The Church

• The churches social role

  • the church played a huge social role - there were around 8000 parish churches which had impressive intricate buildings 
  • They hosted festivals e.g bank holidays and voluntary association offered charity 
  • Chantry’s were very important as they were chapels were masses where said to the souls of the dead - there were usually financed by benefactors who saw their donations as a way o benefitting their religious experience as a community 
  • Confraternity (the religious guild) was a group of men who gathered together to provide funeral costs of members to help pay to maintain the church, to make donations and to socialise. Guilds were extremely popular and influential and some ran schools. Their money also helped pay for expensive buildings e.g. the spire on the parish church
• Social role conc.

  • Pilgrimage means to gain relief from purgatory. It could involve visiting a tom of a saint such as Thomas becket. There was a vast number o them that were easily accessible 
  • Communities oils “beat around the bounds” of the parish of the parish carrying banners to ward evil spirits and reinforce parish proterity which emphases the importance of parish within the local community
• The function of the church

  • All English people theoretically belonged to the church an were under jurisdiction of he pope in Rome
  • He church provided entertainment and its festivals provided enjoyment 
  • The church controlled people’s lives by encouraging good behaviour, obedience and stress on the values of community 
  • The church was very wealth and owned around 1/3 of land
• The pope

  • The Pope had authority over all spiritual matters.
  • Church courts dealt with the clergy as well as laws concerning crimes such as blasphemy and heresy.
• The churches issues

  • Under Henry VII, the Roman Catholic Church was popular although it did have its issues. These included:
  • Absenteeism – some parish priests rarely visited their parishes.
  • Pluralism – some clergy had more than one position in the church. For example, one bishop might have more than one bishopric at a time.
  • Simony – selling positions in the Church for money.
  • Quality – some clergy did not observe their vows (including chastity) while others were ignorant of religion. Poorly educated priests were a problem because the Bible and services were in Latin.
  • A small minority were critical o the church
• Problems conc

  • Lollards - they placed stress on the understanding of the bible. They were scepticle of transubstantiation and considered the church to be corrupt. this movement was founded by John wycliffe. Their view was common around southern England in south Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
  • Whilst the Lollards view seemed quite widespread its popularity declined and other forms of heresy was quite rare. Christopher haigh argued this saying it was minimal
• religious beliefs

  • The church provided a framework for controlling ow an individual thou 
  • To reach heaven, it was nessecay to
  • Baptism
  • Marriage
  • Confirmation
  • Anoint
  • Penance
  • Holy orders
  • Eucharist
  • The mass 
  • The seven sacrements were closely followed. It was improtant for communal elements. Particularly mass which was a sacred ritual that the whole community participated in
• Monastic orders

  • 1% of adult males were monks living in monostries.
  • The most Common religious order was the benedictines named in the founder St Benedict.
  • their monostries were usually located in rural areas e.g. Yorkshire houses of fountains and mount grace
• Friars

  • they worked among lay people and often wandered and preached to the poor and sick and were supported by charitable donations.
  • But by the late 15the century friars were less needed.
• Humanism

  • A philosophy life that considers the welfare of human kind rather then god. This originated in renaissance florence 
  • The earliest humanists in England were William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre. They began to lecture the ideas in oxford, emphising the work of Aristotle and plato
  • The rise in humanism did show how the church was becoming increasingly unpopular 
  • There were 100 new endowed humanist schools
  • In 1499 Erasumus he was writing at the time that printing had become widespread - he wrote books on humanism meaning his views were spread across Europe and England 
  • John Colet wanted to reform the church from within however humanism and the reinssance did have little influence on England as they held traditional ideas 
  • However humanism had little impression of England
• Evidence of the churches popularity

  • Louth, Lincolnshire raised £350 for a new parish church.
  • Many left the Church money or gifts in their wills.
  • Over 60% of parish churches were renovated or rebuilt in the 15th century.
• How did the printing press help spread humanist ideas?

  • The printing press was first created in Germany.
  • In England, the first printing press was used in 1476.
  • The printing press meant books and artwork were becoming far more accessible.
  • This helped ideas spread, for example those of humanists.
  • Printing contributed to the rise in literacy levels among the nobility and gentry.
• Drama

  • Plays were often presented in association with church-ale festivals e.g. bishop stortford in Hertfordshire in 1490
  • other famous dramas included mystery plays performed at The feasts of Corpus Christi by thr guilds of towns e.g. York.
  • the message of these plays often set out straight moral and religious messages for moral improvement of audiences
• Music

  • Music was enjoyed on various levels from local bagpipe and wind groups which eeee sometimes enjoyed with bawdy drinking songs. They were usually sung in cathedrals
  • The most important source for music was the Eaton choir book which complied around 1505 and included 93 separate musical compositions.
  • The most important people were Thomas brown and Robert fayrfax who performed to the king
  • Music was performed in wealthy homes and courts using instruments such as trumpets, shawms and sackbuts or sometimes Smusic from lutes.
• Art and Architecture

  • most building were built in gothic perpendicular style which symbolised the extent of investment for these improtant places of worship
  • English culture followed medical culture taken from Chaucers Canterbury tales.
  • In 1509 tastes began to change due to humanist ideas. Churches and abbeys became more fashionable. The tradiitonal works of Caxton became more unfashionable.