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Religion and Culture, Henry VII (Culture Developments (Education (Song…
Religion and Culture, Henry VII
The Church
Lollards
The Lollards were a small minority critical of the church and beliefs, founded by John Wycliffe. They stressed the importance of understanding the Bible and wanted it translated into English, and they were also sceptical of transubstantiation and considered the Catholic church to be corrupt.
Their views were considered to be heresy in many parts but persisted in many southern parts including Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
Became fewer in number and thinly spread across the country after the failed rising of 1414, losing intellectual support and being threatened with burning.
Abuses within the church
The Church suffered from few criticisms, but there were some notorious abuses in the clergy.
Many priests lacked education and had limited knowledge of Latin, so couldn't read the Bible
There was financial abuse, with the sale of indulgences to gain time off purgatory a significant abuse, getting people to pay more money to the church
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Nepotism was widespread, appointing family members into church roles, with Thomas Wolsey appointing his son into church posts
Absenteeism was common, with the member of the clergy not present in his area
Pluralism was where priests held mulitple posts, including Wolsey, who was a notable pluralist
The church had also become more superstitious, with relics and idols now used more than ever, along with transubstantiation
Priests often broke the oath of celibacy, with Thomas Wolsey also having children
Some monastries had a reputation for extravagant living standards, using money for this instead of helping the poor
The church also had its own court, where the punishments were often less severe
Religious Orders
Monastic Orders
By 1500, 1% of men were monks with 900 monastries around the country
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Monastries were often rural such as Mount Grace in Yorkshire, with many different types iuncluding Benedictines, Carthusians and Cistercians
Friars
Walked among the public and preached, were often lower socially than monks
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Nunneries
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Most nunneries were very poor, with entering a convent being many womens last resort
The Role of the Church
Getting to Heaven
Seven sacrements
- Baptism - welcoming a new born into the church
- Confirmation - childhood to adulthood
- Holy Orders - recieve a sacrement
- Marriage - pledging yourself to another
- Eucharist - receiving Christs body and blood in the form of bread and wine
- Penance - seeking forgiveness for sins
- Annointing the sick - preparing their passage into the next world
Social role
8000+ parish churches provided religion, entertainment and festivals linked to the agricultural year, with guilds and confraternities volunteering to provide charity, fellowship and oppurtunities
Rogation Sunday involved walking around the parish praying for its protection, and pilgrimages grew in popularity to Thomas Beckets shrine in Canterbury, and Virgin Mary's in Norfolk
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Dying often left money to the church, with rememberance going to the benefactor and allowing them less time in purgatory
The confraternity associations often paid for funeral costs, while maintaining and building roads, bridges and sea walls, whilst paying for spires in places such as Louth in Lancashire
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Political role
They encouraged good behaviour, community values and offered employment
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Churchmen were often politically strong, with AofC John Morton and Richard Fox who was bishop of many areas including Exeter also Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
Clergymen also usually had legal training, with Bishops and Abbots sharing the house of Lords
Culture Developments
Education
Song Schools and Reading Schools set up for the very young, with Grammar schools and secondary education growing, 53 new grammar schools built between 1460 and 1509
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Latin was the main study, with English a byproduct of this. Oxford and Cambridge were the only universisties, Cambridge benefitting from Lady Margaret Beaufort. Both were expanding
Drama
Plays were performed at church and ale festivals, Corpus Christi feastrs and in large towns such as York. They spread moral and religious messages
Music
Entertainment for crowds on saint days, with bagpipes and drinking songs. Renaissance meant that the music developed more polyphony, with cathedrals and major churches seeing more choirs
Eton Choirbook held 93 compositions, and instruments such as trumpets, recorders and lutes were beginning to develop
Art and Architecture
Churches were rebuilt in the gothic style, with emphasis on vertical lines and pointed arches and long windows, such as Lady Chapel at Westminster, 1502
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Humanist Thinkers
Erasmus
Studied in Paris and became a scholar, travelling, teaching and writing on theological subjects. He taught at Cambridge
Early work attacked church, advocating a return to simple Christianity, remained Catholic through the reformation but understood why it took place.
John Colet
English priest, scholar and pioneer, studied at Oxford and became dean of St Pauls. He was a leading humanist and inherited a school from his wealthy father.
He believed that studying the bible was the only route to holyness and he held very radical views, he was accused of heresy in 1512 by the bishop of London
Sir Thomas More
English lawyer, scholar, writer and Henry VIIIs chancellor. Studied at Oxford, writing against the reformation in the time of HVIII and was executed for not signing the act of supremacy - Catholic.
He was close to radical catholic Erasmus and contemplated becoming a monk, interrogated heretics and banned unorthodox books.