Chapter 16 - The Social impact of religious and economic changes under Mary I Flashcards
what were the first religious changes of Mary’s reign generated by?
by the willing participation of a largely enthusiatic populace
what problems did Mary face when she tried to restore England to catholicism and papal jurisdiction?
- Protestantism, although a minority faith, had attracted adherents in London and in other parts of the south
- The reformed protestant church of england was protected in statute law
- many members of the political elites, on whose support mary depended, had benefitted financially from the acquisition of monastic land and had no desire to surrender what Mary saw as their ill-gotten gains.
what happened to some of the most prominent protestant clergy?
they were deprived of their livings, and imprisoned in some cases
what were foreign protestants ordered to do?
they were ordered to leave the country, although many had done so already
when did the legislative attack on protestantism begin?
the meeting of Mary’s first parliament in October 1553
what happened at Mary’s first parliament (October 1553)?
- the religious laws that had been passed during Edward’s reign were repealed
- the order of service as at the time of the death of Henry VIII was restored
- all clergy who had married when permitted to do so could be deprived of their livings
- the legal status of the church of england was upheld.
what dilemma did mary face with passing legislation to reverse the royal supremacy?
- it would mean acknowledging that the original laws passed during Henry VIII’s reign were legally valid.
- basically, it would mean mary would have to accept the superiority of statute law over divine law, the opposite of her own fundamental belief
when was the status of the church finally resolved?
Mary’s third parliament which lasted from November 1554 to January 1555.
what delayed the process of resolving the status of the church?
the issue of what should happen to the lands from dissolved monasteries which had fallen into private hands.
what was made clear to the pope and reginald pole about monastic lands?
there was no question that such land could be restored to the church
what had Simon renard told Charles V about the monastic lands?
more ex-monastic land was in the hands of catholics than protestants
when did Cardinal pole arrive in england to take up position as legate and archbishop of canterbury?
November 1554
what did Mary’s third parliament do in relation to cardinal pole?
it reversed the henrician act of attainder that had been passed against Pole
what did the first statute of repeal do?
repealed the religious legislation of edward’s reign
what year was the first statue of repeal?
1553
when were heresey laws restored?
November 1554
what act revoked the royal supremacy?
the Act of repeal
when was the act of repeal passed?
January 1555
what did the second statute of repeal do?
it repealed anti-papal legislation from Henry’s reign
why was Pole a subject of suspicion among landowners?
his grudging attitude on the subject of church property, his reputation never really recovered from this
when did Pope Julius III die?
1555
who succeeded Pope Julius III?
Pope Paul IV, he was fiercely anti-spanish
how did Pope Paul IV view Pole?
as a heretic
who was Pope Paul IV hostile to?
Mary’s husband Philip, because he was spanish
how was Pope Paul IV’s hostility to philip demonstrated?
his open hostility to the spanish side in a war which broke out in 1555, in which Mary found herself effectively at war with the papacy
how was Paul IV’s attitude to Pole demonstrated?
when he dismissed him as papal legate in April 1557
what was the significance of Pole being dismissed as papal legate?
it was a significant blow to his prestige, but it also meant he could no longer act directly on behalf of the pope in his supervision of the English church
what placed Mary in a difficult legal relationship with the pope after he dismissed Pole?
the pope named a new legate, William Peto, but mary trusted pole, and in effect refused to acknowledge superior papal authority that placed peto in a higher position in the english church than the archbishop of canterbury
what book became the most widely read book (apart from the bible) in elizabeth’s reign?
Foxe’s book of martyrs, about mary’s burning of protestants
how many burnings were there in london?
60, which reflects the concentration of protestantism there
where were the main locations of the burnings?
the south-east, the places which had higher protestant populations
how many protestants were burned?
280, including high profile ones like Cranmer, Hooper and ridley
how many clergymen were burned?
21
how many members of the gentry were burned?
8
what status were the majority of those burned?
most were men and women of fairly humble status, wealthier people were able to escape into exile
what does the humble background of many of those burned suggest?
that protestantism was important to some people who did not simply benefit financially from religious change
what did the deaths of the first two victims, John rogers and rowland taylor, elicit?
widespread public sympathy
what effect did extending the range of victims to include humble persons have?
it seems to have strengthened the sympathy for their martyrdom
what is evidence that the council started worrying about the effects of burnings?
it attempted to ban servants, apprentices and the young in general from attending burnings
what was the catholic reformation?
the attempts of the catholic church to reform itself
what was the legatine synod?
a joint assembly summoned by a papal legate; in this context, Pole as papal legate had the right to summon clergy from both provinces of the english church - canterbury and york - to a legatine synod; other archbishops of canterbury did not have this right
what did pole try to do?
ensure the quality of pastoral provision
what did Pole’s legatine synod of 1555 to 1556 make clear?
it made his expectations clear:
- bishops were to reside in their dioceses, they were to preach and they were to oversee carefully the religious life of their parishes
what proposal was put forward (although never put into effect) that reflected the spirit of the catholic reformation?
that each cathedral should have a seminary attached for the training of new recruits to the priesthood
how did recruiting priests vary by area?
recruiting priests was easy in areas like durham, however there were very few candidates for ordination in places like kent, for example.
what did the bulk of the country remain in sentiment?
catholic
what economic problems did Mary face?
- the continued pressure on demand brought about by the rapid increase in the population. this was the key long term factor in increasing inflation
- the inflationary impact of debasement of the coinage. this was the key medium-term factor
- Harvest failures in 1555 and 1556. These brought severe food shortages and severe strain on real wages for the poor
- the devastating impact of the ‘sweating sickness’ which swept through the country in 1557 and 1558 (the death toll was possibly the worst since the black death)
why was progress made in revenue administration?
- edward’s premature death had prevented any of the recommendations, from the commission set up by northumberland, being set up in his reign.
- the Court of Exchequer took over both the court of first fruit and tenths and the court of augmentations, but in the process adopted some of the more recent courts’ superior methods.
- financial administration, under lord treasurer winchester, was competent
what big finanical mistake did mary make?
remitting the final part of edward’s last subsidy
despite the level of royal indebtedness rising during the reign, why did it not do so dramatically?
given that england was at war with france during the later stages of the reign
what was the financial record like, seeing as it was a government at war?
satisfactory
why was the long-term security of crown finances boosted?
- by the plans for recoinage drawn up from 1556 to 1558 but implemented under elizabeth
- it was the thoroughness of of preparation under mary that enabled efficient implementation under elizabeth
- Elizabeth also reaped the benefit from the introduction of a new book of rates in 1558, which raised customs revenue dramatically
what was poor relief under mary partially a response to?
- the extent of the problems the country faced from 1556 to 1558.
- there was a huge mortality rate from the influenza epidemic of those years
- there were a series of harvest failures and taxation was high in order to pay for the war against france
what was the emphasis on in terms of help for the poor under Mary?
- the enforcement of laws against grain hoarders
- there was a strong encouragement to convert pasture land to tillage
- however it’s very difficult to assess the success of these measures
what rebellion had been planned in november 1553?
there were to be 4 simultaneous risings: in Devon (which would be led by edward Courtenay, earl of Devon), Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and Kent
- the plans leaked in january 1554, forcing the rebels into action
which county of those involved in the rebellion plans actually experienced a serious rising?
Kent, Sir Thomas Wyatt raised a force of about 3,000 men
what were the motives of the rebels in wyatt’s rebellion?
- some were motivated by religion, with many of Wyatt’s urban supporters coming from Maidstone, a protestant stronghold
- xenophobia towards philip certainly motivated many
- the decline in the local cloth industry might well have prompted some poorer rebels to use the revolt as a means of expressing their social and economic grievances
- the rebellion seems to have attracted some gentry who had lost office within the county
what was clearly the main motive of wyatt’s rebellion?
resentment of the proposed royal marriage, especially among the rebellion’s leaders
what caused further confusion to the rebels?
- the involvement of lady Jane grey’s father in the rebellion implied a desire to restore jane to the throne; other rebels would undoubtedly preferred elizabeth
what was an implicit objective of wyatt’s rebellion?
getting rid of mary, although this was never stated openly
what caused furthre confusion for the rebels?
the involvement of Lady Jane Grey’s father implied a desire to restore Jane to the throne; other rebels would undoubtedly preferred elizabeth
when did Wyatt’s rebellion start?
25 January 1554
when was Norfolk’s force unable to engage the rebels and forced to retreat?
28 January 1554
when did mary rally support with a speech at the guildhall in the city of London?
1 February 1554
where did Wyatt surrender?
Ludgate, on the edge of the city of london
why was wyatt’s rebellion significant?
- it showed that, although protestants were a minority, their religious opinions could not be ignored
- in demonstrated the extent to which there was popular suspicion of the proposed spanish marriage
- it resulted in the execution of Lady Jane Grey, an innocent victim of her father’s support for the rebellion
what happened to elizabeth after wyatt’s rebellion?
- she was arrested and confined to the tower
- mary was convinced that elizabeth was aware of the rebels intentions
- however wyatt didn’t implicate her
- her interrogators Gardiner and Paget had a vested interest in not finding out the truth
- gardiner because of his links with courtenary
- Paget because he recognised that elizabeth was likely to one day be queen
- in the end she was eventually released
how had Wyatt come close to success?
- he had raised - and kept - a large following
- outmanouvered the duke of norfolk and came close to securing the city of london
how did mary and her councillors act in the face of wyatt’s rebellion?
she behaved bravely and resolutely, and her councillors kept their heads, with no important defections to the rebel cause
did humanism have influence in mary’s reign?
- her reign showed little influence of humanism
- there was no scope under marian catholicism for the expression of evangelical humanism which had been linked to religious reform
- there was also very little sign of the catholic humanism which had been linked with the catholic martyrs
- reginald pole’s governance of the church seemed to have little influence of humanism
how did the catholic church want to consciously dissociate itself with humanism?
- Pope Paul IV regarded the greatest of all catholic humanist scholars, erasmus, as a heretic
- his works were placed on the Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum (index of prohibited books)
how was official religious thought in mary’s reign designed?
- at a more practical level to assist the process of catholic reform at a parish level
- Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London, published A Profitable and Necessary Doctrine, which explained the faith at a straightforward level, and a book of homilies to replace that which had been issued by the edwardian church
what was pole keen to stress?
- the importance of papal supremacy, which had not been an especially strong feature of pre-reformation catholicism
- this was somewhat ironic given Paul IV’s hostility towards him
- had pole and mary survived and outlived paul IV, the nature of english catholicism would have developed into a very different form compared with its pre-reformation character
what did protestant exiles do during mary’s reign ?
they sent back to england numerous publications
why were exiled protestants not a united group during Mary’s reign?
- they were divided between those who were happy to use the 1552 prayer book as the basis for church services and those who wished to move in a more radical direction
- this did not merely reflect religious discipline; it also reflected a split between those who wished to operate politically within existing structure and those, led by john knox and christopher goodman, who wished to adopt a more radical appraoch involving active resistance to the regime
