Chapter 14 - The social impact of religious and economic change under Edward VI

Question 1

what is an evangelical? (in the historical context)

Answer 1

term used by historians in this context to describe anyone who favoured further religious reform; those who were opposed to further religious reform are usually described as conservatives.

Question 2

when was the issue of the royal injunctions?

Answer 2

July 1547

Question 3

when was the dissolution of the chantries?

Answer 3

December 1547

Question 4

when was the book of common prayer introduced?

Answer 4

May 1549

Question 5

when was the second act of uniformity?

Answer 5

March 1552

Question 6

when was a revised book of common prayer introduced?

Answer 6

December 1552

Question 7

When were the forty-two articles of religion published?

Answer 7

June 1553

Question 8

under Edward VI, which direction did religious policy move in?

Answer 8

protestantism

Question 9

What were Somerset’s personal religious views like?

Answer 9

he seems to have been a genuine, albeit somewhat late, convert to protestantism, and he welcomed religious radicals such as John Hooper and Thomas Becon into his household

Question 10

for the most part, what was religious policy under Somerset like?

Answer 10

protestant, albeit somewhat cautious

Question 11

what were the two key objectives of the book of common prayer?

Answer 11

• it established a single form for services within the church of England
• it translated the services into English to enhance the understanding of the texts.

Question 12

what exemplified the somewhat cautious protestant religious policy of somerset?

Answer 12

the book of common prayer

Question 13

what part of the book of common prayer made the catholic Bishop gardiner believe that it could still imply the acceptance of transubsantiation?

Answer 13

the book of common prayer included an ambiguous eurcharistic declaration.

Question 14

which area experienced a particular sustained attack on popular religous practice?

Answer 14

london

Question 15

what religious changes happened under Somerset?

Answer 15

• Denunciation of images in London
• Injunctions issued
• dissolution of chantries and religious guilds
• introduction of book of common prayer

Question 16

when was the denunciation of images in London under Somerset?

Answer 16

Feb 1547

Question 17

why did the denunciation of images in london happen?

Answer 17

reflected radical attitudes among churchmen, especially Nicholas Ridley

Question 18

what was the significance of the denunciation of images in london?

Answer 18

Ridley was supported both within government and by protestant activists within London who engaged in widespread iconoclasm

Question 19

when were injunctions issued under somerset?

Answer 19

July 1547

Question 20

what was the reason for somerset issuing the injunctions?

Answer 20

it reflected radical attitudes in government

Question 21

what was the significance of the injunctions issued by somerset?

Answer 21

they attacked many features of popular catholicism, such as lights, images, stained glass, processions and practices associated with candlemas, Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday.

Question 22

when was the dissolution of the chantries and religious guilds?

Answer 22

December 1547

Question 23

why did the dissolution of the chantries and religious guilds happen?

Answer 23

the crown needed money to pay for expensive foreign policy.

Question 24

what was the significance of the dissolution of the chantries and religious guilds?

Answer 24

chantries, guilds and lay brotherhoods abolished and their property was seized by the crown. this represented a further attack on popular catholicism.

Question 25

when was the book of common prayer introduced?

Answer 25

May 1549

Question 26

why was the book of common prayer introduced?

Answer 26

it was felt there was a need for a uniform approach to religious services

Question 27

what was the significance of the book of common prayer being introduced?

Answer 27

imposed a more moderate approach to religious reform than that which had been followed in 1547

Question 28

what did the religious changes under somerset amount to?

Answer 28

a sustained attack on the religious experience of ordinary people, and enabled a renewed plundering of the church’s resources

Question 29

what was Northumberland’s strategy in relation to the church?

Answer 29

1. He wished to continue the protestant reforms initiated by somerset
2. he sought to plunder more of its wealth

Question 30

what reasons helped to shape a more radical approach to protestantism under northumberland?

Answer 30

1. The tactically cautious Cranmer was beginning to move in a more radical direction. this was reflected in the more radical book of common prayer in 1552
2. More radical senior clergy such as Nicholas Ridley and John Hooper were becoming more influential.
3. eminent continental reformers suhc as Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr had moved to England and were becoming influential in decisions on religious matters.
4. it reflected the increasing influence of Edward on the policy-making process.

Question 31

what key changes were introduced in the revised book of common prayer in 1552?

Answer 31

• removal of remaining ‘conservative’ ceremonies
• rewriting of baptism, confirmation and burial services
• radical reform of communion service, including replacement of wafer by ordinary bread
• restriction of use of church music

Question 32

how did the King view his role as the head of the church?

Answer 32

he took it very seriously and believed it was his mission to destroy idolatry.

Question 33

why were remaining ‘conservative’ ceremonies removed in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 33

they no longer fitted in with the regime’s religious radicalism

Question 34

what was the significance of remaining ‘conservative’ ceremonies being removed in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 34

conservatives could no longer find anything in the prayer book which they could accept.

Question 35

why were baptism, confirmation and burial services rewritten in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 35

to make services more easily understood by congregations

Question 36

what was the significance of baptism, confirmation and burial services being rewritten in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 36

it showed Cranmer’s desire to see greater simplicity in church services

Question 37

why were communion services radically reformed in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 37

there was a need for decisive change from the ambiguity of the 1549 Prayer book

Question 38

what was the significance of the radical reform of communion services in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 38

it showed the influence of Zwinglianism in the eucharistic declaration, ‘do this in remembrance that christ’s blood was shed for thee’

Question 39

what was the reason for the ban on the use of ‘popish’ vestments in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 39

they were seen as objects of ‘superstition’

Question 40

what was the significance of the ban on the use of popish vestments in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 40

simpler clerical vestments were seen as more in keeping with the simpler approach to services

Question 41

why was there a restriction on the use of church music in the revised book of common prayer?

Answer 41

moderate protestants thought that church music hindered religious understanding; radical opinion considered it idolatrous.

Question 42

what was the significance of the ban on the use of church music?

Answer 42

the simpler approach to music reflected the emphasis on greater simplicity in church services

Question 43

how was the firmly protestant nature of doctrine under northumberland confirmed?

Answer 43

in Cranmer’s Forty-Two articles of religion

Question 44

how did the crown attempt to solve some of its finanicial difficulties through the church?

Answer 44

plundering the property of bishoprics

• the dioceses of worcester and gloucester were combined, with two thirds of the worcester estate going to the crown
• the bishops of Exeter and winchester made substantial ‘grants’ from their property to the crown
• there was a plan (although it was never implemented) to divide the bishopric of durham and give some of its wealth to the crown

Question 45

why were the forty-two articles of religion never implemented?

Answer 45

the king died within a few weeks of their issue, so they were never implemented

Question 46

why did expenditure on church goods decline after 1540?

Answer 46

it seems to have been a reaction to the destructive attitudes of the crown, people increasingly felt there was little point in leaving money to the church if there was a chance it would just be confiscated by the crown

Question 47

what did Hooper admit in 1550?

Answer 47

the pace of reform was hampered by uncooperative public opinion.

Question 48

what did the crown do in relation to the church in January 1553?

Answer 48

the crown began to confiscate church plate.

Question 49

what percentage of northern wills between 1540 and 1546 left money to their parish?

Answer 49

70%

this declined to 32% in Edward’s reign

Question 50

what economic factors encouraged discontent during Somerset’s period of rule?

Answer 50

• inflationary pressures
• agrarian issues, particularly enclosure and harvest failure
• taxation

Question 51

what disastrous policy of Henry VIII’s did somerset continue to finance the war against Scotland?

Answer 51

debasement

Question 52

how much did Somerset’s policy of debasement raise?

Answer 52

£537,000

Question 53

what was the impact of the continuation of debasment?

Answer 53

it heightened inflationary pressures and added to the social distress that many were feeling at the time

Question 54

what reinforced inflationary pressures even more?

Answer 54

a poor harvest in 1548

Question 55

how did Somerset try and tackle enclosure?

Answer 55

he set up a commission to investigate the problem and issued a proclamation against enclosure

Question 56

what was achieved by somerset’s commission and proclamation against enclosure?

Answer 56

little was achieved, all it did was raise the hopes of the poor and annoy landowners

Question 57

how was money mainly raised for the war with scotland?

Answer 57

land sales and more borrowing, although this just added to the long-term problems facing crown finances

Question 58

how did Somerset try and deter enclosure?

Answer 58

by introducing a tax on sheep

Question 59

what was the main effect of the sheep tax?

Answer 59

it created huge financial pressure on small farmers in upland areas who had little choice but to rely on sheep for subsistence

Question 60

how did Northumberland somewhat improve crown finances?

Answer 60

he ended the wars against Scotland and France and brought in £133,333 as a french payment for the return of Boulogne

Question 61

how did Northumberland increase crown finances from the church?

Answer 61

melting down church plate for bullion

Question 62

what happened with regard to royal finances under the influence of Walter Midmay?

Answer 62

a commission produced a detailed analysis of the shortcomings in royal financial administration and plans were made for the streamlining of financial administration, although most of these didn’t come to fruition until the reign of Mary

Question 63

what were the reasons for rebellion and disorder in 1549?

Answer 63

• in some parts of the country religious reasons predominated
• in the midlands and east anglia agrarian and social grievances were most important, with the council receiving numerous reports of riots and of uprooting of enclosures
• resentment of taxation seems to have been a consistent factor

Question 64

How did the Earl of Arundel restore order in Sussex?

Answer 64

he heard grievances and punished a few oppressive landlords and disorderly peasants even-handedly.

Question 65

what was the main cause of the western rebellion?

Answer 65

religious grievances

Question 66

why had the western rebellion been described as the prayer book rebellion?

Answer 66

on account of the description by the rebels of the new book of common prayer as a ‘christmas game’

Question 67

what were the rebels’ religious grievances in the western rebellion?

Answer 67

they wanted to reverse the religious reforms which were destroying the way in which people had experienced religion. both the traditional rituals of the church services and and much of the church’s wider role in the community had gone

Question 68

what also provoked the western rebellion?

Answer 68

• distrust between the rural labourers, on the one hand, and the landowners on the other, and grievances over taxation

Question 69

which tax were the rebels in the western rebellion particularly unhappy with?

Answer 69

the peasant labourers resented the sheep tax, which they regarded as an imposition by an uncaring and ignorant government in London. their resentment had been made worse by its implementation by insensitive local officials

Question 70

who defeated the rebels in the western rebellion?

Answer 70

Lord Russell, and he also massacred prisoners which had been taken

Question 71

was kett’s rebellion motivated by religion?

Answer 71

NO, there seems to be little evidence of conservative religious tendencies among the leadership, and rebels had services at norwich conducted with the book of common prayer

Question 72

what did the rebels in Kett’s rebellion share with the western rebellion?

Answer 72

a sense of class antagonism

Question 73

how did the norfolk foldcourse contribute to kett’s rebellion?

Answer 73

• a foldcourse was a right to graze sheep on an enclosed piece of common land
• in norfolk and suffolk many of these rights were held by peasant farmers
• but problems were caused by some landowners denying access to the foldcourse
• the denial of access to the foldcourse was one of the factors that increased levels of peasant discontent and contributed to the outbreak of the rebellion

Question 74

what specific grievances did the rebels in Kett’s rebellion have?

Answer 74

• hatred of local government officials
• resentment of the abuse by landowners of the Norfolk foldcourse system
• the release of pent-up frustrations about the maladministration locally of the Howards.

Question 75

what did the rebels in kett’s rebellion want the government to do?

Answer 75

to act on the promises of reform which had been made (or which they thought had been made) by Somerset in his proclomation against enclosures in April.

Question 76

how did the rebels in kett’s rebellion contrast with the rebels in the western rebellion?

Answer 76

in the western rebellion the rebels wanted to reverse government policy, but in kett’s they just wanted the government to act on promises

Question 77

how did the government suppress Kett’s rebellion?

Answer 77

• the government’s original attempt to crush the east anglian rebellion by the earl of northampton ended in humiliating failure
• Somerset was forced to send an army including foreign mercenaries under the command of the Earl of Warwick to deal with the rebels. the rebellion was brutally suppressed on the 27th of august and Kett was hanged.

Question 78

what reforming traditions were in contest during the reign of Edward VI?

Answer 78

• the tradition of evangelical humanism associated with those who identified with the teachings of Erasmus
• more radical forms of protestantism

Question 79

what influence did moderate humanism still exert?

Answer 79

• Archbishop Cranmer had been influenced by humanism
• the 1547 injunctions required each parish church to acquire a copy of the paraphrases of erasmus
• the humanist John Cheke had been edward’s tutor
• the humanist writer Nicholas Udall received government encouragement
• william cecil, then junior secretary of state in Northumberland’s admnistration, encouraged humanist scholars at cambridge
• the humanist-influenced reformers Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer were invited to work in England during Edward’s reign. Cranmer secured for Bucer a crown appointment as professor of divinity at cambridge.
• the great lutheran and humanist scholar Philip Melanchthon, the leading continental moderate reformer, was invited to be Bucer’s replacement.

Question 80

what other school of thought gained pace in edward’s reign?

Answer 80

a more militant and less comprehensive approach to reform gained pace under northumberland