The Social Impact of Religious and Economic Change under Mary Flashcards
What was Mary’s greatest desire as Queen?
To restore the Catholic faith and Church in
England.
What shows that Mary’s catholic faith was popular?
• in many local areas people began restoring Catholic practices even before Mary’s government ordered religious change, showing that Protestantism was far from entrenched in 1553.
Local enthusiasm generally produced large sums of money to devote to popular conservative religious projects
What were 3 problems Mary faced in terms of religion?
A strong Protestant minority existed in London and other parts of the south.
Reformed Protestant Church of England had been established by statute law.
Many members of the political elites, on whose support Mary depended, had acquired church land and had no desire to return it.
What were the actions taken at the beginning of the reign to prevent these protestant problems?
Some prominent Protestant clergy, including seven Bishops, were deprived of their livings.
Foreign Protestants were ordered to leave the country (but most of them had already left voluntarily).
What was the response to Mary’s initial religious change in parliament?
Around 80 MPs voted against the religious changes of Mary’s first parliament
What happened at first Parliament in
October 1553?
What did this mean for clergy who had married?
Church was restored to its state of 1547.
Clergy who had married could be deprived of their livings.
What was a second problem Mary faced (to do with the Pope?)
Status of the Church not resolved until the meeting of Mary’s third parliament November 1554 - Jan 1555 (process delayed by what should happen to lands of dissolved monasteries which had fallen into private hands).
Made clear to the pope and his legate Reginald Pole that there was no question such land could be restored to the church.
Pope Julius Ill demanded that the Church submit to Rome before dispensations to landowners of ex-church property could be granted - the council along with Charles V and Philip were aware this would be politically impossible.
What happened in 1554 with Pope Julius?
Following Charles V’s advice, he agreed not to try to claim back Church land that had been sold (this reduced opposition to the return of Catholicism from MPs and local landowners).
Cardinal Pole was sent to England, as legate and Archbishop of Canterbury to facilitate a change to Catholicism.
What took place in the third Parliament in November 1554 until
January 1555? (acts/laws)
Restored heresy laws (1554)
Act of Supremacy (1555)
Reversed the Henrician act of attainder that had been passed against Pole (royal assent was given the day before Pole’s arrival)
What was the act of supremacy in 1555?
Act of Supremacy (1555) made the Pope leader of the church again) / Act of repeal revoked the Act of Supremacy.
What were the restored heresy laws in 1554?
Restored heresy laws (1554), these made it punishable by death to deny papal supremacy.
What were the consequences of this change (monastic land) for
Mary and Pole?
Why Pole disliked by landowners?
Act of Repeal provoked furious debates particularly directed against Pole and his attitude on the subject of Church property had made him an object of suspicion amongst land owners from which his reputation never really recovered.
Mary had been forced to acknowledge (reluctantly) the jurisdiction of statue law in matters involving religion.
Paul IV (Pope from 1555) dismissed Pole as Papal legate in April 1557.
What were Mary’s 2 key religious reforms?
In 1553 Mary repealed earlier religious legislation and reinstated the Catholic faith.
Under the heresy laws Mary persecuted Protestants including the
Oxford Martyrs (Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer)
How many people did Mary kill for heresy?
289 protestants burnt as the stake including:
3 bishops including Cranmer, Hooper and Ridley, 21 other clergymen, 8 from the gentry,
But most were from humble status (suggesting Protestantism was important to some people who didn’t simply benefit from religious change),
3/4 of victims the south-east and East Anglia.
Mary became known as Bloody Mary.
What did the persecutions under the Heresy laws do?
Compared to the start of her reign, by the end she was widely unpopular.
What did Pole try to do in terms of religious reforms?
When did he make this clear?
Tried to increase the number and quality of priests (he saw the resources of the church had been eroded).
He appointed new bishops, who would preach and oversee the religious life of their parishes (made clear in his legatine synod of
1555-56) - most took their responsibilities seriously.
He also proposed that each cathedral should have a seminary for training priests (never put into effect).
What were the issues with Pole’s reforms?
Mary’s reign was too short for them to have much impact and while some areas (such as Catholic Durham and Lancashire)
enthusiastically embraced his reforms, many others did not e.g.
Kent and the reforms relied on commitment at Parish level.
Some parishes in London re-embraced Catholicism enthusiastically but other churches were virtually in ruins.
What sort of economic situation did Mary inherit and did it improve?
A serious one - which grew worse during her reign as inflation continued, reaching a climax of distress in the years 1556-58
What happened in 1556-58 worsening the economic situation?
There was a series of bad harvests and the population suffered bouts of various epidemics including the plague
What had damaged the economy in the long term?
Rapid population growth combined with a limited increase in productivity (particularly in agriculture) caused inflation
What had damaged the economy in the medium term?
Effect of debasement of coinage made inflation worse
What damaged the economy in the short term?
Harvest failures 1555 and 1556 led to severe food shortages an strain on real wages for the poor)
Impact of ‘sweating sickness’ / influenza in 1557 and 58 which produced the highest death tole of the century
High taxation to pay for war with France
What did all the damage to the economy lead to?
Social distress