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126-410: Other names for a "potluck" include: potluck dinner, pitch-in, shared lunch, spread, faith supper, carry-in dinner, covered-dish-supper, fuddle, Jacob's Join, bring a plate, and fellowship meal. The word pot-lucke appears in the 16th-century English work of Thomas Nashe discussing wine, and in his play "Summer's Last Will and Testament", spoken in a dialogue concerning wine. The modern execution of

252-546: A "communal meal, where guests bring their own food", most likely originated in the 1930s during the Great Depression . Some speakers believe that it is an eggcorn of the North American indigenous communal meal known as a potlatch (meaning "to give away"). There are others who acknowledge the mixed traditions of Potluck. Potluck dinners are events where the attendees bring a dish to a meal. The only traditional rule

378-415: A Bishop. The Council of Constance declared Wycliffe a heretic on 4 May 1415, and banned his writings. The Council decreed that Wycliffe's works should be burned and his bodily remains removed from consecrated church ground, following the customary logic that heretics had put themselves outside the church. This order, confirmed by Pope Martin V , was eventually carried out in 1428. Wycliffe's corpse, or

504-672: A Scottish invasion; and it paved the way for a union of the two kingdoms in 1603 when the Scottish king James VI inherited the English throne as James I and launched the Stuart era. When the treaty was signed, Mary was in Paris as the wife of the French King Francis II . When he died in 1561, she returned to Scotland as Queen of Scotland. However, when Elizabeth refused to recognise her as the heir to

630-496: A birth date of 1324 but Hudson and Kenny state only records "suggest he was born in the mid-1320s". Conti states that he was born "before 1331". Wycliffe received his early education close to his home. It is unknown when he first came to Oxford , with which he was so closely connected until the end of his life, but he is known to have been at Oxford around 1345. Thomas Bradwardine was the Archbishop of Canterbury and his book On

756-588: A continuing consolidation of Catholic strength." Catholic historians, such as John Lingard , argued Mary's policies failed not because they were wrong but because she had too short a reign to establish them. In other countries, the Catholic Counter-Reformation was spearheaded by Jesuit missionaries; Mary's chief religious advisor, Cardinal Pole, refused to allow the Jesuits in England. Spain was widely seen as

882-412: A devise to alter the succession, but that was not legal, for only Parliament could amend its own acts. Edward's Privy Council kept his death secret for three days to install Lady Jane, but Northumberland had neglected to take control of Princess Mary. She fled and organised a band of supporters, who proclaimed her Queen across the country. The Privy Council abandoned Northumberland, and proclaimed Mary to be

1008-620: A fleet that destroyed the French fleet in Scotland. Finally she sent 8,000 troops north. The death of Mary of Guise allowed England, France and Scotland to come to terms in the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560, which had a far-reaching impact. France permanently withdrew all its forces from Scotland. It ensured the success of the Reformation in Scotland; it began a century of peace with France; it ended any threat of

1134-494: A form of sedition or treason, and ordered that Lollard books, frequently associated with Wycliffe, be handed over and burnt; someone who refused and would not abjure could be burnt. The "Constitutions of Oxford" of 1408 established rules in Oxford University, and specifically named John Wycliffe as it Lollard writings as heretical; it decreed that new translation efforts of Scripture into English should be first authorized by

1260-681: A long-running effect on shaping antisemitic views in the United Kingdom . The first written records of the Romani people in Scotland begin in 1505 and in England around 1513 or 1514. First believed to come from 'little Egypt', an English exonym given to an area around part of the Peloponnese peninsula in what is now modern-day Greece , the people were first called "Egyptians" in literature and from which

1386-498: A modern administration. He injected Tudor power into the darker corners of the realm and radically altered the role of the Parliament of England . This transition happened in the 1530s, Elton argued, and must be regarded as part of a planned revolution. Elton's point was that before Cromwell the realm could be viewed as the King's private estate writ large, where most administration was done by

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1512-558: A modest level of fees. A JP's duties involved a great deal of paperwork – primarily in Latin – and attracted a surprisingly strong cast of candidates. For example, The 55 JPs in Devonshire holding office in 1592 included: Other local officials included constables, church-wardens, mayors, and city aldermen. The cultural achievements of the Elizabethan era have long attracted scholars, and since

1638-520: A neighbour's, was exhumed; unusually, on the orders of the bishop the remains were burned and the ashes drowned in the River Swift , which flows through Lutterworth. None of Wycliffe's contemporaries left a complete picture of his person, his life, and his activities. Paintings representing Wycliffe are from a later period. In The Testimony of William Thorpe (1407) (possibly apocryphal), Wycliffe appears wasted and physically weak. Thorpe says Wycliffe

1764-549: A permanent administrative and logistical structure, funded by tax revenue. His personal attention was concentrated on land, where he founded the royal dockyards, planted trees for shipbuilding, enacted laws for in land navigation, guarded the coastline with fortifications, set up a school for navigation and designated the roles of officers and sailors. He closely supervised the construction of all his warships and their guns, knowing their designs, speed, tonnage, armaments and battle tactics. He encouraged his naval architects, who perfected

1890-545: A predominantly Calvinist theology. Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) was a devout Catholic and next in line for the throne of England after Elizabeth. Her status became a major domestic and international issue for England. especially after the death of King James IV at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The upshot was years of struggle for control of the throne, nominally held by the infant King James V (1512–1542, r. 1513–42), until he came of age in 1528. Mary of Guise (1515–1560)

2016-591: A reforming pope. The literary achievements of Wycliffe's last days, such as the Trialogus , stand at the peak of the knowledge of his day. His last work, the Opus evangelicum , the last part of which he named in characteristic fashion "Of Antichrist", remained uncompleted. While he was saying Mass in the parish church on Holy Innocents' Day , 28 December 1384, he suffered a stroke, and died a few days later. The anti-Lollard statute of 1401 De heretico comburendo classed heresy as

2142-747: A religious revolution. Henry VII , founder of the House of Tudor , became King of England by defeating King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field , the culmination of the Wars of the Roses . Henry engaged in a number of administrative, economic and diplomatic initiatives. He paid very close attention to detail and, instead of spending lavishly, concentrated on raising new revenues. His new taxes were unpopular, and when Henry VIII succeeded him, he executed Henry VII's two most hated tax collectors. Henry VIII, flamboyant, energetic, militaristic and headstrong, remains one of

2268-489: A serious issue. The growing number of departments meant many new salaried bureaucrats. There were further financial and administrative difficulties in 1540–58, aggravated by war, debasement, corruption and inefficiency, which were mainly caused by Somerset. After Cromwell's fall, William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester , the Lord Treasurer , produced further reforms to simplify the arrangements, reforms which united most of

2394-475: A small community in London during this time period. Notably, this was not the first written record of Jews in England which begins around the 1070s , but it was a new wave of migration and community development in England. Hector Nunez and Roderigo Lopez were both Jews and leading physicians during 1570s and 1580s Elizabethan England. Lopez's believed involvement in a plot to poison Elizabeth I may have had

2520-565: A standing national army. Working closely with Thomas Cramner , the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dudley pursued an aggressively Protestant religious policy. They promoted radical reformers to high Church positions, with the Catholic bishops under attack. The use of the Book of Common Prayer became law in 1549; prayers were to be in English not Latin. The Mass was no longer to be celebrated, and preaching became

2646-506: A successful military career. When the boy king was crowned, Somerset became Lord Protector of the realm and in effect ruled England from 1547 to 1549. Seymour led expensive, inconclusive wars with Scotland. His religious policies angered Catholics. Purgatory was rejected so there was no more need for prayers to saints, relics, and statues, nor for masses for the dead. Some 2400 permanent endowments called chantries had been established that supported thousands of priests who celebrated masses for

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2772-473: A very cautious hand. The 1559 treaty with France called for peace and she was unwilling to violate it, especially since England had no allies at the time. Supporting rebels against the lawful ruler violated Elizabeth's deeply held claims to the legitimacy of all royalty. On the other hand, a French victory in Scotland would establish a Catholic state on the northern border supported by a powerful French enemy. Elizabeth first sent money, then sent artillery, then sent

2898-495: A year later. Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon (the first wife); she closely identified with her Catholic, Spanish heritage. She was next in line for the throne. However, in 1553 as Edward VI lay dying, he and the Duke of Northumberland plotted to make his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey , the new monarch. Northumberland wanted to keep control of the government, and promote Protestantism. Edward signed

3024-813: Is said to have completed a translation direct from the Vulgate into Middle English – a version now known as Wycliffe's Bible . He may have personally translated the Gospels of Matthew , Mark , Luke and John but it is possible he initially translated the entire New Testament Early Version. It is assumed that his associates translated the Old Testament and revised the Late Version. Wycliffe's Bible appears to have been completed prior to 1384, with additional updated versions being done by Wycliffe's assistant John Purvey , and others, in 1388 and 1395. More recently historians of

3150-509: Is that each dish be large enough to be shared among a good portion of the anticipated guests. Guests may bring in any form of food, ranging from the main course to desserts . 16th-century England In England and Wales , the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with

3276-450: The Marian persecutions . However, a historiographical revisionism since the 1980s has to some degree improved her reputation among scholars. Christopher Haigh's bold reappraisal of the religious history of Mary's reign painted the revival of religious festivities and a general satisfaction, if not enthusiasm, at the return of the old Catholic practices. Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism

3402-556: The friars who supported it. In the summer of 1381, Wycliffe formulated his doctrine of the Lord's Supper in twelve short sentences, and made it a duty to advocate it everywhere. Then the English hierarchy launched proceedings against him. The chancellor of the University of Oxford had some of the declarations pronounced heretical. When this was announced to Wycliffe, he declared that no one could change his convictions. He then appealed – not to

3528-419: The golden age in English history in terms of political, social and cultural development, and in comparison with Continental Europe . Calling her "Gloriana" and using the symbol of Britannia starting in 1572, marked the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the hated and feared Spanish. Elizabeth's reign marks

3654-482: The morning star or stella matutina of the English Reformation . Certain of Wycliffe's later followers, derogatorily called Lollards by their orthodox contemporaries in the 15th and 16th centuries, adopted a number of the beliefs attributed to Wycliffe such as theological virtues , predestination , iconoclasm , and the notion of caesaropapism , with some questioning the veneration of saints ,

3780-558: The sacraments , requiem masses , transubstantiation , monasticism , and the legitimacy or role of the Papacy . Wycliffe's writings in Latin greatly influenced the philosophy and teaching of the Czech reformer Jan Hus ( c. 1369–1415). Wycliffe was born in the village of Hipswell , near Richmond in the North Riding of Yorkshire , England, around the 1320s. He has conventionally been given

3906-523: The "visible" Catholic Church . To Wycliffe, the Church was the totality of those who are predestined to blessedness. No one who is eternally lost has part in it. There is one universal Church , and outside of it there is no salvation . His first tracts and greater works of ecclesiastical-political content defended the privileges of the State. By 1379 in his De ecclesia ("On the Church"), Wycliffe clearly claimed

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4032-441: The 16th century as a golden age of peace, law, order, and prosperity. The House of Tudor produced five monarchs who ruled during this reign. Occasionally listed is Lady Jane Grey, sometimes known as the 'Nine Days' Queen' for the shortness of her de facto reign. John Wycliffe John Wycliffe ( / ˈ w ɪ k l ɪ f / ; also spelled Wyclif , Wickliffe , and other variants; c. 1328 – 31 December 1384)

4158-450: The 1960s they have conducted intensive research on the social history of England . Main subjects within Tudor social history includes courtship and marriage , the food they consumed and the clothes they wore . Such research has debunked the common misconception that Tudor elites were unclean. Award-winning research published in 2017 by Miranda Kaufmann delves into the lives of 10 of

4284-673: The Bible into English while sitting in a room above what is now the porch in Ludgershall Church. In 1369, Wycliffe obtained a bachelor's degree in theology, and his doctorate in 1372. In 1374, he received the crown living of St Mary's Church, Lutterworth in Leicestershire , which he retained until his death. In 1374, Wycliffe's name appears on a commission, after a bishop, which the English Government sent to Bruges to discuss with

4410-403: The Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is often considered an important predecessor to Protestantism . His theory of dominion meant that men in mortal sin were not entitled to exercise authority in the church or state, nor to own property. Wycliffe insisted on the radical poverty of all clergy. Wycliffe has been characterised as the "evening star" of scholasticism and as

4536-635: The Cause of God against the Pelagians , a bold recovery of the Pauline–Augustinian doctrine of grace, greatly shaped young Wycliffe's views, as did the Black Death , which reached England in the summer of 1348. From his frequent references to it in later life it appears to have made a deep and abiding impression upon him. According to Robert Vaughn, the effect was to give Wycliffe "very gloomy views in regard to

4662-506: The Church . In the light of the virulence of the plague, which had subsided seven years previously, Wycliffe's studies led him to the opinion that the close of the 14th century would mark the end of the world. While other writers viewed the plague as God's judgment on sinful people, Wycliffe saw it as an indictment of an unworthy clergy. The mortality rate among the clergy had been particularly high and those who replaced them were, in his opinion, uneducated or generally disreputable. In 1361, he

4788-424: The Church had fallen into sin and that it ought therefore to give up all its property, and that the clergy must live in poverty. The tendency of the high offices of state to be held by clerics was resented by many of the nobles, such as the backroom power broker John of Gaunt , who would have had his own reasons for opposing the wealth and power of the clergy, since it challenged the foundation of his power. Wycliffe

4914-555: The Crown's financial system to manage the money. He created a new department of state and a new official to collect the proceeds of the dissolution and the First Fruits and Tenths. The Court of Augmentations and number of departments meant a growing number of officials, which made the management of revenue a major activity. Cromwell's new system was highly efficient with far less corruption or secret payoffs or bribery than before. Its drawback

5040-515: The English clergy were irritated by this encounter, and attacks upon Wycliffe began. Wycliffe's second and third books dealing with civil government carry a sharp polemic . On 22 May 1377, Pope Gregory XI sent five copies of a bull against Wycliffe, dispatching one to the Archbishop of Canterbury , and the others to the Bishop of London , King Edward III , the Chancellor , and the university. Among

5166-551: The English throne, Mary rejected the Treaty of Edinburgh. She made an unfortunate marriage to Lord Darnley who mistreated her and murdered her Italian favourite David Rizzio . Darnley in turn was murdered by the Earl of Bothwell . He was acquitted of murder; she quickly married Bothwell. Most people at the time thought she was deeply involved in adultery or murder; historians have argued at length and are undecided. However rebellion broke out and

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5292-465: The Italian technique of mounting guns in the waist of the ship, thus lowering the centre of gravity and making it a better platform. He supervised the smallest details and enjoyed nothing more than presiding over the launching of a new ship. He drained his treasury on military and naval affairs, diverting the revenues from new taxes and the sales of monastery lands. Elton argues that Henry indeed built up

5418-559: The King's household servants rather than separate state offices. By masterminding these reforms, Cromwell laid the foundations of England's future stability and success. Cromwell's luck ran out when he picked the wrong bride for the King; he was beheaded for treason. More recently historians have emphasised that the king and others played powerful roles as well. The king had an annual income of about £100,000, but he needed much more in order to suppress rebellions and finance his foreign adventures. In 1533, for example, military expenditures on

5544-592: The Middle English works (tracts) ascribed to Wycliffe can be confidently attributed to him, in contrast to the Latin works, with the possible exception of six: On the Pastoral Office , On the Pope , On the Church and Her Members , Of Confession , Of Pseudo-Friars , and Of Dominion . A large number of sermons ascribed to him, about 250 in Middle English and 170 in Latin, survive. According to tradition Wycliffe

5670-615: The Protestant nobles defeated the Queen's forces in 1567. She was forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son James VI; she fled to England, where Elizabeth confined her in house arrest for 19 years. Mary engaged in numerous complex plots to assassinate Elizabeth and become queen herself. Finally Elizabeth caught her plotting the Babington Plot and had her executed in 1587. Elizabeth's final two decades saw mounting problems that were left for

5796-683: The Regent became alarmed that widespread Scottish hostility against French rule was strengthening the partisan cause, so she banned unauthorised preaching. But the fiery preacher John Knox sent Scotland aflame with his preaching, leading the coalition of powerful Scottish nobles, calling themselves the Lords of the Congregation raised the rebellion to overthrow the Catholic Church and seize its lands. The Lords appealed to Elizabeth for English help, but she played

5922-496: The Stuarts to solve after 1603. John Cramsie, in reviewing the recent scholarship in 2003, argues: Elizabeth remained a strong leader, but almost all of her earlier advisers had died or retired. Robert Cecil (1563–1612) took over the role of leading advisor long held by his father Lord Burghley. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1567–1601) was her most prominent general, a role previously held by his stepfather Robert Dudley , who

6048-513: The Thames under command of Sir Edmund Howard. It was the most powerful naval force to date in English history: 24 ships led by the 1600 ton "Henry Imperial"; the fleet carried 5000 combat marines and 3000 sailors. It forced the outnumbered French fleet back to its ports, took control of the English Channel, and blockaded Brest. Henry was the first king to organise the navy as a permanent force, with

6174-450: The Tudor period. The five sovereigns, Henry VII , Henry VIII , Edward VI , Mary I , and Elizabeth I , had entirely different approaches, with Henry VIII replacing the pope as the head of the Church of England but maintaining Catholic doctrines , Edward imposing a very strict Protestantism, Mary attempting to reinstate Catholicism, and Elizabeth arriving at a compromise position that defined

6300-622: The Wycliffite movement have suggested that Wycliffe had at most a minor role in the actual translations or contributed ad hoc passages taken from his English theological writings, with some, building on the earlier theories of Francis Aidan Gasquet , going as far as to suggest he had no role in the translations other than the translation projects perhaps being inspired, at least partially, by Wycliffe's biblicism at Oxford, but otherwise being orthodox Catholic translations later co-opted by his followers. In keeping with Wycliffe's belief that scripture

6426-481: The aftermath the continuing institutional chaos after the Black Death (1347-1349) Wycliffe entered the politics of the day with his great work De civili dominio ("On Civil Dominion"), which drew arguments from the works of Richard FitzRalph 's. This called for the royal divestment of all church property. In 1377, Wycliffe's ideas on lordship and church wealth caused his first official condemnation by Pope Gregory XI, who censured 19 articles. Wycliffe argued that

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6552-438: The agricultural depression of the late 15th century, the population of England began to increase. In 1520, it was around 2.3 million. By 1600 it had almost doubled to 4 million. The growing population stimulated economic growth, accelerated the commercialisation of agriculture, increased the production and export of wool, encouraged trade, and promoted the growth of London . The high wages and abundance of available land seen in

6678-523: The around 360 recorded persons of Black African heritage, the majority of whom lived out their lives as free persons, living in England or otherwise a part of Tudor English society between 1500 and 1640, showing some of the first recorded evidence of Black British people after the Roman period . Jews , mainly Marranos from Portugal or Spain fleeing persecution from the Inquisition began developing

6804-408: The arrest of those in error. The citadel of the reformatory movement was Oxford, where Wycliffe's most active helpers were. The ban applied to them and they were summoned to recant. Nicholas of Hereford went to Rome to appeal. On 17 November 1382, Wycliffe was summoned before a synod at Oxford. He still commanded the favour of the court and of Parliament, to which he addressed a memorial. In 1383 he

6930-739: The centerpiece of church services. Purgatory , Protestantism declared, was a Catholic superstition that falsified the Scriptures. Prayers for the dead were useless because no one was actually in Purgatory. It followed that prayers to saints, veneration of relics, and adoration of statues were all useless superstitions that had to end. For centuries devout Englishman had created endowments called chantries designed as good works that generated grace to help them get out of purgatory after they died. Many chantries were altars or chapels inside churches, or endowments that supported thousands of priests who said Masses for

7056-425: The church, and at the entrance, party animosities began to show, especially in an angry exchange between the bishop and Wycliffe's protectors over whether Wycliffe should sit. Gaunt declared that he would humble the pride of the English clergy and their partisans, hinting at the intent to secularise the possessions of the Church. The assembly broke up and Gaunt and his partisans departed with their protégé . Most of

7182-529: The coinage. The cost of war in the short reign of Edward VI was another £1,387,000. After 1540, the Privy Coffers were responsible for 'secret affairs', in particular for the financing of war. The Royal Mint was used to generate revenue by debasing the coinage; the government's profit in 1547–51 was £1.2 million. However, under the direction of regent Northumberland, Edward's wars were brought to an end. The mint no longer generated extra revenue after debasement

7308-459: The condition and prospects of the human race". In September 1351, Wycliffe became a priest. Wycliffe would have been at Oxford during the St Scholastica Day riot , in which sixty-three students and a number of townspeople were killed. In 1356, Wycliffe completed his bachelor of arts degree at Merton College as a junior fellow. That same year he produced a small treatise, The Last Age of

7434-460: The consultations on 21 May an earthquake occurred. The participants were terrified and wished to break up the assembly, but Courtenay declared the earthquake a favourable sign, which meant the purification of the earth from erroneous doctrine, and the result of the " Earthquake Synod " was assured. Of the 24 propositions attributed to Wycliffe without mentioning his name, ten were declared heretical and fourteen erroneous. The former had reference to

7560-447: The country. He was overthrown by his former ally John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland . Until recent decades, Somerset's reputation with historians was high, in view of his many proclamations that appeared to back the common people against a rapacious landowning class. In the early 20th century this line was taken by the influential A. F. Pollard , to be echoed by Edward VI's leading biographer W. K. Jordan . A more critical approach

7686-511: The crown's finance under the exchequer. The courts of general surveyors and augmentations were fused into a new Court of Augmentations, and this was later absorbed into the exchequer along with the First Fruits and Tenths. At the end of his reign, Henry VII's peacetime income was about £113,000, of which customs on imports amounted to about £40,000. There was little debt, and he left his son a large treasury. Henry VIII spent heavily on luxuries, such as tapestries and palaces, but his peacetime budget

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7812-411: The dead, or operated schools or hospitals in order to earn grace for the soul in purgatory. The endowments were seized (by the king? Somerset?) in 1547. Historians have contrasted the efficiency of Somerset's takeover of power in 1547 with the subsequent ineptitude of his rule. By autumn 1549, his costly wars had lost momentum, the crown faced financial ruin, and riots and rebellions had broken out around

7938-494: The dead. In addition there were many schools and hospitals established as good works. In 1547 a new law closed down 2,374 chantries and seized their assets. Although the Act required the money to go to "charitable" ends and the "public good," most of it appears to have gone to friends of the Court. Historian A. G. Dickens has concluded: The new Protestant orthodoxy for the Church of England

8064-427: The decisive turning point in English religious history, as a predominantly Catholic nation at the beginning of her reign was predominantly Protestant by the end. Although Elizabeth executed 250 Catholic priests, she also executed some extreme Puritans, and on the whole she sought a moderately conservative position that mixed Royal control of the church (with no people role), combined with predominantly Catholic ritual, and

8190-499: The dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with the reign of Henry VII . Under the Tudor dynasty , art, architecture, trade, exploration, and commerce flourished. Historian John Guy (1988) argued that "England was economically healthier, more expensive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time since the Roman occupation . Following the Black Death (1348) and

8316-416: The enclosures were 18 theses of his, which were denounced as erroneous and dangerous to Church and State: all were drawn from De Civili dominio . Stephen Lahey suggests that Gregory's action against Wycliffe was an attempt to put pressure on King Edward to make peace with France. Edward III died on 21 June 1377, and the bull against Wycliffe did not reach England before December. Wycliffe was asked to give

8442-536: The enemy, and her marriage to King Philip II of Spain was deeply unpopular, even though he had practically no role in English government and they had no children. The military loss of Calais to France was a bitter humiliation to English pride. Failed harvests increased public discontent. Although Mary's rule was ultimately ineffectual and unpopular, her innovations regarding fiscal reform, naval expansion, and colonial exploration were later lauded as Elizabethan accomplishments. Historians often depict Elizabeth's reign as

8568-559: The entire case, in such a way that it was understood by the laity. In it he demanded that it should be legal for the excommunicated to appeal to the king and his council against the excommunication: the state should be able to override the church. Some ordinary citizens, some of the nobility, and his former protector, John of Gaunt, rallied to him. Before any further steps could be taken in Rome, Gregory XI died in 1378. The attacks on Pope Gregory XI grew ever more extreme. Wycliffe's stand concerning

8694-443: The firm support of the king, and with special powers over the church given by the Pope, Wolsey dominated civic affairs, administration, the law, the church, and foreign-policy. He was amazingly energetic and far-reaching. In terms of achievements, he built a great fortune for himself, and was a major benefactor of arts, humanities and education. He projected numerous reforms, but in the end English government had not changed much. For all

8820-601: The gentry through compromise, consensus, and the inclusion of opposing factions. He was in charge of mobilising the militia if necessary for defence, or to assist the monarch in military operations. In Yorkshire in 1588, the Lord Lieutenant was the Earl of Huntington, who urgently needed to prepare defences in the face of the threatened invasion from the Spanish Armada. The Queen's Privy Council urgently called upon him to mobilise

8946-533: The ideal of poverty became continually firmer, as well as his position with regard to the temporal rule of the clergy. Closely related to this attitude was his book De officio regis , the content of which was foreshadowed in his 33 conclusions. This book, like those that preceded and followed, was concerned with the reform of the Church, in which the temporal arm was to have an influential part. From 1380 onwards, Wycliffe devoted himself to writings that argued his rejection of transubstantiation , and strongly criticised

9072-522: The king the protector and only supreme head of the church and clergy of England. After Henry imposed a heavy fine on the bishops, they nearly all complied. The laws of treason were greatly strengthened so that verbal dissent alone was treasonous. There were some short-lived popular rebellions that were quickly suppressed. The league level in terms of the aristocracy and the Church was supportive. The highly visible main refusals came from Bishop Fisher and Chancellor Thomas More ; they were both executed. Among

9198-511: The king's council his opinion on whether it was lawful to withhold traditional payments to Rome, and he responded that it was. Back at Oxford, the Vice-Chancellor confined Wycliffe for some time in Black Hall, but his friends soon obtained his release. In March 1378, Wycliffe was summoned to appear at Lambeth Palace to defend himself. However, Sir Lewis Clifford entered the chapel and in

9324-474: The king. Henry worked closely with Parliament in passing a series of laws that implemented the break. Englishmen could no longer appeal to Rome. All the decisions were to be made in England, ultimately by the King himself, and in practice by top aides such as Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell . Parliament proved highly supportive, with little dissent. The decisive moves came with the Act of Supremacy in 1534 that made

9450-532: The late 15th and early 16th centuries were replaced with low wages and a land shortage. Various inflationary pressures, perhaps due to an influx of New World gold and a rising population, set the stage for social upheaval, with the gap between the rich and poor widening. This was a period of significant change for the majority of the rural population, with manorial lords beginning the process of enclosure of village lands that previously had been open to everyone. The Reformation transformed English religion during

9576-673: The local government operated at the county level (also called "shire") were the sheriff and the Lord Lieutenant . The power of the sheriff had declined since medieval days, but the position was still very prestigious. A sheriff was appointed for a one-year term, with no renewal, by the Privy Council. He was paid many small fees, but they probably did not meet the sheriff's expenses in terms of hospitality and hiring his under-sheriffs and bailiffs. The sheriff held court every month to deal with civil and criminal cases. He supervised elections, ran

9702-484: The local jail and meted out punishments. His subordinates provided staffing for the county's justices of the peace. The Lord Lieutenant was a new office created by Henry VIII to represent the royal power in each county. He was a person with good enough connections at court to be selected by the sovereign and served at the monarch's pleasure, often for decades. He had limited powers of direct control, so successful Lords Lieutenant worked with deputy lieutenants and dealt with

9828-470: The local level, and discovered the dissatisfaction had not been so widespread. The Lollardy movement had largely expired, and the pamphleteering of continental reformers hardly reached beyond a few scholars at the University of Cambridge —King Henry VIII had vigorously and publicly denounced Luther's heresies. More important, the Catholic Church was in a strong condition in 1500. England was devoutly Catholic, it

9954-452: The long-term impact of John Wycliffe (1328–1384) and his " Lollardy " reform movement, together with a stream of Reformation treatises and pamphlets from Martin Luther , John Calvin , and other reformers on the continent. The interpretation by Geoffrey Elton in 1960 is representative of the orthodox interpretation. He argued that: Social historians after 1960 investigated English religion at

10080-425: The major controversies about them largely resolved. Historians until the late 20th century thought that the causes were a widespread dissatisfaction or even disgust with the evils, corruptions, failures, and contradictions of the established religion, setting up an undertone of anti-clericalism that indicated a rightness for reform. A secondary influence was the intellectual impact of certain English reformers, such as

10206-412: The militia were not actually used. During the civil wars of the mid-17th century, the Lord Lieutenant played an even more important role in mobilising his county either for King Charles I or for Parliament. The day-to-day business of local government was in the hands of several dozen justices of the peace (JPs) in each county. They handled routine police administrative functions, and were paid through

10332-426: The militia, and report on the availability of men and horses. Huntington's challenge was to overcome the reluctance of many militia men, the shortages of arms, training mishaps, and jealousy among the gentry as to who would command which unit. Despite Huntingdon's last-minute efforts, the mobilisation of 1588 revealed a reluctant society that only grudgingly answered the call to arms. The Armada never landed troops, and

10458-503: The monks farmed and most of which was leased to local gentry. Taking ownership meant the rents went to the king. Selling the land to the gentry at a bargain price brought in £1 million in one-time revenue and gave the gentry a stake in the administration. The clerical payments from First Fruits and Tenths , which previously went to the pope, now went to the king. Altogether, between 1536 and Henry's death, his government collected £1.3 million; this huge influx of money caused Cromwell to change

10584-568: The most visible kings of England, primarily because of his six marriages, all of which were designed to produce a male heir, and his heavy retribution in executing many top officials and aristocrats. In foreign-policy, he focused on fighting France—with minimal success—and had to deal with Scotland, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, often with military mobilisation or actual highly expensive warfare that led to high taxes. The chief military success came over Scotland. The main policy development

10710-464: The name of the queen mother ( Joan of Kent ), forbade the bishops to proceed to a definite sentence concerning Wycliffe's conduct or opinions. Wycliffe wrote a letter expressing and defending his less "obnoxious doctrines". The bishops, who were divided, satisfied themselves with forbidding him to speak further on the controversy. Wycliffe then wrote his De incarcerandis fedelibus , with 33 conclusions in Latin and English. In this writing he laid open

10836-529: The northern border cost £25,000, while the 1534 rebellion in Ireland cost £38,000. Suppressing the Pilgrimage of Grace cost £50,000, and the king's new palaces were expensive. Meanwhile, customs revenue was slipping. The Church had an annual revenue of about £300,000; a new tax of 10% was imposed which brought in about £30,000. To get even larger sums it was proposed to seize the lands owned by monasteries, some of which

10962-413: The not-quite-Protestant Church of England. It began with the insistent demands of Henry VIII for an annulment of his marriage that Pope Clement VII refused to grant. Historians agree that the great theme of Tudor history was the Reformation, the transformation of England from Catholicism to Protestantism. The main events, constitutional changes, and players at the national level have long been known, and

11088-506: The organisation and infrastructure of the Navy, but it was not a useful weapon for his style of warfare. It lacked a useful strategy. It did serve for defence against invasion, and for enhancing England's international prestige. Professor Sara Nair James says that between 1515 and 1529, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey , "would be the most powerful man in England except, possibly, for the king." Historian John Guy explains Wolsey's methods: Operating with

11214-498: The parish church to prevent disputation. The preachers didn't limit their criticism of the accumulation of wealth and property to that of the monasteries, but included secular properties belonging to the nobility. Although Wycliffe disapproved of the revolt, some of his disciples justified the killing of Simon Sudbury , Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1382, Wycliffe's old enemy William Courtenay , now Archbishop of Canterbury, called an ecclesiastical assembly of notables at London. During

11340-474: The pope or the ecclesiastical authorities of the land, but to the king. He published his great confession upon the subject, and a second writing in English intended for the common people. As long as Wycliffe limited his attacks to abuses and the wealth of the Church, he could rely on the support of part of the clergy and aristocracy, but once he dismissed the traditional doctrine of transubstantiation , his theses could not be defended any more. This view cost him

11466-462: The post at Fillingham. In 1365, his performance led Simon Islip , Archbishop of Canterbury , to place him at the head of Canterbury Hall , where twelve young men were preparing for the priesthood. In December 1365, Islip appointed Wycliffe as warden, but when Islip died in 1366, his successor, Simon Langham , a man of monastic training, turned the leadership of the college over to a monk. In 1367, Wycliffe appealed to Rome. In 1371, Wycliffe's appeal

11592-499: The pro-reformation factions suddenly seized control of the new king, and of the Regency Council, under the leadership of Edward Seymour . Bishop Gardiner was discredited, and the Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned for all of the new king's reign. The short reign of Edward VI marked the triumph of Protestantism in England. Somerset, the elder brother of the late Queen Jane Seymour (married to Henry VIII) and uncle to King Edward VI had

11718-621: The project was due to his leadership. For the initial Early Version (EV), the rendering of the Old Testament is attributed to his friend Nicholas of Hereford ; the rendering of some of the New Testament has been traditionally attributed to Wycliffe. The whole was revised perhaps by Wycliffe's younger contemporary John Purvey in 1388, known as the Late Version (LV). Linguistic analysis, however, suggests there were multiple translators for both EV and LV translations. There still exist over 200 manuscripts, complete or partial, mainly containing

11844-457: The promise, there was very little achievement of note. From the king's perspective, his greatest failure was an inability to get a divorce when Henry VIII needed a new wife to give him a son who would be the undisputed heir to the throne. Historians agree that Wolsey was a disappointment. In the end, he conspired with Henry's enemies, and died of natural causes before he could be beheaded. Historian Geoffrey Elton argued that Thomas Cromwell , who

11970-669: The representatives of Gregory XI a number of points in dispute between the king and the pope. He was no longer satisfied with his chair as the means of propagating his ideas, and soon after his return from Bruges he began to express them in tracts and longer works. In a book concerned with the government of God and the Ten Commandments , he attacked the temporal rule of the clergy, the collection of annates , indulgences , and simony . According to Benedictine historian Francis Aidan Gasquet , at least some of Wycliffe's program should be seen as (naive) "attempts at social reconstruction" in

12096-442: The scriptures as the only reliable guide to the truth about God, and maintained that all Christians should rely on the Bible rather than on the teachings of popes and clerics. He said that there was no scriptural justification for the papacy. Theologically, his preaching expressed a strong belief in predestination that enabled him to declare an " invisible church of the elect ", made up of those predestined to be saved, rather than in

12222-448: The senior aristocrats, trouble came from the Pole family, which supported Reginald Pole who was in exile in continental Europe. Henry destroyed the rest of the family, executing its leaders, and seizing all its property. The second stage involved the seizure of the monasteries. The monasteries operating religious and charitable institutions were closed, the monks and nuns were pensioned off, and

12348-411: The sovereign after nine days of the pretended Jane Grey. Queen Mary imprisoned Lady Jane and executed Northumberland. Mary is remembered for her vigorous efforts to restore Roman Catholicism after Edward's short-lived crusade to minimise Catholicism in England. Protestant historians have long denigrated her reign, emphasising that in just five years she burned several hundred Protestants at the stake in

12474-462: The support of John of Gaunt and many others. In the midst of this came the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 . The revolt was sparked in part by Wycliffe's preaching, carried throughout the realm by "poor priests" or "poor preachers" appointed by Wycliffe, and mostly laymen. A contemporary record claims local sympathetic knights would force local people to hear the preaching, sometimes acting as armed guards in

12600-560: The teachings of Wycliffe. The bull of Gregory XI impressed upon them the name of Lollards , intended as an opprobrious epithet, but it became, to them, a name of honour. Even in Wycliffe's time the "Lollards" had reached wide circles in England and preached "God's law, without which no one could be justified." Furthermore, not all anti-clerical people were Lollards, not all Lollards were Wycliffites, and not all productions attributed to Wycliffites were anti-Catholic, despite later conflation. In

12726-473: The transformation in the sacrament, the latter to matters of church order and institutions. It was forbidden from that time to hold these opinions or to advance them in sermons or in academic discussions. All persons disregarding this order were to be subject to prosecution. To accomplish this, the help of the State was necessary, but the Commons rejected the bill. The king, however, had a decree issued which permitted

12852-574: The translation in its LV form. From this, it is possible to infer that texts were widely diffused in the 15th century. For this reason, the Wycliffites in England were often designated by their opponents as "Bible men"; it has been noted, however, that the vocabulary in English Wycliffite sermons doesn't typically match that found in the EV or LV. Historian S. Harrison Thomson notes that Wycliff's theology

12978-671: The valuable lands were sold to friends of the King, thereby producing a large, wealthy, gentry class that supported Henry. In terms of theology and ritual there was little change, as Henry wanted to keep most elements of Catholicism and detested the "heresies" of Martin Luther and the other reformers. Biographer J.J. Scarisbrick says that Henry deserved his traditional title of "Father of the English navy." It became his personal weapon. He inherited seven small warships from his father, and added two dozen more by 1514. In addition to those built in England, he bought up Italian and Hanseatic warships. By March 1513, he proudly watched his fleet sail down

13104-431: The wars against Scotland £954,000; the naval wars cost £149,000 and large sums were spent to build and maintain inland and coastal fortifications. The total cost of war and defence between 1539 and 1547 was well over £2,000,000, although the accounting procedures were too primitive to give an accurate total. Adding it all up, approximately 35% came from taxes, 32% from selling land and monastery holdings, and 30% from debasing

13230-513: The word " Gypsy " is derived. Discriminatory laws were passed in response to their arrival, including the Egyptians Act 1530 and the Egyptians Act 1554 . The Tudor myth is a particular tradition in English history , historiography , and literature that presents the period of the 15th century, including the Wars of the Roses , as a dark age of anarchy and bloodshed, and sees the Tudor period of

13356-468: The years before his death in 1384 he increasingly argued for Scriptures as the authoritative centre of Christianity, that the claims of the papacy were unhistorical, that monasticism was irredeemably corrupt, and that the moral unworthiness of priests invalidated their office and sacraments . Wycliffe returned to Lutterworth . From there he sent out tracts against the monks and Pope Urban VI . Urban VI, contrary to Wycliffe's hopes, had not turned out to be

13482-573: Was Master of Balliol College . That year he was presented by the college to the parish of Fillingham in Lincolnshire , which he visited rarely during long vacations from Oxford. For this he had to give up the headship of Balliol College, though he could continue to live at Oxford. He is said to have had rooms in the buildings of The Queen's College . In 1362, he was granted a prebend at Aust in Westbury-on-Trym , which he held in addition to

13608-402: Was Henry VIII's chief minister from 1532 to 1540, not only removed control of the Church of England from the hands of the Pope, but transformed England with an unprecedented modern, bureaucratic government. Cromwell (1485–1540) replaced medieval government-as-household-management. Cromwell introduced reforms into the administration that delineated the King's household from the state and created

13734-535: Was Henry's taking full control of the Church of England. This followed from his break from Rome, which was caused by the refusal of the Pope to annul his original marriage. Henry thereby introduced a very mild variation of the Protestant Reformation. There were two main aspects. First Henry rejected the Pope as the head of the Church in England, insisting that national sovereignty required the Absolute supremacy of

13860-477: Was a French woman close to the French throne. She ruled as the regent for her teenaged daughter Queen Mary, 1554–1560. The regent and her daughter were both strong proponents of Catholicism and attempted to suppress the rapid growth of Protestantism in Scotland. Mary of Guise was a strong opponent of Protestantism, and worked to maintain a close alliance between Scotland and France, called the Auld Alliance . In 1559

13986-414: Was a bloodthirsty tyrant. In the mid-20th century, H. F. M. Prescott attempted to redress the tradition that Mary was intolerant and authoritarian by writing more objectively, and scholarship since then has tended to view the older, simpler, partisan assessments of Mary with greater scepticism. Haigh concluded that the "last years of Mary's reign were not a gruesome preparation for Protestant victory, but

14112-507: Was an English scholastic philosopher , Christian reformer, Catholic priest , and a theology professor at the University of Oxford . Wycliffe is traditionally believed to have advocated or made a vernacular translation of the Vulgate Bible into Middle English , though more recent scholarship has minimalized the extent of his advocacy or involvement for lack of direct contemporary evidence. He became an influential dissident within

14238-411: Was decided and the outcome was unfavourable to him. The incident was typical of the ongoing rivalry between monks or friars and secular clergy at Oxford at this time. In 1368, he gave up his living at Fillingham and took over the rectory of Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire , not far from Oxford, which enabled him to retain his connection with the university. Tradition has it that he began his translation of

14364-466: Was expressed in the Forty-Two Articles of Faith in 1553. But when the king suddenly died, Dudley's last-minute efforts to make his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey the new sovereign failed after only nine days of her reign. Queen Mary took over and had him beheaded and had Jane Grey beheaded after Thomas Wyatt's Protestant rebellion against the marriage of the queen and Philip II of Spain less than

14490-450: Was generally satisfactory. The heavy strain came from warfare, including building defences, building a Navy, suppressing insurrections, warring with Scotland, and engaging in very expensive continental warfare. Henry's Continental wars won him little glory or diplomatic influence, and no territory. Nevertheless, warfare 1511 to 1514 with three large expeditions and two smaller ones cost £912,000. The Boulogne campaign of 1544 cost £1,342,000 and

14616-641: Was initiated by M. L. Bush and Dale Hoak in the mid-1970s. Since then, Somerset has often been portrayed as an arrogant ruler, devoid of the political and administrative skills necessary for governing the Tudor state. Dudley by contrast moved quickly after taking over an almost bankrupt administration in 1549. Working with his top aide William Cecil , Dudley ended the costly wars with France and Scotland and tackled finances in ways that led to some economic recovery. To prevent further uprisings he introduced countrywide policing, appointed Lords Lieutenants who were in close contact with London, and set up what amounted to

14742-404: Was loyal to the pope, local parishes attracted strong local financial support, religious services were quite popular both at Sunday Mass and at family devotions. Complaints about the monasteries and the bishops were uncommon. The kings backed the popes and by the time Luther appeared on the scene, England was among the strongest supporters of orthodox Catholicism, and seemed a most unlikely place for

14868-639: Was of unblemished walk in life, and regarded affectionately by people of rank, who often consorted with him, took down his sayings, and clung to him. "I indeed clove to none closer than to him, the wisest and most blessed of all men whom I have ever found." Wycliffe is said to have written about two hundred works in Latin and Middle English . There are few experts in 14th-century scholastic Latin, and many of Wycliffe's Latin works have not been translated into English, which has limited their study by historians. His theological and political works include numerous books and tracts: Most historians hold that few to none of

14994-461: Was on a broader canvas than the continental reformation: however of the major Protestant notes, he certainly advocated "the supremacy of scripture over tradition", however it is difficult to find justification by faith alone or the priesthood of all believers espoused in his works. No reformer adopted his view that every verse in Scripture was in some way literally true. Wycliffe had come to regard

15120-568: Was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor Elizabeth I . Protestant writers at the time took a highly negative view, blasting her as "Bloody Mary". John Knox attacked her in his First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558), and she was prominently vilified in Actes and Monuments (1563), by John Foxe . Foxe's book taught Protestants for centuries that Mary

15246-408: Was stopped in 1551. Although Henry was only in his mid-50s, his health deteriorated rapidly in 1546. At the time the conservative faction, led by Bishop Stephen Gardiner and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk that was oppose to religious reformation seemed to be in power, and was poised to take control of the regency of the nine-year-old boy who was heir to the throne. However, when the king died,

15372-471: Was summoned before William Courtenay , Bishop of London , on 19 February 1377. The exact charges are not known, as the matter did not get as far as a definite examination. Lechler suggests that Wycliffe was targeted by John of Gaunt 's opponents among the nobles and church hierarchy. Gaunt, the Earl Marshal Henry Percy , and a number of other supporters accompanied Wycliffe. A crowd gathered at

15498-449: Was summonsed to Rome, but he suffered a debilitating stroke and was excused from travel. He was neither excommunicated then, nor deprived of his living. Wycliffe aimed to do away with the existing hierarchy and replace it with the "poor priests" who lived in poverty, were bound by no vows, had received no formal consecration , and preached the Gospel to the people. Itinerant preachers spread

15624-554: Was the love of Elizabeth's life; and the adventurer/historian Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) was a new face on the scene. The three new men formed a triangle of interlocking and opposing forces that was hard to break into. The first vacancy came in 1601, when Devereux was executed for attempting to take the Queen prisoner and seize power. After Elizabeth died the new king kept on Cecil as his chief advisor, and beheaded Raleigh. Numerous popular uprisings occurred; all suppressed by royal authorities. The largest were: The main officials of

15750-508: Was the multiplication of departments whose sole unifying agent was Cromwell; his fall caused confusion and uncertainty; the solution was even greater reliance on bureaucratic institutions and the new Privy Council. In dramatic contrast to his father, Henry VIII spent heavily, in terms of military operations in Britain and in France, and in building a great network of palaces. How to pay for it remained

15876-411: Was the only authoritative reliable guide to the truth about God, he is said to have become involved in efforts to translate the Bible into English. However, while Wycliffe is popularly credited, it is not possible exactly to define his part, if any, in the translations, which were based on the Vulgate . In common belief from only decades after the translations, it was his initiative, and the success of

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