Weaknesses Of The Church Flashcards
Most famous corrupt clergyman?
Wolsey
Why were many clergymen guilty of corruption?
The Crown used Church offices as a way of rewarding those of its officials who were clergymen
What was Anticlericalism?
Opposition to the political and social importance of the clergy
Why were some lawyers anticlerical?
Objected to the influence of Canon Law and there were also objections tit he legal privileges of the Clergy
Example of Clerical misconduct?
Richard Hunne 1514
- found dead in the Bishop of London’s prison
- dressed up as a suicide
- disastrous in the short term for the reputation of the Church
What book was written in 1529?
Simon Fish wrote ‘Supplication of the Beggars’
- vicious and powerful attack on many aspects of the Catholic Church
What was the decline of monasticism?
Precedents for dissolving the monasteries already existed by the 1530s
Why/how many monasteries did Wolsey secure the dissolution of?
20 for Cardinal college, Oxford
How had monasticism lost its sense of direction?
Larger monasteries had become, in effect, substantial businesses with huge resources in terms of land/buildings
- the ease and speed with which the monasteries were dissolved supports this argument
Which orders were flourishing right up until the final days of the dissolution?
Observant Franciscans and Bridgettines
Corruption?
Pluralism - receiving the profits of more than one post
Simony - the purchase of Church Office
Non-residence - receiving the profits of a post but not being present to perform the duties associated with it
