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Catholic England [Enter]
Faith, religion and observance before the Reformation
Translated and annotated
by R. N. Swanson

The Reformation, which began under Henry VIII, transformed English religion. For many the spirituality of the preceeding period remains largely unknown, or overburdened with Protestant mythology of decadence. These sources seek to explore the nature of religious belief and practice in pre-Reformation England, using original source material to make the debates accessible.

This consideration of the sources begins with an analytical chapter discussing the varieties of spirituality in later medieval England and the ways in which they received expression, through participation in church services, actions like pilgrimages, charitable foundations, devotional readings and instruction. Opposition to prevailing spirituality, expressed through 'Lollardy', is also considered. The sources demonstrate with immediacy and potency these diverse expressions of faith and observance. Many of the documents are translated for the first time from unpublished manuscript material.

This study demonstrates the vitality of the pre-Reformation religious practices, but also addresses the key methodological questions which arise from the sources about the nature of the material, its reliability as historical evidence, and the validity of external actions as testimony to intellectual and emotional experience.

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CONTENTS:
Introduction: in search of pre-Reformation English spirituality
PART ONE: THEORY
I: The Bible
 1. The vulgate (Latin) version
 2. The Lollard Bible
 3. A modern translation

II: Disseminating the faith
A. Instruction in the faith
 4. Lenten instructions by John Drury of Beccles
B. Sermons
 5. From John Mirk's Festival
 6. From the main Wycliffite cycle
 7. From an anonymous compilation

II: The mass
 8. Instructions in preparation for the mass
 9. Lay action during mass: The Lay Folks' Mass Book

IV: Designs for living and dying
 10. The Abbey of the Holy Ghost
 11. Walter Hilton, Epistle on the Mixed Life
 12. The Book of the Craft of Dying

PART TWO: PRACTICE
V. Parish celebrations
 13. Scarborough: parish accounts, 1435-36
 14. Great Yarmouth: selected accounts, 1386-1505
 15. King's Lynn: selected accounts, 1398-1536

VI: Private religion
 16. Licenses for private chapels and oratories
 17. Vows of chastity

VII. Saints, shrines, miracles and pilgrimage
A. Shrines and offerings by pilgrims
 18. Ornaments of shrines in York Minster
 19. Receipts from offerings at Hereford Cathedral
 20. Receipts of St Etheldreda's shrine, Ely
 21. Small shrines and vicarious pilgrimages
B. Miracles
 22. Miracles of St Osmund, c.1453
 23. Miracles of Henry VI

VIII: Security for the living
A. Indulgences
 24. Appointment of proctors
 25. Appointment of proctors for a bridge, c.1490
 26. Appointment of proctor for St Anthony's Hospital, London, 1479
 27. Appointment of proctor for St Anthony's Hospital, London, 1536
 28. Indulgence granted for a chapel
 29. Profits of indulgence: St Anthony's Hospital, London, 1513
B. Guilds and fraternities
 30. Franciscan letters of confraternity
 31. Mendicant letters of confraternity
 32. Regulations of trade fraternity: the carpenters of York, 1482
 33. Guild membership: the Palmers of Ludlow, 1505-6
 34. Cumulative totals of guild subscriptions: the Palmers of Ludlow, 1447-48
 35. National membership receipts: the Palmers of Ludlow, 1538-39
 36. Benefits of membership of the fraternity of St Chad, Lichfield

IX: Security for the dead
A. Obits and anniversaries
 37. Provision of trentals, 1487
 38. Obit arrangements: William Paston
 39. Establishment of an orbit or anniversary, 1458
B. Chantries and almshouses
 40. Establishment of a chantry: St James' priory, Bristol, 1400
 41. Establishment of a chantry in a friary: Bristol, 1469
 42. Establishment of a chantry through feoffment to uses: Bridgwater, 1482
 43. Regulations for a chantry and almshouses: Ludlow, 1486

X: Distributions at death: wills
 44. The will of Thomas Kebell, 1500
 45. The will of Lady Jane Strangways, 1500
 46. The wills of Sir John Port, 1528-40

XI: Complaint and opposition
A. Anticlericalism?
 47. The burgesses of Saltash complain about their vicar, c.1406
 48. Complaints at visitation: Kent, 1511-12
B. Heresy and Lollardy
 49. The hunt for heretics: Bury St Edmunds, 1428
 50. The definition of 'Lollardy'
 51. Lollard confessions, 1430
Bibliography

For links to other sources for the study of Catholic England visit the Manchester Medievalportal.