The English Church was popular and effective on the eve of the Henrician Reformation (1529)How far do you agree with this view?

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‘The English Church was popular and effective on the eve of the Henrician Reformation’ (1529)

How far do you agree with this view?

The idea of Reformation in the English Church brought up two schools of thought: the Traditional historians and the Revisionist historians. The Traditionalists believed that the Pre-Reformation Church in England was corrupt and there was very little respect for the Church, it was in need of reform; there was great widespread of anti-clericalism . Some well-known traditionalists include Geoffrey R. Elton, he said that clergy ‘attracted more dislike than love’, ‘Church was full of weaknesses and abuses’ and that the ‘Parish clergy were often ill-educated and ignorant’. Arthur G. Dickens, Simon Fish were also some notable traditionalists.

    On the other hand, the Revisionists believed the pre-Reformation Church was in good health and hadn’t gotten any worse than it had been 100-150 years prior. Eamon Duffy and Jack Scarisbrick were Revisionists, to name a few.

    The Traditionalists interpreted the ideas of anticlericalism, which refer to hostility towards the Church and churchmen from laity. Usually this involved ideas that the Church had become corrupt and that clergy weren’t leading Christian lives.

    In 1529 Simon Fish described clergy as ‘ravenous wolves going around in shepherds’ clothing devouring the flock’ in his ‘A Supplication of the Beggars’. He argued that they were starved wolves who abused their positions to help them further their own interests, which was to gain power and wealth.

    Also complaining about clergy were a number of scholars who lived their lives without the need for religious beliefs, they were known as humanists. Many humanists had studied the Bible in Latin, Greek and Hebrew and were appalled at how clergy weren’t following Jesus Christ and how he wanted them to live. Some humanists believed that if clergy were more educated and less wealthy then there would have been a possible improvement. Erasmus of Rotterdam was the most famous humanist of his day and wrote books against the Church and clergy; the most famous was ‘In Praise of Folly’. Sir Thomas More, a friend of Erasmus and a humanist, agreed with his friend and he too wrote books against the Catholic Church; his most famous work was ‘Utopia’ which was a description of a fictional island, designed to show up the corruption and abuses in English society. They both wanted clergy to be more committed, believing this and education would lead to a vast improvement.

    John Colet, another humanist scholar, friend of Erasmus and Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, preached a sermon in Convocation, before the Canterbury and York clergies, attacking the major problems and abuses within the Church, which was mainly the clergy.  He was the main source of evidence for Traditionalists, as he was a intellectual clergyman who criticised the Church, therefore the criticism was coming from inside the Church, from somebody who must have been experiencing it. His criticism was very harsh; he said the clergy were ‘unduly ambitious’, ‘greedy and covetous’ and ‘took too much interest in worldly affairs’ - he believed they were too ambitious and didn’t look after people’s spiritual needs, as they were supposed to. Clergy were often very uneducated and few understood Latin.

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    In, the Hunne case in 1514, Richard Hunne was put in gaol under suspicion of heresy, as some heretical books had been found at his home. In December, 1514 he was found dead in his cell and a clergyman and two gaolers were accused of his murder, however they were never brought to trial and this was seen as the Church protecting its own. Hunne’s body had been burnt as a heretic, even though he hadn’t been convicted. This case provoked anticlericalism in London.

    In 1518, Henry VIII’s chief minister Thomas Wolsey, was made a papal ...

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