The early church in England

Christianity was originally introduced to Britain through the Romans, although Anglo-Saxon invasions drove the Christians westward, where the fire of faith smouldered in the Irish-Celtic church. Religious lawswere introduced, ensuring a separation between civil and ecclesiastical courts.

There were two centres of ecclesiastical power*: Canterbury and York.

Translations of the Bible

The English Bible that Shakespeare was most likely to have owned was the "Breeches Bible." Like all others in the period, including the justly admired and long-lived King James version, it was based on the translations of William Tyndale* and Miles Coverdale* (renaissance scholars).

The act of translating the Bible was revolutionary in effect, since it made the most powerful book in the debate over religion available to all--even those who could not read could understand it as it was read in the church each Sunday (An Act of 1538 ordered that the English version of the Bible should be kept and read in every parish church in the country.).

Edward VI and Mary I: extremes

After the death of Henry VIII, England underwent violent change, first towards Protestantism, under Edward, then back to Catholicism under Mary.

Why "Bloody" Mary?

Mary was fanatically determined to suppress Protestantism. Old laws against heretics were revived, and under Reginald Pole, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, almost 300 men and women, including Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake for heresy between February 1555 and November 1558--almost as many in thirty-four months as were executed for religious reasons in forty-five years under Elizabeth I.

Competition in church

Seating in church was thus a sign of social status, and there was some jostling for position. Parishioners could build their own pews, and sometimes made them large and ornate, blocking the view of those behind them.

The Homilies

In January 1542, the governing body of the Church of England (the Convocation of the Archbishopric of Canterbury) agreed to issue prescribed homilies, or sermons, to be used by unschooled clergy in preaching. Once adopted, the homilies provided a core of Anglican teaching. The original homilies were largely the work of Thomas Cranmer. Note the political usefulness to the monarch of some of the topics, especially numbers 10 and 12.

The homilies

  1. A fruitful Exhortation to the Reading of
  2. Holy Scripture
  3. Of the Misery of all Mankind
  4. Of the Salvation of all Mankind
  5. Of the True and Lively Faith
  6. Of Good Works
  7. Of Christian Love and Charity
  8. Against Swearing and Perjury
  9. Of the Declining from God
  10. An Exhortation Against the Fear of Death
  11. An Exhortation to Obedience
  12. Warning against disorder
  13. Against Whoredom and Adultery
  14. Against Strife and Contention

Protestantism: Martin Luther

As Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg, Luther formulated the doctrine which became the basis of the Protestant Reformation.

1) Sola fide ("by faith alone"). Humans can gain salvation through faith, rather than through "good works" or the dispensations of the Church. Until the Reformation, the Church held an effective monopoly on God's grace, which was dispensed through the sacraments and guaranteed by the granting of indulgences.

2) Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone") Religious truths can be known only through reading the Word of God as revealed in the Bible. This principle opened the door for "radical" interpretations of God's Word, bringing those Catholic doctrines and rituals under attack which had uncertain Scriptural grounds*.

3) Sola gratia ("by grace alone") Humans are innately evil, incapable of either knowing religious truth or acting for the good without God's grace. Faith is only in the gift of God, and only through His inscrutable mercy are an elect few granted salvation. The Reformed Churches thus adopted a belief in predestination and the enslavement of the will by the flesh for those not predestined to salvation.

Death: the undiscovered country

Traditional beliefs often held that untimely death was a punishment for sin and therefore was a thing to be feared. Since the medical knowledge of the time could not explain the plagues which could wipe outwhole villages, it was assumed that these mass fatalities were signs of God's displeasure.