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AQA A Level History Unit 1C: The Tudors: England, 1485–1603 The Death of Bishops Latimer and Ridley, 16 October 1555 from Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1563).  Mary I: Religious policy

The aim of today’s and next lesson is to answer this question: How successfully did Mary carry out her religious policy of restoring Roman Catholicism?

Mary wants to make England Roman Catholic again What changes must she make to achieve this? What might help her? What problems is she likely to encounter?

Mary wanted a fully Catholic England – this included making the Pope Head of the Church, restoring the monasteries and reintroducing Catholic doctrine and practice. Most of the country was prepared to accept Catholicism, but… ….there was likely to be opposition from the Protestant minority and from nobles and gentry who had bought Church land.

1. How should Mary proceed? Mary has just become queen after “the greatest demonstration of mass loyalty ever accorded to a Tudor.” Many parts of the country are already reverting to Catholicism. What should Mary do? Use her authority to reintroduce full Catholicism right away. Proceed in stages and with Parliament’s full co-operation. Why?

What Mary did (b): Issued a proclamation (August 1553) saying she would not compel anyone to become Catholic until she was sure it was what the majority wanted. Parliament repealed Edward VI’s religious legislation (November), but she didn’t push for the repeal of the Act of Supremacy or restoration of Church lands. This restored the Anglo-Catholicism of 1547. Opposition to Mary’s marriage and the outbreak of Wyatt’s rebellion postponed further legislation until April 1554.

2. How should Mary deal with the Protestant clergy? What should Mary do? Imprison as many as possible, and replace them with Catholics. Issue injunctions forcing Protestant clergy to conform to Catholicism. Bring back heresy laws. Why?

What Mary did (a & b): Imprisoned Archbishop Cranmer and Bishops John Hooper (Gloucester), Nicholas Ridley (London) and Hugh Latimer (Worcester) (Sep. 1553). Replaced some bishops with Catholics, e.g. Gardiner (Winchester), Tunstall (Durham) and Bonner (London) (Mar. 1554), Reginald Pole (Canterbury, Dec. 1554). Issued injunctions ordering bishops to enforce Catholic practices and beliefs (Mar. 1554). c.25% of clergy lost their jobs for having married (but some were reinstated for giving up their wives). What negative impact might the loss of clergymen have? However 800 Protestant refugees, including four bishops and other clergy, members of the nobility and gentry, were allowed to escape to Europe (Jan. 1554). Parliament refused to reintroduce heresy laws (Mar. 1554).

3. How should Mary persuade Parliament to pass heresy laws? Threaten to use her royal prerogative to dissolve it Compromise over religious policy Why?

What Mary did (a): Compromised – promised Parliament that she would not confiscate former monastic lands. The Papal Legate, Cardinal Reginald Pole, confirmed this when he returned to England in November 1554. Mary had to be content with returning monastic lands still held by the Crown (worth 60,000 p.a.)

Many of the landowners who had bought ex-monastic lands were members of the House of Lords (nobility) and Commons (gentry). Once they knew they would be allowed to keep it, Parliament was willing to sanction the restoration of Catholicism, by reintroducing heresy laws (December 1554) repealing the Act of Supremacy and all anti-papal legislation (January 1555) This restored the full Catholicism of pre-1529.

Quick quiz 5 1. What did the First Repeal Act (1553) do? 2. Who left England for Europe in January 1554? 3. What prevented Mary from making more religious changes until Spring 1554? 4. Who arrived in England in Autumn 1554 and was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury? 5. On what condition did Parliament agree to repeal the Act of Supremacy and reintroduce heresy laws (Winter 1553-4)?

Starkey burns a heretic David Starkey describes the execution of John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester (9 Feb 1555). How do you think the people who saw the real execution would have reacted? How do we know about this and other executions for heresy under Mary I?

John Foxe’s Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church aka Foxe’s ‘Book of Martyrs’ Published 1563 5 editions in Elizabeth’s reign Most widely read book in Elizabethan England after the Bible From 1571 was placed in all cathedrals and many churches

The Death of Latimer and Ridley, 16 October 1555 from Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1563). 

How effective were the burnings? Read “the treatment of heretics” in Tillotson pp. 42-3. What sort of people were burned? Where did most of the victims come from? What were the burnings meant to achieve? What was the impact of the burnings? Why were servants and young people banned from watching burnings? How did Foxe’s ‘Book of Martyrs’ influence how Mary was remembered?

The impact of the burnings Persecution of Protestants was highest in the South East of England and East Anglia.

The impact of the burnings 289 people (237 men and 52 women), Feb. 1555 - Nov. 1558. A few were prominent leaders, e.g. Bishops Latimer and Ridley (Oct.1555) and Archbishop Cranmer (Mar. 1556). Most of those who died were artisans who’d not been able to afford to go into exile. How did this affect popular reaction to the burnings? The burnings exceeded the number of executions recorded in any European country during 1555-8. The executions became increasingly unpopular and promoted the Protestant cause rather than the Catholic one.

Did Mary fail? Read “Other religious policies” in Tillotson, pp.43-44. Find three pieces of evidence showing how Pole tried to improve the Catholic church. What problems prevented Pole’s improvements from being effective?

The role of Pole: positive Tried to recruit more priests from Catholic areas Held a legatine synod (conference) which passed decrees to improve the Church (1556-7), e.g. by banning pluralism setting up seminaries emphasising the pastoral and preaching role of bishops

The role of Pole: negative Unlike Gardiner, he couldn’t see that the burning of heretics wasn’t working. After Gardiner’s death (Nov.1555), he encouraged Mary to increase their persecution. Pope Paul IV disliked Pole and recalled him to Rome to stand trial for heresy – Mary refused to let him go, damaging her relationship with the Pope; Pole no longer had the Pope’s approval to appoint bishops, leaving seven sees still vacant in 1558.

Shortage of manpower – training new clergy takes time. What problems would have prevented Pole’s improvements from being effective? Lack of funding – Church land from the Dissolution of the monasteries and chantries remained in private hands. Only one seminary was set up at York due to lack of funds. Shortage of manpower – training new clergy takes time. Mary and Pole died on the same day of influenza, 17 November 1558 – before the improvements had time to take effect. Mary had no heir to preserve her Catholic legacy.

Factors hindering the restoration of Catholicism under Mary I Caused by Mary/Pole Beyond their control What do you think are the most important reason(s) for Mary’s failure to re-Catholicise England?

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