need for church reform (Wolsey)

• need for church reform

  1. clergy
  2. Wolsey himself
  3. laity
• clergy

  -  Some discontent over the payment of tithes (tax to religious organisations) particularly in south-east & London

  -  Hunne Case (1514) – suspected Lollard (anti-clerical Christian) & found dead in cell, burnt as if he’d been a heretic despite no conviction, 2 gaolers accused but no trial

  -  Support & enthusiasm for religious orders decreasing – no of monasteries & nunneries experienced falling

  -  Fall in no of new abbeys, friaries & priories built compared to previous centuries

  -  Rural parish priests had little education

  -  Criticisms from within church – 1511, Dean of St Paul’s preached a sermon, accused clergy of being greedy & ambitious

  -  Bishops = often absent

  Pluralism (eg. Thomas Magnus = Archdeacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire; canon at Windsor & Lincoln; Master of St Leonard’s Hospital, York; Master of the College of St Sepulchre & Sibthorpe College; vicar of Kendal; rector of Bedale, Sessay & Kirby)
• clergy (counter)

  -  Clergy = well-respected at a local level

  -  Little evidence/reports of misconduct, relations between priests & parishioners = usually harmonious

  -  Ordination rates remained high – few would commit their lives to an organisation on the verge of collapse

  - Absent bishops often on state business, appointed suffragans to act as deputies
• Wolsey himself

  - Pluralist (Archbishop of York & Bishop of Lincoln)

  -  Elected himself abbot of St Albans (rich abbey) despite not being a monk

  -  Absentee – never visited York until after fall from power in Nov 1529

  -  Fathered a daughter & son (celibacy vow)

  -  Appointed Italians to bishoprics, paid stipend & kept surplus

  -  Used church to fund lifestyle

  -  Pressured pope to make him cardinal (1515) – powers over Archbishop of Canterbury on ceremonial occasions

  -  1518 -> papal legate (negotiate truce btwn European states & to organise crusade agst Turks)

  -  Able to manipulate this appointment so his powers were extended for several years & eventually confirmed for life

  -  Pope agreed to lifetime appointment so he could reform church (little knowledge of real ambitions)

  -  Scheme for schools was slow & only one school was established (Ipswich = hometown)

  - School named after himself (Cardinal College) = self-promotion
• Wolsey himself (counter)

  -  Unable to become Archbishop of Canterbury as Warham would not resign

  -  1519 -> visited 60+ religious houses & cathedral chapters (governing body of cathedral), issued new constitutions for Augustinian canons

  -  Planned to found grammar schools & establish a new college at Oxford – 20+ small monasteries dissolved & revenues used to fund Cardinal College

  - Plans to convert some abbeys into cathedrals & create new diocese, just before his fall
• laity

  -  South-east & London = most critical of church

  -  Church under severe attack following Martin Luther’s 95 Theses (1517)

  - Evidence of Lollardy (anti-clericalism) in area around Chiltern Hills
• laity (counter)

  -  pope = liked (unlike Germany)

  -  Local parish church = centre of lives, little evidence of crisis

  -  Rural areas – church calendar festivals, eg. Rogationtide (crops blessed)

  -  Church = centre of social lives, eg. church ales (sold to make money for church)

  -  Rural parish priests still able to fulfil role, despite little education

  -  Urban areas = bought literature, eg. ‘The Primer’

  -  Continuation of large-scale building projects, eg. new steeple at Louth (£305)

  -  Many people still leaving £ in wills to local church & guilds (57% Devon/Cornwall)

  -  Most still attended mass & gave £

  -  People still paying for chantry prayers

  -  Little evidence of support for heresy/Lutheranism

  -  No national organisation/agreed faith (confined to Chiltern Hills)

  -  Lutheranism = even less support (small group of Cambridge scholars)

  - Disputes uncommon, people still attended church courts when summoned