Religion, humanism, arts and learning Flashcards
(12 cards)
What was the function of the Church and churchmen during Henry VII’s reign?
During Henry VII’s reign, all English people belonged (at least theoretically) to the Catholic Church and were under the jurisdiction of the Pope in Rome
Religious experience was central to the lives of most ordinary people living in the 15th century. Parish churches (of which there were over 8,000) were the focus of religious experience
Lives were lived and regulated in accordance with the Church’s major ceremonies
Church provided the focus of popular entertainment — festivals (linked to agricultural year) for enjoyment; guilds and confraternities to offer charity; good fellowship; chance for ordinary people to contribute to the good of their local community
Guilds and confraternities were voluntary associations of individuals to promote works of Christian charity or devotion
Church made it easier for social and political elites to maintain social control; it encouraged good behaviour, obedience and stress on the values of community
Church provided employment opportunities and for some, the chance to advance themselves socially, through attainment of high office in Church and State (eg. Cardinal Wolsey)
Significant political role in both international relations and domestic matters. Highest position in Church held by the Pope in Rome, who wielded considerable spiritual power and was also the head of a substantial state in N Italy
Henry VII sought, through Cardinal John Morton, a dispensation from the Pope to marry Elizabeth of York. However successive popes at the time did little to interfere directly with the Church of England
The relationship between the Church and England was Erastian: the king was firmly in control and popes were generally eager to grant favours he demanded. Papacy didn’t object to how Henry VII used the wealth of the Church to reward the churchmen to whom he had given high political office
Church in England was administered through two provinces — Canterbury and York. Each province was under the jurisdiction of an archbishop, and they were split up into 17 dioceses, each under the control of a bishop. Some dioceses were incredibly wealthy, eg. Winchester and Durham
In the late 15th century it was common for senior churchmen to hold positions of significant power and influence within the kingdom; senior clergy participated at a high level in the political process. The most powerful churchmen under Henry VII were John Morton (Lord Chancellor) and Richard Fox (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal)
Some offices of the State were monopolised by senior clergymen. They were generally highly competent and professional individuals, often had legal training, performed their duties to the Church and State effectively
Abbots shared membership of the House of Lords with the bishops
Criticisms of monastic life were increasing; heads of religious houses had to possess a range of management and administrative skills to keep their complex organisations running effectively, as well as demonstrating the spirituality necessary to maintain the reputation of their house — not all heads of house lived up to these demands
What were the religious community, beliefs and services like during the reign of Henry VII?
This period was emphatically the age of the parish church and of those who worshipped there
Church functioned to spread and uphold Christian teaching, but also to offer various ways in which an individual could acquire grace in order to reach heaven and minimise purgatory
Church provided the outward structures of community life: late-medieval community was religious and believed that prayers made together under the collective unit of the parish were more powerful than those made alone. It provided a framework for controlling how an individual thought, reasoned and behaved
In traditional Catholic thinking it was the role of the priest to intervene with God on behalf of an individual
To reach heaven it was necessary to observe as many of the 7 sacraments as possible:
1)Baptism — welcomed the newly born infant into the community
2) Confirmation — marked transition from childhood to adulthood
3) Marriage — the community witnessed two individuals pledging themselves to each other
4) Anointing of the sick — prepared the dying for their passage into the next world
5) Penance — seeking God’s forgiveness for committed sins
6) Holy Orders — process by which the priest became empowered to deliver the sacraments to others
7) Eucharist — church members received Christ’s body and blood in the form of bread and wine, to be nourished physically and spiritually, and brought closer to God. Priest consumed both bread and wine, lay members only the bread
Central religious experience of the Catholic Church came with the Mass: priest performed the sacrament of the Holy Communion/Eucharist and consecrated the bread and wine (ie. declared it sacred)
Catholics believed in transubstantiation, that at the point of consecration, the bread and wine were transformed figuratively and literally into the body and blood of Christ
The Mass was important for two reasons:
1) It was a sacrifice performed by the priest on behalf of the community
2) It was a sacred ritual in which the whole community participated
Importance of consecrated bread was emphasised at the feast of Corpus Christi, one of the most important festivals of the 15th-century Church. Its importance developed from the 13th century with the increasing emphasis on transubstantiation
What was the Church’s social role?
Communal aspects of late-medieval religion were emphasised by the investments that many lay people put into their local parish churches. They funded the lavish rebuilding of many churches, as well as the objects which accompanied church services
The dying would often leave money to the parish church, which had many purposes:
1) Enhance the beauty of worship
2) Ensure the remembrance of the benefactor
3) Reduce the time that the benefactor would spend in purgatory
Benefactors also left money for the foundation of chantries: chapels were Masses for the souls of the dead took place. They were usually financed from property bequeathed to that purpose in one’s will
Benefactors saw their donations as a way of benefitting the religious experience for themselves and their community; the later dissolution of chantries by Henry VII thus caused much distress
Confraternities were another significant form of expression of communal religious influences; they were groups of men (sometimes women) who gathered together to provide collectively for the funeral costs of members, pay chaplains for Masses for their members, help maintain church fabric, make charitable donations, socialise. Guilds worked usually in association with the parish church and were enormously popular (eg. small rural parish of Salle in Norfolk had 7)
Wealthier guilds could be sources of local patronage and power, some ran schools and almshouses, maintained bridges, highways and sea walls. Many parishes in the south and S Midlands raised funds through church-ale festivals, which involved much drinking and a range of entertainments; ale was made and donated for the event
Guild in Louth, Lincolnshire paid for expensive projects such as the building of the spire at the parish church
Going on pilgrimage was another way in which the individual could gain relief from purgatory; it could involve visiting the tomb of a saint (eg. Thomas Becket at Canterbury) or a shrine built where there had been the reported visitation of the Virgin Mary (eg. Walsingham in Norfolk)
Some late-medieval religious writers such as Thomas à Kempis were critical of pilgrimage as a practice. Evidence suggests that the England’s primary pilgrimage site (Thomas Becket’s tomb) was losing some of its popularity
Vast number of pilgrimage sites made access to it relatively easy
On Rogation Sunday (Rogationtide) a simpler form of pilgrimage happened: the whole community would “beat the bounds” of the parish by walking around its boundaries to pray for its protection. This emphasised the importance of the parish a the key focus of local community in the lives of ordinary people at the time
Religion was emphasised as a social activity but individual religious experience was still important. It was emphasised in the writing of mystics, who believed in the personal communication of the individual with God
Lady Margaret Beaufort was an important example of this approach; her piety was reflected in her widespread donations, especially to Cambridge University
What were monastic orders like during Henry VII’s reign?
Estimated that around 1% of adult males in England by c1500 were monks, who lived under the rule of the monasteries
There were around 900 religious communities all over the country
Oldest and most common religious order was the Benedictines, names after founder St Benedict who devised monastic rule
Many Benedictine houses were large and the biggest ones (eg. Durham) operated as the cathedral churches of their diocese, thus fulfilling an important role in the community
Other religious orders included the Cistercians and Carthusians; their foundation was prompted in the late 11th century by the lack of zeals shown by Benedictines. Their monasteries were frequently situated in more remote rural areas, eg. Yorkshire houses of Fountains and Mount Grace
Many monasteries recruited predominantly from their own localities; a large proportion of monks in the larger houses was drawn from the wealthier parts of society
What were orders of friars like during Henry VII’s reign?
Orders of friars arose in the 13th century; they worked among lay people and were largely supported by charitable donations. They seem to have been recruited from lower down the social scale than the larger monasteries
Three main orders of friars were the Dominicans/black friars (a preaching order), the Franciscans/grey friars and the Augustinians
Historian Christopher Harper-Bill has argued that by the late 15th century, the great days of the friars were over, though various orders continued to receive substantial bequests in the wills of the faithful
What were nunneries like during Henry VII’s reign?
Mostly populated by women deemed unsuitable for marriage, thus enjoying much less prestige
Most nunneries were relatively poor and the quality of many novices was inadequate as they entered convents as a last resort
A notable exception was the Bridgettine foundation at Syon near Isleworth, Middlesex
What was the prevalence of lollards, heresy anticlericalism like during the reign of Henry VII?
A small minority was critical of the beliefs and practices of the Church. eg. Lollardy was founded by John Wycliffe and emerged in England in the second half of the 14th century, still around during Henry VII’s reign
Lollards:
Placed stress on the understanding of the Bible and favoured its translation into English
Sceptical about transubstantiation and the principles of the Eucharist
Considered the Catholic Church to be corrupt
Denied the idea of the special status of priesthood
Lollard views were considered heresy but they persisted in parts of S England — in particular S Buckinghamshire and around Newbury, Berkshire
Lollard movement’s popularity declined after the failed Lollard uprising in 1414: Lollards became fewer in number, the movement lost intellectual coherence and it became geographically restricted
Forms of heresy other than Lollardy seem to have been rare
1401 — burning of heretics was introduced into English law. Relatively few suffered this fate
Criticism of the Church did exist, often assumed that anticlericalism (opposition to the Church’s role in non-religious matters) was widespread in England
Historians such as Christopher Haigh have argued that specific bursts of anticlericalism were rare and often politically motivated. Continued healthy numbers of candidates for priesthood showed that priests retained the support of most laity members
What was humanism and who were notable humanist figures during Henry VII’s reign?
At the time of Henry VII’s reign, humanism and the Renaissance had made little impression on England; intellectual life continued to be dominated by traditional medieval scholastic philosophy
Humanism was a development of the Renaissance of the 14th century and was founded on the rediscovery of original Latin and Greek texts. It originated in Renaissance Florence; humanists were particularly concerned with establishing the reliability of Latin and Greek translations in order to purify the ideas of religious texts
Humanists were believers in the Catholic faith, particularly the notion of free will. It was a broadly intellectual trend with specific learning objectives
Earliest humanist scholars of significance in England were Wiliam Grocyn (c1449-1519) and Thomas Linacre (c1460-1524); each of them had experienced humanist approaches to the classics in Florence in the late 1480s:
1) Grocyn began to lecture at Oxford on the ideas of Plato and Aristotle
2) Linacre was particularly influenced by the scientific thinking which he acquired in Italy and took a medical degree at the University of Padua
John Colet (467-1519) was even more influential as an educator — he saw humanist scholarly approaches as a means of reforming the Church from within, Erasmus was an important ally to him in this process
Desiderius Erasmus paid his first visit to England in 1499 and epitomised the spirit of the new learning more than anyone else (at least in his own estimation). His friendship with humanist scholar Thomas More boosted the prevalence of humanist ideas in the early years of Henry VIII’s reign
How did education develop throughout Henry VII’s reign?
The second half of the 15th century was a period of widening educational opportunities
“Song schools” and “reading schools” provided elementary education for the very young
What is now considered secondary education was taught in grammar schools, some of which had been in existence for centuries, however there was an increase in foundations (53 were founded between 1460 and 1509)
Ample provision of education for the wealthy, but access to education for the majority was dependent on where they lived
The study of Latin was central to the grammar school curriculum; most schools continued to teach it in the traditional way, and the teaching of English remained a by-product of the teaching of Latin
The 1480s saw the beginnings of a humanistic approach, particularly at Magdalen College School in Oxford
University education rested with ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge: in the first half of the 15th century Oxford had undergone substantial expansion with the foundation of new colleges but this had ground to a halt by Henry VII’s reign. However Cambridge had several new colleges built during this new period, benefitting from the generosity of Lady Margaret Beaufort (responsible for foundation of Christ’s College and St John’s College)
What was drama like during the reign of Henry VII?
The most important popular art form of the time
Plays were sometimes presented in association with church-ale festivals, eg. at Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire in 1490
Troupes of players, sometimes sponsored by members of the nobility, would tour the country
Most famous dramas were the mystery plays performed at the feasts of Corpus Christi by the guilds of towns and cities such as York, Lincoln, Wakefield and Coventry.
Performances were important festive occasions in which churches, corporations and guilds combined in public celebrations; they set out straightforward moral and religious messages for the moral improvement of their audiences
What was music like during the reign of Henry VII?
Music was enjoyed at various levels in the 15th century — from the local bagpipe and wind groups that entertained crowds on saints’ days (sometimes accompanying bawdy drinking songs) through to the great choral pieces sung in the country’s cathedrals
Choral music underwent the beginnings of a “renaissance”: single-line chants developed into polyphonic choral music where different parts of the choir sang independent melodic lines. This music could be heard in cathedrals and other major churches
Most important surviving source for complex choral music is the Eton Choirbook, which was compiled in around 1505 and is a collection of 93 separate musical compositions. The two most important composers in the Choirbook had very close links with the political establishment of Henry VII’s reign (Thomas Browne was employed in the Earl of Oxford’s household, Robert Fayrfax benefited regularly from Lady Margaret Beaufort’s patronage, as well as that of the king himself)
Browne and Fayrfax also composed secular songs used for entertainment
Music performed at court or in the homes of the wealthy (special occasions, from minstrels’ gallery to accompany a meal) used instruments such as trumpets, shawms and sackbuts. In softer music, instruments included recorders, lutes and stringed instruments
Carols were also popular, at this time they were not exclusively associated with Christmas
What were art and architecture like during the reign of Henry VII?
A massive amount of building and rebuilding of parish churches occurred at this time; vast number of churches built in the Gothic perpendicular style indicates the scale of investment that took place
Important places of worship built in this Gothic style include Saint Mary Redcliffe (Bristol) and major wool churches of East Anglia (eg. Lavenham, Long Melford). In 1502 Henry VII approved the same architectural style for the Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey
English culture still followed the Gothic traditions of NW Europe, with an allegedly primitive visual style
New industry of printing was still only concerned with traditional medieval culture; William Caxton (established his printing press in 1478) printed works such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and other traditional medieval works, which included chivalric romances and adaptations of saints’ lives
By the time of Henry VII’s death in 1509 tastes began to change: arrival of humanist influences, in particular from Italy
Humanist scholars became more fashionable, and the works printed by Caxton in turn became unfashionable. The “humanist contempt for chivalric literature” emerged (historian Jack Lander)
