| dc.description.abstract | This thesis. looks at a group of texts, that it has identified as English
Protestant~ antI-epIscopal martyrologies, in their social context. It examines the
dIalogue In print and manuscript between Protestant reformers in Tudor
England and the bishops who opposed them. I argue that an analysis of the
polemlical texts which contributed to this dialogue demonstrates the strongly
antI-epIscopal stance adopted by English Protestants from the early sixteenth
century to the accession of Elizabeth I. The texts I probe have been little
studled eIther by historians or literary critics, and this has resulted in their
literary discourses, as well as their importance as contributions to the
development of the English Reformation, being overlooked. The reason for this
neglect is that commentators have failed to identify the way in which they
limned Protestant martyrological stances for their characters. Furthermore the
context common to all these texts - a systematic opposition to the judicial,
economic and political powers of the bishops in England, which was being
carefully developed by Protestant propagandists from as early as 1520 - has
not previously been discussed.
The thesis makes equal use of historical and literary sources in order to
make sense of otherwise oblique references and rhetorical techniques in both
well-known and more obscure pieces of Protestant doctrinal writing and
ecclesiastical satire produced between 1520 and 1560. By paying attention to
episcopal archives and modern research on English bishops of the sixteenth
century, the thesis identifies the fundamental importance of English episcopal
administration for Henrician, Edwardian, and Marian ecclesiology. It shows that
the Tudor ecclesiastical polity created a culture that fostered a martyrological
consciousness, which was ultimately the only form of justification for opponents
of the established church. Such a consciousness was exploited by
anti-episcopal apologists for propaganda purposes.
My study identifies the formation of this martyrological consciousness by
early writers such as William Tyndale, William Barlow and George Joye, whose
writing has hitherto not been discussed in such terms. It then looks at the way
in which this early martyrological writing was tailored into more specialised
anti-episcopal martyrology, such as those pieces which satirised episcopal
visitation and examination or those which analysed the significance of last wills
and testaments in the context of an episcopal administration.
From this the thesis concludes that anti-episcopal martyrology heavily
informed the thinking behind the later debates over the social and political
position of the church within the state, such as in the Admonition Crisis of the
1570s and the Marprelate Controversy of the late 1580s and early 1590s.
There is also strong evidence to suggest that, rather ironically, the literary
creation of a Protestant martyrological posture made between 1520 and 156~
was adopted by Catholic apologists in the 1570~ and 1580s In theIr
confrontation with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ellzabetian Settlement. It
Iso argues that further work should be done on the borrowIng of notions of
martyrology from the early propagandists by later more well-known authors
such as John Foxe, Edmund Spenser, John Milton and John Bunyan.
I have consulted collections of MSS and early printed sources in The
British Library, Cambridge University libraries, Lambeth Palace Library, Dr
Williams' Library and Winchester Cathedral library. | en_US |
