Lecture 7: The Sixteenth Century – the Reformation influential in England and Scotland was Calvinism, based on the teachings
was Calvinism, based on the teachings of the
The kings and queens:
England: the Tudor dynasty
Henry VII (1485-1509), Henry VIII (1509-47), Edward VI (1547-53), Mary
(1553-58), Elizabeth (1558-1503)
Scotland: the Stuart dynasty
James IV (1488-1513), James V (1513-42), Mary (1542-67, executed 1587),
James VI (1567-1625, James I of England and Ireland from 1603)
Pre-Reformation religion
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the religion of most people in the
British Isles (as elsewhere in Europe) was a form of Christianity based on ritual
purification, in which the “grace” necessary for salvation was thought of as a
quantifiable resource, distributed to people through the sacraments of an
authoritative Church (especially the Eucharist or Mass, seen as a repetition of
Christ’s sacrifice).
Church buildings were designed to focus attention on the altar where the
Mass was offered, which was separated from the people by a rood screen (a
wooden screen with a carved image of the Crucifixion above it). Many churches
would have additional chapels where Mass was said regularly for the dead, to
reduce the time they had to spend in Purgatory, before reaching Heaven.
There was a thriving cult of the saints, especially the Virgin Mary. Many
churches were richly endowed with painted and sculpted images, donated by
wealthy individuals, trade guilds etc. Church festivals were a focus of community
life.
The Bible (available only in Latin, except where manuscripts of John
Wycliffe’s fourteenth-century translation were still in circulation) was little read.
The most popular religious book for those who could afford it, and could read
Latin was the Book of Hours, a collection of psalms and prayers based on
monastic worship.
Reformation teachings
In 1517, at Wittenberg in Germany, Martin Luther issued 95 theses against
the sale by the Church of indulgences (remission of penance, to allow reduction
of time in Purgatory, including for those already dead). In the years that
followed, this initial protest developed into a new system of Christian belief that
came to be known as Protestantism. The variety of Protestantism that was most
English 1A – British Culture and Civilization – 2009-2010
French reformer John Calvin (Jean Cauvin). Key Protestant teachings included:
- justification by grace through faith – God’s grace is given freely and
instantaneously to those who believe, thanks to the once-and-for-all sacrifice of
Christ: it is not a reward for good works (though these will be normal response by
the grateful believer), and it is not controlled by the Church.
- people are totally sinful, and cannot earn God’s approval by good works or
ritual acts of penance: our only hope is to sincerely repent and trust in his
forgiveness.
- God is revealed through his Word. Thus reading the Bible and preaching
become important activities, and the Bible has to be translated into modern
languages (with Luther’s own German translation as an example).
- there are only two sacraments (rituals in which God’s grace may be
experienced): Baptism and the Eucharist (also called Holy Communion or the
Lord’s Supper).
- Since salvation depends on God alone, our free will is limited. The resulting
doctrine of Predestination was particularly emphasized by Calvinists, for whom the
logical conclusion was that God actually predestines some people for salvation and
the rest for damnation.
- priesthood of all believers – all Christians have a vocation, so there is no
special role for priests as mediators, and no place for monasticism. The minister or
pastor is primarily a teacher. The pulpit replaces the altar (now simply a table) as the
most important piece of church furniture.
- the individual’s relationship is directly with God, so there is no place for a cult
of the saints, or for visual images as a focus of prayer. (Lutherans kept sacred
images in their churches, but Protestants of the Reformed tradition, including
Calvinists excluded them.)
The Reformation in England
- 1529-36 – With the help of his chief minister Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII
succeeded in getting legislation passed by Parliament which replaced the Pope with
the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England – Henry was thus able to
divorce his queen, Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn (1533).
- 1539 – Henry VIII ordered that English Bibles should be placed in churches, and
began the closure and destruction of monasteries in England, but also approved the
Six Articles, which affirmed that the English Church was still Catholic in doctrine.
- 1547-53 – as Henry VIII’s successor Edward VI (son of his third queen, Jane
Seymour) was a minor, England was governed by a Regency Council dominated by
Protestant nobles. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, introduced
Protestant reforms in the Church of England, including replacing the Mass with a
new service book in English, the Book of Common Prayer.
1553-58 – Edward died aged 16 and was succeeded by his Catholic half-sister
Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The Protestant reforms
were reversed and England returned to Catholicism. Protestant leaders, including
Cranmer, were burned at the stake. In 1554, Mary married Philip of Spain, who
became King Philip II (1556-98)
1558 – Mary died and was succeeded by Elizabeth, Protestant daughter of Henry
VIII and Anne Boleyn.
1559 – Parliament re-established Protestantism in the Church of England. The
Queen was made Supreme Governor of the Church, the Book of Common Prayer
became the required form of worship, and the 39 Articles stated the Church’s
doctrine in basically Protestant terms. However the hierarchy of Archbishops and
Bishops remained in place, and some elements of Catholic practice continued
(for example vestments for priests).
- Unhappy with the Elizabethan settlement were
a) Catholics: they were regarded as potential traitors, as from a Catholic point of
view Elizabeth was illegitimate, but generally tolerated as long as they
demonstrated their loyalty to the Queen and did not participate in missionary
efforts to restore Catholicism—they were increasingly subject to harassment and
persecution after the Pope formally excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570, and
especially in the 1580s, when it was known that Philip of Spain was planning an
invasion (his plans ended with the failed Armada expedition of 1588).
b) radical Protestants, who wanted the reforms to go further—for example they
were opposed to the Episcopal system of Church government and to the use of a
set liturgy and of clerical vestments (they would have preferred sermons and
extemporary prayers delivered by a pastor in a plain black gown, as worn by
teachers at the time). As they wanted to purify the Church of what they saw as
lingering Catholic contamination, they were called Puritans. Most remained
within the Church of England, but some formed their own illegal groups outside
the Church.
The Reformation in Scotland
1542 – King James V died, leaving his one-week-old daughter Mary as Queen.
1543 – Pro-English lords made plans for Mary to be married to Prince Edward of
England, but negotiations broke down and ended in war between the kingdoms.
1546 – Cardinal David Beaton, the pro-French chancellor of Scotland was
assassinated by a group of Protestants.
English 1A – British Culture and Civilization – 2009-2010
1548 – Mary, Queen of Scots, was taken to France to be safe from English attacks.
In 1558, she married the Dauphin of France, who became King Francois II in 1559,
but died in 1560.
1554-59 – Scotland was ruled as Regent by Mary of Guise, the Queen Mother, and
came close to union with France.
1559 – Protestants rebelled, led by a group of nobles called the Lords of the
Congregation. Protestant England intervened on the side of the rebels, against Mary
of Guise and the French.
1560 – The war was ended by the Treaty of Edinburgh. The Scottish Parliament
adopted Protestantism—without the consent of the absent Queen. The “Auld
Alliance” with France, dating back to 1295, was ended.
1561-67 – Mary returned to Scotland, and attempted to rule as a Catholic queen in a
Protestant kingdom, whose Church was led by the Calvinist preacher John Knox.
Finally she was forced to abdicate in 1576, and took refuge in England, where she
was executed in 1587 after being implicated in a plot to overthrow Elizabeth. (From
a Catholic point of view, Mary was the legitimate successor to the English throne.)
- after 1567 – Mary’s young son, James VI, was brought up as a Protestant. In the
Church, the Presbyterian movement became increasingly powerful. They wanted the
Church to be governed by a system of courts, made up of equal ministers and elders
(selected laymen), rather than by a hierarchy of bishops under the King. In their
view the King was simply an ordinary member of the Church.
The Bible
William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament was published in
Germany in 1526. This was to be the basis for numerous later versions. His
translation of the Old Testament was completed by Miles Coverdale after Tyndale
was arrested and executed in 1536.
During Mary’s reign, English Calvinist exiles in Geneva produced a translation,
largely based on Tyndale’s, with extensive marginal notes, which was published in
1560. This remained the most popular English Bible till well into the seventeenth
century, though it was not favoured by the Church hierarchy.
In 1611, the Authorized Version of the Bible, still based largely on Tyndale,
was issued with the authority of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. This
became the standard English Bible translation and remained so until the twentieth
century when numerous more modern translations became available.
Meanwhile a Welsh translation of the Bible was published in 1588. As with
many European languages, the translation of the Bible into Welsh helped to
standardize the language and to strengthen its position (though this was not
Elizabeth’s intention—she would have preferred the Welsh to read the Bible in
English if they could).