The Burning Time
Page 45
So what does it mean to me, when I participate in Benediction and repeat the ‘Divine Praises’ which include the explicit affirmation: ‘Blessed be Jesus in the most holy sacrament of the altar’? Words that come to my mind when I gaze at the sacrament are grace, forgiveness, reconciliation. I think of the words of Julian of Norwich – ‘All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well’ – and, when the monstrance is lifted high in blessing, also of the words of Jesus, which may well have given courage to the martyrs (though they would have shunned this ritual that reminds me of them): ‘For in the world shall ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.’
When gazing at the sacrament, I approach in my mind the image of an absolute love, impossible to express in words. An attempt at words would be: white-hot, molten but solid, solid but yielding to the touch, golden, utterly itself, immovable yet fluid, open, uncompromising in its selfhood, far beyond all definitions yet encompassing them all, entirely sweet graciousness, and gracious sweetness, undefeatable yet not insisting on itself, taking everything into itself, all-embracing, unchanging (or where mutability and constancy are the same), not contingent, non-negotiable and yet at the same time utterly accepting.
John Donne, poet and Dean of St Paul’s from 1621 until his death in 1631, comes the closest to expressing what I occasionally catch a glimpse of at Benediction:
Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven,
to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be
no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
no noise nor silence, but one equal music;
no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity:
in the habitations of thy glory and dominion,
world without end. Amen.
Nothing else really matters. And all the arguments, imperfections, misunderstandings, foolishnesses, hatreds and cruelties are gathered up into the one equal light and transformed.
All this – whatever ‘this’ is – is beyond definition, beyond grasping at to extract the meaning – and that is how it should be. It’s the defining, the attempt to trap the absolute in language, in doctrinal formulations, in particular translations, that has given us so much trouble – that has paved the way for hatreds and made the very concept of heresy possible. Accepting a degree of ignorance and of incomprehension on all our parts, with no one laying claim to absolute truth, makes heresy evaporate. Where there is no orthodoxy, there can by definition be no heresy.
In the Priory Church of St Bartholomew where, on a dark evening, in the flickering light thrown against the stout Norman pillars by the many candles, and in a mist of incense, it is easy to imagine the ghosts of former priors and rectors kneeling in prayer or processing from cloister to apse, we feel we take the best of our history – of its music, liturgy, preaching and architecture – to combine it into a living present. And the screams (or silence – how can we know for sure?) of the martyrs burning outside our walls are part of that history, adding both to the darkness and to the wonder of what it means to be human and made in the image of God.
Sing praise, then, for all who here sought and here found him,
whose journey is ended, whose perils have past:
they believed in the light, and its glory is round them
where the clouds of earth’s sorrows are lifted at last.
William Henry Draper, 1855–1933
*This translation aims to convey meaning and not attempt poetry or song.
*Very small heraldic banners.
CHRONOLOGY
1516 18 February Birth of future Mary I
1519 18 June John Deane ordained priest
1521 25 May Edict of Worms declares Martin Luther an outlaw
1522 19 October Cuthbert Tunstall consecrated as Bishop of London
1529 25 October Thomas More becomes Lord Chancellor
1530 25 March Cuthbert Tunstall becomes Bishop of Durham
27 November John Stokesley consecrated as Bishop of London
29 November Death of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
1531 5 April Execution of Richard Roose
4 December Burning of Richard Bayfield
20 December Burning of John Tewkesbury
27 December Stephen Gardiner enthroned as Bishop of Winchester
1532 22 March Richard Rich becomes Clerk of Recognizances
5 April Death of Prior William Bolton
30 April Burning of James Bainham
13 May Richard Rich becomes Attorney General in Wales
16 May Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor
28 June Robert Fuller becomes Prior of St Bartholomew’s, Smithfield
22 August Death of Archbishop William Warham
1533 25 January Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
30 March Thomas Cranmer consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury
23 May Cranmer pronounces divorce of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon
1 June Coronation of Anne Boleyn
8 June Parliament affirms ending of papal authority in England
4 July Burning of John Frith and Andrew Huet
7 September Birth of future Elizabeth I
10 October Richard Rich becomes Solicitor-General, and is knighted
1534 17 April Thomas More imprisoned in the Tower
10 June Edward Powell imprisoned in the Tower
December Thomas Abel and Richard Fetherston imprisoned in the Tower
1535 4 May Execution of Prior Houghton, Richard Reynolds, John Hale, Augustine Webster and Robert Lawrence
12 June Alleged conversation between Thomas More and Richard Rich
19 June Execution of Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmewe and Sebastian Newdigate
22 June Execution of John Fisher
6 July Execution of Thomas More
27 July Richard Rich becomes chirographer at Court of Common Pleas
1536 7 January Death of Katherine of Aragon
24 April Richard Rich becomes Chancellor of Court of Augmentations
19 May Execution of Anne Boleyn
30 May Marriage of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour
12 June Richard Rich becomes Speaker of the House of Commons
1537 12 October Birth of future Edward VI
24 October Death of Jane Seymour
1538 22 May Burning of John Forest
6 October Execution of William Tyndale, near Brussels
16 November Show trial of John Lambert
22 November Burning of John Lambert
1539 8 October Death of John Stokesley
25 October Surrender of St Bartholomew’s Priory to the King
1540 6 January Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves
3 April Robert Barnes, William Jerome and
Thomas Garrett sent to the Tower
16 April Edmund Bonner enthroned as Bishop of London
10 June Arrest of Thomas Cromwell
9 July Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves dissolved
28 July Execution of Thomas Cromwell. Marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine Howard
30 July Burning of Robert Barnes, William Jerome and Thomas Garrett
Execution of Thomas Abel, Edward Powell and Richard Fetherston
1541 6 May Henry VIII orders Great Bible to be placed in all churches
27 May Execution of Countess of Salisbury
30 July Burning of Richard Mekins
1542 13 February Execution of Katherine Howard
1543 12 July Marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine Parr
1544 24 April Richard Rich resigns as Chancellor of Augmentations
18 June John Deane becomes Rector of Priory Church of St Bartholomew
1545 10 March First arrest of Anne Askew
13 June Anne Askew re-examined at Guildhall
1546 18 February Death of Martin Luther
24 May Order issued for Anne Askew’s rearrest<
br />
19 June Anne Askew appears before Privy Council
28 June Anne Askew arraigned at Guildhall
11 July Arrest of George Blagge
16 July Burning of Anne Askew, John Lascelles, John Hadlam and John Hemsley
1547 28 January Death of Henry VIII
15 February Richard Rich becomes Baron Rich of Leez
20 February Coronation of Edward VI
12 March Duke of Somerset becomes Lord Protector
18 September Edmund Bonner imprisoned for first time
23 October Richard Rich becomes Lord Chancellor
1548 30 June Stephen Gardiner imprisoned in the Tower
5 September Death of Katherine Parr
1549 20 March Execution of Thomas Seymour
20 September Edmund Bonner imprisoned in the Marshalsea
1 October Edmund Bonner deprived of bishopric of London
14 October Duke of Somerset imprisoned in the Tower
1550 2 May Burning of Joan Boucher
13 May John Rogers becomes Vicar of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate
15 December Trial of Stephen Gardiner begins
1551 14 February Stephen Gardiner deprived of bishopric of Winchester
25 April Burning of George van Parris
24 August John Bradford becomes Prebendary of St Paul’s
27 August John Rogers becomes Prebendary of St Paul’s
21 December Richard Rich resigns as Lord Chancellor
1552 22 January Execution of Duke of Somerset
16 May Richard Rich becomes Lord Lieutenant of Essex
14 October Cuthbert Tunstall deprived of bishopric of Durham
1553 6 July Death of Edward VI
10 July Lady Jane Grey proclaimed Queen
19 July Mary I proclaimed Queen
5 August Edmund Bonner returns as Bishop to St Paul’s
8 August Funeral of Edward VI
13 August Gilbert Bourne preaches at Paul’s Cross; riot
16 August John Rogers placed under house arrest
21 August Execution of Duke of Northumberland
23 August Stephen Gardiner becomes Lord Chancellor
1 October Coronation of Mary I
13 November Thomas Cranmer, Lady Jane Grey, Guildford Dudley, Ambrose Dudley and Henry Dudley arraigned at Guildhall
1554 25 January Start of Sir Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion
27 January John Rogers imprisoned in Newgate
7 February Collapse of Wyatt’s rebellion
12 February Execution of Lady Jane Grey
11 April Execution of Sir Thomas Wyatt
17 April Trial of Nicholas Throckmorton at Guildhall
25 July Marriage of Mary I to Philip II of Spain
30 November Church in England reunited with Church of Rome
1555 28 January Beginning of trials in Southwark of ‘Protestant preachers’
4 February Burning of John Rogers
16 March Burning of Thomas Tomkins
14 April William Flower attacks priest at St Margaret’s, Westminster
24 April Burning of William Flower at Westminster
30 May Burning of John Cardmaker and John Warne
1 July Burning of John Bradford and John Leaf
23 August Burning of Elizabeth Warne at Stratford-atte-Bow
16 October Burning of Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer in Oxford
12 November Death of Stephen Gardiner
18 December Burning of John Philpot
1556 27 January Burning of Thomas Whittle, John Tudson, Thomas Browne, Bartlet Green, John Went, Isobel Foster and Joan Warne (alias Lashford)
21 March Burning of Thomas Cranmer in Oxford
24 April Burning of Robert Drakes, William Tyms, Richard Spurge, Thomas Spurge, John Cavell and George Ambrose
16 May Burning of Katherine Hutt, Joan Horns and Elizabeth Thackwell
1557 12 April Burning of Thomas Loseby, Henry Ramsey, Thomas Thyrtell, Margaret Hyde and Agnes Stanley
15 September John Deane becomes Rector of Coulsdon
30 November Burning of William Sparrow, John Hallingdale and Richard Gibson
22 December Burning of John Rough and Margaret Mearing
1558 28 March Burning of Cuthbert Simpson, Hugh Foxe and John Devenish
27 June Burning of Roger Holland, Henry Pond, Reginald Eastland, Robert Southam, Matthew Ricarby, John Floyd and John Holiday
22 August Friar William Peryn buried in St Bartholomew’s
17 November Death of Mary I and Cardinal Reginald Pole
18 December Funeral of Lady Rich
1559 15 January Coronation of Elizabeth I
8 May Act of Uniformity signed by Elizabeth I
14 July Black Friars leave St Bartholomew’s,
Smithfield
18 November Death of Cuthbert Tunstall
1560 20 April Edmund Bonner imprisoned in the
Marshalsea
1563 October Death of John Deane
1567 12 June Death of Richard Rich
1569 5 September Death of Edmund Bonner
NOTES
I have made extensive use of the excellent online resource of The Unabridged Acts and Monuments Online or TAMO (HRI Online Publications, Sheffield, 2011). Available from: http://www.johnfoxe.org. Unless otherwise stated, quotations of the words of the martyrs, though often rewritten by me (see ‘A Note on Language’ at the beginning of this book), are derived from this source (particularly in Chapters 7, 11, 12, 13 and 14).
Introduction – SETTING THE SCENE
a pleasant cracking … J. G. Nichols (ed.), Narratives of the Days of the Reformation, Camden Society, 1869, p. 44.
a new paradigm … Vit Šisler, ‘The Internet and the construction of Islamic knowledge in Europe’, Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2007. http://www.digitalislam.eu/article.do?articleId=1422 [accessed 20 June 2016].
See also:
Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More, Chatto & Windus, 1998.
R. H. Bainton, ‘The Left Wing of the Reformation’, The Journal of Religion 21 (2), 1941, pp. 124–34.
J. Dillon, ‘Clerkenwell and Smithfield as a Neglected Home of London Theater’, Huntington Library Quarterly 71 (1), 2008, pp. 115–35.
Judith Etherton, ‘Bolton, William (d. 1532)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy2.londonlibrary.co.uk/view/article/2809 [accessed 19 June 2016].
J. A. Galloway, D. Keene and M. Murphy, ‘Fuelling the City: Production and Distribution of Firewood and Fuel in London’s Region, 1290–1400’, The Economic History Review New Series 49 (3), 1996, pp. 447–72.
W. Hooper, ‘The Tudor Sumptuary Laws’, The English Historical Review 30 (119), 1915, pp. 433–49.
John Stow, Stow’s Survey of London, Dent, 1960.
E. A. Webb, ‘The sixteenth century: Prior William Bolton’, in The Records of St. Bartholomew’s Priory and St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield: Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 1921, pp. 223–38. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/st-barts-records/vol1/pp223–38 [accessed 19 June 2016].
One – BOILING, BURNING AND AMBITION
locked in a chain … J. G. Nichols (ed.), Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London, Camden Society, 1852, p. 35.
latine aliquid intelligit M. Cox, A history of Sir John Deane’s Grammar School, Northwich, 1557–1908, Manchester University Press, 1975, p. 11.
probably sometime a member … See http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/.
does not seem to have been … E. A. Webb, ‘Sir Richard Rich’, in The Records of St. Bartholomew’s Priory and St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield: Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 1921, pp. 289–97. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/st-barts-records/vol1/pp289–97 [accessed 19 June 2016].