Dom Maurice Chauncy and the London Charterhouse Ll on He Now Said, Somethingfor Which to Die
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Dom Maurice Chauncvarrd the London Charterhouse DOM MAURICE CHAUNCY rductionof AND THE LONDON CHARTERHOUSE John P.H. Clark The Carthusiansprovided more Catholic martyrs under Henry VIII than any other religious order in England; apart from the evidence furnished by statedocuments, we owe a detailedaccount of theseevents to Dom Maurice Chauncy', a monk of the London charterhouse,who survived theseevents. Chauncy was born in Hertfordshire about 1509, and studied at Oxford and Gray's Inn. He entered the charterhouseunder the Prior Dom John Houghton, probably in 1532,and had made his profession by May 1534,when the story begins. It was in 1534 that Henry secured three crucial acts. The first, the Act of Succession,confirmed his marriagewith Anne Boleyn, following his divorce from Catherineof Aragon, obtainedon the authority of Thomas Cranmer,Archbishop of Canterbury,and regardlessof the Pope's refusal to grant such a divorce; this establishedthe right of successionof the issueof 'supreme this marriage. The Act of Supremacy proclaimed Henry to be head' of the Church in England, including a spiritualjurisdiction which could be exercisedby his Vicar-Generaland Visitors. The third act, the Act of Treasons,was an extensionof an earlier statute,and was intendedto 'supreme enforce acceptanceof the title head of the Church in England' claimed by Henry. Following the martyrdomof eighteenEnglish Carthusians,with the dissolution of the London charterhouse,a number of the surviving English CaÍhusians subsequentlymade their way abroad, to renew their religious vocation. Among others, Chauncy himself had arrived at the charterhouse of Val de Grace in Bruges by February 1547', shortly after the death of Henry VIII, and it was there that he wrote his first account of the English Carthusianmartyrs (= version A), at the requestof the Prior of Bruges, Dom Peter Ruge van Hoorne. The fullest manuscript of this version is in 'On Dom Maurice Chauncy,see E.M Thompson,The ClarthusianOrder in Engtand,London I930, pp. 343-353;375-378l'500-514;The Passionand Martyrdom ofrhe Holy English CarthusianFathers: The Short Narration By Don Maurice Chauncy,ed. G W.S. Curtis. London 1935,- HistoricalIntroduction by E.M. Thompson,pp. 24-33; D. Knowles, The ReligiousOrders in England,Yol 3: The Tudor Áge, Cambridge1959, pp. 222-237 passim,240; J de Grauwe and F. Timmermans,Prosopographia CartusianaBelgica Renovata,AC | 54, SalzburgI 999, Vol. 2, p 450 Chauncy'sprobable date of birth is hereolacedc.1513. ? Miss Thompson's account in The Passion and Mar\rdom, ed. Curtis, must be updated by the information indicatedin Knowles, op. cit., p 222, note 2, which was not availableto her The date of February1547 is suppliedby GuildhallMS 1231(alone ofthe textsofversion A). whichreads (f.24r): ... que etiam citius si licuisseteuulgassem, sed principumterror me hactenusa propositorefrenauit, vsquead annumDominj 1546in Februariolt is assumedthat Chauncy used'English dating'. counting the year from Lady Day to Lady Day - I am indebtedto ProfessorPeter Cunich at this point. JohnP.H. Clark the NationalLibrary at Vienna,MS. SN 12751(formerly MS. 93668 in the In l5t Imperial Library).3There is an abridgedform of this in MS. 0.81 of the but in 1568r Royal Library at the Hague.' Both of rhesehave been published by the lnto a separÍ Bollandists. Another, differently abbreviated,form of this version is in end; the Pro London Guildhall MS. 1231,combined with a report of rhe martyrdom of drove them St. Thomas More.' charterhoust In order to gain the authority of the Prior-General for the refugee 1590,and V monks to remain at Bruges, the consent of the General Chapter was where the E necessary.Previously, at the time of the crisis over the royal supremacy, from time the then Prior-General,Dom Jean Gaillard, had been misinformed about contemplati' the true stateof affairs in England,and had even beeninduced to acceptthe in 1783.'o royal supremacy and admit Cromwell to fraternity of the order. So at the The I instanceof the Prior of Bruges,Chauncy wrote a secondaccount of the Sheen, and martyrdom for the present Prior-General,Dom Jean Valon. This was were often v edited, with some improvements to the Latin style, by the Prior of Mainz, II of Spain r Dom Vitus a Dulken, with the assistanceof the Procurator, Dom authorities Í Guillelmusa Sittart,and publishedat Mainz in 1550(= versionB).6 A fine martyrdoms reprint of this, with some annotations,prepared by Dom Victor Doreau, archives (M was made by the Carthusiansof Monrreuil in 1888. also been ; Meanwhile the General Chapter of 1547 had authorisedthe Prior of background Bruges to admit the English refugeesto their secondprofession.' account of Under Mary Tudor as Queen of England there were hopes that Elizabeth ir carthusian life (and the religious life of other orders) might be restoredin distinctly bz England.In 1555 Chauncy was authorisedto return to England,and lead the different the community which was to be re-establishedat Sheencharterhouse, not In 15' far from London. But the Queen's prematuredeath in 1558 put an end to aid from a thesehopes. The surviving monks rerurnedin 1559to Bruges. martyrdoms it is longer ' Pubfishedin Analecta Bollandiana l4 (1895). pp.268-283. Ít ís this manuscript,freshly transcribed allusions,al from microfilm of the MS., which will be the base-textíor versionA. ' the mouths r Publishedin AnalectaBollandiana 6 ( I 887),pp. 35-5I . r See J.P.H.Clark, "The Martyrdom of St. TÈomasMore and of the EnglishCarthusians as recordedin some differ( London Guildhall MS 1231", a paper read at the Molsheim (2005) Carthusianconference, to be eventsrelatl publishedin the,4claofthat conference. 6 N' Dom StanislasAutorc, Scriptores Sacri Ordinis Cartusiensis,photographically reproduced in AC I20, accounts. Vol.9, SalzburgI993, p 79. listsa furtheredition at Munich 1573;p. El, editionsat cologne 15g0, living at sol Burgos1583 and Milan 1606,as well asthe edition of Montreuil1888. gives a full The printededition was also reworkedin an editionofChenr 1608by Dom ArnoldusHavensius (d. l6l0), who was prior ofa successionofcharterhouses in the Low Countries.On Dom Havensius.see de events leadi Grauwe and rimmermans, Prosopographia... Renovata,Vol. 2. p. 338. on his edition of chauncy's church, and work, see Dom Stanislas AutoÍe, ScripÍores Ordinis Cartusiensis,Tomus Primus, transcribedand arrangedby JeanPicard, AC 200:4,Salzburg 2005, pp. 133-4.Dom Autore's manuscripttext at this point E is photographicallyreproduced in AC 200, Vol. 2, Salzburg2003. pp. 29l-293. An Englishversion of The charlae n Havensius' text was madel this has been edited by J. Clark, "Dom Maurice Chauncy's Passionand The Chartae oJ Martvrdom of the Holy English Carthusian Fathers: An Unpublished Version", ín Liber Ámicorum Jan John Clark, AC I 'o de Grauve: Essaysover de Ceschiedenis en het Spiriruel Leven van de Kartuisers, ed. Tom Gaens and E.M ThomPt FrancisTimmerm ans, AC 222, Salzburg2004, pp. 73-134. la ( 1 Histoire de The Chartae of rhe Carthusian Ceneral Chapter 1536-1570(MS. Grande Chartreuse I Carr tJ), ed. r783),Ac 48,s. tt JohnClark, AC 100:36,Salzbure 2000 o.6l Analecta Bolla DomMaurice Chauncy and the London Charterhouse 93668 in the In l56l Chauncy was appointedPrior of the Bruges charterhouse, . 0.81 of the but in 1568 the General Chapterauthorized him to form the English monks ished by the into a separatecommunity at Bruges.8Theexiles'troubles were not at an verstonls In end; the ProtestantNetherlanders, suspecting them of Spanish sympathies, rartyrdom of drove them from Bruges in 1578, but they found a refuge in the charterhouseof Louvain." Subsequentlythey would move to Anvers in 'the refugee 1590,and Malines in 1591,and eventuallyin the next centuryto Nieuport, Jhapter was where the English Carthusians,gaining recruits of their own contrymen I supremacy, from time to time, would continue until the suppression of the ormed about contemplative monasteriesas uselessto society by the Emperor JosephII to acceptthe in 1783.'o er. So at the The English Carthusianscontinued to look back with longing to count of the Sheen,and their new establishmentwas called Sheen Anglorum. They n. This was were often wretchedly poor; the annuity of f 100 grantedto them by Philip or of Mainz, II of Spain was not always paid. It was probably to enlist the support of the rator, Dom authorities at Rome that Chauncy wrote the third account of the English n B).'A frne martyrdoms in 1564 (= version C), of which there is a copy in the Vatican :tor Doreau, archives(Miscellanea, Armadio LXIV, vol. 28, ff. 2l3r-239v). This has also been published by the Bollandists." In this version the detailed the Prior of background picture of life at the London charterhouseis omitted, but an account of the Marian restoration at Sheen and its dissolution under hopes that Elizabeth is given. The account of the martyrdom in this version is : restoredin distinctly based on version A rather than on version B, as the collation of rd, and lead the different versionsin this edition shows. :rhouse,not In 1570 Chauncy wrote, no doubt again as an appeal for monetary ut an end to aid from a mainland European public, his fourth account of the English 'Short marfyrdoms (= version D). This is called in its title a Narration', but it is longer than the others, with much rhetoric and additional scriptural :shly transcribed allusions,and sometimesspeeches which can only be imaginary put into the mouths of the characters.It follows in broad outline version C, but with rs as recordedin some differences, and towards the end a notable difference in the order of rnference,to be events related. It includes some biographical items not found in the other ucedin AC 120, accounts.No doubt for the benefit of mainland Europeanreaders who were t CologneI580, living at some distanceboth in spaceand time from the events,Chauncy gives Henry VIII and his ministers,and of the political rs Havensius(d a full accountof avensius,see de eventsleading to Henry's assumptionof the title of head of the English ,n of Chauncy's church, and to the suppressionof the monasteries.There is here a very transcribedand text ar this point glish 'The versionof Chartae..