Catholic England
Faith, Religion and Observance Before the Reformation
Manchester University Press
Published on 1. June 1993
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-7190-3465-7 (ISBN)
Description
The Reformation transformed English religion. For many, the spirituality of the preceding period remains largely unknown, or overburdened with Protestant mythology of decadence. These sources seek to explore the nature of religious belief and practice in pre-Reformation England, using original source material to make the debates accessible.
This consideration of the sources begins with an analytical chapter discussing the varieties of spirituality in later medieval England and the ways in which they received expression, through participation in church services, actions like pilgrimages, charitable foundations, devotional readings and instruction. Opposition to prevailing spirituality, expressed through 'Lollardy', is also considered. The sources demonstrate with immediacy and potency these diverse expressions of faith and observance. Many of the documents are translated for the first time from unpublished manuscript material.
This study demonstrates the vitality of the pre-Reformation religious practices, but also addresses the key methodological questions which arise from the sources about the nature of the material; its reliability as historical evidence, and the validity of external actions as testimony to intellectual and emotional experience. -- .
This consideration of the sources begins with an analytical chapter discussing the varieties of spirituality in later medieval England and the ways in which they received expression, through participation in church services, actions like pilgrimages, charitable foundations, devotional readings and instruction. Opposition to prevailing spirituality, expressed through 'Lollardy', is also considered. The sources demonstrate with immediacy and potency these diverse expressions of faith and observance. Many of the documents are translated for the first time from unpublished manuscript material.
This study demonstrates the vitality of the pre-Reformation religious practices, but also addresses the key methodological questions which arise from the sources about the nature of the material; its reliability as historical evidence, and the validity of external actions as testimony to intellectual and emotional experience. -- .
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7190-3465-7 (9780719034657)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
R. N. Swanson is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Birmingham
Content
Introduction: in search of pre-Reformation English spirituality. Part 1 Theory: the Bible - the Latin Bible, the Wycliffite Bible, a modern version; disseminating the faith - priestly instruction, John Drury's instructions, sermons, a sermon from John Mirk's "Festial", a sermon from the Lollard sermon cycle, a sermon; the mass - preparation for the mass, behaviour during mass - the lay folks' mass book; designs for living and dying - "The Abbey of the Holy Ghost", "Epistle of the Mixed Life", Walter Hilton, "The Book of the Craft of Dying". Part 2 Practice: parish celebrations - the parish accounts of Scarborough, 12-13 Henry VI, parish accounts of Yarmouth, parish accounts of Kings Lynn; private religion - licences for private chapels, vows of chastity; saints, shrines, miracles, and pilgrimage - shrines - the shrines in York Minster, offerings at Hereford cathedral, offerings at Ely cathedral, offerings made on behalf of Queen Elizabeth of York, miracles - miracles of St Osmund, miracles of Henry VI; security for the living - indulgences - proctors for a bridge, proctors for a bridge, proctor for St Anthony's hospital, days of indulgence at the chapel of St Anne, Bristol, profits of indulgence for the hospital of St Anthony; guilds and fraternities - mendicant confraternity, regulations of a trade fraternity - the carpenters of York, payment for membership of the Palmers' guild at Ludlow, receipts for payments of membership of the Palmers' guild at Ludlow, nationwide distribution of the Palmer's guild of Ludlow, benefits of membership of the confraternity of St Chad, Lichfield; security for the dead - obits and anniversaries - guild trentals in a mendicant house, the obit of William Paston, an anniversary in St George's chapel, Windsor, chantries and almshouses. a chantry in a Dominican house at Bristol, a chantry by feoffment to uses, Hosyer's chantry, Ludlow; distributions at death - wills, Thomas Kebell, Lady Jane Strangeways, Sir John Port; complaint and opposition - anticlericalism? - complaints against the vicar of Saltash, complaints at visitation, heresy and Lollardy, the Bishop of Norwich's mandate for heresy detection at Bury, 1428, questions to identify heretics, Lollard confessions.