Religion, Art, Humanism and Learning

• There were around 8000 parish churches, which were central to society. Alongside their guilds and confraternities they were responsible for festivals, entertainment and charity as well as religious services.
• Church administration ran through 2 provinces, each headed by an Archbishop and 17 dioceses headed by a bishop.
• church tasks included Pilgrimage, Rogationtide, schools, almshouses and more.
• Margaret Beaufort showed her piety by setting up a College at Cambridge University.
• 1% of adult males were monks
• Benedictine houses were large and often doubled as cathedral churches.
• Friars were often recruited from lower classes and some groups included the Dominicans, Franciscans and Augustinians.
• Nunneries were less prestigious but a notable exception was the Bridgettine foundation.
• Lollards were a small minority but existed. Anticlericalism was rare.
• Under Henry VII, humanism had very little impact, but William Grocyn became a lecturer at Oxford.
• 53 Grammar schools were built between 1460 and 1509.
• Plays were often performed at church festivals and had moral or religious messages.
• In terms of music, the best surviving source is the Eton Choir Book. Browne received patronage from the Earl of Oxford and Fayrfax from Margaret Beauford.
• The most popular architecture style was Gothic perpendicular such as the Lady Chapel commissioned by Henry VII at Westminster.
• Chivalric or Saints' were popular such as the Canterbury tales. They were printed by William Caxton but eventually humanist literature became more popular.