2. [1531]
reason] [1573], rason [1531]
consenteth.
Tyndale regularly features active consent to the law of God in his
accounts of repentance and justification, thus diverging in one aspect
from Luther's account of justification, where the will's
passivity under grace is central, while the law functions prior to
justification by heightening guilt.
forboden] forbydden [1573]
forboden lawfull
wedlocke. The imposition of mandatory celibacy angers Tyndale
because Scripture assumes the clergy will be married. In Obedience (I7, K1), Tyndale twice quotes 1 Tim.
3.2 on the wives of bishops. For Tyndale, fines for concubinage are a
license to keep whores ([D6v, “licence . . . whore”; N2, “licence . . . hores”; O2, “geuenge . . . whores”]; Obedience K1, 1 John
E6). In Tyndale's view, the Church of Rome prefers whores and
sodomites to an honest wife (Matthew 03).
Tyndale's extended case against compulsory celibacy occurs at
[M6, “In the .xiij. he rageth . . . N7v . . . pacience of other displeasures”].
From the time of Gregory I (pope, 590–604) until the early 10c, most
diocesan clergy were married men. Nicholas II (pope, 1058–61), along
with the Lateran synod of 1059, forbad priests with a wife or concubine
to say Mass and deprived them of their benefice. Gregory VII (pope,
1073–85) rigorously enforced these decrees on clerical celibacy (NCE
3.369–74). Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, was able to
modify Gregory's policy by letting married clergy keep their wives and
ordaining celibate priests henceforward. Cf. Charles A. Frazee, "The
Origins of Clerical Celibacy in the Western Church," Church History 41 (1972) 149–67, esp. 166.
Lateran II (1139) declared that major orders
were an impediment to valid marriage, canons 6–7 in Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, ed. J. Alberigo et al., 3d
ed. (Bologna: Istituto per le scienze religiose , 1973) 198.
Nevertheless, from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation, the diocesan
clergy, from bishop to parish priest, and even heads of monasteries
frequently entered into de facto marriages and by
papal dispensation passed their benefices onto their sons. (JW)
The Diocese of Constance had a schedule of fines to be paid to the
diocesan administration by priests living in concubinage or otherwise
guilty of sexual misconduct. Also a set payment had to be
made for each child fathered by a priest living in concubinage. Cf.
O.Vasella, Reform und
Reformation in der Schweiz (Münster: Aschendorff ,
1958) 26–36. Zwingli attacked this practice in Eine
freundliche Bitte und Ermahnung of July 1522, cf.
Sämtliche Werke 1.225. The fines were fees
paid for suspension of the canonical punishments , such as the
loss of one's benefice, by the concubinate clergy . The
payment for a child was for the lifting of the impediment of
illegitimacy and in some cases for securing an inheritance for children
of such unions. The Council of Basel had condemned these practices in
1435, as had Lateran V in 1514 (Concilium
Oecumenicorum Decreta 487, 623).
1 Timothy 3.2
The Pope in forbyddyng mariage to Priestes, doth not consent that the lawe of god is good.[[1573]
all] om.
[1573]
doucheland. In
15c and early 16c Germany, failures against celibacy seem high although
records are incomplete for Hurenzins (whore tax)
and Wigenzins (cradle tax). Cf. Joel F. Harrington, Reordering marriage and society in Reformation
Germany (Cambridge UP, 1995) 34 and n28.
gulden] ed.,
gelden [1531], gildren [1573]
wales. Illegal
clerical unions and their offspring were satirized by poets and
censured, among others, by Gerald of Wales (c1146-c1220) and two
Archbishops of Canterbury: John Pecham in 1284
and William Warham in 1504. Cf. Glanmor
Williams 339–46, 401–2.
yerland. In
Pre-Norman Ireland (before 1171–72), monasteries were
frequently headed by lay abbots, who were usually married .
Cf. Friedrich Kempf in Jedin and Dolan 3.223. Clerical marriage continued in Gaelic Ireland throughout the late medieval period.
Bishops and abbots obtained papal dispensations for their
sons to succeed them. Cf. Colm Lennon, Sixteenth-Century Ireland: The Incomplete
Conquest (New York: St. Martin's, 1995) 126. Higher standards
obtained among the friars, especially the Observant
Franciscans, cf. Lennon 119. See Aubrey Gwynn and R. Neville
Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses:
Ireland (Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Irish Academic, 1970) and, more
recently, Steven G. Ellis, Ch. 8,"The Late
Medieval Church and the Origins of Tudor Reform," Ireland in the Age of the Tudors 1447–1603: English Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule (New
York: Longman, 1998) 190–217.
Scotland. Sir
David Lyndesay (c1486–1555) satirized the immorality of the
diocesan clergy in his verse drama on The Thrie
Estatis (1540). As a separate kingdom, Scotland implemented the
Reformation at a later period than England. In 1560 the Scottish
Parliament abrogated papal authority in Scodand and forbad the Latin
Mass, but not until 1573 were the clergy required by statute to join the
Reformation or be deprived of their benefices. (Mary Stuart returned to
Scotland from France in 1561 and abdicated in 1567.) Cf. Gordon
Donaldson, "The Parish Clergy and the Reformation, "Scottish Church History (Edinburgh: Scottish
Academic, 1985) 73, 88. See Ian B. Cowan and
David E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland, 2d ed. (London: Longman, 1976); Gordon Donaldson, The Scottish Reformation (Cambridge UP,
1960).
Fraunce.
Repeated invasions during the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) undermined
the physical fabric and the spiritual life of the church in France. Cf.
A. Latreille et al., Histoire du Catholicisme en France; Vol. 2, Sous les rois très chrétiens (Paris: Editions
Spes, 1960) 71. In spite of efforts at reform, concubinage among the
diocesan clergy continued into the 17c (OER 1.397–99).
Spayne. Because
too many people were affected, in 1251 Innocent IV (pope,
1243–54) revoked sentences of excommunication placed by a
papal legate on clerics in major orders and their mistresses, but the
fines he imposed instead had little effect. Living in a pluralistic
society until 1492, some clergy formed sexual relationships
with Jewish or Muslim women. In 1321–22, a council in Castile decreed
that such priests were to be imprisoned for two years by the bishop. Cf.
J.N. Hillgarth, The
Spanish Kingdoms,
1250–1516; Vol. I, 1250–1410,
"Precarious Balance" (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1976) 111–12. Fernando (king, 1474–1516) and
Isabel (queen, 1474–1504) tried to reform the diocesan clergy by
nominating exemplary bishops, but their efforts did not bear
much fruit until the Counter-Reformation. Cf. Vol. II, 1410–1516, "Castilian Hegemony" (Oxford: Clarendon,
1978) 405–10. Rejecting the reforms of the Observant Franciscan Cardinal
Ximenes, a thousand Conventual Franciscans converted to
Islam, married their Muslim concubines and resettled in North Africa.
Cf. Karl J. von Hefele, The Life and Times of Cardinal
Ximenez, 2d ed. (London, 1885) 215–17
cited by Monti 111–12 and n51.
Englond] ed., Euglond 1531, England [1573]
Englond. After
examining visitation records in Winchester, Kent, Suffolk, Norwich, and
Lincoln, Peter Marshall (144–51) concluded that fewer than five percent
of these clerics were suspected of breaking their promise of
celibacy. The situation was probably worse in London on account of the larger numbers of unbeneficed
clergy taking advantage of the anonymity of the city. Tyndale claims
that, because of the preaching of Wyclif against unchastity, priests
prefer liaisons with married women to open concubinage. Thus, English
bishops collect fewer fines than on the Continent. But some of the
English hierarchy were themselves offenders: Bishop James Stanley of Ely
with three illegitimate children, Cardinal Wolsey with two, and perhaps
Archbishop Warham with a son. For Stanley, cf. Haigh 10. For Wolsey, cf.
Jasper Ridley, Statesman and Saint: Cardinal Wolsey,
Sir Thomas More, and the Politics of Henry VIII (New York: Viking, 1982) 171–72. For Warham, cf.
MacCulloch, Cranmer 108.
The reinstitution of clerical marriage did not proceed smoothly in the
English Reformation. Although Henry VIII expelled monks, friars, and
nuns from their properties in 1536 and 1539, he expected them
to keep their vows of celibacy, as is indicated in the Six Articles of
1539, 31 Henry VIII, Ch. 14 (Statutes 3.739). Men
could join the ranks of the diocesan clergy; women could return to their
families or live together in non-canonical communities. Most men and
women religious received government pensions. In 1549 and 1551–52
priests were permitted to marry, 2 & 3 Edward VI, Ch. 21; 5 & 6
Edward, Ch. 12 (Statutes 4/1.67,146–47). However,
in 1553 priests were required to dismiss their
wives or lose their benefices, 1 Mary, St. 2, Ch. 2 (Statutes 4/1.202). In 1559 priests were again allowed to marry
by Injunction 29 issued by Elizabeth I in her capacity as Supreme
Governor of the Church of England, cf. Bray 342–43. Marriage of the
clergy was confirmed in 1604, 1 James, Ch. 25 (Statutes 4/2.1052).
The Pope licenceth whordome whiche God forbiddeth.[[1573]
rebuked] [1573], rekuked [1531]
wicleffe.
John Wyclif (c1330–84) taught that rulers in
mortal sin, especially the clergy, forfeited the right to the obedience
of their subjects. He also claimed that bread and wine remained after
the consecration and that Christ is present only figuratively. After his
death, his teachings were condemned by the Council of Constance (1414–18) in 1417; his books were burnt and his body exhumed from consecrated ground in 1428.
See Anthony Kenny, Wyclif, Past Masters Series (Oxford
UP, 1985). Followers ofWyclif were originally called "Lollards" (OED 1.)
or "mumblers" for their supposed piety. Like "Quaker," the name
"Lollard" no longer expresses contempt but merely denotes a religious
group.
In De Libero Arbitrio (1524) Erasmus recites a
litany of patristic and medieval theologians who uphold free will as
opposed to Manichaeus and Wyclif, who deny it. Later, Erasmus
disapprovingly quotes Luther's Assertio, Art. 36,
which embraces the position of Wyclif, '"For no one has it in his own
power to think a good or bad thought, but everything (as Wyclif's
article condemned at Constance rightly teaches) happens by absolute
necessity.'" From Erasmus, On the Freedom of the
Will, citing Assertio omnium articulorum, 1520 (WA 7.146/6–8; not in LW) in Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation, ed. E. Gordon
Rupp and Philip S. Watson, LCC 17 (Philadephia: Westminster, 1969) 13,
13n1, 64. Cf. [O4, “no frewyll . . . the werke man” and commentary note].
Tyndale denies that Wyclif caused insurrection (1
John H7); in fact, the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 arose from
economic, not theological , reasons. In the Prologue to Jonas,
Tyndale asserts that the rejection ofWyclif's call to
repentance resulted in the assassination of Richard II, the usurpation
of the crown by Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI, the invasion of France,
and the civil wars in England (TOT 634–35). (The Book of
Jonas in TOT lacks page divisions into ABC etc.) For pastoral
care from evil clergy, cf. [M4v, “the prayars . . . profite not” and commentary note]; for Wyclif's supposed influence in
Bohemia, cf. [N8, “Wicleffe . . . liues” and commentary note]; for the kings, cf. [N8, “slew the true kynge . . . false”]; for a brief
history of the Bible in English, cf. [N8, “scripture . . . in englysh” and commentary note]; for the order of
justification, cf. [Q1, “the lawe” and commentary note].
Donald Dean Smeeton examines similarities
between Tyndale and Lollards on the necessity of a vernacular Bible, the
rejection of transubstantiation, and the reform of a corrupt clergy by
the king in Lollard Themes in the Reformation Theology
of William Tyndale, Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies 6 (Kirksville, MO: Sixteenth Century Journal, 1986).
A nother . . .
secret. Cf. CWM 8/1.584/12–29.