Religion

Página 1

Religion, Humanism Arts and learning

All English people theoretically belonged to Catholic Church and were under popes jurisdiction

what counted for ordinary people was their own religious experience- key in many peoples lives

Lives regulated in accordance to churchs major ceremonies

8000 Parish churches central to religious experience

Focus for popular festivals- entertainment

Guilds and confraternities which were voluntary associations of individuals to promote works of Christian charity- chance for ordinary people to contribute to their community

Church great for maintaining social and political elites to maintain social control as church encouraged good behaviour, obedience and stress on values of community

Employment opportunity- gained attainment of high office

Political role of church- significant- international relations and domestically

Head of the church - The Pope held significant spiritual power but head of state of Northern Italy

To marry Elizabeth of York, went through Thomas Morton to gain a papal dispensation

Many of the popes at this time didnt interfere with the running of the England Church

Relationship between English state and the Pope was erastian- State had authority over the church

Papacy had no objection to the way Henry used the wealth of the church to reward those churchmen who'd he'd given high political office to.

Church of England administered between two provinces:

Canterbury and York- both under jurisdiction of an archbishop

Under control of:

seventeen dioceses such as Winchester and Durham

Common in late 15th century for senior churchmen to enjoy position of significant influence

Two churchmen who exercised the most power under Henry VII were John Morton and Richard Fox

Some offices of estate were monopolised by clergymen

Most senior clergymen were highly competent and conscientious professionals with extensive legal training- performed duties to both church and state effectively

Abbots shared membership of House of Lords with bishops

Abbots- head of wealthiest religious houses

Abbots had to possess range of management and administrative skills to keep organisations running and had to maintain reputation of their house

Not all head of house lived up to demands and criticisms of monastic life increasing

Religious community, belief and services

Parish church central to religious experience and this period according to Eamon Duffy was age of the parish church and those who worshipped there

Church provided outward structure of community life

Prayers made together believed to be more powerful

Church controlled how individuals thought, reasoned and behaved

Church function to uphold Christian teaching and offered ways which an individual could accquire grace to reach heaven and minimise time the soul spent in purgatory

To reach heaven, necessary to observe as many as seven sacraments as possible including Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Anointing the sick, Penance, Holy Orders, Eucharist

Central religious experience of Catholic Church came with mass where the priest would perform sacrament of holy communion

Climax of ceremony was where priest consecrated the bread and wine.- Belief that the bread and wine transformed figuratively and literally into the blood and body of Christ- transubstantiation

Only priest took bread and wine, lay members took bread

Mass was important because:

it was a sacrifice performed by the priest on behalf of the community

sacred ritual in which the whole community participated in

Importance of consecrated bread emphasised at the feast of Corpus Christi " Body of christ"

Church's social role

Investment by lay people Ito parish churches

Lay people paid for objects which accompanied the services

Dyig leave money to parish church with the reasons being to enhance beauty of worship, ensure remembrance of benefactor and reduce time benefactor would spend in purgatory

Benefactor often leave money in foundation of chantries- financed often from someones will

Chantries were chapels where masses for the souls of the dead took place

Benefactors saw donation as a way of benefiting religious experience of themselves and community

Confraternity- groups of men who gathered together in association with parish church to provide collectively for members funerals, pay chaplain for masses of their member, help maintain church fabric , make donations and socialising.

Guilds- very popular

Wealthier guilds- source of local patronage and power- ran schools, almshouses, bridges and highways

Funds raised in South by church ale festivals- drinking and entertainment

Gain relief from purgatory by going on a pilgrimage

Involve visiting tomb of a saint such as Thomas Beckett at Canterbury

Evidence to suggest Thomas Beckett pilgrimage site was losing popularity

Vast number of pilgrimage sites made it relatively easy access

Rogation Sunday- whole community beat the bounds of the parish, carry banners and parish cross to ward off evil spirits and reinforce the parish property.

Rogation Sunday helped to emphasis the importance of the parish in the local community

Individual religious experience increased in importance as fifteenth century progressed

Example Margaret Beautfort who piety shown through her donations widespread and to Cambridge university.

Religious Orders

Monastic Orders

1% of adult males in england by 1500 were monks

900 religious communities situated around the country

Most common religious order was the Benedictines.

Many Benedictines houses were large, some operated cathedral churches of their diocese(important role in community)

Other religious orders were Cistercians and Carthusians- foundations lay in 11th century due to the dissatisfaction with the Benedictines lack of zeal

Monastries of Cistercians and Carthusians were situated in more remote rural areas such as Yorkshire houses of Foundations and Mount Grace

Large proportion of monks from wealthy parts of society- and from own localities

Friars

Orders of Friars- Arose in 13th century

Worked Among lay people and supported mostly by charitable donations

Main Orders:

Dominicans(black friars- preaching order

Franciscans( grey friars)

Augustinians

Recruited lower down the social scale

Some historians argue by late 15th days of friars over

Many orders of friars continued to receive bequests in wills of faithful

Nunneries

Less prestige

Notable exception was Bridgettine foundation at Syon in Middlesex

Most nunneries were poor

quality of novices inadequate as convents were last resort

Lollards, Heresy and anticlericalism

Small minority were critical of the beliefs and practises of the church

Lollardy was founded by John Wycliffe

placed a stress on the understanding of the bible.

Lollards wanted the bible translated into English

Sceptical about transubstantation

unsure principles of eucharist

thought Catholic Church corrupt

Denied idea of special status of priesthood

Lollard views considered as heresy

Movement became geographically restricted

Burning of heretics introduced into English law in 1401

Critcisms of church did exist

Assumed that anticlericalism was widespread in late medieval England- assumption been challenged by historians

Specific outbursts of anticlericalism were rare,- often politically motivated and continued healthy number of candidates for the priesthood showed that priests retained the support of members of laity- neither priests or part of religious order

Humanism

Humanism-

the develpment of the renaissance of the fourteenth century

founded on the rediscovery of the original and latin and greek texts .

Particularly concerned with establishing the reliability of latin and greek translations to purify the ideas of religious texts

Broadly intellectual trend with learning objectives

Humanists believers of Catholic faith

Earliest humanist scholars of significance in England were William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre

Humanist approaches learnt in Florence in late 1480s

Grocyn lectured at Oxford university on ideas of Plato and Aristotle

John Colet saw humanist scholarly approaches as a way to reform church

DESIDERIUS Erasmus- visited england 1499- new learning- critical of the church

In Henry VII reign, humanism and renaissance had made little impression on england

England intellectual life dominated by traditional medieval scholastic philosophy- too formal and old fashioned

Development in education

Henry VII reign a period of widening educational opportunities

Song schools and reading schools for elementary education for very young

53 new grammar schools between 1460 and 1509

Massive provision for wealthy but also dependent on when you live

Latin key

1480s- beginnings of humanist approach

University education- Oxford and Cambridge

Lady Margaret Beaufort responsible for Christ college

Drama

Most important art form

Sometimes in association with churh

Famous dramas- mystery plays at feasts of Corpus Christi

plays set out straight foward moral and religious messages for the moral improvements of their audiences

Music

Enjoyed various levels - for drinking songs to catherdrals

Music beginning of the renaissance - polyphonic choral music where different parts of choir sang independent melodic lines- heard in cathedrals and other churches

1505 Eton choirbook- collection of 93 separate musical compositions- Thomas Browne and Robert Fayrfax

Music performed at court of homes of wealthy used instruments siuch as trumpets, shawms and sackbuts

Art

Massive amount of building and rebuilding of parish churches

Vast number of churches built in gothic perpendicular stye- massive investment - traditional medieval culture

By Henry VII death, humanist influences had reached england from italy

Humanists such as Thomas More, John Colet and Eramus more fashionable

Work of Caxton unfashionable

English church was healthy generally in reign of Henry VII

Church fullffied major functions wel

Was patches of lollard activity

Overall effective at fulfilling what people wanted

relationships between church and education and culture remained strong

Humansim made inroads in education but major influence not felt under Henry VII.

Remained visually gothic