Chapter 14

Question 1

Timeline of religious changes under Edward

Answer 1

FIX

Feb 1546
Denunciation of images in London
Jul 1547
Issue of royal injunctions which are radical in nature
Dec 1547
Dissolution of the chantries
Jan
Act of Uniformity, which laid down the publication of the Book of Common Prayer
May 1549
Mar 1552
Book of Common Prayer introduced
Second Act of Uniformity, which laid down the publication of the second Book of Common Prayer
Dec 1552
Jun 1553
Revised Book of Common Prayer introduced
Forty-Two Articles of Religion published

Question 2

Somerset overall approach to religious change

Answer 2

Religious policy under Edward VI saw a considerable move in the direction of Protestantism. Somerset himself seems to have been a genuine, albeit somewhat late, convert to Protestantism, and he welcomed religious radicals such as John Hooper and Thomas Becon into his household.
For the most part, religious policy under Somerset proved cautious. This is exemplified by the moderate Book of Common Prayer written in 1549 by Archbishop Cranmer, who was himself cautious by temperament and anxious to avoid an increase in religious tension. However, a much more radical approach was adopted in some areas, despite the reluctance of public opinion to embrace religious reform. In fact, Somerset’s period of power experienced a sustained attack on popular religious practice, particularly in London.

Question 3

1549 Book of Common Prayer

Answer 3

Book of Common Prayer written in 1549 by Archbishop Cranmer, who was himself cautious by temperament and anxious to avoid an increase in religious tension. It had two key objectives: it established a single form for services within the Church of England and it translated the services into English to enhance understanding of the key texts. It therefore simply translated into English many of the traditional Latin services. Indeed, it included an ambiguous Eucharistic declaration which the Catholic Bishop Gardiner, a prisoner in the Tower, thought could still imply the acceptance of transubstantiation.

Question 4

How widespread was Protestantism at start of reign and stats

Answer 4

Convinced Protestants were in a small minority at the start of Edward’s reign. Susan Brigden has suggested in The Reformation in London
(1991) that roughly 20 per cent of Londoners were Protestant by 1547, which does mean, of course, that 80 per cent were not. The leaders of London Protestantism, especially Nicholas Ridley, were a vocal lobby who were well placed among Somerset’s supporters. Kent, East Sussex, Essex, Bristol and the East Anglian ports were other places with entrenched Protestant minorities. Elsewhere, it was almost non-existent. Meanwhile, Catholic survivalism remained strong in the north, especially Lancashire, in Midland counties such as Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and in the far south-west (look ahead to Chapter 16, page 157, for a map of the distribution of Catholic and Protestant areas in the UK at this time).

Question 5

Social impact of Somerset’s religious changes

Answer 5

The social impact of these religious changes was highly significant, given that they amounted to a sustained attack on the religious experience of ordinary people, and enabled a renewed plundering of the Church’s resources.
The injunctions of 1547 attacked many traditional Catholic practices. The subsequent attack on chantries and the plundering of their assets by the Crown destroyed one means of connecting the dead to the communities of which they had once been part, whilst the attack on guilds and confraternities meant that the Crown confiscated money and property which had previously underpinned charitable activities, feasts and celebrations. There was widespread fear that this would only be the start of systematic asset stripping of the Church.

Question 6

1547 injunctions and why introduced

Answer 6

Attacked many features of popular
Catholicism, such as lights, images, stained glass, processions and practices associated with Candlemas, Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday. Reflected radical attitudes in government.

Question 7

Dissolution of chantries and religious guilds and why

Answer 7

Chantries, guilds and lay brotherhoods abolished and their property seized by Crown. This represented a further attack on popular Catholicism. Crown needed money to pay for expensive foreign policy.

Question 8

Why was the 1549 Book of Common Prayer introduced

Answer 8

Need for uniform approach to religious services

Question 9

Denunciation of images in London and why

Answer 9

Reflected radical attitudes among churchmen, especially Nicholas Ridley. Ridley was supported both within government and by Protestant activists within London who engaged in widespread iconoclasm.

Question 10

Northumberland religious objectives

Answer 10

Northumberland had a twofold strategy in relation to the Church:
1. He wished to continue the Protestant reforms initiated by Somerset.
2. He sought to plunder more of its wealth.

Question 11

Reasons Northumberland’s tenure saw increased radical policy (4)

Answer 11

1. The tactically cautious Cranmer was beginning to move in a more radical direction. This was reflected in the much more radical Book of Common Prayer which he introduced in 1552.
2. More radical senior clergy such as Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and the even more radical John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, were becoming more influential
3. Eminent continental reformers such as Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr had moved to England and were becoming influential in decisions on religious matters. Moreover, there were very close links between many English reformers and the Swiss reformer, Heinrich Bullinger of Zurich, who had carried on the Zwinglian Reformation in that city.
4. Most importantly it reflected the increasing influence, as the reign progressed, of Edward VI on the policy making process. The king took his role as head of the Church very seriously and believed it was his mission to destroy idolatry.

Question 12

What does Zwinglian mean

Answer 12

The term Zwinglian refers to the religious ideas of Ulrich Zwingli (1484-
1531), a Protestant reformer from Zurich in Switzerland; his ideas, which were more radical than those of Martin Luther, were the most important continental influence on the English Church during Edward VI’s reign; in Zwingl’s view the Eucharist was simply a commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice, and no transformation in the ‘elements’ (the bread and the wine) took place.

Question 13

Forty-Two articles of religion

Answer 13

The firmly Protestant nature of official doctrine was confirmed in Cranmer’s Forty-Two Articles of Religion, although these left some ambiguity between competing varieties of Protestantism.

The Forty-Two Articles were issued by Archbishop Cranmer in June 1553 and defined the essentials of the faith of the Church of England. As such, they reflected the influence on Cranmer of the Swiss reformers Zwingli and Bullinger. They confirmed the firmly reformed path along which the Church had headed in Edward VIs reign.
However, the king’s death within a few weeks of their issue meant that they were never implemented. A revised and more moderate version, the Thirty-Nine Articles, was adopted in Elizabeth’s reign.

Question 14

Changes under 1552 Book of Common Prayer

Answer 14

1. Removal of remaining ‘conservative’ ceremonies
   No longer fitted in with the regime’s religious radicalism. Conservatives could no longer find anything in the prayer book which they could accept
2. Rewriting of baptism, confirmation and burial services
   To make services more easily understood by congregations. Showed Cranmer’s desire to see greater simplicity in church services.
3. Radical reform of communion service, including replacement of wafer by ordinary bread. Showed influence of Zwinglianism in the Eucharistic declaration, ‘Do this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for thee’.
   Need for decisive change from ambiguity of 1549 prayer book
4. Ban on use of ‘popish’ vestments
   Seen as objects of ‘superstition’. Simpler clerical vestments were seen as more in keeping with the simpler approach to services
5. Restriction on use of church music
   Moderate Protestants thought that church music hindered religious understanding; radical opinion considered it idolatrous. Simpler approach to music reflected the emphasis on greater simplicity in church services

Question 15

Northumberland’s plundering of Church wealth

Answer 15

In addition to the adoption of a more strongly Protestant approach, the Crown, still in financial difficulties after the ruinous expenditure of the protectorate, pursued a systematic policy of asset stripping, extracting wealth from the Church through the plundering of the property of bishoprics. For example, the dioceses of Gloucester and Worcester were combined, with two thirds of the Worcester estate going to the Crown; the bishops of Exeter and Winchester made substantial grants’ from their property to the Crown; and there was a plan, never implemented, to divide the bishopric of Durham and to appropriate much of its wealth to the Crown.

The crisis at parish level was made worse by fear of a Crown attack on church plate. Many parishes tried to avoid this by selling their treasures. Such actions proved justified because in January 1553 the Crown started to confiscate church plate, although some resourceful parishes were able to hide their treasures. Not only was this an attack on the assets of parishes, it was also, as Eamon Duffy has argued, an attack on the history and collective memory of each parish, which encouraged a ‘climate of discontent and disobedience.

Question 16

Evidence from Church Wardens’ accounts and from wills and significance

Answer 16

Evidence from churchwardens accounts suggest that the Crown’s orders regarding the destruction of old Catholic habits seem gradually to have been put into effect, although responses to the restoration of Catholicism in 1553 were often rapid. Expenditure on church goods declined after 1540. This seems to have been a reaction to the destructive attitudes of the Crown. In other words, people increasingly felt that there was little point in leaving money to the Church if there was a chance that their bequests might be confiscated by the Crown.
The evidence from wills has been much debated. Many wills have not survived and in any case most people did not leave them. It is sometimes possible to make deductions about religious beliefs both from declarations of faith, found at the beginning of wills and from individual bequests, although such evidence needs to be treated with some caution. What is evident is that by the reign of Edward VI people were much less likely to leave money to their parish church.

ADD NORTHERN WILLS

Question 17

Haigh’s interpretation of evidence from wills

Answer 17

To historian Christopher Haigh, this represents nothing less than a crisis in religion at the parish level. ‘As services became plainer, plays and ales were suppressed, guilds and special funds were abolished, so churches attracted less affection - and much less money - from their people. There is evidence of a decline in church attendance in the diocese of Exeter and it has also been claimed that there was a decline in the number of candidates for ordination as priests, which could potentially have left the Church with a severe manpower
shortage.

Question 18

Evidence religious changes too fast too far

Answer 18

In 1550 the radical Hooper admitted that the pace of reform was hampered by uncooperative public opinion.

Question 19

Economic problems and policy under Somerset and how successful

Answer 19

There were a number of interconnected economic factors which helped bring about discontent during Somerset’s period of rule. These included:
• inflationary pressures
• agrarian issues, particularly enclosure and harvest failure
• taxation.
The rate of inflation had been increasing rapidly during the later stages of Henry VIll’s reign, bringing about a marked reduction in real wages for many people, particularly those at the lower end of the income scale. These problems grew worse under Somerset. He continued Henry’s disastrous policy of debasing the coinage in order to finance the war against Scotland. Although this raised £537,000, it heightened the inflationary pressures and added to the social distress that many were feeling at the time. A poor harvest in 1548 reinforced inflationary pressures even more.

Enclosure became a serious political issue during Somerset’s protectorate.
Somerset was much influenced by the writer John Hales who argued that
For previous pi
enclosure was the root cause of many of the country’s social and economic
including Wols
problems. Somerset therefore, like Wolsey before him, agreed to set up a
area, look back
commission to investigate the problem and issued a proclamation against enclosure. Enclosure commissioners were duly appointed, but little was achieved apart from raising the expectations of the poor, and annoying landowners. In fact, despite the scale of controversy, the rate of enclosure seems to have been slowing down and Somerset’s proclamation might well have been wrong-headed.
Taxation caused great discontent. Money had to be raised to pay for the Scottish war; this was mostly financed by land sales and borrowing, which simply added to the long-term problems of Crown finance. What caused even more short-term problems was a failed social experiment. The main driver of increasing amounts of enclosure was perceived to be the profits that could be gained by converting land from arable to pasture in order to graze large flocks of sheep; these would provide wool and cloth for the export market. In order to deter this process Somerset introduced a tax on sheep. It was intended to deter enclosure. Its main effect, however, was to create huge financial pressure on small farmers in upland areas who had little choice but to rely on sheep for subsistence.

Question 20

Economic policy under Northumberland and how effective

Answer 20

After the disastrous final years of Henry VIII’s reign and the protectorate, Northumberland achieved a measure of stability in the national finances. He brought an end to the wars against Scotland and France, and this not only ensured a considerable reduction in Crown expenditure but also brought in £133,333 as a French payment for the return of Boulogne. He succumbed to the temptation of one final debasement, but then abandoned the practice.
Crown income improved, although some of this improvement was achieved by increasing revenue form the Church by unscrupulous methods, including the melting down of church plate for bullion. Under the influence of Walter Mildmay, a commission produced a detailed analysis of the shortcomings in royal financial administration and plans were made for the streamlining of financial administration, although most of these did not come to fruition until the reign of Queen Mary.

Question 21

How did foreign affairs worsen rebellion threat

Answer 21

The year 1549 was perhaps the worst year of the whole of the Tudor period.
There were major rebellions in East Anglia and the south-west, as well as considerable levels of disorder throughout much of the rest of the country. It was, according to John Guy, the closest thing Tudor England came to a class war. To make matters worse, Somerset’s government found it difficult to cope with the rebellions, not least because the thin resources of the Tudor State were overstretched with substantial numbers of troops engaged in the garrisoning of the south of Scotland, while others were stationed in the south-east of England to ward off a potential French invasion.

Question 22

Overview reasons for rebellion

Answer 22

There were a number of reasons for rebellion and disorder:
•In some parts of the country religious reasons predominated.
• In the Midlands and East Anglia agrarian and social grievances were most important, with the Council receiving numerous reports of riots and of uprooting of enclosures.
• Resentment of taxation appears to have been a consistent factor.

Question 23

Why did some rebellions fail but some not?

Answer 23

Most of the risings died out fairly quickly, either because of insufficient support or through prompt action from the local nobility and gentry, such as the Earl of Arundel who managed to calm matters down in strategically sensitive Sussex. Arundel heard grievances and punished a few oppressive landlords and disorderly peasants even-handedly, restoring what he considered to be a ‘quavering quiet. Similar methods seemed to work in Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and the Midlands. However, the south-west lacked a resident aristocrat of Arundel’s stature who could bring matters under control, and both the Western Rebellion and Kett’s Rebellion in East Anglia required significant military action to suppress them and restore order.

Question 24

Timeline of Western Rebellion

Answer 24

The Western Rebellion, 1549

6 Jun
Formation of Cornish rebel camp near Bodmin
11 Jun Start of Devon rebellion at Sampford Courtenay
20 Jun The two rebellious groups converged on Crediton
21 Jun Dispute between the rebels and Sir Peter Carew, a Devon [P
and courtier
23 Jun Rebels camp at Clyst St Mary, near Exeter
2nd July Rebels besiege Exeter
28 July Lord Russell began his advance on the rebels
4th Aug Rebels defeated at Clyst Heath
17 Aug Final defeat of rebels at Sampford Courtenay

Question 25

Reasons for Western Rebellion

Answer 25

The Western Rebellion in Devon and Cornwall was prompted particularly by religious grievances. This rebellion has been described as the prayer book rebellion” on account of the description by the rebels of the new Book of Common Praver as a Christmas game: However, the rebels had had little chance to experience the new prayer book and the actual religious grievances ran much deeper. The rebels wanted to reverse the religious reforms which were destroying the way in which people had experienced religion. Both the traditional rituals of the church services and much of the Church’s wider role in the community had gone. However, the rebellion was also provoked by distrust between the rural labourers, on the one hand, and the landowners on the other, and grievances over taxation. The peasant labourers resented the sheep tax, which they regarded as an imposition by an uncaring and ignorant government in London. Their resentment had been made worse by its implementation by insensitive local officials.

Question 26

Evidence of religious discontent in Cornwall

Answer 26

The extent of resentment in Cornwall was evident in the murder at Helston in April 1548 of William Body. This archdeacon’s insensitive approach to the removal of traditional objects of veneration had preceded the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer by over a year, and demonstrated the level of tension which already existed in the county.

Question 27

What was the Sheep Tax

Answer 27

Sheep tax was introduced in March
1549. It was intended to deter the conversion of arable land to pasture, which was often accompanied by enclosure and driving out of the poor; while its application might have made some social sense in, for example, the east Midlands, it proved a significant burden on hill farmers who struggled to make a living from sheep farming on marginal highlands such as Exmoor and Dartmoor.

Question 28

Reasons for Kett’s Rebellion

Answer 28

There was little evidence in East Anglia of conservative religious tendencies among the leadership, and the rebels at Norwich had services conducted according to the Book of Common Prayer. What the Norwich rebels shared with the Western Rebellion, however, was a sense of class antagonism which was less evident in those counties where the ‘commotions’ were more easily resolved. Diarmaid MacCulloch has emphasised a number of specific grievances:
• hatred of local government officials
• resentment of the abuse by landowners of the Norfolk foldcourse system
• the release of pent-up frustrations about the maladministration locally of the Howards.

Question 29

What was the Norfolk Foldcourse?

Answer 29

A foldcourse was the right to graze sheep on an enclosed piece of common land. In some villages in Norfolk and Suffolk many of these rights were held by peasant farmers, but problems were caused in some villages by landowners denying access to the foldcourse. (In practice, therefore, peasant holders of foldcourse rights were anxious to defend their own enclosures.) The denial of access to foldcourse was one of the factors that increased levels of peasant discontent and contributed to the outbreak of the rebellion.
However, what the rebels wanted the government to do was to act on the promises of reform which had been made (or which they thought had been made) by Somerset in his proclamation against enclosures in April. This contrasts with the western rebels who wished to reverse government policy. In the process they camped at Mousehold Heath just outside Norwich, where their leader, the tanner and property owner Robert Kett, not only achieved the remarkable feat of maintaining order and discipline but was also able to negotiate with the civic authorities In Norwich.

Question 30

Timeline of Kett’s Rebellion

Answer 30

8 Jul
Tearing down of hedges near Wymondham
9 Jul
Protestors begin heading towards Norwich
12 Jul
Rebels begin camping on Mousehold Heath, overlooking Norwich; other camps are set up elsewhere in East Anglia
21 Jul
Rebels begin firing on the city
22 July Norwich in hands of the rebels
1st Aug Failure of Earl of Northampton to recapture Norwich
27 Aug Rebels finally defeated by forces led by the Earl of Northumberland

Question 31

How was Western Rebellion defeated

Answer 31

Somerset had appointed Lord Russell, a rising nobleman with estates in the West Country, to deal with the Western Rebellion. Eventually Russell had enough forces, including foreign mercenaries, to be able to defeat the rebels at Clyst Heath near Exeter on 4 August.

Question 32

How was Kett’s Rebellion defeated?

Answer 32

• The government’s original attempt to crush the East Anglian rebellion by the Earl of Northampton had ended in humiliating failure.
• Somerset was forced to send an army including foreign mercenaries under the command of the Earl of Warwick to deal with the rebels. On 27 August the rebellion was brutally suppressed and Kett was convicted of high treason and hanged.

Question 33

The reign of Edward VI witnessed a contest between which two reforming traditions?

Answer 33

•the tradition of evangelical humanism associated with those who identified with the teachings of Erasmus
• more radical forms of Protestantism.

Question 34

Evidence that moderate humanism, though it had been weakened by the divisions of the 1530s, still exerted some influence (7)

Answer 34

• Archbishop Cranmer had been influenced by humanism.
• The 1547 injunctions required each parish church to acquire a copy of the
Paraphrases of Erasmus.
•The humanist Sir John Cheke had been Edward’s tutor.
• The humanist writer Nicholas Udall received government encouragement.
• William Cecil, then junior secretary of state in Northumberland’s administration, encouraged humanist scholars at Cambridge.
• Significantly, the humanist-influenced reformers Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer were invited to work in England during Edward’s reign. Cranmer secured for Bucer a Crown appointment as Professor of Divinity at Cambridge.

. Even more significantly, the great Lutheran and humanist scholar Philip Melanchthon, the leading continental moderate reformer, was invited to be Bucer’s replacement. (Melanchthon, in the middle of a bruising battle with more militant Lutheran opinion in Germany, seems to have taken the invitation very seriously, though Edward VI’s death in July 1553 brought this prospect to an end.)

Question 35

Arguments more radical forms of Protestantism were gaining ground under Edward

Answer 35

A more militant and less comprehensive approach to reform gained pace under Northumberland. This was partly brought about by the strained relationship which existed between Northumberland and Cranmer. Northumberland seems to have come more under the influence of the radical figure John Hooper, whom Cranmer found divisive. With the move towards more radical reform in 1552 and 1553 it looked as if this movement was gaining ground. However, the death of Edward VI destroyed both contending groups.