Chapter 19 - Perseuction and reform

Question 1

How many Protestants were burned by Mary?

Answer 1

285 Protestants

Question 2

How many of these were clergy?

Answer 2

About 55 of them were clergymen

Question 3

Prominent Protestants Leaders?

Answer 3

• Thomas Cranmer
• Latimer - Bishop
• Ridley - Bishop
• John Cheke
• Duke of Northumberland

Question 4

Members of the Laity that were burned?

Answer 4

• Thomas Tyndale
• Roland Taylor
• Elizabeth Folke

Question 5

Reasons for Mary’s persecution?

Answer 5

• She wanted to reinstall Catholicism in England
• Deterrent to remove Protestants in England that would spread Protestant ideas
• Protestants were exiled

Question 6

How did many rich and prominent Protestants respond to the persecution?

Answer 6

• Around 400 Protestants sought to exile and fled England rather than martyrdom
• They mainly went to Geneva, Frankfurt or Strasbourg where they could form Protestant communities

Question 7

In what ways did the burning what they set out do?

Answer 7

• Around 285 Protestants were executed, including high-profile figures such as Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer
• Public executions reinforced the message that heresy would not be tolerated
• They showed that Mary was serious and uncompromising about enforcing Catholic doctrine
• Most people did not openly defy the burnings, which suggests the policy produced a level of outward compliance

Question 8

In what ways could the burnings be seen to backfire on Mary?

Answer 8

• Creation of Protestant Martyrs —> sought to fight for the future of Protestantism
• Protestant propaganda emerged —> John Foxes’ acts and Monuments and ‘Book of Martyr’s’ framed as heroes but Mary as a tyrannical leader - shaped widespread and engrained anti-Catholic sentiment

Question 9

Key dates of the persecution

Answer 9

• First burning (4th February 1555) - John Rogers
• 1555-1557, with the most intense period from mid-1555 to early 1557
• Ridley and Latimer burned - October 1555
• Thomas Cranmer burned - 21st March 1556
• 285 burnings in total
• Burnings most frequent in 1556, often more than one execution per week in certain regions

Question 10

What impact did the persecution have on the restoration of Catholicism?

Answer 10

• Long term - they showed the government determination to maintain Catholic orthodoxy
• Overall, the burnings ultimately hindered Mary’s aims - created powerful Protestant martyrs

Question 11

How many people did Henry kill in his reign?

Answer 11

According the the Chronicles of Ralph Holinshead, Henry VIII executed between 57,000 and 72,000 men during his reign

Question 12

Who was John Foxe?

Answer 12

• (1517-87) was born into a prosperous Lincolnshire family and educated at Oxford
• His acquisition of Latin and Greek led to his examining original texts to his conversion by 1545 Protestantism
• An historian and authority, he sought exile during the reign of Mary I, where he became influenced by key continental and radical English Protestants
• His key texts Actes and Monuments was first published during the reign of Edward VI - it emphasised the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the 14th century through the reign of Mary I

Question 13

When were the heresy laws reintroduced and what was their impact?

Answer 13

• Once the heresy laws were restored in 1554 the arrests of prominent Protestants began almost immediately
• The first burning, that of John Roger’s described by Simon Renard, took place in February 1555. A number of Protestants chose exile abroad rather than face being tried as heretics but many did not
• Of the 285 who died and the 30 or so who died in prison, there is a clear distinction between those members of the laity who died and the high placed clergy, such as Bishops Latimer and Ridley

Question 14

How did the burnings turn into a social event?

Answer 14

• Undoubtedly the burnings were a great attraction and a social events - the woodcuts used by Foxe to illustrate his book show crowds of bystanders
• In common with contemporary executions, bystanders were able to purchase all manner of foods to consume whilst waiting for the fires to be lit
• Priests attended those who had been condemned to die to attempt to covert them, in front of the crowd, to the Catholic faith, before the death in the real fire, with descriptions of the awaiting figures or purgatory and Hell

Question 15

What did Mary do with Cranmer?

Answer 15

• Cranmer was held in prison, kept in isolation and slowly crumbled to the point where he recanted his Protestant faith
• Mary realised the propaganda potential and was determined that he should burn
• The penalty for treason was to be hung, drawn and quartered, a fate which Henry VIII had spared his high-profile former supporters
• Cranmer was burned as a heretic on Broad Street in Oxford on the 21st March 1556 - this turned out to be a victory for the Protestant cause as Cranmer denied his return to Catholicism and placed his right hand, the hand which had signed the recantation into the fire to burn first

Question 16

Who were the Jesuits?

Answer 16

• Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)
• Loyola devised a series of spiritual exercised which would be used to immerse an individual in the fundamental beliefs of Catholicism
• Jesuits were keen to educate and convert people - they were held in a very high regard for their spirituality and had a significant influence on members of the gentry and nobility, who sought their instruction

Question 17

Who was Bishop Edmund Bonner?

Answer 17

• (1500-69) was a Catholic who was Bishop of London twice; first deprived of his living by the accession of Edward VI and then again on the death of Mary I
• He had begun his career as chaplain to Wolsey and was a supporter of Thomas Cromwell in promoting the Royal Supremacy. He was portrayed critically in Foxes’ Book of Martyrs

Question 18

What was the Counter-Reformation?

Answer 18

• The Counter-Reformation was the period of catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent (1545-63) - much of the reforming work only began in the session held 3 years after Mary and Pole’s deaths
• It has been seen either as a response to the Protestant Reformation, or as a separate development
• The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive attempt at reform of the church - reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, such as that promoted by the Jesuits

Question 19

How did Bishop Edmund Bonner work to try and reform the Church?

Answer 19

• Bonner used the printing press to issue ‘a Profitable and Necessary Doctrine’ - this book was circulated widely; 10,000 copies were printed by the Queen’s printer
• The book was a re-working of the King’s Book of Henry VIII, which was also circulated, and included 14 homilies which could be read by parish priests to their congregations to teach the fundamental Catholic doctrine of justification, transubstantiation and the nature of the Church

Question 20

What did Cardinal Pole believe about reading the Bible?

Answer 20

• Cardinal Pole was firmly against indiscriminate Bible reading by the laity; he believed that this led to religious argument which was damaging to faith
• He believed that the purpose of preaching and teaching was not to impart knowledge, rather was to encourage the laity to recognise their sins, change their lives and seek salvation through the sacraments

Question 21

What was the demand from the laity about following practices?

Answer 21

• There was a demand from the laity for instruction in Catholic belief and the demand for Catholic Primers, which outlined the basics of the faith, outstripped demand for similar Protestant texts during the reign of Edward
• There were 35 editions of the Sarum Printer and 4 editions of the York Primer printed during Mary’s reign, compared to 17 editions of Primers printed between 1547 and 1543

Question 22

What shaped Mary’s reformist views?

Answer 22

• The traditional interpretation of Mary as blinkered and backward looking is challenged by her promotion of Humanism, Church reform and biblical scholarship
• Mary’s education and experience of doctrinal and liturgical changes during the reign of Henry VIII, particularly her discussions with her step-mother Catherine Parr, had shaped her reformist views, rather than encouraging her to hold onto traditional Catholicism

Question 23

What compromised England’s return to Rome?

Answer 23

• The attempt to restore Catholicism and reconcile England to Rome was further compromised by a the death of Pope Julius III in 1555 and the election of Pope Paul IV
• Pope Paul hated Pole and hated the Habsburgs which made relationships between eh Crown and Rome, not just Pole and Rome, almost i,possible
• Pope Paul stripped Pole of his title of Legate and recalled him to Rome - Pole refused to go and with Mary’s support continued as Archbishop of Canterbury