class="indx">Laocöon, the, statue of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Latimer, William, Bishop, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">lawsuits, <a href="#Page_348">348</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">“Latria,” <a href="#Page_294">294-304</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306-307</a></li> -<li class="indx">Lawyers, ecclesiastical, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> -<li class="indx">Learning, revival not due to Reformation, <a href="#Page_7">7-8</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">adverse effects of Reformation on, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198-199</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“New Learning” applied only to religious teaching, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Church’s attitude to learning, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus on Reformation’s effect on, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">general aspect of revival, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Greek influence in, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">subsequent progress, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">occasional pulpit denunciations, <a href="#Page_35"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">slight nature of opposition, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">laymen associated with revival, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">fostered by monasteries, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">condition of things at universities, <a href="#Page_41">41-44</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">education assisted by religious houses, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">decay of after Reformation, <a href="#Page_45">45-48</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">revival of, associated with Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">but without cause, <a href="#Page_180">180-181</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus’s attitude to revival of letters, <a href="#Page_203">203-207</a></li> -<li class="indx">Lee, Edward, afterwards Archbishop of York, <a href="#Page_173">173-174</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> -<li class="indx">Leeds, chantries at, <a href="#Page_411">411-412</a></li> -<li class="indx">Leland, cited, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="indx">Leo X., Pope, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a></li> -<li class="indx">Leo XIII., Pope, cited, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Leonicenus, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> -<li class="indx">Leonicus, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Leverton, parish of, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Church accounts, <a href="#Page_343">343</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Lewes, Cluniac House at, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="indx">Liberty advocated by Luther, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> -<li class="indx">Libraries, destruction of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Dr. Dee’s supplication to Queen Mary, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">national library suggested, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> -<li class="indx">Life, daily rules of, <a href="#Page_286">286-287</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> -<li class="indx">Lilly, George, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Linacre, pupil of Selling, sketch of early life, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">accompanies Selling to Italy, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>; becomes pupil of Politian, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">at Rome, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">returns to Oxford, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">appointed Court physician, <a href="#Page_30"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">receives priest’s orders, <a href="#Page_30"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">friend of Erasmus, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> -<li class="indx">Liveries for chaplains, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="indx">Lollards, the, <a href="#Page_209">209</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="indx">London, Mors’s Lamentation against, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li> -<li class="indx">Longland, Bishop, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Louvain, University of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> -<li class="indx">Love of God, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> -<li class="indx">Luce, M. Siméon, cited, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> -<li class="indx">Lupset, Thomas, sketch of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on study of Bible, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> -<li class="indx">Luther, Martin, aims of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">cited on pre-Reformation progress, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“New Learning” inculcated by, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books against, <a href="#Page_84">84-85</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">sermon against, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Henry VIII. opposes, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">method of, <a href="#Page_108">108-109</a>, <i>note</i>; More and Lutherans, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">considered disciple of Erasmus, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">revival of letters not connected with his movement, <a href="#Page_180">180-181</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus’s repudiation of, <a href="#Page_180">180-182</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195-198</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">efforts to win over Erasmus, <a href="#Page_183">183-184</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attacked by Erasmus, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191-192</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">supported by von Hutten, <a href="#Page_186">186</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">tenets of Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">methods of attacking condemned, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">who responsible for his movement, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">effects of Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and spread of, <a href="#Page_212">212-213</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books prohibited, <a href="#Page_213">213-215</a>; disciples, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his book, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">“New Learning” and, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">advocacy of liberty, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">evils of Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_228">228-230</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and of Lutheran literature, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Tyndale’s connection with, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">share in Tyndale’s Testament, <a href="#Page_252">252-255</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">direction of his remonstrances, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> -<li class="indx">Lutheranism, tenets of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">responsibility for, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">effects of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">evils of, <a href="#Page_228">228-230</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">expectations of English Lutherans, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a></li> -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[456]</a></span>Lyndwood, cited, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Mace, George, canon of Westacre, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> -<li class="indx">Maitland, Professor, quoted on pre-Reformation position of the Pope, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -<li class="indx">Manuel, Greek Emperor, arrival at Canterbury, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mary Magdalene, religious play, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li> -<li class="indx">Marlianus, Bishop, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="indx">Marshall, William, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> -<li class="indx">Marsilius of Padua, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Mary, Queen, attempt to restore learning under, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mass, the, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> -<li class="indx">Matrimony, State regulation of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Hytton’s view of, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="indx">Matthew, Simon, preacher, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> -<li class="indx">Medici, Lorenzo de, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mentz, Cardinal Archbishop of, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> -<li class="indx">Metal-working, inventions in, <a href="#Page_428">428</a></li> -<li class="indx">“Miles,” mouthpiece of Saint-German, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> -<li class="indx">Miracles, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a></li> -<li class="indx">Monasteries, scholarship in, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">members of at universities, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Monks, hostile to Erasmus, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus quoted on, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">pilgrimages and relics maintained by, <a href="#Page_415">415</a></li> -<li class="indx">Morality, of clergy, <a href="#Page_145">145-146</a></li> -<li class="indx">More, Sir Thomas, attitude to Reformation, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and to learning, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35-37</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">connection with Christchurch, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">at Oxford, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on immunity of clergy, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his “Apology,” <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on spiritual authority, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on Papal supremacy, <a href="#Page_85">85</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on nature of the Church, <a href="#Page_86">86</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">against Friar Barnes, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">book against Luther, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">sermon on, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">controversy on clergy and laity, <a href="#Page_115">115</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on quarrels between religious, <a href="#Page_116">116-117</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">defends clergy, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and replies to allegation of their mercenary spirit, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and of their idle laxity of life, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on abuses in religious life, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on prayers and alms of clergy, <a href="#Page_131">131-135</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">defends clergy from charges of corruption, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on faults of clergy, <a href="#Page_143">143-145</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and on their morality, <a href="#Page_145">145-146</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">visited by Erasmus, <a href="#Page_160">160-161</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">share in Erasmus’s <i>Enconium Moriæ</i>, <a href="#Page_161">161-162</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">defends Erasmus’s translation of New Testament, <a href="#Page_169">169-170</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">defends Greek studies, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">urges Erasmus against Luther, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">opinion of Erasmus’s <i>Enconium Moriæ</i>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on spread of heresy, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on “New Learning” and Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on Luther’s advocacy of liberty, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on evils of Lutheranism, <a href="#Page_228">228-230</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on English Bible, <a href="#Page_237">237</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on case of Richard Hunn, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on Church’s acceptance of vernacular Bibles, <a href="#Page_242">242-243</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247-249</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and on false translations, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and reasons for condemnation of Tyndale’s version, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260-270</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on reverence of images, <a href="#Page_289">289-291</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293-298</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on prayer, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on pilgrimages, <a href="#Page_419">419</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on relics, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on indulgences, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li> -<li class="indx">Morebath, village of, well-supported church, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mors, Roderigo, his “Lamentation,” <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mortality among pilgrims, <a href="#Page_418">418</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mortmain, lands in, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mortuaries, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="indx">Morysine, Richard, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Mountjoy, Lord, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> -<li class="indx">Music, pre-Reformation progress in, <a href="#Page_12">12-13</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Richard Pace quoted on, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> -<li class="indx">Mystery plays, <a href="#Page_316">316</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="ifrst">National churches, opposed by Erasmus, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">National feeling and the Papacy, <a href="#Page_82">82</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">National library, suggested, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> -<li class="indx">Nevill, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> -<li class="indx">“New Learning” defined, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">its purely religious application, <a href="#Page_16">16</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">result of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">founded on Luther’s teaching, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="indx">New Testament, Erasmus’s translation, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">English versions destroyed, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Tyndale version, and Luther’s share in it, <a href="#Page_252">252</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Nicholas V., Pope, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="indx">Nicholas of Cusa, reforms in Germany, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">opinion on Constantine’s gift to Pope, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="indx">“Noah and his Sons,” religious play, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li> -<li class="indx">Nobility, attitude to clergy, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> -<li class="indx">Norwich, Visitations of Diocese of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[457]</a></span>Benedictine Cathedral Priory of, <a href="#Page_43"><i>ibid.</i></a></li> -<li class="indx">Nottinghamshire, chantries in, <a href="#Page_401">401-402</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Obits, <a href="#Page_399">399</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Œcolampadius, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> -<li class="indx">“Open Bible,” <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="indx">Orders, religious, their graduates at Oxford, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">suggested alterations in constitutions, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">hostility of Erasmus, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> -<li class="indx">Ordinations, proposed prohibition regarding, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">abuses in, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">action by Convocation, <a href="#Page_148">148-149</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">William de Melton on, <a href="#Page_149">149-153</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">reformers on, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> -<li class="indx">Oxford, Register of Graduates at, <a href="#Page_41">41-42</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">refounding of Durham College at, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">heresy at, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Constitution or Synod of, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Pace, Richard, befriended by Bishop Langton, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his <i>De Fructu</i>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">at foreign universities, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">the Pope’s library, <a href="#Page_34"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">remarks on music, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">indebtedness to Abbot Bere, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">supports Greek studies, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pagula, Walter, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="indx">Papal Commissions, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a></li> -<li class="indx">Papal jurisdiction, meaning of renunciation, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">general acceptance, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books against, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> -<li class="indx">Papal prerogatives, in England, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107-108</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">in France, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="indx">Papal supremacy, <a href="#Page_83">83</a> et seq.;</li> -<li class="isub1">rejection of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">English belief in, <a href="#Page_93">93-95</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">rejection defended by Bishop Tunstall, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus on, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_194">194-195</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pardons, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Parish churches, sanctuary privileges, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">religious teaching in, <a href="#Page_280">280</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Parish life, <a href="#Page_323">323</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">devotion of people, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">care of the churches, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">raising of money, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">brotherhoods, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> -<li class="indx">Parliament, legislation on mortuaries, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and on immunity of clergy, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">need for settlement of religious divisions, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">suggested legislation, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">right of legislation, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">transfers powers of Convocation to Crown, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">petition of Commons against spirituality, <a href="#Page_153"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">authorises destruction of guilds, <a href="#Page_380">380</a></li> -<li class="indx">Paul III., Pope, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a></li> -<li class="indx">Paul IV., Pope, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li> -<li class="indx">Payment for “Pardons,” <a href="#Page_435">435</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Peckham, or Pecham, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> -<li class="indx">Penance, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pensions, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Pensioners, university, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pepwell, publisher, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Petition of House of Commons against spirituality, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Pilgrimage of Perfection</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pilgrimages, State supervision urged, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">objections to, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">importance, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">foreign, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">to England, <a href="#Page_418">418</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pincern, Bartolomeo, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pinners, Guild of, <a href="#Page_368">368-369</a></li> -<li class="indx">Plays, mystery, <a href="#Page_316">316</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pocket, the people’s, a clue to religious changes, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pole, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="indx">Politian, Angelo, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pomeranus, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> -<li class="indx">Poor, right to benefices, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">injury to by confiscations, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">bequests to, <a href="#Page_397">397-398</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pope, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pope, the, and Sanctuary, <a href="#Page_55">55</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">pre-Reformation loyalty to, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">powers in England before Reformation, <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">spiritual and temporal power in conflict, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">position as head of Church, <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">rejection of his supremacy, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">imprisoned, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">English acceptance of his supremacy, <a href="#Page_93">93-95</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Constantine’s gift to, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">wars of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">temporal power of, <a href="#Page_97">97-100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103-104</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">authority as Peter’s successor, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99-100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">works against character of, <a href="#Page_101">101-104</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">commission appointed by, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">how deceived, <a href="#Page_105"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">recommendations of commission, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">sermon against, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">object of attacks on, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus’s attitude to, <a href="#Page_189">189-190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193-195</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus’s satire on, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">refuses to grant Henry’s divorce, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Powell, Edward, theologian, quoted on papal supremacy, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> -<li class="indx">Power, spiritual and temporal, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72-73</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">dialogue on, <a href="#Page_73">73</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">the king’s, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[458]</a></span><i>Praier and Complaynte of the Ploweman</i>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> -<li class="indx">Prayers, for Pope, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of clergy and religious, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Sir Thos. More on, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">daily, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">for the dead, <a href="#Page_399">399</a></li> -<li class="indx">Preaching at St Paul’s Cross, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">style of against Pope condemned, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">in parish churches, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">more important than mass, <a href="#Page_284">284-285</a></li> -<li class="indx">“Prick song,” or part music, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="indx">“Primer,” the, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223-224</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> -<li class="indx">Printing, responsible for spread of heresy, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">religious works predominate in earliest, <a href="#Page_315">315-316</a></li> -<li class="indx">Psalter, the, <a href="#Page_223">223-224</a></li> -<li class="indx">Purgatory, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li> -<li class="indx">Pynson, printer, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Reformation, impossibility of writing history of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">revival of letters not due to, <a href="#Page_7">7-8</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">adverse effect on learning, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">English attitude to Pope prior to, <a href="#Page_78">78-79</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">share of divorce question in, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">similar in England to Luther’s principles, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">meaning, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">share of Wycliffe and Lollards in, <a href="#Page_209">209</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">effect upon church art, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and poverty, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> -<li class="indx">Relics, honour of, <a href="#Page_415">415</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Religious, at universities, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">State interference, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">abuses among, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">reputed quarrels between, <a href="#Page_116">116-117</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">evils in constitutions, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">testimony to moral character, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Mr. Brewer cited on, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Erasmus on, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> -<li class="indx"><a name="Teaching" id="Teaching"></a>Religious teaching, alleged neglect of, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Reformation not directly connected with, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">extent and character, <a href="#Page_280">280</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">nature and effect, <a href="#Page_288">288</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books used by clergy in, <a href="#Page_309">309</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">religious plays, <a href="#Page_316">316</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Renaissance, definition of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">in England, <a href="#Page_14"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">earlier than generally supposed, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="indx">Restitution, argued, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">a case involving, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="indx">Reuchlin, <a href="#Page_180">180-181</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> -<li class="indx">Reverence of images, <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Ridley, Lancelot, commentaries on Scriptures, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_273">273-274</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on devotion to saints, <a href="#Page_422">422-423</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on pilgrimages and images, <a href="#Page_424">424</a></li> -<li class="indx">Roberts, John, his <i>Mustre of scismatyke bysshops of Rome</i>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Rogers, Mr. Thorold, cited, <a href="#Page_356">356</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_360">360-361</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></li> -<li class="indx">Rome, classical revival in, <a href="#Page_203">203-206</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">sack of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">pilgrimages to, <a href="#Page_416">416</a></li> -<li class="indx">Roper, John, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Roper, Mary and Margaret, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Roy, Friar, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> -<li class="indx">Rule of life, daily, <a href="#Page_286">286-287</a></li> -<li class="indx">Rules of religious orders, suggested examination, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Sacrament of the Altar, Dr. Richard Smythe on, <a href="#Page_216">216-217</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Hytton on, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> -<li class="indx">Sacraments, English reformers on, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attack on, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> -<li class="indx">Sadolet, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a></li> -<li class="indx">Saint-German, Christopher, lawyer, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attitude to Church, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">cited on mortuaries, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on lands in mortmain and benefices, <a href="#Page_54">54-55</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on sanctuary and benefit, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on churchyards, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on clerical duties, <a href="#Page_60"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on need for State interference, <a href="#Page_60"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on Purgatory, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on State regulation of religious life, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and of matrimony, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on miracles, <a href="#Page_62"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on other debateable questions, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on tithes, <a href="#Page_63"><i>ibid.</i></a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on power of clergy, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on king’s headship, <a href="#Page_65"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on clerical immunity, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on holidays, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his <i>Salem and Bizance</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on position of clergy as individuals, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">controversy with More, <a href="#Page_115">115</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attacks on clergy, <a href="#Page_119">119</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">alleged mercenary spirit among clergy, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on election of abbots, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on constitutions of religious orders, <a href="#Page_129"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on causes of dislike of clergy by laity, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on indulgences, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li> -<li class="indx">Saints, reverence of images of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">amount of honour due to, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">devotion to, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[459]</a></span><i>Salem and Bizance</i>, Saint-German’s <i>Dyalogue of</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -<li class="indx">Sanctuary, difficulty of the subject, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">a danger to the State, <a href="#Page_55"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">case of John Savage, <a href="#Page_56">56</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Papal Bull granted to Henry VII., <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">the subject examined by Star Chamber, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="indx">Savage, John, his plea of sanctuary, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> -<li class="indx">Scaliger, cited, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="indx">Scholars, poor, bequests to, <a href="#Page_396">396</a></li> -<li class="indx">Screens, excellence of pre-Reformation work, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="indx">Scripture, Holy, key of position of English reformers, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">translations of, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">study of advocated by Church, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">See of Rome, supremacy of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Selby, chantries at, <a href="#Page_411">411</a></li> -<li class="indx"><a name="Selling" id="Selling"></a>Selling, Prior William, birth and education, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">real name, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">studies at foreign universities, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">takes his degree in theology, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">industrious book collector, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">good work at Christchurch, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">returns to Rome, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">establishes Greek at Christchurch, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">as prior, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, and <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">member of an embassy to the Pope, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">continued interest in literary revival, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Greek translation, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">fate of his library, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">influence, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Sermo Exhortatorius</i>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="indx">Sermons, Church, more important than the Mass, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284-285</a></li> -<li class="indx">Sharpe, Dr., <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> -<li class="indx">Shrines, pilgrimages to, <a href="#Page_416">416</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Simony, clergy charged with, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="indx">Slander and libel, jurisdiction pertaining to, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> -<li class="indx">Smith, Mr. Toulmin, on guilds, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a></li> -<li class="indx">Smythe or Smith, Dr. Richard, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Social conditions before Reformation, <a href="#Page_351">351</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">case of the poor, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Soul’s Garden</i>, the, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Sovereignty of the Pope, <a href="#Page_97">97-100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103-104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="indx">Spiritual power, temporal derived from, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> -<li class="indx">Spongia, the, of Erasmus, <a href="#Page_187">187</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Standish, Dr. Henry, on immunity of clergy, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">charged before convocation, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on lesser orders, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="indx">Standish, John, archdeacon, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> -<li class="indx">St. Giorgio, Venice, abbot of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> -<li class="indx">St. John of Jerusalem, priory of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> -<li class="indx">St. John the Baptist, head of, <a href="#Page_430">430</a></li> -<li class="indx">St. Paul’s Cross, preaching at, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">testaments burnt at, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">St. Peter, Catholic succession from, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">vicarship, <a href="#Page_99">99-100</a></li> -<li class="indx">Star chamber, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="indx">State, jurisdiction of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">right of interference in temporalities, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60-64</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">legislates concerning mortuaries, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">limits to State interference, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">power claimed for, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60-64</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">punishment by for spiritual offences, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">protecting power of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">destruction of guilds by, <a href="#Page_380">380-381</a></li> -<li class="indx">Stokesley, William, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> -<li class="indx">Stubbs, Bishop, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> -<li class="indx">Students, distress of at university, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -<li class="indx">Sturmius, John, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Suffolk, chantries in, <a href="#Page_407">407</a></li> -<li class="indx">Sunday, legal status of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> -<li class="indx">Superstition, in devotion, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">condemned, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Supplication of Beggars</i>, the, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> -<li class="indx">Surtees Society, publications, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Tailors, Guild of, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li> -<li class="indx">Taverns, frequented by clergy, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> -<li class="indx">Teaching, religious. <i>See</i> <a href="#Teaching">Religious teaching</a></li> -<li class="indx">Temporalities, right of State interference in, <a href="#Page_53">53</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">difference between and spiritual jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">clearly defined in Spain, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> -<li class="indx">Temporal power, derived from spiritual, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of the Pope, <a href="#Page_97">97-100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103-104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="indx">Theologians, Erasmus’s satire on, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="indx">Tithes, the lay and ecclesiastical cases, <a href="#Page_63">63-64</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Saint-German quoted on, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> -<li class="indx">Torkington, Sir Richard, rector of Mulbarton, <a href="#Page_418">418</a></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Towneley Mysteries</i>, the, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> -<li class="indx">Tradition and English Reformers, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> -<li class="indx">Translations, of Holy Scripture, <a href="#Page_236">236</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="indx">Trentals, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[460]</a></span>Trevelyan, George Macaulay, cited, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Trinity, feast of at Compostella, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> -<li class="indx">Trojans, opponents of Greek study, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> -<li class="indx">Tunstall, Bishop, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198-199</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> -<li class="indx">Tyll. <i>See</i> <a href="#Selling">Selling</a></li> -<li class="indx"><a name="Tyndale" id="Tyndale"></a>Tyndale, More’s confutation of, <a href="#Page_87">87-88</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">charges clergy with immorality, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">use of word congregation for church, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attribution of <i>Enconium Moriæ</i> to More, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <i>note</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books prohibited, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">English Testament, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">and other books, <a href="#Page_220">220-223</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">advocates liberty, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">influence, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">English Testament condemned, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">demand for his works, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">birth and early life, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">joins Luther, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Luther’s share in his Testament, <a href="#Page_252">252</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his revised Testament, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">More’s examination of his Testament, <a href="#Page_260">260-270</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on indulgences, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Unity of pre-Reformation belief, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> -<li class="indx">Universities, effect of Reformation on, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">monastic students at, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">poverty of students at after Reformation, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -<li class="indx">Urban III., Pope, sanctuary grant of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> -<li class="indx">Urbanus Regius, cited, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Urswick, Christopher, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="ifrst">Valla, Laurence, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="indx">Veneration of relics, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">of saints, <a href="#Page_431">431-432</a></li> -<li class="indx">Venetian, a, cited on attitude of ecclesiastics to learning, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on religious condition of the English, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">on beauty of English churches, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="indx">Venice, Aldine press at, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="indx">Venn, J., historian of Gonville College, quoted, <a href="#Page_43">43-45</a></li> -<li class="indx">Vicarages, appropriations of cancelled, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> -<li class="indx">Vives, Ludovico, scholar, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Von Hutten, Ulrich, tract on Constantine’s donation to the Pope, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">attacks on Erasmus, <a href="#Page_186">186</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> -<li class="ifrst">Warham, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, and <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> -<li class="indx">Waylande, John, printer, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> -<li class="indx">Welsh, vernacular devotional books for, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Wesselius, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> -<li class="indx">Westacre, Augustinian priory of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="indx">Westminster, the abbot of, <a href="#Page_58">58-59</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">pardon purchased for, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">doles at, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="indx">Wey, William, itineraries of, <a href="#Page_416">416</a></li> -<li class="indx">Whitford, Richard, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232-233</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> -<li class="indx">Wills, ecclesiastical administration of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">pre-Reformation, <a href="#Page_387">387</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">bequests for pilgrimages, <a href="#Page_416">416</a></li> -<li class="indx">Winchcombe, abbot of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="indx">Winchester, wall paintings of Lady Chapel at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">fair at, <a href="#Page_379">379</a></li> -<li class="indx">Wolffgang, printer, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="indx">Wolsey, Cardinal, attitude to revival of learning, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">hears the Savage sanctuary case, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">upholds rights of Crown, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">opposes temporal punishments of clergy, <a href="#Page_68"><i>ibid.</i></a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">present at burning of books, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Worcester, Tiptoft, Earl of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Worcester, William, antiquary, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> -<li class="indx">Work, definite, lack of among clergy, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx"><i>Worke entytled of the olde God and the new</i>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, and <i>note</i></li> -<li class="indx">Wycliffe, share in Reformation, <a href="#Page_209">209</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> -<li class="isub1">books prohibited, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">origin of Wycliffite Scriptures, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> -<li class="indx">Wyer, Robert, printer, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Yorkshire, chantries in, <a href="#Page_411">411</a></li> -<li class="ifrst">Zwingle, books of prohibited, <a href="#Page_213">213-214</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class="titlepage">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span> -Edinburgh & London</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="ad-section"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1_1" id="Page_1_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro u"><i>A Popular Edition.</i></p> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, Demy 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, price 10s. 6d. Net, pp. 528.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">A New Revised and Corrected Edition of</span></p> - -<p class="center">FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET’S</p> - -<p class="title">Henry the Eighth <span class="smaller">and the</span><br /> -English Monasteries.</p> - -<p class="center">(Of which Six Editions at 24s. have already been sold.)</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center">Contents.</p> - -<table summary=""> - <tr> - <td class="tdr smaller">CHAP.</td><td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">I.</td><td>The Dawn of Difficulties.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">II.</td><td>Cardinal Wolsey and the Monasteries.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">III.</td><td>The Holy Maid of Kent.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td><td>The Friars Observant and the Carthusians.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">V.</td><td>The Visitation of Monasteries in 1535-36.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td><td>The Parliament of 1536 and the suppression of the Lesser Monasteries.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td><td>The “Comperta Monastica” and other charges against the Monks.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td>Thomas Cromwell, the King’s Vicar-General.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td><td>The chief accusers of the Monks—Layton, Legh, Ap Rice, and London.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">X.</td><td>The Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XI.</td><td>The Rising in Lincolnshire.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XII.</td><td>The Pilgrimage of Grace.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XIII.</td><td>The Second Northern Rising.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XIV.</td><td>Dissolution by Attainder.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XV.</td><td>The Suppression of Convents.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XVI.</td><td>Fall of the Friars.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XVII.</td><td>Progress of the General Suppression.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XVIII.</td><td>The Three Benedictine Abbots.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XIX.</td><td>The Monastic Spoils.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XX.</td><td>The Spending of the Spoils.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XXI.</td><td>The Ejected Monks and their Pensions.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XXII.</td><td>Some Results of the Suppression.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Appendix:</span> Accounts of the Augmentation Office, &c. -<span class="smcap">General Index.</span></p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i><b>Some Press Notices.</b></i></p> - -<p><b>Dublin Review.</b>—“The recognised authority on the subject upon which it treats.”</p> - -<p><b>Tablet.</b>—“Produced in excellent style, we welcome and recommend this new edition -of an old work by such a pioneer of historical truth as Dr. Gasquet with renewed confidence, -for the next best thing to a new work from such a hand is a carefully revised and -cheaper edition of an old one.”</p> - -<p><b>Church Times.</b>—“Dr. Gasquet’s work has won for itself so secure a position that -it is superfluous to point out its merits afresh, but the author in the preface to the new -edition calls attention to certain alterations necessitated by the publication by Dr. James -Gairdner of the Calendar of Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. These documents have -now been arranged in volumes, consequently a very considerable re-arrangement of -references has been rendered necessary, in order to facilitate the consultation of the -original documents. This popular edition will be greatly appreciated by the students -of this period of England’s ecclesiastical history.”</p> - -<p><b>Catholic Book Notes.</b>—“A standard authority, if not a classic … we congratulate -author and publisher on its production in one handsome volume. We anticipate a large -sale … and would especially recommend it as a suitable volume for prizes in the higher -classes of our schools.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2_1" id="Page_2_1">[2]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center u intro"><i>New Work on English Monastic History.</i></p> - -<p class="center">In Two Volumes, Demy 8vo, Cloth, price 21s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">The</span><br /> -English Black Monks of St. Benedict</p> - -<p class="center intro">A Sketch of their history from the coming of St. Augustine -to the Present Day.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. ETHELRED L. TAUNTON.</span></p> - -<p class="center">Contents.</p> - -<table summary=""> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="tdc"><i>VOLUME THE FIRST.</i></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr smaller">CHAP.</td><td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">I.</td><td>The Coming of the Monks.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">II.</td><td>The Norman Lanfranc.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">III.</td><td>The Benedictine Constitution.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td><td>The Monk in the World.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">V.</td><td>The Monk in his Monastery.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td><td>Women under the Rule.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td><td>Chronicles of the Congregation. I.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td>The Downfall.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td><td>John Fecknam, Abbot.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">X.</td><td>The State of English Catholics, 1559-1601.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Appendix:</span> The Consuetudinary of St. Augustine’s, Canterbury.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="tdc"><i>VOLUME THE SECOND.</i></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr smaller">CHAP.</td><td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XI.</td><td>The Benedictine Mission.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XII.</td><td>Douai and Dieuleward.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XIII.</td><td>The Renewal of the English Congregation.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XIV.</td><td>Dom Leander and his Mission.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XV.</td><td>Chronicles of the Congregation. II.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XVI.</td><td>St. Gregory’s Monastery.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XVII.</td><td>St. Lawrence’s Monastery.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XVIII.</td><td>St. Edmund’s Monastery.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XIX.</td><td>St. Malo, Lambspring, and Cambrai.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">XX.</td><td>Other Benedictine Houses. Denizen and Alien.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="center"><i><b>Some Press Notices.</b></i></p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“On the whole, it would be difficult within the limits that the author has -set for himself to write a more interesting book. We recommend, more especially to the general -reader, the three chapters on the life of a monk in the world and in his monastery, and that describing -the life of women under the rule.”</p> - -<p><b>Literature.</b>—“We are struck with the skill with which he has mastered the details of a somewhat -complicated story, and the clear way he has set it down for the benefit of his readers.”</p> - -<p><b>English Historical Review.</b>—“Here, for the first time, the story of the Benedictine mission of -1603 is fully told in English; in this story the central figure is Dom Augustine Baker, the true author -of the ‘Apostolatus,’ who, being professed by the aged Buckley, the last survivor of Westminster, -claimed the inheritance of the rights and privileges of the original congregation, and the power, by -professing others, to hand on the inheritance to posterity. The story of the English Benedictine congregation -in its settlements abroad, and finally in its settlements at home, is very skilfully told, in a -pleasant, popular style.”</p> - -<p><b>Literary World.</b>—“The story of the English Benedictines is one that will be read with sympathy -and even admiration by the instructed Protestant. Curiously enough the history of the Order—not -the exact word, but no better offers—has a striking affinity with the principles of Congregationalism. -The strength of the Order was that it consisted of independent homes, and was not like most fraternities, -a great whole subdivided into communities. Upon this Father Taunton again and again insists, -and his view is indisputable. Of the two volumes before us the first will be more generally interesting -to Englishmen, but it may be well to prepare our readers for its perusal by saying that the almost -patronising style of the beginning is not long continued. We feared at first that the author was going -to talk down to us in pity for our ignorance, and were accordingly prepared to resent his impertinence. -A very few pages onward and we yielded ourselves willingly to his pleasant instruction.… A good -book, which we can heartily recommend to the open-minded reader.”</p> - -<p><b>Liverpool Post.</b>—“Two large and well-printed volumes contain what the writer modestly -describes as a ‘sketch’ of the Benedictine Order in England from the coming of Augustine in the sixth -century up to the present time. The work is something more than a theological history. It is in one -aspect a history of English society during fifteen hundred years, for the Benedictines were ever closely -in touch with the people among whom they laboured. Mr. Taunton is not an ecclesiastical zealot, -and he writes with admirable impartiality, as witness his outspoken condemnation of the intrigues of -Rome and the machinations of the Jesuits in England during the reigns of Elizabeth and James. -Hence his opinions on such a question as the social consequences to England of the closing of the -monasteries is deserving of greater weight.”</p> - -<p><b>Glasgow Herald.</b>—“In these two portly volumes Mr. Taunton furnishes us with a very full -history of the English Benedictines, describing it as ‘a tribute of the affection and esteem which I, -an outsider, have for the English monks.’ There is doubtless room for such a work, and it must be -said that Mr. Taunton has brought to his task abundant enthusiasm and much painstaking research. -… We cordially welcome it for its accumulation of valuable historical materials, and for the author’s -industry we have nothing but praise.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3_1" id="Page_3_1">[3]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="intro center"><i>Also by F. A. GASQUET, D. D.</i></p> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, Demy 8vo, 408 Pages, Cloth, price 12s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Old English Bible, <span class="smaller">and other Essays.</span></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Contents.</i></p> - -<table summary=""> - <tr> - <td class="tdr smaller">CHAP.</td><td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">I.</td><td>Notes on Mediæval Monastic Libraries.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">II.</td><td>The Monastic Scriptorium.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">III.</td><td>A Forgotten English Preacher.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td><td>The Pre-Reformation English Bible(1).</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">V.</td><td>The Pre-Reformation English Bible(2).</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td><td>Religious Instruction in England during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td><td>A Royal Christmas in the Fifteenth Century.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td>The Canterbury Claustral School in the Fifteenth Century.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td><td>The Note-books of William Worcester, a Fifteenth-Century Antiquary.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">X.</td><td>Hampshire Recusants. With a complete Index.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="center"><i><b>Some Press Notices.</b></i></p> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“Full of the learning and research which Dr. Gasquet has made so peculiarly -his own.”</p> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“Whatever Dr. Gasquet writes is of interest, and thanks are due to -him for these essays.… Full of rare information, and real contributions to history.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="intro center"><i>By the late MISS MANNING.</i></p> - -<p class="center">In Crown 8vo, with an Introduction by the Rev. <span class="smcap">W. H. Hutton, B.D.</span>, -and Twenty-five Illustrations by <span class="smcap">John Jellicoe</span> and <span class="smcap">Herbert -Railton</span>, price 6s. Cloth Elegant, Gilt Top.</p> - -<p class="title">The Household of Sir Thos. More.</p> - -<p class="center"><i><b>Some Press Notices.</b></i></p> - -<p><b>Spectator.</b>—“A delightful book.… Twenty-five illustrations by John Jellicoe and -Herbert Railton show off the book to the best advantage.”</p> - -<p><b>Graphic.</b>—“A picture, not merely of great charm, but of infinite value in helping the -many to understand a famous Englishman and the times in which he lived.”</p> - -<p><b>Literary World.</b>—“A charming reprint.… Every feature of the pictorial work is -in keeping with the spirit of the whole.”</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“This clever work of the historical imagination has gone through several -editions, and is one of the most successful artistic creations of its kind.”</p> - -<p><b>Glasgow Herald.</b>—“An extremely beautiful reprint of the late Miss Manning’s -quaint and charming work.”</p> - -<p><b>Sketch.</b>—“In the front rank of the gift-books of the season is this beautiful and very -cleverly illustrated reprint of a work which has lasting claims to popularity.”</p> - -<p><b>Magazine of Art.</b>—“The grace and beauty of the late Miss Manning’s charming -work, ‘The Household of Sir Thomas More,’ has been greatly enhanced by the new -edition now put forth by Mr. John C. Nimmo.… This remarkable work is not to be -read without keen delight.”</p> - -<p><b>Academy.</b>—“It is illustrated cleverly and prettily, and tastefully bound, so as to -make an attractive gift-book.”</p> - -<p><b>Liverpool Post.</b>—“We welcome the tasteful reprint with its artistic illustrations by -John Jellicoe and Herbert Railton, and its helpful introduction by the Rev. W. H. -Hutton.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4_1" id="Page_4_1">[4]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION IN SIXTEEN VOLUMES.</i></p> - -<p class="center" >Extra Crown 8vo, Brown Cloth, Gilt Top, price 5s. per Volume Net; also in -Special Binding, Ruby Cloth, Flat Back, Gilt Top, price £4 Net, -the Set of 16 Vols. only.</p> - -<p class="center">THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD’S</p> - -<p class="title">Lives of the Saints.</p> - -<p class="center intro">With a Calendar for -Every Day in the Year.</p> - -<p class="hanging">New Edition, Revised, with Introduction and Additional Lives of English Martyrs, -Cornish and Welsh Saints, and Full Indices to the Entire Work. Illustrated by -over 400 Engravings.</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Contents of the Volumes.</i></p> - -<ul> - <li class="hanging">JANUARY: 170 Biographies, with 45 Illustrations (Vol. 1).</li> - <li class="hanging">FEBRUARY: 174 Biographies, with 29 Illustrations (Vol. 2).</li> - <li class="hanging">MARCH: 187 Biographies, with 42 Illustrations (Vol. 3).</li> - <li class="hanging">APRIL: 141 Biographies, with 24 Illustrations (Vol. 4).</li> - <li class="hanging">MAY: 153 Biographies, with 26 Illustrations (Vol. 5).</li> - <li class="hanging">JUNE: 200 Biographies, with 39 Illustrations (Vol. 6).</li> - <li class="hanging">JULY: 223 Biographies, with 34 Illustrations (Vols. 7 and 8).</li> - <li class="hanging">AUGUST: 215 Biographies, with 39 Illustrations (Vol. 9).</li> - <li class="hanging">SEPTEMBER: 210 Biographies, with 34 Illustrations (Vol. 10).</li> - <li class="hanging">OCTOBER: 220 Biographies, with 28 Illustrations (Vols. 11 and 12).</li> - <li class="hanging">NOVEMBER: 185 Biographies, with 47 Illustrations (Vols. 13 and 14).</li> - <li class="hanging">DECEMBER: 146 Biographies, with 22 Illustrations (Vol. 15).</li> -</ul> - -<p class="center">APPENDIX VOLUME.</p> - -<p class="center">Additional Biographies of English Martyrs, Cornish and Welsh Saints, Genealogies of -Saintly Families, and two Indices to the entire work (Vol. 16).</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i><b>Some Press Notices.</b></i></p> - -<p><b>Daily Chronicle.</b>—“When it is remembered that in these two volumes (January and February) -the biographies of more than four hundred saints are to be found, and that in every case the -authorities from which they are derived are set forth; that in the Introduction the reader is furnished -with a succinct account of the literature of the subject which is the best <i>résumé</i> that we have in -English; that errors in the previous edition are not left uncorrected—it will be seen how much is to -be expected from this new issue of Mr. Baring-Gould’s wonderful work, and how much will be found -in the sixteen volumes which will be required to complete it.… No student of history—to go no -further—can dispense with such a valuable book of reference. There is nothing like it in our -language.”</p> - -<p><b>Standard.</b>—“The earlier volumes of the new edition are before us, and even a cursory examination -is enough to show that the work has been thoroughly revised.… The book is of real value, -since it is written with scholarly care, imaginative vision, and a happy union of charity and courage.”</p> - -<p><b>Guardian.</b>—“Whoever reads the more important lives in the sixteen volumes of which this new -edition is to consist, will be introduced to a region of which historians for the most part tell him little, -and yet one that throws constant light upon some of the obscurest points of ordinary histories. For -this, and for the pleasure and profit thence derived, he will have to thank Mr. Baring-Gould.”</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“Mr. Baring-Gould, Anglican priest though he be, fulfils the promise of his -original edition in so far as he does not obtrude either prejudice or sectarianism into his record of -these Saints.”</p> - -<p><b>British Review and National Observer.</b>—“The new edition of Mr. Baring-Gould’s -familiar work may well be called monumental, both on account of its size, and the variety and -completeness of the information to be found in it.”</p> - -<p><b>Notes and Queries.</b>—“It is impossible to mention the various sources whence have been -drawn the illustrations, which will render this work, to those to whom the subject appeals, the most -acceptable, as it is certainly the handsomest, of existing editions.”</p> - -<p><b>Weekly Sun.</b>—“We unhesitatingly commend it as well to the lover of mediævalism as the -student who must have at hand encyclopædic volumes of reference. No library that aims at being -comprehensive can afford to be without it. No student of ecclesiastical and cathedral antiquities -can neglect it if he wishes to make a successful study of his particular subject.”</p> - -<p><b>Christian World.</b>—“The new edition is tastefully got up, and is a worthy setting of a great -literary enterprise. The ‘Lives of the Saints’ is a human story of unfading interest.”</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="ad-section"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1_2" id="Page_1_2">[1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="tdr smaller">London: 14 King William Street, Strand</p> - -<p class="titlepage intro">John C. Nimmo’s</p> - -<p class="center larger">New & Recent Publications</p> - -<p class="center intro">For the Autumn of 1899</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2_2" id="Page_2_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i><b>New Work by the Rev. F. A. GASQUET, D.D., O.S.B.</b></i></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Important to Students of the Reformation Period.</span></p> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, Demy 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, price 12s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Eve of the Reformation.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Studies in the Religious Life and Thought of the English People in -the Period preceding the Rejection of the Roman Jurisdiction by -Henry VIII. By <span class="smcap">Francis Aidan Gasquet</span>, D.D., O.S.B., Author -of “Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries,” “The Old English -Bible, and other Essays,” &c.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—This is not a controversial work, but a study chiefly of the literature, -&c., of the period in order to see what people were doing, saying, and -thinking about before the change of religion. As touching upon rather new -ground, and at the same time widening the field of view in the Reformation -question, it should be of great interest at the present moment.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i><b>New Illustrated Work on Palestine.</b></i></p> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, Demy 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with 16 Illustrations reproduced in -Colours in facsimile of the Original Paintings by the Author, price 12s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">Two Years in Palestine and Syria.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By MARGARET THOMAS</span>,</p> - -<p class="center">Author of<br /> -“A Scamper through Spain and Tangier,” “A Hero of the Workshop,” &c.</p> - -<p class="center">With 16 Illustrations reproduced in Colours in facsimile of the Original -Paintings by the Author.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—This book is being looked forward to with great interest by -travellers, so many people have in one out-of-the-way corner or another -of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia met this versatile lady. A Royal -Academy Silver Medallist, she has had many pictures and pieces of sculpture -exhibited in the Royal Academy. This (her new book) will be illustrated -with sixteen reproductions in colours of her oil paintings. The subjects of -these were painted on the spot, and the reproductions are by a new process -not as yet employed for book illustration.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3_2" id="Page_3_2">[3]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center"><i>An Artist in Spain.</i></p> - -<p class="hanging">In One Volume, Super Royal 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with Photogravure -Portrait, after the Painting by <span class="smcap">Jan Veth</span>, and 39 Illustrations, price -12s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">Spain: <span class="smaller">The Story of a Journey.</span></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By JOZEF ISRAËLS.</span></p> - -<p class="hanging">With a Portrait in Photogravure, and 39 reproductions of Sketches -by the Author. Translated from the Dutch by <span class="smcap">Alexander -Teixeira de Mattos</span>.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—The author and illustrator of this book (Jozef Israëls) has -long been acknowledged the most popular painter of the day, in this, -the best sense, that his work claims the admiration not only of the -critics, the collectors, and the <i>dilettanti</i>, but also of those uncultured -people who, understanding nothing of painting, having no care for -artisticity or virtuosity, cannot fail to be penetrated by the poetry that -fills each of the veteran’s canvases.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center"><b><i>A History of Steeple-Chasing.</i></b></p> - -<p class="hanging">In Super Royal 8vo, uniform with “The Quorn Hunt and its Masters,” -<span class="smcap">Vyner’s</span> “Notitia Venatica,” and <span class="smcap">Radcliffe’s</span> “Noble Science of -Fox-Hunting.” With 12 Illustrations, chiefly drawn by <span class="smcap">Henry Alken</span>, -and all coloured by hand, also 16 Head and Tail Pieces, drawn by -<span class="smcap">Henry Alken</span> and others. Cloth, Gilt Top, price 21s. net.</p> - -<p class="title">A History of Steeple-Chasing.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By WILLIAM C. A. BLEW, M.A.</span>,</p> - -<p class="center smaller">Author of “The Quorn Hunt and its Masters,” -Editor of <span class="smcap">Vyner’s</span> “Notitia Venatica,” and <span class="smcap">Radcliffe’s</span> “Noble Science -of Fox-Hunting.”</p> - -<p class="hanging">With 12 Illustrations, chiefly drawn by <span class="smcap">Henry Alken</span>, and all -coloured by hand, also 16 Head and Tail Pieces, drawn by -<span class="smcap">Henry Alken</span> and others.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4_2" id="Page_4_2">[4]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center"><b><i>New Volume, being the Fifth of the Works of the late -Miss Manning</i>,</b></p> - -<p class="center">Author of “Mary Powell,” &c. &c.</p> - -<p class="center">In Crown 8vo, with Illustrations by <span class="smcap">John Jellicoe</span> and <span class="smcap">Herbert Railton</span>, -price 6s., Cloth Elegant, Gilt Top.</p> - -<p class="title">The Colloquies of Edward Osborne.<br /> -<span class="smaller">Citizen and Cloth-Worker of London.</span></p> - -<p class="center">With 10 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">John Jellicoe.</span></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Uniform in Size and Price, by the same Author.</i></p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">The Household of Sir Thos. More.</span></p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">Cherry and Violet. A Tale of the Great Plague.</span></p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell -<span class="smaller">(AFTERWARDS MISTRESS MILTON);</span></span></p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">And the Sequel thereto, Deborah’s Diary.</span></p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">The Old Chelsea Bun-Shop. A Tale of the Last Century.</span></p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i><b>Some Press Notices.</b></i></p> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“The late Miss Manning’s delicate and fanciful little cameos of -historical romance possess a flavour of their own.… The numerous Illustrations by -Mr. Jellicoe and Mr. Railton are particularly happy.”</p> - -<p><b>Public Opinion.</b>—“It is an example of a pure and beautiful style of literature.”</p> - -<p><b>Spectator.</b>—“A delightful book.… Twenty-five illustrations by John Jellicoe and -Herbert Railton show off the book to the best advantage.”</p> - -<p><b>Graphic.</b>—“A picture, not merely of great charm, but of infinite value in helping -the many to understand a famous Englishman and the times in which he lived.”</p> - -<p><b>Literary World.</b>—“A charming reprint.… Every feature of the pictorial work is -in keeping with the spirit of the whole.”</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“This clever work of the historical imagination has gone through several -editions, and is one of the most successful artistic creations of its kind.”</p> - -<p><b>Glasgow Herald.</b>—“An extremely beautiful reprint of the late Miss Manning’s -quaint and charming work.”</p> - -<p><b>Sketch.</b>—“In the front rank of the gift-books of the season is this beautiful and very -cleverly illustrated reprint of a work which has lasting claims to popularity.”</p> - -<p><b>Magazine of Art.</b>—“The grace and beauty of the late Miss Manning’s charming -work, ‘The Household of Sir Thomas More,’ has been greatly enhanced by the new -edition now put forth by Mr. John C. Nimmo.… This remarkable work is not to be -read without keen delight.”</p> - -<p><b>Academy.</b>—“It is illustrated cleverly and prettily, and tastefully bound, so as to -make an attractive gift-book.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5_2" id="Page_5_2">[5]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center"><b><i>A Cheaper Edition.</i></b></p> - -<p class="center">In Two Volumes, Extra Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with Portrait and -32 Illustrations from Contemporary Sources, price 12s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Reminiscences and Recollections -of Captain Gronow.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Being Anecdotes of the Camp, Court, Clubs, and Society, 1810-1860. With -Portrait and 32 Illustrations from Contemporary Sources by <span class="smcap">Joseph -Grego</span>.</p> - -<p class="center smaller">⁂ This is a remarkably cheap edition of this favourite and popular book.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, Demy 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with 6 Photogravure Portraits and -30 other Illustrations from Contemporary Sources, price 7s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">Words on Wellington.<br /> -<span class="smaller">The Duke—Waterloo—The Ball.</span></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Sir WILLIAM FRASER, Baronet</span>,<br /> -<span class="smaller">M.A., Christ Church, Oxford.</span></p> - -<p class="center">With 6 Photogravure Portraits, and 30 other Illustrations from -Contemporary Sources.</p> - -<p>⁂ This book was published in 1889, and the whole of the edition printed was -immediately absorbed. The present new edition is illustrated with Photogravure -Portraits and other illustrations reproduced especially for this edition from rare -and contemporary engravings selected by Mr. Joseph Grego.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center"><i>New Volume of Poems by Violet Fane.</i></p> - -<p class="hanging">One Volume, Small 4to, printed on Arnold’s Hand-Made Paper, and bound in Half-Calf, -Gilt Top. Two hundred and sixty copies printed for England and America -on Arnold’s Hand-Made Paper, each numbered, type distributed, price 10s. 6d. -net. Uniform with previous volumes by the same author, viz., “Poems” and -“Under Cross and Crescent.”</p> - -<p class="title">Betwixt Two Seas. <span class="smaller">Poems and Ballads.</span></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By VIOLET FANE.</span></p> - -<p class="center">Written at Constantinople and Therapia.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6_2" id="Page_6_2">[6]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>New Library Edition of</i><br /> -<i>STEELE AND ADDISON’S “SPECTATOR.”</i></p> - -<p class="center">In Eight Volumes, Extra Crown 8vo, with Original Engraved Portraits and Vignettes, -Cloth, price 7s. Net per Volume. Sold only in Sets, £2, 16s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Spectator.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Edited with Introduction and Notes</span></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By GEORGE A. AITKEN</span>,<br /> -<span class="smaller">Author of “The Life of Richard Steele,” &c.</span></p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>From the Editor’s Preface.</i></p> - -<p>“The present edition of the ‘Spectator’ has been printed from a copy of the -original collected and revised edition published in 1712-15, with the exception that -modern rules of spelling have been followed. The principal variations between the -text as corrected by the authors and the original version in the folio numbers have -at the same time been indicated in the notes; it has not been thought necessary to -point out slight differences of no importance. In the notes I have aimed at the -greatest conciseness compatible with the satisfactory explanation of the less obvious -allusions to literary or social matters. I have acknowledged my principal -obligations to more recent editors, but in some cases notes have been handed down -from one editor to another, and cannot be traced to their original author. Many of -the older notes, moreover, were obsolete, or needed correction in the light of subsequent -knowledge. I have endeavoured to preserve what is of value, without burdening -the pages with the contradictions and inaccuracies which are inevitable in a <i>variorum</i> -edition.”</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Some Press Notices.</i></p> - -<p><b>Pall Mall Gazette.</b>—“Undoubtedly the best library reprint of this famous periodical that has -been published.”</p> - -<p><b>Daily News.</b>—“If handsome print, paper, and binding, together with careful annotation, have -attractions in the eyes of lovers of standard books, there ought to be a good demand for this new -edition.”</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“An edition in which it is a pleasure to read, and one which would adorn any -library.”</p> - -<p><b>Notes and Queries.</b>—“We congratulate the publisher and the editor on the termination of a -useful task, and we commend to the public this eminently desirable edition of our English masterpiece—the -most attractive and serviceable yet printed.”</p> - -<p><b>Birmingham Post.</b>—“An edition of the ‘Spectator’ which, as a book for the library, has no -equal, whether we consider the stately and appropriate form, the typographical excellence, or the -erudite and finished editing. Added to these is the crowning grace of a full and complete index. -It is a luxury to read the early eighteenth century classic in such an edition as this.”</p> - -<p><b>Glasgow Herald.</b>—“All that the most fastidious lover of books could desire. Its size—extra -crown octavo—is stately, without being cumbersome. The buckram cloth binding is neat, substantial, -and serviceable—exactly what is required for a library of which the contents are intended for use as -well as for show. The notes supplied by Mr. George A. Aitken, as might be expected from his -exceptional acquaintance with the period, enable the reader to understand and appreciate the numerous -allusions to literary and social matters which occur in most of the papers.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7_2" id="Page_7_2">[7]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION IN SIXTEEN VOLUMES.</i></p> - -<p class="center">Extra Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, price 5s. per Volume Net. Also in Ruby Coloured -Cloth. Gilt Top, Flat Back, Elegant, Sold in Sets only, price £4 Net.</p> - -<p class="center">THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD’S</p> - -<p class="title">Lives of the Saints.</p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">With a Calendar for -Every Day in the Year.</span></p> - -<p class="hanging">New Edition, Revised, with Introduction and Additional Lives of English Martyrs -Cornish and Welsh Saints, and Full Indices to the Entire Work. Illustrated by -over 400 Engravings.</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Contents of the Volumes.</i></p> - -<ul> - <li class="hanging">JANUARY: 170 Biographies, with 45 Illustrations (Vol. 1).</li> - <li class="hanging">FEBRUARY: 174 Biographies, with 29 Illustrations (Vol. 2).</li> - <li class="hanging">MARCH: 187 Biographies, with 42 Illustrations (Vol. 3).</li> - <li class="hanging">APRIL: 141 Biographies, with 24 Illustrations (Vol. 4).</li> - <li class="hanging">MAY: 153 Biographies, with 26 Illustrations (Vol. 5).</li> - <li class="hanging">JUNE: 200 Biographies, with 39 Illustrations (Vol. 6).</li> - <li class="hanging">JULY: 223 Biographies, with 34 Illustrations (Vols. 7 and 8).</li> - <li class="hanging">AUGUST: 215 Biographies, with 39 Illustrations (Vol. 9).</li> - <li class="hanging">SEPTEMBER: 210 Biographies, with 34 Illustrations (Vol. 10).</li> - <li class="hanging">OCTOBER: 220 Biographies, with 28 Illustrations (Vols. 11 and 12).</li> - <li class="hanging">NOVEMBER: 185 Biographies, with 47 Illustrations (Vols. 13 and 14).</li> - <li class="hanging">DECEMBER: 146 Biographies, with 22 Illustrations (Vol. 15).</li> -</ul> - -<p class="center">APPENDIX VOLUME.</p> - -<p class="center">Additional Biographies of English Martyrs, Cornish and Welsh Saints, Genealogies of -Saintly Families, and two Indices to the entire work (Vol. 16).</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Some Press Notices.</i></p> - -<p><b>Daily Chronicle.</b>—“When it is remembered that in these two volumes (January and February) -the biographies of more than four hundred saints are to be found, and that in every case the -authorities from which they are derived are set forth; that in the Introduction the reader is furnished -with a succinct account of the literature of the subject which is the best <i>résumé</i> that we have in -English; that errors in the previous edition are not left uncorrected—it will be seen how much is to -be expected from this new issue of Mr. Baring-Gould’s wonderful work, and how much will be found -in the sixteen volumes which will be required to complete it.… No student of history—to go no -further—can dispense with such a valuable book of reference. There is nothing like it in our -language.”</p> - -<p><b>Standard.</b>—“The earlier volumes of the new edition are before us, and even a cursory examination -is enough to show that the work has been thoroughly revised.… The book is of real value, -since it is written with scholarly care, imaginative vision, and a happy union of charity and courage.”</p> - -<p><b>Guardian.</b>—“Whoever reads the more important lives in the sixteen volumes of which this new -edition is to consist, will be introduced to a region of which historians for the most part tell him little, -and yet one that throws constant light upon some of the obscurest points of ordinary histories. For -this, and for the pleasure and profit thence derived, he will have to thank Mr. Baring-Gould.”</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“Mr. Baring-Gould, Anglican priest though he be, fulfils the promise of his -original edition in so far as he does not obtrude either prejudice or sectarianism into his record of -these Saints.”</p> - -<p><b>British Review and National Observer.</b>—“The new edition of Mr. Baring-Gould’s -familiar work may well be called monumental, both on account of its size, and the variety and -completeness of the information to be found in it.”</p> - -<p><b>Notes and Queries.</b>—“It is impossible to mention the various sources whence have been -drawn the illustrations, which will render this work, to those to whom the subject appeals, the most -acceptable, as it is certainly the handsomest, of existing editions.”</p> - -<p><b>Weekly Sun.</b>—“We unhesitatingly commend it as well to the lover of mediævalism as the -student who must have at hand encyclopædic volumes of reference. No library that aims at being -comprehensive can afford to be without it. No student of ecclesiastical and cathedral antiquities -can neglect it if he wishes to make a successful study of his particular subject.”</p> - -<p><b>Christian World.</b>—“The new edition is tastefully got up, and is a worthy setting of a great -literary enterprise. The ‘Lives of the Saints’ is a human story of unfading interest.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8_2" id="Page_8_2">[8]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>Works by FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET, D.D.</i></p> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, Demy 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, price 10s. 6d. Net, pp. 528.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">A New Revised and Corrected Edition of</span></p> - -<p class="center">FRANCIS AIDAN GASQUET’S</p> - -<p class="title">Henry the Eighth, <span class="smaller">and the</span> -English monasteries.</p> - -<p class="center">Of which Six Editions at 24s. have already been sold.</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Extracts from Press Notices.</i></p> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“We may say in brief, if what we have already said is not sufficient to show it, -that a very important chapter of English history is here treated with a fulness, minuteness, and -lucidity which will not be found in previous accounts, and we sincerely congratulate Dr. Gasquet on -having made such an important contribution to English historical literature.”</p> - -<p><b>Guardian.</b>—“A learned, careful, and successful vindication of the personal character of the -monks.… In Dr. Gasquet’s skilful hands the dissolution of the monasteries assumes the proportions -of a Greek tragedy.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, Demy 8vo, 408 Pages, Cloth, price 12s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Old English Bible, <span class="smaller">and other Essays.</span></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Contents.</i></p> - -<table summary=""> - <tr> - <td class="tdr smaller">CHAP.</td><td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">I.</td><td>Notes on Mediæval Monastic Libraries.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">II.</td><td>The Monastic Scriptorium.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">III.</td><td>A Forgotten English Preacher.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td><td>The Pre-Reformation English Bible(1).</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">V.</td><td>The Pre-Reformation English Bible(2).</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td><td>Religious Instruction in England during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td><td>A Royal Christmas in the Fifteenth Century.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td>The Canterbury Claustral School in the Fifteenth Century.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td><td>The Note-books of William Worcester, a Fifteenth-Century Antiquary.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">X.</td><td>Hampshire Recusants. With a complete Index.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="center"><i>Some Press Notices.</i></p> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“Full of the learning and research which Dr. Gasquet has made so peculiarly his own.”</p> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“Whatever Dr. Gasquet writes is of interest, and thanks are due to him for these -essays.… Full of rare information, and real contributions to history.”</p> - -<p><b>British Review and National Observer.</b>—“Dr. Gasquet has started a very curious controversy, -which will entertain even those whom it does not seriously interest, and will familiarise -them incidentally with many facts of history.… The remaining essays are also rich in quaint, -curious information.”</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“He has thrown much light on obscure passages and features of later mediæval -history in our country.”</p> - -<p><b>Notes and Queries.</b>—“Dr. Gasquet writes clearly and forcibly, and when touching on controversial -points, as he frequently has to do, he manifests a studied moderation, and liberality.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9_2" id="Page_9_2">[9]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>Cheap Illustrated Edition now Completed in 24 Volumes.</i></p> - -<p class="hanging">Crown 8vo, tastefully bound in Green Cloth, Gilt, in which binding any of the Novels -may be bought separately, price 3s. 6d. each. Also in Special Cloth Binding, Flat -Backs, Gilt Tops, supplied in Sets only of 24 Volumes, price £4, 4s.</p> - -<p class="title">THE LARGE TYPE BORDER EDITION OF -THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Edited with Introductory Essays and Notes to each Novel (supplementing those of -the Author) by <span class="smcap">Andrew Lang</span>. With 250 Original Illustrations from Drawings -and Paintings specially executed by eminent Artists.</p> - -<p>⁂ This is generally conceded to be the best edition of the Waverley Novels, not only -as regards editing and illustrations, but also in point of type, printing and paper, and is -complete in 24 volumes instead of 25 as in other editions.</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>List of the Volumes.</i></p> - -<div class="left"> -<ul> -<li class="hanging">1. Waverley.</li> -<li class="hanging">2. Guy Mannering.</li> -<li class="hanging">3. The Antiquary.</li> -<li class="hanging">4. Rob Roy.</li> -<li class="hanging">5. Old Mortality.</li> -<li class="hanging">6. The Heart of Midlothian.</li> -<li class="hanging">7. A Legend of Montrose, and The Black Dwarf.</li> -<li class="hanging">8. The Bride of Lammermoor.</li> -<li class="hanging">9. Ivanhoe.</li> -<li class="hanging">10. The Monastery.</li> -<li class="hanging">11. The Abbot.</li> -<li class="hanging">12. Kenilworth.</li> -<li class="hanging">13. The Pirate.</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div class="right"> -<ul> -<li class="hanging">14. The Fortunes of Nigel.</li> -<li class="hanging">15. Peveril of the Peak.</li> -<li class="hanging">16. Quentin Durward.</li> -<li class="hanging">17. St. Ronan’s Well.</li> -<li class="hanging">18. Redgauntlet.</li> -<li class="hanging">19. The Betrothed, and The Talisman.</li> -<li class="hanging">20. Woodstock.</li> -<li class="hanging">21. The Fair Maid of Perth.</li> -<li class="hanging">22. Anne of Geierstein.</li> -<li class="hanging">23. Count Robert of Paris, and The Surgeon’s Daughter.</li> -<li class="hanging">24. Castle Dangerous, Chronicles of the Canongate, &c.</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Some of the Artists contributing to the “Border Edition,”</i></p> - -<div class="left"> -<ul> -<li class="hanging">Sir J. E. Millais, Bart., P.R.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">Lockhart Bogle.</li> -<li class="hanging">Gordon Browne.</li> -<li class="hanging">D. Y. Cameron.</li> -<li class="hanging">Frank Dadd, R.I.</li> -<li class="hanging">R. de Los Rios.</li> -<li class="hanging">Herbert Dicksee.</li> -<li class="hanging">M. L. Gow, R.I.</li> -<li class="hanging">W. B. Hole, R.S.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">John Pettie, R.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">Sir James D. Linton, P.R.I.</li> -<li class="hanging">Ad. Lalauze.</li> -<li class="hanging">J. E. Lauder, R.S.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">W. Hatherell, R.I.</li> -<li class="hanging">Sam Bough, R.S.A.</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div class="right"> -<ul> -<li class="hanging">W. E. Lockhart, R.S.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">R. W. Macbeth, A.R.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">H. Macbeth-Raeburn.</li> -<li class="hanging">J. Macwhirter, A.R.A., R.S.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">W. Q. Orchardson, R.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">James Orrock, R.I.</li> -<li class="hanging">Walter Paget.</li> -<li class="hanging">Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">Frank Short.</li> -<li class="hanging">W. Strang.</li> -<li class="hanging">Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A., P.R.S.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">Arthur Hopkins, A.R.W.S.</li> -<li class="hanging">R. Herdman, R.S.A.</li> -<li class="hanging">D. Herdman.</li> -<li class="hanging">Hugh Cameron, R.S.A.</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10_2" id="Page_10_2">[10]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center clearboth"><i>Some Press Notices of the Large Type Border Edition of -the Waverley Novels.</i></p> - -<p><b>The Spectator.</b>—“We trust that this fine edition of our greatest and most poetical -of novelists will attain, if it has not already done so, the high popularity it deserves. To -all Scott’s lovers it is a pleasure to know that, despite the daily and weekly inrush of -ephemeral fiction, the sale of his works is said by the booksellers to rank next below -Tennyson’s in poetry, and above that of everybody else in prose.”</p> - -<p><b>The Times.</b>—“It would be difficult to find in these days a more competent and -sympathetic editor of Scott than his countryman, the brilliant and versatile man of letters -who has undertaken the task; and if any proof were wanted either of his qualifications -or of his skill and discretion in displaying them, Mr. Lang has furnished it abundantly -in his charming Introduction to ‘Waverley.’ The editor’s own notes are judiciously -sparing, but conspicuously to the point, and they are very discreetly separated from those -of the author, Mr. Lang’s laudable purpose being to illustrate and explain Scott, not to -make the notes a pretext for displaying his own critical faculty and literary erudition. -The illustrations by various competent hands are beautiful in themselves and beautifully -executed, and, altogether, the ‘Border Edition’ of the Waverley Novels bids fair to -become the classical edition of the great Scottish classic.”</p> - -<p><b>The Athenæum.</b>-“The handsome ‘Border Edition’ has been brought by Mr. -Nimmo to a successful conclusion. Mr. Nimmo deserves to be complimented on the -manner in which the Edition has been printed and illustrated, and Mr. Lang on the way -in which he has performed his portion of the work. His Introductions have been -tasteful and readable; he has not overdone his part; and, while he has supplied much -useful information, he has by no means overburdened the volumes with notes.”</p> - -<p><b>Notes and Queries.</b>—“Mr. Nimmo’s spirited and ambitious enterprise has been -conducted to a safe termination, and the most ideal edition of the Waverley Novels in -existence is now completed.”</p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“Of all the many collections of the Waverley Novels, Mr. -Nimmo’s ‘Border Edition’ is incomparably the most handsome and the most desirable.… -Type, paper, illustrations are altogether admirable.”</p> - -<p><b>Daily Chronicle.</b>—“There is absolutely no fault to be found with it, as to paper, -type, or arrangement.”</p> - -<p><b>Magazine of Art.</b>—“Size, type, paper, and printing, to say nothing of the excessively -liberal and charming introduction or of the illustrations, make this perhaps the most -desirable edition of Scott ever issued on this side of the border.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">Two-Volume edition of</span><br /> -The Border Waverley.</p> - -<p class="center">In 48 Volumes, Large Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with the 250 Etchings printed on -Japanese Paper, price 6s. per Volume.</p> - -<p>Purchasers of this beautiful edition are recommended to complete their sets at -once, as many of the Volumes are out of print, and those still remaining will -soon be.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11_2" id="Page_11_2">[11]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>Two Important Ornithological Works by Henry Seebohm.</i></p> - -<p class="center">THE STANDARD WORK ON BRITISH BIRDS.</p> - -<p class="center">In Four Volumes, Royal 8vo, Cloth, with numerous Wood Engravings and Sixty-eight -Coloured Plates, price £6, 6s., now £5, 5s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">A History or British Birds.</p> - -<p class="hanging">To which is added the Author’s Notes on their Classification and Geographical Distribution; -also Sixty-eight Coloured Plates of their Eggs. By <span class="smcap">Henry Seebohm</span>, Author -of “Siberia in Europe,” “Siberia in Asia,” &c. &c.</p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“The illustrations are as nearly perfect as the most careful colour-printing -can produce, rivalling—and it is no slight praise—the admirable egg-pictures of Hewitson, some of -which might almost have been executed by hand; and the book is written in an easy, pleasant style, -redolent of the field rather than of the study.”</p> - -<p><b>Zoologist.</b>—“The text contains not only a description of each egg and its varieties, but also a -very full account of the life-history of each bird.… If we may conceive the works of Yarrell and -Hewitson rolled into one, with corrections, emendations, and important additions, and with woodcuts -as well as coloured plates, such a work is Mr. Seebohm’s.”</p> - -<p><b>Nature.</b>—“We unhesitatingly express our opinion that since the time of Macgillivray no such -original book as Mr. Seebohm’s has been published on British ornithology; we think that the figures -of the eggs are by far the best that have yet been given.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">In One Volume, 4to, Cloth, with numerous Wood Engravings and Twenty-one Plates -of Birds, Coloured by Hand, price £5, 5s., now £2, 12s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>ONLY FIVE HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED.</i></p> - -<p class="title">The Geographical Distribution or the Charadriidæ;<br /> -<span class="smaller">Or, The Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and their Allies.</span></p> - -<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Henry Seebohm</span>, Author of “Siberia in Europe,” “Siberia in Asia,” “A History -of British Birds, with Coloured Illustrations of their Eggs,” &c.</p> - -<p><b>Nature.</b>—“This is a handsome volume of more than 500 pages, and is illustrated by twenty-one -coloured plates, drawn in Mr. Keulemans’s best style. The book is profusely illustrated by woodcuts, -showing the specific characters of the different species, and these will be invaluable to the student of -these difficult birds. In fact, no work has ever been so remarkably treated in this respect, and it will -be the book of reference for the <i>Charadriidæ</i> for many years to come.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center">One Volume, Super-royal 8vo, Cloth, with Two Photogravure Plates, One Plate in -Colour, and Fifty-nine other Illustrations, price 7s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">Fern Growing:<br /> -<span class="smaller">Fifty Years’ Experience in Crossing and Cultivation.</span></p> - -<p class="center">With a List of the most important Varieties and a History of the Discovery of Multiple -Parentage. By <span class="smcap">E. J. Lowe</span>, F.R.S., F.L.S.</p> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“In some respects the most important treatise on British ferns that has hitherto -appeared.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center">Third Edition, with Seventy-four Coloured Plates, Super-royal 8vo, Cloth, price -£1, 1s.; now 10s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">A Natural History or British Grasses.</p> - -<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">E. J. Lowe</span>, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—This is a work not only valuable to the botanical student for its pictorial -accuracy, but of use also to the landed proprietor and the farmer, pointing out to them -those grasses which are useful and lucrative in husbandry, and teaching them the varied -soils and positions upon which they thrive, and explaining their qualities and the several -uses to which they are applied in many branches of manufacture and industry.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12_2" id="Page_12_2">[12]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>Rev. F. O. Morris’s Popular Works on Natural History.</i></p> - -<p class="center">ISSUE OF NEW AND REVISED EDITIONS.</p> - -<p class="center">Fourth Edition, Six Volumes, Super-royal 8vo, Cloth, with 394 Plates Coloured by Hand, -price £4, 10s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">A History of British Birds.</p> - -<p class="center">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">F. O. Morris</span>, B.A.</p> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“The protecting landowner, the village naturalist, the cockney ‘oologist,’ and the -schoolboy all alike owe a debt to the Rev. F. O. Morris’s admirable work, in six volumes, on British -birds, with its beautiful hand-painted plates.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Fourth Edition, Three Volumes, Super-royal 8vo, Cloth, with 248 Coloured Plates, -price £2, 5s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">A Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of -British Birds.</p> - -<p class="hanging">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">F. O. Morris</span>, B.A. Entirely Revised and brought up to Date by <span class="smcap">W. B. -Tegetmeier</span>, F.Z.S., Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union, with 248 Plates -chiefly Coloured by Hand.</p> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“These latter (illustrations) are excellent, and indeed are the strength of this very handsome -book, which, in its new and more accurate form, ought to find a place in many a library.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Eighth Edition, Super-royal 8vo, Cloth, with Seventy-nine Plates Coloured by Hand, -price 15s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">A History of British Butterflies.</p> - -<p class="center">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">F. O. Morris</span>, B.A.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Fourth Edition, Four Volumes, Royal 8vo, with 132 Plates (1933 Figures), all Coloured -by Hand, price £3, 3s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">A Natural History of British Moths.</p> - -<p class="center">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">F. O. Morris</span>, B.A. With 132 Plates Coloured by Hand (1933 Figures), -and an Introduction by <span class="smcap">W. Egmont Kirby</span>, M.D.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">In Two Volumes, Super-royal 8vo, Cloth, £1, 10s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">British Game Birds and Wild Fowl.</p> - -<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Beverley R. Morris</span>, M.D. Entirely Revised and brought up to Date by <span class="smcap">W. B. -Tegetmeier</span>, F.Z.S. With Sixty Large Plates all Coloured by Hand.</p> - -<p><b>Daily News.</b>—“Has held a unique position among works of its class. The sixty hand-coloured -plates are splendidly executed.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">One Volume, Large Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, price 5s.</p> - -<p class="title">Francis Orpen Morris.<br /> -<span class="smaller">A memoir of the above-mentioned Author.</span></p> - -<p class="center">By his Son, the Rev. <span class="smcap">M. C. F. Morris</span>, B.C.L., M.A., Rector of Nunburnholme, -Yorkshire. With Portrait and Two Illustrations.</p> - -<p><b>Land and Water.</b>—“This very interesting memoir of the naturalist, whose works are perhaps -better known among the ‘rising generation’ than those of any other authority, … gives a remarkably -clear and distinct picture of the late Mr. F. O. Morris.”</p> - -<p><b>Yorkshire Post.</b>—“A book so conscientiously written as to rank well among biographies.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13_2" id="Page_13_2">[13]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="hanging">In Two Volumes, Large 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, price £1, 10s. Net. With Thirty-seven -Illustrations, including Three hitherto unpublished Bird Drawings and -Ten Portraits of Audubon.</p> - -<p class="title">Audubon, and His Journals.</p> - -<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Maria R. Audubon</span>. With Notes by <span class="smcap">Elliott Coues</span>.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Contents.</span>—Audubon: A Biography. The European Journals, 1826-29. The -Labrador Journal, 1833. The Missouri River Journal, 1843. The Episodes. With a -full Index.</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—To English people the name of Audubon is a familiar and respected one, -and there is little reason to doubt that the present work, forming as it does so handsome -a monument of his life’s work, should be acceptable both to the lover of good books and -to the naturalist. The former has the attraction of Audubon’s picturesque and engaging -English style, added to reminiscences and narratives of a diverse and fascinating character, -and a highly interesting biography of Audubon from the pen of his granddaughter. -The naturalist, on the other hand, has here for the first time the complete and carefully -edited text of Audubon’s valuable journals, supplemented by appropriate and interesting -notes by so eminent a zoologist as Dr. Elliott Coues. The entire publication is virtually -new, since even the European journals are here much amplified, while the Missouri and -Labrador journals are practically unpublished, and the “Episodes” have never before -appeared collectively except in a French translation. The work is one of the widest -interest, and must at once take its place as the authoritative biography of Audubon, as -well as the first adequate presentation of his journals, which in their now complete form -give “the man instead of the death mask.”</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“Audubon’s unpublished manuscripts are the record of a long, a varied, -and an adventurous life, passed in unremitting activity and indefatigable industry. We -must say at once that for the most part they are fascinating. They are sensational, instructive, -and frankly autobiographical, and they show a many-sided man in his various -aspects, with the absolute unreserve of innocent egoism.”</p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“There is much that will interest readers of vastly different -tastes. Thus the European journals in the first volume have an interest that is chiefly -personal, and we get interesting scraps of conversation with Sir Walter Scott, Jeffrey, -Wilson, Lord Stanley, Cuvier, St. Hilaire, Selby, Constant, Gerard, Jardine, and Bewick, -as well as many other notables in the science, art, and literature of Edinburgh, London, -and Paris in the late twenties.”</p> - -<p><b>Spectator.</b>—“The two volumes present the life of the great French-American naturalist -in a most attractive form. The journal of his voyage up the Missouri is now first given -to the world, and the freshness of his life in the woods and of his own charming personality -is not marred by any unwise editing or comment. The illustrations are excellent, worthy -of a work dealing with the life of the man who used the instruction received from the -revolutionary painter David in his youth to make the greatest advance in the illustration -of nature ever achieved by one man.”</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“A worthy and enduring memorial has been raised to the great American -ornithologist in the two volumes prepared by his granddaughter. Miss Audubon’s work -has been admirably done; and the worth of the book is much enhanced by the zoological -and other notes which Dr. Coues has appended.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14_2" id="Page_14_2">[14]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>New Work on English Monastic History.</i></p> - -<p class="center">In Two Volumes, Demy 8vo, Cloth, price 21s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title"><span class="smaller">The</span><br /> -English Black Monks of St. Benedict<br /> -<span class="smaller">A Sketch of their History from the coming of St. Augustine -to the Present Day.</span></p> - -<p class="center">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">Ethelred L. Taunton</span>.</p> - -<hr class="r15" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Some Press Notices.</i></p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“On the whole, it would be difficult within the limits that the -author has set for himself to write a more interesting book. We recommend, more -especially to the general reader, the three chapters on the life of a monk in the world and -in his monastery, and that describing the life of women under the rule.”</p> - -<p><b>Literature.</b>—“We are struck with the skill with which he has mastered the details -of a somewhat complicated story, and the clear way he has set it down for the benefit of -his readers.”</p> - -<p><b>Record.</b>—“We must add a word to express our sense of the interest and value of -the appendix to Volume I., which is a translation of the Consuetudinary of the monks -of St. Augustine’s, Canterbury. It is a real help to understanding the ways and works, -the helps and the temptations, of the monks.”</p> - -<p><b>Bookman.</b>—“Much idle legend has been dissipated by Mr. Taunton’s researches, -many points left dark are now cleared up, and in the perplexed quarrellings which ruined -the prospects of Catholicism at the close of the reign of Elizabeth, as under James I. and -Charles I., the historian holds a balance which does not waver.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center">Two Volumes, Extra Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with 120 Coloured Plates, -price 15s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Flora of the Alps.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Being a Description of all the Species of Flowering Plants indigenous to Switzerland, -and of the Alpine Species of the adjacent mountain districts of France, Italy, -and Austria, including the Pyrenees. By <span class="smcap">Alfred W. Bennett</span>, M.A., B.Sc., -F.L.S., Lecturer on Botany at St. Thomas’s Hospital.</p> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“Meets a want which has long been felt by English travellers of a complete -illustrated guide to all the flowers which are indigenous to Switzerland.… The illustrations -are numerous and accurate.”</p> - -<p><b>Standard.</b>—“Mr. Bennett gives an adequate description, and one which is both clear -and exact, of all the species of flowering plants common to Switzerland.”</p> - -<p><b>Spectator.</b>—“These two volumes will form comprehensive and delightful companions -to every traveller.”</p> - -<p><b>Daily News.</b>—“The letterpress is excellent, as, indeed, we should have expected from -so high an authority; the plates are likely to be of great service to the traveller, and with -their aid he will be able to identify most of the flowers he may find among the mountains.”</p> - -<p><b>Land and Water.</b>—“These very beautifully illustrated volumes will be welcomed by -the numberless people whose summer holiday is spent in Switzerland or the Alpine districts.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15_2" id="Page_15_2">[15]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center">Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with Portrait and Eighty-one Engravings, price 5s.</p> - -<p class="title">The Complete Angler<br /> -of Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton.</p> - -<p class="center">Edited by <span class="smcap">John Major</span>.</p> - -<p><b>Scotsman.</b>—“There are all sorts of editions of the fisher’s classic; but this will appeal most -strongly to the man whose affections attach themselves with an equal tenacity to a good day’s fishing -and a good book.”</p> - -<p><b>Bookman.</b>—“In Creswick’s engravings and all the other pictures—‘embellishments’ they are -called in the language of the forties when Major brought out his edition—will lie the chief interest -and charm. They alone would make Major’s edition one of the very best to possess.”</p> - -<p><b>Glasgow Herald.</b>—“As good an edition of the angler’s classic as any one need wish to have.”</p> - -<p><b>Liverpool Post.</b>—“In these days of processed-blocks it is indeed refreshing to come upon wood -engravings such as the tailpieces to the different chapters.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>By the Author of “Handley Cross,” &c.</i></p> - -<p class="center">Demy 8vo, 520 Pages, Twelve Full-Page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Wildrake</span>, <span class="smcap">Heath</span>, -<span class="smcap">Jellicoe</span>, Coloured by Hand, 10s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">Hillingdon Hall; or, The Cockney Squire.</p> - -<p class="center">A Tale of Country Life. By <span class="smcap">R. S. Surtees</span>, Author of “Handley Cross,” -“Jorrocks’s Jaunts and Jollities,” &c.</p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“Mr. Jorrocks is one of those evergreens whom age cannot wither nor -modern culture stale. ‘Handley Cross’ certainly used to be, and probably is still, the delight of -every well-constituted schoolboy; while the somewhat soberer ‘Hillingdon Hall’ should have considerable -interest for country folk at the present day, both as a picture of life in the early days of -Queen Victoria, and as containing several eloquent dissertations by the hero and others on the effect -of the abolition of the Corn-laws upon the agricultural interest.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center">ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM STRANG, R.P.E.</p> - -<p class="center">One Volume, Small 4to, Cloth, Gilt Edges, price 10s. 6d. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Pilgrim’s Progress.</p> - -<p class="center">With Fourteen Plates, Designed and Etched by <span class="smcap">William Strang</span>, R.P.E. -(Illustrator of Milton’s “Paradise Lost”).</p> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“A sumptuous edition, illustrated by Mr. Strang with great artistic power.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>New Work on the Yiddish Dialect.</i></p> - -<p class="center">One Volume, Extra Crown 8vo, Cloth. Gilt Top, price 9s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The History of Yiddish Literature<br /> -in the Nineteenth Century.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By LEO WIENER</span></p> - -<p class="center">Instructor in the Slavic Languages at Harvard University.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16_2" id="Page_16_2">[16]</a></span></p> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="center intro"><i>Works by the late John Addington Symonds.</i></p> - -<p class="center">Third Edition, in Two Volumes, Extra Crown 8vo, with Fifty Illustrations, bound in -Cloth, Gilt Top, price 12s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">The Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti.</p> - -<p class="center">Based on Studies in the Archives of the Buonarotti Family at Florence. With -Portrait and Fifty Reproductions of the Works of the Master.</p> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“It is not, perhaps, too much to say, that this biography supersedes, for many -purposes, any work in the English language.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Fifth Edition, One Volume, Large Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt Top, with Mezzotint -Portrait and Sixteen Illustrations of Cellini’s works, price 7s. 6d.</p> - -<p class="title">The Life of Benvenuto Cellini.</p> - -<p class="center">Translated by <span class="smcap">John Addington Symonds</span>.</p> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“Among the best translations in the English language.”</p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“None can surpass the Florentine goldsmith and sculptor in the dramatic -vigour of his narrative, and in the unblushing faithfulness of his confessions.… Among the best -translations that have ever been made into English.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Second Edition, One Volume, Demy 8vo, Illustrated, price 5s. Net.</p> - -<p class="title">Walt Whitman. A Study.</p> - -<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">John Addington Symonds</span>. With Portrait and Four Illustrations.</p> - -<p><b>National Observer.</b>—“There is no better interpreter than Mr. Symonds is, no better guide to -learning than this book.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="advert"> - -<p class="hanging">New Copyright Edition published by arrangement with <span class="smcap">Macmillan & Co., Ltd.</span> -Fourteen Volumes, Demy 8vo, Illustrated with 112 Etchings and Photogravure Plates -printed on Japan paper, the text on a clear, soft, deckle-edge laid paper. Cloth -elegant, price £6, 6s. Net per Set.</p> - -<p class="title">French Memoirs by Lady Jackson.</p> - -<p class="hanging"><span class="smcap">The Works of Catherine Charlotte, Lady Jackson</span>, “Old Paris: -Its Court and Literary Salons,” 2 vols. “The Old Regime: Court, -Salons, and Theatres,” 2 vols. “The Court of France in the Sixteenth -Century, 1514-1559,” 2 vols. “The Last of the Valois, and Accession -of Henry of Navarre, 1559-1589,” 2 vols. “The First of the Bourbons, -1589-1595,” 2 vols. “The French Court and Society: Reign of Louis -XVI. and First Empire,” 2 vols. “The Court of the Tuileries, from the -Restoration to the Flight of Louis Philippe,” 2 vols.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eve of the Reformation, by -Francis Aidan Gasquet - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVE OF THE REFORMATION *** - -***** This file should be named 50328-h.htm or 50328-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/3/2/50328/ - -Produced by Clarity and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet -Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> |