the church

Question 1

donations

Answer 1

Andrew Pettegree: “50% of parish churches were substantially remodelled, as citizens poured the new wealth generated by a successful wool trade into their religious lives” in the 15th century

Question 2

uneducated priests

Answer 2

so unable to deliver the traditional services to their congregations

unable to understand the significance of mass

Question 3

simony

Answer 3

to purchase a clerical office from a leading cleric

Question 4

pluralism

Answer 4

to hold more than one clerical office at a time, usually for material benefit

Question 5

non-residence

Answer 5

bishops who did not reside in their diocese but still collected tax

Question 6

nepotism

Answer 6

donating a clerical post to a member of one’s family

Question 7

sexual misconduct

Answer 7

ignoring clerical vows of celibacy

Question 8

Wolsey

Answer 8

• Archbishop of York as well as holding several other bishoprics
• used his position to secure benefices for his illegitimate son Thomas Winter

Question 9

A Supplication for the Beggars

Answer 9

Simon Fish

a vicious and satirical attack on the corruption of the clergy

Question 10

1509

Answer 10

around 800 religious houses in England

Question 11

Richard Hunne

Answer 11

while awaiting trial, he was found hung in his cell - claimed to have been murdered by the church

heightened anti-clerical feelings in London

Question 12

S. J Gunn

Answer 12

senior churchmen across Europe indulged in Simony, nepotism and pluralism

Question 13

John Guy

Answer 13

“it is hard to rate Wolsey’s ecclesiastical policy as anything much beyond the level of good intentions”

Question 14

Wolsey and religious reforms

Answer 14

• most came to nothing

- criticised by scholars for little reform but the general populace wasn’t bothered

Question 15

A.G Dickens

Answer 15

believed that the church was “poorly equipped tp weather the storms of the new age”

also suffered a variety of abuses and lacked spirituality

Question 16

E. Duffy

Answer 16

the church had a “vigorous hold over the imagination and loyalty of the people”

Question 17

Archbishop Warham

Answer 17

1511-12

visisted the parish of Kent and out of 260 priests found that only 4 were ignorant

Question 18

wills

Answer 18

many people left money in their wills to the local parish church which suggests that they didn’t believe it to be corrupt

in Cornwall and Devon 57% of people in 1520-9 left money to the church

Question 19

humanists

Answer 19

disliked the spending of money on the Church itself and on its clergy, at the expense of the congregation, who were often poorer

Question 20

Lollards

Answer 20

who followed the teachings of John Wycliffe, also attacked the church for its wealth, greed and superstitious practices

Question 21

Martin Luther

Answer 21

inventor of Protestantism

he also criticised the Catholic obsession with prayer, which was not in the bible

Question 22

there was general anti-clerical feeling

Answer 22

amongst merchants and lawyers who opposed the corruption of priests and their abuses of power