The social impact of religious and economic changes under Mary I Flashcards
Mary faced several problems…
> 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 benefited financially from the acquisition of monastic land and had no desire to surrender what Mary saw as their ill-gotten gains.
Mary’s legislative attack on Protestantism…
Mary’s legislative attack on Protestantism began with the meeting of Mary’s first parliament in October 1553.
> The religious laws that had been passed during Edward VI’s reign were repealed.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.
80 MPs…
About 80 MPs went as far as to vote against the repeal of the Edwardian religious laws. Moreover, about 800 persons, mostly drawn from the political elites, their families and servants, went into exile at centres of European Protestantism such as Strasbourg, Geneva, Frankfurt, and the port of Emden in north Germany.
Mary’s dilemma regarding parliamentary legislation…
To rely on parliamentary legislation to reverse the royal supremacy would mean acknowledging that the original laws passed under Henry VIII’s reign were legally valid.
In other words, Mary would have to accept the superiority of statute law over divine law, precisely the opposite of her own fundamental belief.
Status of the Church…
The status of the Church was not finally resolved until Mary’s third parliament (Nov 1554 - Jan 1555). The delaying of the process was due to the issue of what should happen to the lands of dissolved monasteries which had fallen into private hands.
Pope Julius III and his legate Reginald Pole saw that there was no question that such land could be restored to the Church. However, the Imperial ambassador Renard had told HRE Charles V that more ex-monastic land was in the hands of Catholics than Protestants.
Mary’s third parliament reversed the Henrician Act of Attainder that had been passed against Pole, and Royal Assent was given the day before Pole’s arrival.
1555 Act of Repeal…
In January 1555, the Act of Repeal revoking the royal supremacy was passed. However, Pole’s grudging attitude on the subject of Church property had made him an object of suspicion among landowners and his reputation never really recovered.
A new Pope…
Pope Julius III died in 1555 and was succeeded by the anti-Spanish Pope Paul IV. Paul IV was hostile to Mary’s Spanish husband and regarded Pole as a heretic. Paul IV’s hostility towards Philip was demonstrated in his hostility towards the Spanish side in a war in 1555. To all intents and purposes, Mary found herself at war with the papacy.
Pope Paul IV dismissed Pole as papal legate in April 1557. The pope went on to accuse Pole of heresy but Mary refused to let him go to Rome to face the charge.
Paul IV named a new legate, William Peto, but Mary refused to acknowledge superior papal authority that placed Peto in a higher position in the English Church than the Archbishop of Canterbury. This placed Mary in a difficult legal relationship with the Pope.
Mary’s reputation…
Mary’s reputation has come to rest on the burning of Protestant heretics, earning her the title of ‘Bloody Mary’. The fate of Mary’s victims was recorded in Foxe’s ‘Book of Martyrs’.
Foxe’s ‘Book of Martyrs’…
First published in 1563, it went through 5 editions during Elizabeth I’s reign. It became one of the most widely read books in England apart from the Bible and established the notion of the English as God’s elect (and Protestant) nation. Mary was therefore condemned for her cruelty and ungodliness, and such views have long tended to influence historians’ interpretations of her reign and of her conduct. In possibly the most famous extract from the book, Foxe made it easy for his readers to draw the appropriate moral. He quoted Hugh Latimer’s alleged comment to Nicholas Ridley as they were about to suffer together. ‘Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.’
The burning of heretics…
Altogether, around 280 Protestants (men and women) were burnt at the stake for heresy. Famous victims included Archbishop Cranmer and preacher Hugh Latimer. The bulk of the sufferers were men and women of fairly humble status, in contrast to the more exalted background of those who had gone into exile once Mary had become queen, suggesting that Protestantism was important to some people who did not simply benefit financially from religious change.
At one level the Crown’s strategy appears to have misfired, as the first 2 victims seemed to have been chosen on account of their popularity as preachers. Their deaths appear to have elicited widespread public sympathy. Moreover, extending the range of victims to include humble persons seems to have strengthened the sympathy for their martyrdom.
That the Council started worrying about the effects of the burnings is evident in the measures which it took in attempting to ban servants, apprentices, and the young in general from attending burnings. Ultimately, it failed to extinguish heresy.
In some continental countries, such strictness succeeded, and the failure of the policy in England may have been a consequence of lack of time rather than popular feeling.
Geography of martyrdom…
There were 60 burnings in London, which reflects the extent of Protestant penetration there. The other main locations of burnings were all in the south-east of England: Canterbury (Kent), Lewes (Sussex), and Colchester (Essex). More than three-quarters of the martyrs were to be found in the south-east and East Anglia, the regions where Protestantism was most highly developed. On the other hand, there were no burnings in, for example, the diocese of Durham.
Mary’s other religious reforms…
The resources of the Church, which had been eroded for 20 years, needed to be restored. Both the quality and quantity of the priests needed improving.
Cardinal Pole tried to ensure the quality of pastoral provision and most of the new Bishops whom Mary and he appointed took their pastoral responsibilities seriously and in a manner that was perfectly in accord with the spirit of the Catholic Reformation.
Pole’s legatine synod…
Pole’s legatine synod of 1555-56 made his expectations clear - Bishops were to reside in their dioceses, they were to preach, and were to carefully oversee the religious life of their parishes. Also within the spirit of the Catholic Reformation, there was a proposal that each cathedral should have a seminary attached for the training of new recruits to the priesthood, however this was never put into effect.
Key term - legatine synod…
A legatine synod is 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.
Success of Pole’s reforms…
The chances of success largely depended on commitment at parish level. This could be guaranteed in Catholic Durham or Lancashire, which proved fertile territory for recruiting new priests, but there were very few candidates for ordination in strongly protestant areas such as Kent.
There was wide variation in London, where some parishes re-embraced Catholicism enthusiastically, whereas other churches were virtually in ruins.
The extent to which Mary had transformed the religious situation by 1558…
The bulk of the country remained Catholic in sentiment. Clearly, given time and resources, Pole and Mary may well have succeeded in their mission to re-Catholicise England.
The delay in properly restoring the Church’s institutional structure and the divisions between Crown and papacy did not help Mary’s cause.
Trends producing inflation…
> 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’, a virulent form of influenza which swept through the country in 1557 and 1558 (the death toll was probably the worst of the century, and possibly the worst since the Black Death in the 14th century).
Administration of Crown finances…
Some of the changes recommended by the Duke of Northumberland were implemented in 1554 even thought the person largely responsible for making the recommendations, Walter Mildmay, was regarded with suspicion on religious grounds.
The Court of the Exchequer took over both the Court of the First Fruits 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.
Mary’s big mistake…
Mary made one big mistake, remitting the final part of Edward’s last subsidy. This bought her some cheap popularity but at some financial cost.
Although the level of royal indebtedness rose during the reign, it did not do so dramatically given that England was at war with France during the later stages of the reign. For a government at war, its financial record was satisfactory.
The long-term security of the Crown finances was boosted by the plans for recoinage drawn up in 1556-58 but implemented under Elizabeth. Inflationary pressures had been caused by the proliferation of debased coins in circulation. It was the thoroughness of preparation under Mary that enabled efficient implementation under Elizabeth. She also reaped the benefit from the introduction of a new Book of Rates in 1558, which raised customs revenue dramatically.
Poor relief…
Marian government did itself become more active in areas relating to poor relief. This was a response to the extent of problems experienced from 1556-58. There was a huge mortality rate from the influenza epidemic, alongside a series of harvest failures and high taxation in order to pay for the war against France.
Particular emphasis was placed on the enforcement of laws against grain hoarders and there was strong encouragement to convert pasture land to tillage. However, it was very difficult to assess the effect of these measures.
Wyatt’s Rebellion…
A rebellion had been planned in November 1553, with risings planned in Devon, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, and Kent. The plans leaked out in January 1554, forcing the rebels into action. However, only Kent experienced a serious rising, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt and around 3,000 men.
Wyatt’s Rebellion motives…
> Although the government tried to play this down, some of them were motivated by religion, with many of Wyatt’s urban supporters coming from Maidstone, a Protestant stronghold.
> Xenophobia (fear or dislike of foreigners) certainly motivated many of the rebels.
> 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 also to have attracted some gentry who had lost office within the country.
> Resentment of the proposed Spanish marriage was clearly the main grievance. There was an implicit objective of getting rid of Mary. (To cause confusion for the rebels, the involvement of Jane Grey’s father implied a desire to restore Jane to the throne; others would undoubtedly have preferred Elizabeth.)
The rebellion was highly significant in a number of aspects…
> It showed that, although Protestants were in a minority, their religious opinions could not be ignored.
> It demonstrated the extent to which there was popular suspicion of the proposed Spanish marriage.
> It resulted in the execution of Jane Grey, an innocent victim of her father’s support for the rebellion.
Elizabeth’s position in the rebellion…
Elizabeth herself was arrested and confined to the Tower of London - Mary was unconvinced that Elizabeth was unaware of the rebels intentions. However, Wyatt did not implicate her. Elizabeth’s interrogators, Gardiner and Paget, had a vested interest in not finding out the full truth: Gardiner because of his links to Courtenay and Paget not wanting to alienate the future queen knowing she was heir.
