Religion under Mary

Question 1

What religious changes did Mary make in 1553?

Answer 1

September- Archbishop Cranmer was arrested otheres were imprisoned e.g. Nicholas Ridley and John Hooper
Autumn- Parliament met and refused the Act of Supremacy, but did pass an Act of Repeal which undid all the Edwardian Reformation
December- Mary gave up the title of Supreme Head of Church

Question 2

What was the Act of Repeal 1553?

Answer 2

Revived Mass, ritual worship and clerical celibacy and implicitly reaffirmed the traditional doctrine of the Lord’s Supper (i.e. the Catholic belief in transubstantiation). This restored the Church to what it had been under the Act of Six Articles

Question 3

What religious changes did Mary make in 1554?

Answer 3

January- Mass exodus of Protestants e.g. 800 in all
March- Royal injunctions
Gardiner deprived Protestant bishops and replaced them with Catholics
April- Parliament initially rejected the reintroduction of heresy laws but agreed when promised that former monastic lands would not be restored to Church ownership
Nov- Cardinal Pole returned to England
Parliament rejected the Second Act of Repeal, which undid all anti-papal legislation since 1529 and the Henrician reformation

Question 4

What were the March 1554 Royal Injunctions?

Answer 4

Ordered bishops to suppress heresy, remove married clergy, re-ordain clergy who had been ordained under the English Ordinal, restore Holy Days and processions
Gardiner began to deprive married priests of their livings. In the diocese of Norwich, 243 priests lost their posts, 90 in Bath and Wells.
10-25% of clergy were deprived for having married, although some were reinstated as the conformed

Question 5

What religious changes happened in 1555?

Answer 5

Publication of Bishop Bonner’s Book of Homilies
Bishops, Ridley and Latimer were burned for heresy in Oxford 16 October
December- Reginald Pole was named as Archbishop of Canterbury

Question 6

What religious changes were there in 1556?

Answer 6

Synod issued Twelve Decrees
Cranmer was burned at the stake 21st March
Cardinal Pole argued with Pope Paul IV and was deprived of his position as legate but consecrated Archbishop

Question 7

What religious changes were there in 1557?

Answer 7

Refoundation of some small religious houses
Pole was recalled to Rome to answer charge of heresy. Mary refused him permission to go and rejected his replacement as legate

Question 8

What religious changes were there in 1558?

Answer 8

10 Nov- Fiver Protestants were burned at the stake in Canterbury. In all 300 people were executed during Mary’s reign.

Question 9

What was Mary’s personal piety?

Answer 9

Mary interpreted her popularity as an acceptance and endorsement of the Catholic faith rather than opposition to Northumberland or her legitimacy.
She proclaimed on 18th April 1553 that she hoped her subjects would follow her religion

Question 10

What evidence was there that Catholicism was eagerly accepted again?

Answer 10

At Oxford, chalices were brought out and Mass was celebrated. On 23th August an altar and cross were set up at St Nicholas Cole Abbey in London and Mass was said.
The next day, six more London churches followed.

Question 11

How enthusiastic were Mary’s advisors in restoring Catholicism?

Answer 11

Gardiner, Mary’s most trusted advisor, was unenthusiastic about a return to Papal Supremacy
Renard was worried about property concerns
Charles V and Pope Julius III urger caution, for they feared moving too quickly might cause unrest
Cardinal Pole, appointed as papal legate did not arrive in England until a year after the start of Mary’s reign

Question 12

What issues were there with Cardinal Pole?

Answer 12

He was appointed papal legate in August 1553 by Pope Julius III. He was adamant that former Church lands would have to be restored if England was to return to the authority of the Pope
Eventually on 30th Nov 1554 Pole granted absolution to the whole realm , the issue of land ownership was still unresolved but by January 1555, Pole supported by Mary, had to concede that Church lands would remain in lay hands. The great Act of Repeal which reunited England with Rome went through Parliament and received royal assent on Jan 1555 16th

Question 13

What issues did Pole have with restoring Catholicism?

Answer 13

Pole did not give his full attention to ecclesiastical policy, owing to his responsibility for seeking peace between the Habsburgs and French
Pole’s scheme to overhaul the Church finance required two huge surveys, one of pensions to former monks and members of the clergy and the other of poor benefices. This took 18 months and was a difficult administrative task
After Pope Julius died, Pope Paul IV refused t confirm Marian appointments to vacant bishoprics owing to sour relations with Pole
Pole’s strategy relied on the involvement of the bishops, but six sees were left vacant for most of the reign

Question 14

What factors hindered the restoration of Catholicism?

Answer 14

The brevity of the reign
The new Pope, Paul IV was virulently anti-Habsburg and in dispute with Philip
Marian government failed to realise the potential of literacy and printing; critical works outnumbered publications supporting Mary’s policies 2;1
The bishops should have been the driving force reforming the clergy but Edwardian bishops were still in their sees until April 1554. Later in the reign there were lengthy vacancies
Catholic leaders and writers probably wished to inform rather than persuade
Propaganda opportunities were not always seize

Question 15

What is an example of how propaganda opportunities were not always seized under Mary?

Answer 15

Nothing was made of the debates between leading Protestants and Catholics at Oxford in April 1554, or the recantation of Sir John Cheke

Question 16

What was Pole’s top-down strategy for the restoration of Catholicism?

Answer 16

Encouraged bishops to make regular visitations to their dioceses to check on finances and discipline of the clergy
the London Synod of 1555
Pole commissioned some new publications
Clerical education

Question 17

How did the London Synod of 1555 contribute to Pole’s Top down strategy for the restoration of Catholicism?

Answer 17

Drew up the 12 decrees.
Necessity of all parish priests being resident and sought to put the end to other abuses e.g. priests having more than one parish, and nepotism, where parishes were given to priests according to who they knew rather than out of merit

Question 18

What new publications did Pole commission?

Answer 18

A newly edited Catholic New Testament, a new Book of Homilies and a new catechism. However these never had much chance to be implemented

Question 19

How did Pole advance clerical education to promote Catholicism?

Answer 19

He wanted seminaries to be established in cathedrals. Cathedral schools were to be founded or reformed at Durham, Lincoln, Wells and York.
On the death of Gardiner Pole replaced him as chancellor of Cambridge university followed by Oxford. Therefore provided a tangible link between government and universities.
He helped to found two new colleges, Trinity at Cambridge and St John’s at Oxford

Question 20

What proclamations enforced censorship early in Mary’s reign?

Answer 20

28th July 1553 forbade the printing of seditious rumours
18th August 1553 forbade the playing of interludes and printing of false fond books, ballads rhymes etc.

Question 21

What did Mary do to enforce censorship?

Answer 21

There was an index of proscribed writers and towards the end of the reign it was declared that the possession of treasonable books would result in the death penalty
commissions were created to “enquire concerning all heresies, heretical and seditious books”. There was some attempt to prevent the smuggling of books

Question 22

How did Mary’s censorship fail?

Answer 22

It had been estimated that around 19,000 copies of the 1553 Prayer Book were in circulation- plenty to sustain Protestant underground.
A lack of consistency hampered efforts to control literature
Latimer and Ridley who were imprisoned Protestant leaders in Oxford were able to write pamphlets and letters from inside which were then circulated

Question 23

What did Mary do in the “war of words”?

Answer 23

A number of sermons were sponsored at St Paul’s Cross in London. This was the most prestigious pulpit in the country, for instance Gardiner announced the reconciliation with Romer there in dec 1554.
Pro-active government writers such as Miles Hogarde, a London hosier published The Displaying of the Protestants in 1556

Question 24

Why were Protestants able to win the “war of words”?

Answer 24

English Protestants in exile were more heavyweight than the Marian supporters. The Government was hampered by practical problems- there were only as many as half as many printers in Mary’s reign as before as a number or Protestant printers had left England on her accession.

Question 25

By what process was a person sentenced to a burning?

Answer 25

Bishops conducted visitations in an efforts to identify individuals who were deemed to be heretics, on being imprisoned, they were then tried by bishops. If they recanted and admitted the error of their ways by asking for forgiveness and embracing Catholicism once again, their life would be spared.

Question 26

What was the response to burnings in London?

Answer 26

Upset, however apart from in London there is no evidence there was such a strong reaction against the burnings.

Question 27

Who was burned?

Answer 27

280 people in 46 months
5 were bishops
51 were women
they were mainly south-east, nearly half of them in London, Canterbury and Colchester

Question 28

Who was Stephen Gardiner?

Answer 28

Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor. He had been imprisoned during Edward VI’s reign

Question 29

Who was Simon Renard?

Answer 29

The Imperial Ambassador from Charles V

Question 30

Who was Reginald Pole?

Answer 30

A cousin of Mary’s. He became papal legate with a brief to restore papal authority in England

Question 31

Who was Philip II of Spain?

Answer 31

Son of Charles V and husband of Marys’

Question 32

Who was Charles V?

Answer 32

Mary’s cousin, and Holy Roman Emperor. Mary maintained a regular correspondence with him throughout her reign

Question 33

Who was Julius III?

Answer 33

Pope when Mary acceded to the throne in 1553. He wanted all ex-Church lands to be returned to the Church before England could be reconciled to Rome

Question 34

Who was Paul IV?

Answer 34

Pope from 1555. He was fiercely anti-Habsburg and this brought England into conflict with the Papacy

Question 35

What was the Second Act of Repeal?

Answer 35

Repealed all religious legislation since 1529, but Mary was forced into a compromise with landowners, guaranteeing the rights of those who had bough Church land since 1536

Question 36

When did burnings start?

Answer 36

Feb 1555

Question 37

What evidence is there that Mary’s restoration of Catholicism was popular in parishes?

Answer 37

In Morebath in Devon parishioners raised considerable sums of money to purchase vestments and other equipment needed to carry out Catholic services

Question 38

What is the impact of John Foxe?

Answer 38

It is his Acts and Monuments and The Book of Martyrs that has influenced the understanding and impact of the events. He suggests there was widespread opposition to the regime

Question 39

Why were there less burnings further away from London?

Answer 39

Authorities weren’t able to effectively put pressure on local authorities to act

Question 40

What proof is there that authorities had trouble enforcing burnings further away from London?

Answer 40

Letters to JPs in the south urging for action was high.
But generally JPs were unwilling to enforce other legislation as well e.g. Vagrancy Act 1547
and there were regular reminders to JPs to implement laws