11/9
Thomas bekett.
Becket (archbishop, 1162–70) was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral at the
wish of Henry II (king, 1154–89) (NCE 2.212–14). In Prelates Tyndale depicts Becket as a corrupt role model for
Wolsey (D3, F1v—F2). Tyndale disapproved of clerical
exemption from civil law, a cause for which Becket died (G3v).>
Fifty years after Becket's death, his relics were transferred from the
crypt to the Trinity Chapel above it on 7 July 1220. Cf. John Butler,
The Quest for Becket's Bones (New Haven: Yale UP,
1995) 20,45. In his last letter More comments on 6 July, the day set for
his execution : ".. . it is S. Thomas evin, and the vtas
[octave] of Sainte Peter and therefore to morowe longe I to goe to God.
. . ." From Ep. 218, To Margaret Roper, Tower of London, 5 July 1535 (More, Correspondence 564/19–21).
In Colloquies, Erasmus describes a visit to
Canterbury CI512, in which Colet contrasts Becket's alms to the poor
with the bejewelled shrine, "A Pilgrimage for Religion's
Sake," February 1526 (ASD 1/3.470–94; CWE 40.644/1–23). The spoliation
of this shrine in September 1538 prompted the long-delayed
excommunication of Henry VIII in December. See J.J. Scarisbrick, "Fisher, Henry VIII and the
Reformation crisis," in Bradshaw and Duffy 155–68.
S. Thomas of canterburye
[1531]
saye men] men say 1573
wyll ye] will yet 1573
pope /] ed., pope 1531, Pope, 1573
11/20
monkes / freres /
blacke / whit / pied / grey. Cf. 105/28–29. In England and Wales at
the end of the period between 1500 and 1534, there were approximately
254 communities of monks, 286 of canons regular, 183 of friars, totaling
723 male religious houses. These contained approximately 3699 monks,
2874 canons, and 2596 friars totaling 9169 male religious. Cf. David Knowles and R. Neville
Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales, 2d ed. (NewYork: St. Martin's, 1971) Appendix II, 494.
For
Haigh's approximate estimate of 10,000 priests
in religious communities in the early 1530s, cf. 75/19–20n.
For negative critics, the garb and tonsure of monks and friars
exemplified self-invented and external ways of serving God, cf. Moriae, 1511, 1514 (ASD 4/3.160/538–52; CWE
27.131). In his Paradise of Fools, Milton will reprise Tyndale's satiric
theme when he mocks "Embryo's and Idiots, Eremits and Friers / White,
Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie" (Paradise
Lost 3.474–75).
Benedictines (founded between c530 and 540) were called "Black Monks"
(NCE 2.283–85), and Cistercians (1098) were called "White Monks" (NCE
3.885–89) because of the color of their respective habits. A
sidenote to 4 Kings 23 from Matthew's Bible (1537) makes a witty
reference to the "black monks of Baal" (TOT 537). Similarly,
Augustinians were called "Black Canons" (see below) from their black
capes. Premonstratensians (1120) were called "White Canons" from their
white habits. Cf. J.C. Dickinson, The Origins of the Austin Canons and Their
Introduction into England (London:
SPCK, 1950) 185; H.M. Colvin, The White Canons in England (Oxford: Clarendon, 1951) 3–4.
Dominicans (1216) or "Blackfriars" wore black cloaks over white tunics
; Carmelites (1226) or "Whitefriars" wore white cloaks
over brown tunics. Franciscans or Minorites (1223) were called "graye
frires" (131/7) from the color of their undyed habits (NCE 6.198).
Augustinian canons evolved from diocesan priests living in community who adopted the rule of St. Augustine (1139). Erasmus joined
the Austin Canons c1487, but lived outside his monastery for twenty-five
years: from his ordination in 1492 until a papal dispensation
in 1517 gave him the status of a secular priest of the Diocese of
Utrecht. After he left the Canons Regular, Erasmus called them
amphibians because of their position between monks and diocesan canons.
Cf. "A Pilgrimage for Religion's Sake," February 1526, Colloquies (ASD 1/3.475/157–60; CWE
40.629/7–10).
Augustinian friars were formed by the consolidation of groups of hermits
(1256) (OER 1.100–1). Luther entered the Observant Augustinians in 1505,
living as an exemplary religious at Erfurt and Wittenberg until he was
dispensed from his vows by his provincial superior, Johann von Staupitz
(OER 4.109–11).
Since Tyndale opposed the creation of fictions, we should not be
surprised to learn that the Pied Friars were an actual order. The Friars of the Blessed
Mary began in Marseilles in mid-13 c, founded houses in London, Norwich, and Cambridge, but died out
after small mendicant orders were suppressed by Lyons II
(1274). Their black scapular, white mantle, and black hood made them
resemble magpies. See Richard W. Emery, "The
Friars of the Blessed Mary and the Pied Friars," Speculum 24 (1949) 228–38. Later, Tyndale will dismiss the
multiplicity of religious orders because they are "as pied in
their consciences as in their cotes" (100/22–23).
When the mendicant orders declined from the ideals of their founders,
they were given the name of "CAIM" or "Cain," an acronym for Carmelites,
Augustinians, Jacobites (from the Dominican house of St.
Jacques in Paris), and Minorites. Cf. John
Wyclif, Trialogus, Bk. 4, Ch. 25, p. 200, "A
Treatise . . . against Orders of Friars," 217–56, in Tracts and Treatises, tr. Robert Vaughan (London, 1845).
Chaucer's friar outdoes all other members of "the ordres foure" in
"daliaunce and fair langage" ("General Prologue," Canterbury Tales, I [A] 210–11).
Continuing this negative criticism of the friars, Tyndale asserts that
those who serve their bellies before God should not be trusted with
preaching to the parish (Obedience Q6v—Q7).
Friars in general are guilty of gluttony and greed, but the
Austin friars in London
supposedly murdered one of their brethren (Matthew o7v). In the Obedience (Q8r—v),
Tyndale singles out the Franciscan Observants , who falsely
portray themselves as strict adherents of the rule of poverty. In Prelates (G2), he cites Friar Bungay's
encouragement of Edward IV to marry Elizabeth
Grey instead of Isabel of Castile. For the hearing of confessions by
priests in religious orders, cf. 21/4–5n.
The Franciscans, the largest order in the medieval church, are overly
devoted to saints, especially their founder, who sits highest in heaven
under Christ (Matthew a3v). In Matthew (i3v, o7v) Tyndale 's image of rich and fat
friars is a synecdoche for those who place the rules of their orders
above the laws of God. Thus, Tyndale Iaments the daily
increase in the number of monks, canons, friars, nuns (Obedience R1), who falsely invoke the name of Christ to preach
only their own traditions (Obedience I5v).Trust
in ceremonies
and monastic vows (1
John F3v), wearing a Franciscan or a Dominican habit to the
grave (Mammon A8, I1v; Matthew d4v, k8), all seem to overshadow faith in Christ's
sacrifice. For burial in the Franciscan habit, cf. "The Funeral,"
February 1526, Colloquies (ASD 1/3.546/328 to
547/366; CWE 40.774/27 to 775/27); "The Seraphic Funeral," September
1531 (ASD 1/3.687/40 to 688/61; CWE 40.1000/36 to 1001/18).Tyndale's
mockery of the orders is explained not only by their moral corruption,
but by their theological error in emphasizing works over
faith. (JB)
Some friars became notable reformers, e.g.: from the Observant
Franciscans William Roye (d. c1531), Tyndale's assistant on the first
edition of the NT; from the Dominicans Martin Bucer (1491–1551), Regius
Professor of Divinity at Cambridge (OER 1.221- 24); from the
Carmelites John Bale (1495–1563), dramatist
and historian (OER 1.113–14); from the Augustinians Miles Coverdale
(1488–1568), editor of the first complete Bible printed in English
(1535) (OER 1.445–46), cf. 167/30–31n.
Wearing habits similar to the men of the First Orders with black veils
instead of cowls were cloistered women of the Second Orders :
Benedictine, Cistercian, Augustinian, Franciscan, Dominican and
Bridgittine. In England and Wales at the end of the period between 1500 and 1534, there
were 142 communities of nuns and canonesses, containing approximately
1966 members (Knowles and Hadcock, Appendix II, 494). Although some
women entered convents without a true vocation, perhaps only five
percent of English nuns broke their vow of chastity. Cf. Eileen Power,
Medieval English Nunneries, c. 1275 to 1535
(Cambridge UP, 1922) 461.
Of special interest is the Dominican convent of Dartford in the Diocese
of Rochester. Among its members were Bridget Plantagenet (d.
c1517), youngest daughter of Edward IV, and
Elizabeth White, half-sister of the local
bishop John Fisher (CWM 2.158— 59).The "Rufull Lamentation" (1503) that
More composed in the voice of Elizabeth of York bids a special farewell
to her Dominican sister (CWM 1.12/74–78). After the nuns were
pensioned off in 1539, the monastery became the residence of Anne of
Cleves from the annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII until her
death (1540–57). Cf. David Knowles OSB, The Religious Orders in England (Cambridge UP,
1959) 3.440.
ypocrisie] hypocrisies 1573
10/32–11/22
In . . .
disgysinges.
Answer objects to the misapplication
of the term "church" to the hierarchy and clergy alone. Dialogue
had already made the same point, "The chyrche therfore must nedys
be the comen knowen multytude of crysten men good and bad togyther /
whyle the chyrche is here in erth" (CWM 6/1.205/4–7). (JW)