The stability of the church in 1485-1509 Essay Example

The stability of the church in 1485-1509 Essay Many factors contributed to the stability of the church and Henry VII was very important in maintaining that stability. Henry VII was not directly involved in the progress of Protestant reform in England. In fact, he died before the Reformation became a factor in the development of the English church. However, Henry VII was involved in the historical circumstances that set the stage for the choices his son felt he had to make when he became kingchoices that pushed him inexorably toward a complete break between the English church and the Roman Catholic church.Henry was pious and had desire for security. He continued to maintain excellent relations with the Pope, and he remained a devout Christian, this is demonstrated by his religious commitment which is evidenced in his pilgrimages to Our Lady of Walshingham, and decreeing 10000 for the salvation of his immortal souls. He also appointed more bishops who were lawyers and Bishops were theologians. He never challenged the authority of t he Pope or the Roman Church and this helped the maintenance of the stability of the English church, which followed the Roman church, with the Pope as its head. Henry did not have any influence over the church courts and was also determined that the authority of the pope in the church courts should not prejudice his rights and interests.For many centuries the Roman Catholic Church was the most powerful ecumenical institution in Europe. All of Western Europe was united by the Christian faith, and that faith was defined by the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. But by fairly early in the fifteenth century, secular kings and princes had begun to successfully assert control over the personnel and property of the church within their own borders. In 1420, one pope, Julius II even commented, Not the pope but the king of England governs the church in his dominions, as Henry VII had more influence over the church than the Pope who was the official head of the church. He also maintained t he English church by setting an example for his people to follow and showing them that the English church followed the Roman Church.Humanism was a huge factor, which contributed to the maintenance of the stability of the church. The impact of humanism upon English thought and religion during this period must have been seen in perspective. Humanism was only an option for the select few and its historical importance properly derives from its educational role in challenging scholasticism and the papacy. Pre-reformation the church was dominated by the clergy, services were in Latin and therefore 1/5 graduates were educated. For majority the traditional forms of religious devotion were norm such as liturgy, mysticism pilgrimages the veneration of images? local saints? miracles and prophetic revelations but other humanists according to J.Lotherington wanted a simpler religion based on a more accurate version of the Bible. Humanism encouraged the questioning of the Roman Catholic Church an d the English church after.This questioning would lead to protests and complaints against the church, which would destabilise it. Humanism encouraged educational changes and the arrival of Desiderius Erasmus and other humanists meant that Platonism and the study of Greek literature were emphasised as the better means of understanding and writing. There was also study of the Bible and other religious texts and also the ideas of the great Greek thinkers Aristotle and Plato which meant that the Church could no longer attempt to have a monopoly on learning and thought. John Colet also opened a number of grammar schools in England for example St Pauls School in London which was completely run by lay control and the curriculum was to comprise Latin and Greek texts.Education also encouraged the destabilisation of the English church as it meant that more people could think for themselves and could question the Roman and English church more critically as like any other powerful institution, the Roman church was riddled with corruption and greed, and over time the sacred rituals of the church had become more complex and more subject to abuse, and yet less able to meet the needs of the churchs adherents. J. Guy said The impact of humanism upon English thought and religion must be seen in perspective as humanism only influenced the English church to a small extent through the upper ranks in society who had access by influence to humanist writings, schools or intellectuals.Erasmus challenged and criticised the church, even though he was a devout Christian, but was concerned with the corruption that had spread through the religious positions of office. However, Erasmus believed that religious revolt led directly to anarchy; therefore he took the side of neither the Pope, nor the reform radical, Martin Luther. Erasmus hoped to provoke people into questioning their confidence in religious authority through his writings as opposed to speaking out directly against the Romanists .Erasmus wrote The Praise of Folly as a satire in hope that people would start to question the Romanists religious authority. Erasmus implies that he Pope puts on a facade as an all-knowing, all-powerful mortal. Erasmus states here that the Pope has no true knowledge as to what God expects from his worshipers and he attacks theologians through the voice of Folly when he says that they will not waste haste to proclaim heresy in order to terrify any towards whom they are ill-disposed. Erasmus does not accept the word of theologians as religious law, and therefore is not intimidated by their accusations of blasphemy upon his questioning of authority. Their notion that they already inhabit the third heaven they look down from is proof that they have lost their humility in front of Christ. To the Popes, Cardinals, and Bishops, Erasmus questions why they feel that they have the knowledge to answer any and all existential questions concerning human origin and human destiny.Humanism did pro mote anti-scholasticism and anti-papilism by its idea of questioning them but not to many people and so its role in destabilising the church was very limited, this is shown in the quote by Guy who says Humanism was only an option for the select few and its historical influence properly derives from its educational role in scholasticism and the papacy. In some aspects the churchs role was not declining as it did make an impact on the laity, there was civic investment, which meant that there were more buildings of churches, religious guilds providing community role such as funerals, fresh water facilities in Bristol and the payment of midwives.In line with the burgeoning influence of Humanism there came an intellectual revival of the study of law. The tradition of statues, laws and parliamentary acts together with the collective memory of the legal profession and judges provided a basis for a renewed pursuit of this in the late 15th century. Guy says that by instigating internal refor ms, novel procedures, restudying the law, the place of canon law (church) was questioned and during Henrys reign there was a constant conflict between Henry and the humanists who wanted to defer canon law to common law and the church who was adamant on keeping common law, for example an act in 1512 restricted the privilege to clerks in major orders, thus removing its worst anomaly which had protected numbers of rogues who said that a brief acquaintance with the church or the universities, as G. R. Elton wrote. Therefore the humanists and Henry did not maintain the stability of the England church well, as they created a conflict with the Church, but this only had a small impact on the Church as it only affected a few. Canon law meant that they had to preach four times a year, visit the sick and have daily liturgies.It could also be argued that the church was not stable between the years 1485-1509, because of the large groups of voices of discontent such as the Lollards based in Kent. By the middle of the fifteenth century, Englands innocence of heresy had been compromised for good. A powerful and determined body of reformers had challenged the authority of the church and had provided the materials for individual judgement of religious issues and in response to this challenge of Wycliff and the Lollards, temporal and spiritual authorities had together instituted criteria of necessary belief and provisions for enforcing them.Anti-clerical knights of the shire who wished to disendow the Church, riotous tenants of an unpopular abbey, parishioners who refused to pay their tithes, would often be called Lollards as well as fanatics like Swynderby, the ex-hermit of Leicester, apocalyptic visionaries like the Welshmen, Walter Brute, and what we may call the normal Wycliffite who denied the authority of the Church and attacked the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. Wycliffs and the Lollards had challenged beyond recall the prescriptive authority of the pope or the bishops t o govern laymens religious lives. They attack the celibacy of the clergy and the religious orders, the feigned miracle of the sacrament, the feigned power of absolution, and feigned indulgences; they call the sacramentals jugglery, and declare that pilgrimages are not far removed from idolatry. According to the Lollardy prayers for the dead should not be a reason for almsgiving, and beneficed clergymen should not hold secular offices. They also opened the door to individual judgement and conscience in religious matters.Although the Lollardy criticised the church, they did in some ways unwillingly contribute to the stability of the English church as it did prepare the English church in an effective response to such claims against it. J. Catto said Lollardy had as it were inoculated the English church against the more severe consequences of religious freedom, and afforded it in the means of maintaining a conformist public religion through and after the Reformation. C.SL Davies said th at the Lollardy were neither politically nor intellectually influential.therefore they are not a strong indication that the English church was unstable, but the fact that there was an uprising showed that the church was somewhat quite unstable. Lollardy did help the English church to become more stable by the way he prepared them for other attacks against but it did show that the church was quite unstable but not hugely.The English church had only one form of Christianity that went a long way in maintaining the stability of the English church. During most of Henrys reign it was only the Roman Catholic church that existed as the whole of Christianity, which meant that for the English Church, during Henrys reign there was really no other form of Christianity they could officially follow as the Reformation in Germany, led by Luther did not come about until October 32 in 2527. The fact that Christianity was only represented in the years 1483-1515, helped maintain the stability of the En glish church as it was only possible to follow the Roman church regardless of any complaints made by anyone against it.There were many factors, which contributed to maintaining the stability of the English church such as the clergy. The English population seems to have been content with the English church and the clergy as there was much civic investment and support for the church among the laity. The monks did help people, by caring for the sick and teaching in schools and monasteries. They also played a civic role in helping to establish communities. Their were also chantries and wills still left for the church showing that a majority of the laity did support the English church like I said earlier, and therefore maintaining its stability.However it could be argued that the church was unpopular among the laity, due to the corruption inside the church with simony, nepotism, absenteeism and being committed and a typical satire by Langland indicates this when he says And many are the priests in these days, who neither know the law of God, nor teach others. This corruption in the church resulted in some of the laity being unsupportive of the English and even the Roman church, therefore not maintaining the stability of the church. Guy on the other hand, argues that this is not a representative of the state, the vast majority of clergy said that their daily offices properly, though whether they preached or visited is arguable. Therefore the church was still free of major scandals, and was supported by much of the laity, even though the corruption in the minority of the church did make it unpopular among some of the public, so it did help to maintain the stability of the English church.Henry did not always attempt to maintain the stability of the church, in some ways he did almost threaten it indirectly. He invited Continental and English humanists to his Court often. Humanists like Erasmus and John Colet and foreign humanists such as Bernard Andre from Toulouse was his historian and Poulet from Lille who was a historian. M.J Tucker wrote The Kings passion for music, court revels, sport, foreign scholarship, and more lowly amusements, reveals a keen interest in life and in the new intellectual currents which were transforming the Continent. His interest in humanism demonstrated by the large number who were regularly at his court, did not do much in the way of stabilising the church.The humanism movement encouraged the questioning and re-examination of classical texts and the original scriptures, therefore encouraging a reformation as those who followed this movement would see the corruption in the medieval Roman Church, such as many of the clergy committing simony or absenteeism, and some might break away from the church or just reform inside the Church. therefore by encouraging humanism in his court he did not maintain the stability of the English church.Overall there were different factors which made the church unstable and stable. Henry, th e behaviour of the English church, the Lollardy and the fact that only the Roman Church existed as a form of Christianity helped to maintain the stability of the English church during Henrys reign. Although Henry himself, the Humanism movement and sometimes the behaviour of the church did affect the stability of the church negatively. Henry also needed papal support, as Archbishop Morton visited Rome to secure papal support to pave the way for papal dispensation for Henry to marry Elizabeth of York.Henry was the most important role in maintaining the stability of the English church, as it was he who governs the church, but the other factors were important in helping to maintain that stability. The uprising of the Lollards also showed that the English church was not completely stable, it was stable mostly during Henrys reign, despite Henrys legal advisers making attacks on the church courts, or the abuses of the church or the fact that he did not have any influence over the church co urts or the fact that there were disagreements over common law and cannon law.