DOCSLIB.ORG

The Motives, Causes, and Results of the Henrician Reformation: a Brief Inquiry

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Motives, Causes, and Results of the Henrician Reformation: a Brief Inquiry The Motives, Causes, and Results of the Henrician Reformation: A Brief Inquiry by Colin D. Smith The Motives, Causes, and Results of the Henrician Reformation: A Brief Inquiry 2 Introduction When Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses in 1517, he was expressing genuine outrage at the practice of selling indulgences, with the purchaser being rewarded with eternal life. For Luther, this bartering with God’s grace was unbiblical, and something that the pope would never approve. He turned out to be mistaken, and ended up drawing the ire of the pontiff and earning himself an excommunication for his protest. In the midst of the debate, through pamphleteering and popular oratory, Luther captured the imagination of his people, and moved their hearts and consciences by passionate appeal to biblical, theological principles. He was not a politician, a royal, nor an eminent clergyman; he was merely an Augustinian monk (albeit a doctor of theology) with a zeal for the purity of the church and the gospel. Ulrich Zwingli was educated in Bern, Vienna, and Basel then served first in a parish in Glarus, during which time he studied Augustine, and then, as a priest in a Benedictine monastery in Einsiedeln. During his education he came under the influence of some of the leading humanist scholars of his day and by 1516 had determined that the church was in need of humanist reform. He became priest at the Great Minster in Zurich in 1519 and shocked the city by preaching from the Scriptures against many of the beliefs and traditions of the Catholic Church. The first major public act of ecclesiastical defiance by the Zurich reform movement happened in February 1522, when they met together at the house of the publisher Froschauer to eat sausages, breaking the Lenten fast. The city council held a public disputation in 1523 where Zwingli attempted to hold his own against the local Roman Catholic priests. While Zwingli clearly won the debate, the council did not take immediate action. Although Zwingli was willing to work slowly and patiently with the authorities over reform, some radicals took matters into their own hands resulting in iconoclasm. This precipitated a second debate in October of 1523, after which the council officially determined to make Zwingli’s Scripture-based reform the policy of the city. Over the next few years, images were removed from churches, the The Motives, Causes, and Results of the Henrician Reformation: A Brief Inquiry 3 monasteries were closed, and in 1525, the mass was abolished.1 Soon other cities adopted a similar program of reform based on the example of Zwingli and Zurich.2 These two reforms represent what is known as the Protestant Reformation: Luther with his attempt at reform from within that produced, essentially, a mix of old and new church beliefs and practices, and Zwingli’s complete overhaul of the entire system, creating the Reformed church. What links them is the fact that they were not, at least initially, forced down by either the secular ruling authority, or by some ecclesiastical body. These reforms were brought about by people who had to make appeal to authority for them to be officially sanctioned. If one compares the above accounts of the primary Reform movements of the sixteenth century with the English Reformation3, it appears that the events surrounding Henry VIII’s separation from Rome and the subsequent political and ecclesiastical measures were of an entirely different nature. While in Europe reform was pressed upon the authorities from below, it seems that in England reform was forced down from above, and took much longer to take hold. It also appears that the initial impetus to reform came primarily as a result of political and personal grievances as opposed to theological conviction. This might explain why the resulting church of England was (and in many respects continues to be) a Protestant church unlike any other Protestant church to come out of Europe: not Reformed, and yet not Lutheran. The purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of the English Reformation, looking at its foundation and development through the reign of Henry VIII. It will pay attention to the attitude of the people, whether there was a “call for reform”4 from the 1 This summary was drawn mostly from Alister McGrath, Reformation Thought 3rd ed. (Malden, Ma: Blackwell Publishing, 1999), pp. 91-93; and Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform (New Haven, Ct: Yale University Press, 1980), pp. 318-328. 2 Hamburg, for example, held Zurich-like disputations prior to their reformation. See Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History (London, England: Penguin Books, 2003), p. 154. 3 In fact, as is often noted in works on the subject, it is probably more accurate to speak of English Reformations, since the attempts at reform under each successive monarch from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I were different from one another—in Mary’s case, radically so. 4 The title of the first chapter in G. R. Elton’s work, Reform & Reformation: England, 1509-1558, which, to a great extent, follows the traditional view of the English Reformation. This view, as noted in this paper, sees the English Reformation as an inevitability based on rising anticlericalism and the influence of the Lollards and ideas filtering over from the Continent, as well as the social and political conditions of The Motives, Causes, and Results of the Henrician Reformation: A Brief Inquiry 4 general populous, whether they were opposed to reform, or whether they were largely indifferent to the idea. This paper will also look at the nature of Henry VIII’s reform, its basis and motivations, asking whether Henry was driven by piety or politics, and how much his personality affected his approach to the church. Christianity in Britain to the Late Middle Ages “[O]n the whole, English men and women did not want the Reformation and most of them were slow to accept it when it came.”5 This is the conclusion Professor Scarisbrick came to as a result of his study into the attitudes of the English people both on the eve of the Reformation and in the years following. His opinion is shared by other notable historians6 who, over the past twenty years have sought to review—and revise— much of what has been said previously concerning the English Reformation and particularly the common people’s reaction to it. Such judgments are, however, notoriously hard to make with any degree of certainty. One cannot truly know the hearts of people, especially those who lived more than five hundred years ago, and both words and deeds may have non-religious motivations, even though the actions may be directed for or against religious institutions. It is the view of this writer that to understand the relationship between the English people and the Christian faith one must go back to its roots in the foundation of Christianity in the British Isles, and especially the historical relationship between Britain and Rome. The Roman Invasion to the Norman Conquest The religious beliefs and practices of the British people prior to the Roman invasion were certainly pagan, but there is not much more that can be said for certain beyond the artifacts left for posterity (the famous Stonehenge, for example), and the tales the country at the time. 5 J. J. Scarisbrick, The Reformation and the English People (Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, Ltd., 1984), p. 1. 6 Christopher Haigh, Ronald Hutton, and D. M. Palliser to name a few. The Motives, Causes, and Results of the Henrician Reformation: A Brief Inquiry 5 of Druids and sacrifices—even human sacrifices—to mysterious deities.7 A major reason for this ambiguity is the fact that early British society was illiterate, and hence there are no written records to document their lives.8 The Roman invasion of Britain did not happen at once. Julius Caesar made a couple of attempts in 55 and 54 B.C., and Aulus Plautius turned his attention there in A.D. 43. He was followed by Ostorius Scapula and Suetonius Paulinus, and others until by the time the Emperor Severus entered the country in 209-211 A.D., the country was under Roman rule. While not yet sanctioned by the Empire, it is known that Christianity had already reached Britain by this time. Both Tertullian (c. 160-220) and Origen (c. 185-254) mention that the gospel had reached that barbarian island,9 and three British bishops are known to have attended a council in Arles in southern Gaul early in the fourth century.10 Even prior to the missionary efforts of Rome after Christianity became the official Imperial faith, it is clear that Christians were active in the British Isles. There were Celtic churches in the north and west parts of the country; missionaries were known to travel from Scotland and Ireland to the European continent, and some evidence exists of churches that stood on Anglo-Saxon soil prior to the sixth century.11 One of the most significant people to enter into the life of Augustine of Hippo in the early part of the fifth century was the British monk Pelagius, who is the earliest Christian12 British writer known to historians today.13 7 Sir George Clark, English History: A Survey (London, England: Book Club Associates, 1978), pp. 13-14. 8 Ibid., p. 15. 9 Henry Chadwick, The Early church, 18th reprint (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1987), p.63. 10 Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity Volume I: Beginnings to 1500 (Peabody, Ma: Prince Press, 1997), p. 78. Chadwick also mentions that British bishops attended the council of Ariminum in 359, and three of them were too poor to pay their own travelling expenses (Chadwick, The Early church, p.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Legislative Reform Measure
    GS 2027 Legislative Reform Measure CONTENTS Legislative burdens 1Power to remove or reduce burdens 2 Preconditions 3Exceptions 4 Consultation 5 Laying proposals before the General Synod 6 Scrutiny and amendment Consolidation 7 Pre-consolidation amendments General and final provisions 8Orders 9 Short title, commencement and extent First Consideration July 2016 Legislative Reform Measure 1 DRAFT of a Measure to enable provision to be made for the purpose of removing or reducing burdens resulting from ecclesiastical legislation; and to enable provision to be made for the purpose of facilitating consolidations of ecclesiastical legislation. Legislative burdens 1 Power to remove or reduce burdens (1) The Archbishops’ Council may by order make provision which it considers would remove or reduce a burden, or the overall burdens, resulting directly or indirectly for any person from ecclesiastical legislation. 5 (2) “Burden” means— (a) a financial cost, (b) an administrative inconvenience, or (c) an obstacle to efficiency. (3) “Ecclesiastical legislation” means any of the following or a provision of any of 10 them— (a) a Measure of the General Synod (whether passed before or after the commencement of this section); (b) a Measure of the Church Assembly; (c) a public general Act or local Act in so far as it relates to matters 15 concerning the Church of England (whether passed before or after the commencement of this section); (d) any Order in Council, order, rules, regulations, directions, scheme or other subordinate instrument made under a provision of— (i) a Measure or Act referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), or 20 (ii) a subordinate instrument itself made under a provision of a Measure or Act referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).
    [Show full text]
  • POLITICS, SOCIETY and CIVIL WAR in WARWICKSHIRE, 162.0-1660 Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
    Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History POLITICS, SOCIETY AND CIVIL WAR IN WARWICKSHIRE, 162.0-1660 Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History Series editors ANTHONY FLETCHER Professor of History, University of Durham JOHN GUY Reader in British History, University of Bristol and JOHN MORRILL Lecturer in History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow and Tutor of Selwyn College This is a new series of monographs and studies covering many aspects of the history of the British Isles between the late fifteenth century and the early eighteenth century. It will include the work of established scholars and pioneering work by a new generation of scholars. It will include both reviews and revisions of major topics and books which open up new historical terrain or which reveal startling new perspectives on familiar subjects. It is envisaged that all the volumes will set detailed research into broader perspectives and the books are intended for the use of students as well as of their teachers. Titles in the series The Common Peace: Participation and the Criminal Law in Seventeenth-Century England CYNTHIA B. HERRUP Politics, Society and Civil War in Warwickshire, 1620—1660 ANN HUGHES London Crowds in the Reign of Charles II: Propaganda and Politics from the Restoration to the Exclusion Crisis TIM HARRIS Criticism and Compliment: The Politics of Literature in the Reign of Charles I KEVIN SHARPE Central Government and the Localities: Hampshire 1649-1689 ANDREW COLEBY POLITICS, SOCIETY AND CIVIL WAR IN WARWICKSHIRE, i620-1660 ANN HUGHES Lecturer in History, University of Manchester The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534.
    [Show full text]
  • Law, Counsel, and Commonwealth: Languages of Power in the Early English Reformation
    Law, Counsel, and Commonwealth: Languages of Power in the Early English Reformation Christine M. Knaack Doctor of Philosophy University of York History April 2015 2 Abstract This thesis examines how power was re-articulated in light of the royal supremacy during the early stages of the English Reformation. It argues that key words and concepts, particularly those involving law, counsel, and commonwealth, formed the basis of political participation during this period. These concepts were invoked with the aim of influencing the king or his ministers, of drawing attention to problems the kingdom faced, or of expressing a political ideal. This thesis demonstrates that these languages of power were present in a wide variety of contexts, appearing not only in official documents such as laws and royal proclamations, but also in manuscript texts, printed books, sermons, complaints, and other texts directed at king and counsellors alike. The prose dialogue and the medium of translation were employed in order to express political concerns. This thesis shows that political languages were available to a much wider range of participants than has been previously acknowledged. Part One focuses on the period c. 1528-36, investigating the role of languages of power during the period encompassing the Reformation Parliament. The legislation passed during this Parliament re-articulated notions of the realm’s social order, creating a body politic that encompassed temporal and spiritual members of the realm alike and positioning the king as the head of that body. Writers and theorists examined legal changes by invoking the commonwealth, describing the social hierarchy as an organic body politic, and using the theme of counsel to acknowledge the king’s imperial authority.
    [Show full text]
  • Coventry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    Coventry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the national record of people who have shaped British history, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century. The Oxford DNB (ODNB) currently includes the life stories of over 60,000 men and women who died in or before 2017. Over 1,300 of those lives contain references to Coventry, whether of events, offices, institutions, people, places, or sources preserved there. Of these, over 160 men and women in ODNB were either born, baptized, educated, died, or buried there. Many more, of course, spent periods of their life in Coventry and left their mark on the city’s history and its built environment. This survey brings together over 300 lives in ODNB connected with Coventry, ranging over ten centuries, extracted using the advanced search ‘life event’ and ‘full text’ features on the online site (www.oxforddnb.com). The same search functions can be used to explore the biographical histories of other places in the Coventry region: Kenilworth produces references in 229 articles, including 44 key life events; Leamington, 235 and 95; and Nuneaton, 69 and 17, for example. Most public libraries across the UK subscribe to ODNB, which means that the complete dictionary can be accessed for free via a local library. Libraries also offer 'remote access' which makes it possible to log in at any time at home (or anywhere that has internet access). Elsewhere, the ODNB is available online in schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions worldwide. Early benefactors: Godgifu [Godiva] and Leofric The benefactors of Coventry before the Norman conquest, Godgifu [Godiva] (d.
    [Show full text]
  • The Northern Clergy and the Pilgrimage of Grace Keith Altazin Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2011 The northern clergy and the Pilgrimage of Grace Keith Altazin Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Altazin, Keith, "The northern clergy and the Pilgrimage of Grace" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 543. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/543 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE NORTHERN CLERGY AND THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Keith Altazin B.S., Louisiana State University, 1978 M.A., Southeastern Louisiana University, 2003 August 2011 Acknowledgments The completion of this dissertation would have not been possible without the support, assistance, and encouragement of a number of people. First, I would like to thank the members of my doctoral committee who offered me great encouragement and support throughout the six years I spent in the graduate program. I would especially like thank Dr. Victor Stater for his support throughout my journey in the PhD program at LSU. From the moment I approached him with my ideas on the Pilgrimage of Grace, he has offered extremely helpful advice and constructive criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • John HALES, Descended of a Younger Branch of the Family Of
    120 DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE FAMILY OF HALES, OF COVENTRY, AND THE FOUNDATION OF 'l'HE FREE SCHOOL, JoHN HALES, descended of a younger branch of the family of Hales of W oodchurch in Kent, 8 is a name deserving of the commemoration of posterity, as the Founder of the Gram• mar School of Coventry. He was himself a learned man, and an author, and some account of him and his works will be found in the Athenee Oxonienses of Anthony Wood. He was Clerk of the Hanaper to Henry VIII.; and " having," as Dugdale says, " accumulated a great estate in monastery and chantry lands," he established a Free School in the church of the White Friars of Coventry. He died in 1572, and was buried in the church of St. Peter le Poor, in Broad Street, London. b 'fhe estates of John Hales, Esq, descended principally to his nephew John, son of his elder brother Christopher, c by Mary, daughter of Thomas Lucy, Esq. of Charlecote, Warwickshire. This John built a mansion at Keresley, near Coventry, where he resided. In 1586, he married Frideswede, daughter of Wil• liam Faunt, of Foston, in Leicestershire, Esq. and widow of Robert Cotton, Esq. She was buried in a vault on the north • There were three Baronetcies in this family, all of which have become extinct ,tithin the present generation: Hales of Woodchurch in Kent, created 1611, ex• tinct with the sixth Baronet in 1829; Hales of Beaksboume in Kent, created in 1660, extinct with the fifth Baronet in 1824; and Hales of Coventry, also created in 1660, extinct with the eighth Baronet in or shortly before 1812, See Court• hope's Extinct Baronetage, 1835, pp, 92, 93: Burke's Extinct Baronetages, 1841, pp, 232, 235, 236 : and fuller accounts in Wotton's English Baronetage, 1741, Toi, I.
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Literature and Social Protest, 1485-1558. Francis Edward Abernethy Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1956 Popular Literature and Social Protest, 1485-1558. Francis Edward Abernethy Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Abernethy, Francis Edward, "Popular Literature and Social Protest, 1485-1558." (1956). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 137. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/137 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POPULAR LITERATURE AND SOCIAL PROTEST, 1 AS5-1558 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Francis Edward Abernethy B. A., Stephen F* Austin State College, 1949 M. A., Louisiana State University, 1951 June, 1956 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Waldo F. McNeir, for his generous assistance and helpful criticism during the writing of this dissertation and to Dr. Walter Richardson, whose excellent course in Tudor history provided background and inspira­ tion for this work. I would also like to thank Drs. John E. Uhler, Robert B. Holtman, Joan C. Miller, and John H. Wildman for their critic­ ism of this paper. For material aid, thanks to beneficent relatives, the appointments committee of the English department, and the Wild Life and Fisheries Commission, especially Messrs.
    [Show full text]
  • Thought, Word and Deed in the Mid-Tudor Commonwealth : Sir Thomas Smith and Sir William Cecil in the Reign of Edward VI
    Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1979 Thought, word and deed in the mid-Tudor Commonwealth : Sir Thomas Smith and Sir William Cecil in the reign of Edward VI Ann B. Clark Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Economic History Commons, and the European History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Clark, Ann B., "Thought, word and deed in the mid-Tudor Commonwealth : Sir Thomas Smith and Sir William Cecil in the reign of Edward VI" (1979). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 2776. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.2772 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. / AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Ann B. Clarke for the Master of Arts in History presented 18 May 1979. l I· Title: Thought, Word and Deed in the Mid-Tudor Commonwealth: Sir Thomas Smith:and Sir William Cecil in the Reign of Edward VI. APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE THESIS COlfiMITTEE: Ann Weikel, Chairman Charles LeGuin · Michael Reardon This thesis examines the general economic and intel- lectual climate of the mid-Tudor Commonwealth as a background for a specific study of the financial reforms instituted by Edward VI's government while the Duke of Northumberland controlled the Privy Council. The philosophy behind these measures parallels the principles expressed in A Discourse of the Commonweal of this Realm of England, a treatise written in 1549 by Sir Thomas Smith, Secretary to King Edward.
    [Show full text]
  • Daniel J. Hill Introduction
    ‘WOMEN CANNOT TRULY BE BISHOPS’: THE LOGICAL AND CANONICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS VIEW Daniel J. Hill This article distinguishes the position that women cannot be consecrated as bishops (the ‘nullity’ view) from the position that women can, but should not, be consecrated (the ‘irregularity’ view). Without any presumption made as to the truth or falsity of the ‘nullity’ view, this article examines the wide-ranging implications of holding that view under the Canon Law of the Church of England. Introduction On 26 January 2015 the service of consecration of the Reverend Libby Lane to the Suffragan See of Stockport was held in York Minster.1 It was the first ceremony of consecration of a woman to the episcopate in the history of the Church of England. The Queen’s nomination under letters patent came on 15 January 2015,2 just under two months after the consecration of women to the episcopate became permissible according to the canon law of the Church of England.3 The Amending Canon (No. 33) received royal assent on 10 November 2014,4 subsequent to approval by the General Synod on 14 July 2014.5 The enabling Measure, the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure, was 1 Church of England, ‘Rt Revd Libby Lane Consecrated at York Minster,’ online: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2015/01/rt-revd-libby-lane- consecrated-at-york-minster.aspx, accessed 29 January 2015. 2 Crown Office announcement, recorded in The Gazette, issue 61118, 20 January 2015, online: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/2265573, accessed 29 January 2015.
    [Show full text]
  • Legislative Reform Measure 2018
    Status: This is the original version (as it was originally enacted). Legislative Reform Measure 2018 2018 No. 5 A Measure passed by the General Synod of the Church of England to enable provision to be made for the purpose of removing or reducing burdens resulting from ecclesiastical legislation; and to enable provision to be made for the purpose of facilitating consolidations of ecclesiastical legislation. [10th May 2018] Legislative burdens 1 Power to remove or reduce burdens (1) The Archbishops’ Council may by order make provision which it considers would remove or reduce a burden, or the overall burdens, resulting directly or indirectly for any person from ecclesiastical legislation. (2) “Burden” means— (a) a financial cost, (b) an administrative inconvenience, or (c) an obstacle to efficiency. (3) “Ecclesiastical legislation” means any of the following or a provision of any of them— (a) a Measure of the General Synod (whether passed before or after the commencement of this section); (b) a Measure of the Church Assembly; (c) a public general Act or local Act in so far as it forms part of the ecclesiastical law of the Church of England (whether passed before or after the commencement of this section); (d) an Order in Council, order, rules, regulations, directions, scheme or other subordinate instrument made under a provision of— (i) a Measure or Act referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), or (ii) a subordinate instrument itself made under a provision of a Measure or Act referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c). 2 Legislative Reform Measure 2018 (c. 5) Document Generated: 2018-08-07 Status: This is the original version (as it was originally enacted).
    [Show full text]
  • Schuler Dissertation Final Document
    COUNSEL, POLITICAL RHETORIC, AND THE CHRONICLE HISTORY PLAY: REPRESENTING COUNCILIAR RULE, 1588-1603 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Anne-Marie E. Schuler, B.M., M.A. Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Professor Richard Dutton, Advisor Professor Luke Wilson Professor Alan B. Farmer Professor Jennifer Higginbotham Copyright by Anne-Marie E. Schuler 2011 ABSTRACT This dissertation advances an account of how the genre of the chronicle history play enacts conciliar rule, by reflecting Renaissance models of counsel that predominated in Tudor political theory. As the texts of Renaissance political theorists and pamphleteers demonstrate, writers did not believe that kings and queens ruled by themselves, but that counsel was required to ensure that the monarch ruled virtuously and kept ties to the actual conditions of the people. Yet, within these writings, counsel was not a singular concept, and the work of historians such as John Guy, Patrick Collinson, and Ann McLaren shows that “counsel” referred to numerous paradigms and traditions. These theories of counsel were influenced by a variety of intellectual movements including humanist-classical formulations of monarchy, constitutionalism, and constructions of a “mixed monarchy” or a corporate body politic. Because the rhetoric of counsel was embedded in the language that men and women used to discuss politics, I argue that the plays perform a kind of cultural work, usually reserved for literature, that reflects, heightens, and critiques political life and the issues surrounding conceptions of conciliar rule.
    [Show full text]
  • DISPENSATION and ECONOMY in the Law Governing the Church Of
    DISPENSATION AND ECONOMY in the law governing the Church of England William Adam Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Wales Cardiff Law School 2009 UMI Number: U585252 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U585252 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 CONTENTS SUMMARY............................................................................................................................................................IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..................................................................................................................................VI ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................................................................................VII TABLE OF STATUTES AND MEASURES............................................................................................ VIII U K A c t s o f P a r l i a m e n
    [Show full text]