Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Palmer, James Henry Stuart (2016) Politics, Corporation and Commonwealth: The Early Reformation in Canterbury, c.1500- 1565. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR http://kar.kent.ac.uk/60522/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Politics, Corporation and Commonwealth: The Early Reformation in Canterbury, c.1450 – 1559 James Henry Stuart Palmer A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Kent at Canterbury January 2016 This thesis is concerned with the process of religious change within Canterbury and theAbstract role played by civic governors in this change. At the start of the sixteenth century Canterbury stood as a city at the heart of England’s late medieval religious culture, and popular religion in the city, for the most part, reflected this. Yet by the start of Queen Elizabeth’s reign many of these associations had fallen by the wayside and the city had become home to evangelical preachers, printing presses, and a predominantly Protestant community. The effective political Reformation enacted by the Henrician authorities during the 1530s facilitated this shift. While the effective guidance of Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Cranmer, and select local gentry entrenched the Royal Supremacy within the city and provided the magisterial community with a comfortable grey area in which to conduct civic government without recourse to confessional infighting. The more radical reforms of King Edward’s reign were implemented across the city without resistance, and the city again remained sanguine during the reign of Queen Mary in spite of the persecutions that engulfed much of Kent. Between these doctrinal fluctuations, the political, cultural, and economic lives of the citizens continued to adapt and evolve as Protestantism quietly ingratiated itself into the business of governance through a series of ‘collaborations’ and ‘negotiations’ between communities and state authorities. While the effective implementation of government policy played a large part in these apparently efficient Reformations, the local context remains vital to properly understanding how Canterbury became Protestant. Corporate government was at the heart of this convoluted process, and the continued efficacy of civic government helped shield the city from the tumults witnessed elsewhere in Kent. During the turbulence of the later fifteenth century, the magisterial classes secured their place at the head of city society and carved out a role as economic and moral arbiters of their communities, allowing them to take a leading role in the process of Reformation. Yet this was not readily seized. Spells of disorder within the city parishes during the 1540s warned against the destabilising influence of confessional dispute and fostered an ongoing Erastian approach to matters of doctrine within the confines of the guildhall, where the maintenance of the commonwealth trumped all other concerns. 1 Contents Abstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Contents ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 List of Figures ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 List of Tables & Graphs ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Acknowledgements ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Abbreviations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Author’s Note ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Part I: Urban Canterbury before the Reformation 1. Civic Governance in Late Medieval Canterbury ------------------------------------ 74 2. Office-Holding and Commonweal/th on the Eve of the Reform ----------------- 119 Part II: The Reformation in Urban Canterbury 3. A Political Reformation? The Age of Supremacy in Canterbury, c.1529-1540 - 157 4. Division, Reform & Renewal in the City, c.1536-1547 ---------------------------- 234 5. The Mid-Tudor Crisis in Canterbury, c.1547-1560 --------------------------------- 287 Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 330 Appendix A: Canterbury Officials ----------------------------------------------------- 346 Appendix B: St Andrew’s Churchwardens 1484-1565 ----------------------------- 374 Appendix C: Wills and Related Data from Aldermen and Prominent Figures -- 377 Appendix D: Ecclesiastical Values ---------------------------------------------------- 384 Bibliography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 387 Word Count: 99854 2 List of Figures Figure 0.1 Map view of Canterbury from William Smith's Particular Description of England (1588) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 Figure 0.2 Plan of Canterbury, c.1500 ----------------------------------------------------- 59 Figure 1.1 Phased Plan of Christ Church Priory and its Boundaries ------------------ 98 Figure 3.1 Major Monastic Sites of the City of Canterbury at the Dissolution ------ 220 Figure 3.2 Canterbury’s Common Seal pre-1538 ---------------------------------------- 227 Figure 3.3 Canterbury’s Common Seal post-1538 --------------------------------------- 228 3 List of Tables & Graphs Table 2.1 Aldermen Assessed in 1524 Subsidy ------------------------------------------ 144 Table 2.2 Common Councillors Assessed in 1524 Subsidy ---------------------------- 144 Graph 3.1 Returns from City Rents 1530-1557 ------------------------------------------ 229 Table 4.1 Mayoral Terms in Canterbury 1530-1541 ------------------------------------ 267 Graph 4.1 Total Freemen Admitted by Year (1500-1560) ------------------------------ 270 Graph 4.2 Quinquennial Averages of Annual Admissions to the Freemen (1500-1559) ---- 271 Graph 4.3 Money Raised from Freemen Admissions vs Intrantes Fees (1530-1557) -------- 273 Table 4.2 Preambles & Bequests of Canterbury Alderman sitting 1529-1547 ------ 277 Graph 5.1 Returns to Flesh and Fish Markets 1536-1557 ------------------------------ 291 4 Acknowledgments No thesis is written in isolation, nor does its writer work alone. First, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr David Grummitt for his patience, advice and kind encouragement throughout this project. Similarly, to my examiners Prof Steven Gunn and Dr Andrew Foster, whose insightful comments and keen criticisms have improved this thesis immeasurably, I owe a great debt of gratitude. I am also grateful to other scholars who have helped me in the course of this project, in particular: Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Prof Kenneth Fincham and Prof David Ormrod. Alongside them, I would also like to thank the convenors of the IHR’s ‘British History 1500-1800’ seminar series for inviting me to speak, an experience which proved both fruitful and formative. In the four years that I have been attending the seminar series it has proved to be an equally convivial and stimulating environment, and in particular I would like to mention Dr David Crankshaw, George Gross, and the late Dr Brett Usher, for welcoming me into the fold all those years ago. For their financial support, I must thank the University of Kent for funding the first three years of my studies and for the various extra funds they have provided for various research and conference expenses over the years. Also I am indebted (figuratively speaking) to the Canterbury Archaeological and Historical Trust for granting me a generous and much needed scholarship to help me through the final stages of this project. Thanks must also be extended to the staff of the various repositories who allowed me access to their collections during the course of this project. The staff at Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archives have been a constant help, despite their 5 often chaotic surroundings. I am also grateful to the staff at the following institutions for their assistance: The National Archives, Lambeth Palace Archives, Corpus Christi College Library (Oxford), the Bodleian Library, Norfolk Record Office, Kent Archive and Record Centre, East Sussex Record Office, Suffolk Record Office, and the British Library. Special thanks should also go to the Corpus Christi Library (Cambridge), who, in their wisdom, have digitised their manuscript collection, a decision that has saved me both time and train fares while also allowing me to delve deeper into their collections than might otherwise have