THAMES VALLEY PAPISTS: From Reformation to Emancipation (The Religious Changes)

In the twenty-four years following Henry VIII's break with Rome in 1534, the Church in England was like a religious pendulum. Under Henry it remained more or less 'Catholic without the Pope'. During the reign of the boy-king Edward VI, Henry's son by Jane Seymour, the Church veered strongly towards Continental Protestantism. Then under Mary, Henry's daughter by Catherine of Aragon, it was reunited with Rome. Finally under Elizabeth, Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn, the Anglican compromise between Roman Catholicism and Continental Protestantism was evolved.

Not surprisingly, these were confusing times for the English people. Those with strongly held views had to learn when it was safe to express them. Many became neutral or indifferent to the the religious changes. Some adopted the attitude of Simon Aleyn, the Vicar of Bray near Maidenhead. During the reign of Henry VIII he witnessed the burning of a Windsor man who refused to accept the Six Articles: legislation introduced by the King to prevent the spread of Protestant teaching. Aleyn is said to have vowed never to risk his own life by standing up for his religious beliefs. He therefore kept his job right through to the reign of Elizabeth I.

During this period of religious change the Thames Valley families that were later to come into conflict with the authorities for remaining Catholic generally held on to public office. Few openly objected to the anti-Catholic aspects of the monarch's religious policy. And few had any scruples about acquiring real estate seized from the abbeys and priories.

Sir Walter Stonor, Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, had held high office throughout the reign of Henry VIII. He attended the coronation of Anne Boleyn and the christening of Prince Edward (later Edward VI). Like Abbot Hugh Faringdon he took part in the funeral of Jane Seymour. But in the year that both the Abbot and Sir Adrian Fortescue were martyred, Sir Walter was criticised for being backward in matters of religion. The criticism came from Miles Coverdale, producer of the first complete English translation of the Bible. Coverdale was then based at Newbury, eliminating what he called 'the hindrance of superstition'.

Until this time English churches typically had what was called a rood beam above the boundary between the main public part of the church (the nave) and the chancel where the priest celebrated Mass. This beam supported three statues. In the middle was Christ on the Cross (the rood), with the Virgin Mary on the right, and St John on the left. Usually there was a screen below the beam. Instructions had been issued for the removal of all roods but that at St Mary's, Henley-on-Thames was still in place. Coverdale accused Sir Walter Stonor of being partly responsible. However, it seems that Sir Walter Stonor's record of loyalty to the King saved him from serious trouble.

Early in the reign of Edward VI came the second Chantries Act. It was intended to stamp out the celebration of Masses for the dead, something that Protestants regarded as a superstitious practice.

Chantries were chapels for the celebration of such Masses. Some chantries were associated with almshouses or schools. The almshouses and school at Ewelme are examples of this sort of institution. But there were many private chantries whose purpose was purely spiritual. Those that had not already closed voluntarily now had their revenues seized by the Crown. Consequently 300 acres of beechwood behind Stonor House, which for two centuries had supported the chaplain of the house's ancient chapel, were seized and passed to the dean and canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor.

Next came the smashing, dismantling or defacement of Catholic furnishings: altars, statues, stained glass, murals, holy-water basins (stoups) and any surviving rood screens. Service books were vandalised for their jewels, gold-leaf, and silver hinges and clasps. At Pyrton, a typical parish church a mile north of Watlington, 5s 8d (equivalent to about £54 today) was paid to obliterate the murals in the parish church. A year or so later the altar was smashed out and replaced by a Communion table.

Use of the first edition of the Book of Common Prayer was made compulsory from Whit Sunday 1549. Three days before the deadline the Western Rebellion broke out in Cornwall. In less than a week the uprising had spread to Oxfordshire. The rebels wanted the Latin Mass, prayers for the dead, restoration of the abbeys and priories, rejection of the Book of Common Prayer and removal of the Bible in English from the parish churches, because they thought it encouraged heresy.

German mercenaries brutally suppressed the uprising. More than a dozen executions took place in Oxfordshire at places such as Watlington, Islip and Oxford. The rebellion seems to have had no support from the gentry and little popular support in Berkshire.

Sir Francis Englefield's principal residence was Englefield House (6 miles W. of Reading). The family claimed to have settled at Englefield (which means the settlement of Angles among the Saxons) about 250 years before the Norman Conquest. Like most other people, Francis Englefield had acquiesced in Henry VIII's religious changes. He took the Oath of Supremacy and was given the manor of Tilehurst (now in western Reading) formerly held by Reading Abbey. He was subsequently appointed Sheriff of Oxfordshire and knighted at the coronation of Edward VI. But he became disillusioned with the direction of the English Reformation and joined the household of the Catholic Princess Mary.

In the summer of 1551 Sir Francis and two colleagues were summoned before the Privy Council at Hampton Court and accused of being 'the chief instruments and cause that kept the princess in the old religion'. The three were sent back to Mary with instructions to stop her chaplains from celebrating the Catholic Mass. The Princess refused to accept the instructions and sent Sir Francis and his friends back to the Council to tell them so. The Council merely reiterated the command, at which point the three refused to relay the message to Mary. They were therefore imprisoned in the Tower of London until the following spring.

A little more than a year later, in June 1553, Thomas Vachell of Coley, the Crown commissioner who had helped suppress Reading Abbey, began a new task. He joined with other Berkshire commissioners to begin stripping the county's churches of their valuables. Shortly afterwards, on the 6th July, the young King Edward died. Vachell did not long survive him. However, the stripping of the churches continued until February 1554, four months after the coronation of Edward's Catholic half-sister Mary. During the eight month pillage the Berkshire commissioners sent to London nearly 1500 ounces of silver, and silver and gold plate.

Across the Thames in Oxfordshire Lady Elizabeth Stonor had gone to All Saints, Rotherfield Peppard and reclaimed a great chalice worth £10 (= £1,900 today). Lady Elizabeth was Sir Walter Stonor's wife. Recently widowed she had gone to stay with her brother-in-law John Stonor and his wife Isabel at Blount's Court, Rotherfield Peppard (5 miles SSW of Stonor). Lady Elizabeth was no stranger to this house, having lived there with Sir Walter until they gained possession of Stonor House from Sir Adrian Fortescue. Today the much altered Blount's Court is the headquarters of Johnson Matthey Research.

On the death of Sir Walter Stonor in 1550, Stonor House was inherited by John and Isabel Stonor's son Francis. He was the godson of Sir Francis Knollys, an Oxfordshire commissioner for the seizure of church plate. Knollys, a great opponent of Catholicism, had his principal residence at Greys Court, the fortified manor house of Rotherfield Greys. This is now a National Trust property and is less than two miles across the fields from Blount's Court.

Francis Stonor married Cecily Chamberlain, daughter of Sir Leonard Chamberlain, another Oxfordshire commissioner for the seizure of church plate. Sir Leonard owned Shirburn Castle near Watlington, where Sir Adrian Fortescue lived after moving out of Stonor House. He was Henry VIII's keeper of Woodstock Park, had served as official land confiscator (Escheator) for Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and was involved in large scale trading of former monastic properties. Like Sir Walter Stonor he was twice Sheriff of both counties and sometime Lieutenant of the Tower of London. He was also involved in suppressing the Western Rebellion in Oxfordshire.

On the death of Edward VI in 1553, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen in a bid to stop Mary Tudor succeeding to the throne. Although the pro-Catholic Western Rebellion had attracted little support in Berkshire, the county's militia marched on London in support of Mary. And as soon as Mary was proclaimed Queen the Catholics of Oxford were observed to 'dig out as it were from their graves their vestments, chalices and portasses, and begin Mass with all speed.'

Mary Tudor was the first English queen to rule in her own right. At her coronation early in October 1553 Lady Fortescue, widow of the martyred Sir Adrian Fortescue of Brightwell Baldwin, was one of ten noble ladies who rode immediately behind the Queen's carriage. Sir Adrian's daughter, Lady Wentworth, sat with the Queen in the royal coach.

During the coronation festivities Francis Stonor of Stonor House was knighted and his mother Isabel was granted a pension by the Queen. His father-in-law Sir Leonard Chamberlain of Shirburn Castle was also knighted. By the end of the year he was Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Governor of Guernsey.

The Queen also rewarded Sir Francis Englefield for his loyalty and he became one of most prominent members of the Privy Council. He was appointed keeper of Reading Abbey and given a lease of the manor of Pangbourne. This included Bere Court, the former residence of the martyred abbot Hugh Faringdon, which was only two miles north of Englefield House. Together with lawyer John Yate of Buckland, Sir Francis Englefield was granted the manor of Faringdon. Yate's mother and wife, and Englefield's wife were all members of the Fettiplace family, which had many branches in western Berkshire and southern Oxfordshire. Sir Francis was also granted the manor and park of Fulbroke, Warwickshire and was Member of Parliament for Berkshire throughout Mary's reign.

Queen Mary's religious policy was moderate at first. She 'wished to force no one to go to Mass' but 'meant to see that those who wished to go should be free to do so'. She encouraged the minority of hard core Protestants to go into exile on the Continent. One of those who took this advice was Sir Francis Stonor's godfather, Sir Francis Knollys of Greys Court.

During Mary's reign James Brooks, rector of East Hendred and a 'zealous maintainer of the Catholic Religion', became Bishop of Gloucester. Meanwhile the parish churches of England began re-equipping themselves for Catholic services. The parish church at Pyrton near Watlington bought a chalice, Mass book, paschal and baptismal candles, and an altar stone. But Pyrton, like many other churches, could not afford to re-equip at one go. It was to be several years before all its Catholic furnishings were reinstated.

Formal reunion of the English Church with Rome necessitated the return of Reginald Pole, the exiled Cardinal who had been living on the Continent for the last twenty years. Two of Mary's ambassadors who negotiated for the Cardinal's return were from the Thames Valley, and both were related by marriage to the Stonors. Sir Philip Hoby, a Protestant who lived at Bisham Abbey, was Sir Walter Stonor's son-in-law. Thomas Chamberlain was Sir Leonard Chamberlain's son and therefore Sir Francis Stonor's brother-in-law.

The Cardinal's mother, brother and a cousin had all been executed during Henry VIII's reign. Henry, who according to one estimate was responsible for the deaths of 72,000 people or 2½ per cent of the population, was not easily forgiven by Cardinal Pole or Queen Mary. Sir Francis Englefield claimed to have been present at Windsor when the Queen and Cardinal had the former king's embalmed body disinterred and burned.

The Comptroller of the Cardinal's household was Sir Anthony Fortescue, a son of the martyred Sir Adrian of Brightwell Baldwin. Sir Anthony had married the Cardinal's niece. The Cardinal's gentleman usher was William Perkins of Brimpton.

In December 1554 Parliament revived the heresy laws which had been introduced in the early fifteenth century to combat the Lollards. Two months later the first burnings of Protestants in Mary's reign took place. The Queen and her Chancellor, Bishop Stephen Gardiner, had been accused of being soft on heresy. The Privy Council favoured inflicting the death penalty on those who, over the previous year and a half, had neither left the country, learned to keep their views to themselves nor conformed to Catholicism. Mary agreed to the Council's wishes in the hope that a short, sharp campaign would resolve the situation.

It was a forlorn hope. Mary's campaign saw the burning of some 300 Protestants in less than three years. About a third were clergy and a fifth were women. Most were ordinary people, two thirds of them from London or the Home Counties, where Protestant ideas had taken deepest root. Most were reported to the authorities by their neighbours. Many of the executed were Anabaptists, regarded as arch-heretics by Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists alike.

Edmund Plowden, a Catholic lawyer and associate of Sir Francis Englefield, led thirty-eight MPs in a protest against Parliament's reintroduction of the heresy laws. The Attorney-General commenced proceedings for contempt against the protesters, but Plowden refused to submit and the case was eventually dropped.

Edmund Plowden and Shiplake Court
From the bust in Middle Temple and an old engraving of the house

Edmund Plowden was born at Plowden Hall, Shropshire and had been manager of Sir Francis Englefield's 400 acre estate at Rossall near Shrewsbury. He made his home in the Thames Valley, as did his half-brother William Wollascott. At various times during Mary's reign Edmund Plowden was Member of Parliament for Wallingford, Reading and Wootton Bassett, near Swindon, where Sir Francis Englefield's brother John lived.

There were relatively few burnings in the Thames Valley. However, Oxford was the scene of the execution of the three most notable Protestant martyrs, Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. The Ashmolean Museum at Oxford has a fragment of a stake believed to be that at which the Oxford Protestant martyrs died. The museum also has an iron band said to have been warn by Cranmer. In 1841 a 73 ft. high memorial to the three Protestant martyrs was erected at the south end of St Giles's Street. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, whose grandson Giles Gilbert Scott, a Catholic, designed the recently completed Anglican cathedral at Liverpool.

By 1557 things were going seriously wrong for Mary Tudor. The burning of heretics was proceeding at about a hundred times the rate to which the country had been accustomed for the last century and a half. This was creating a sense of unity among the opponents of Catholicism, even those who were far from united in matters of doctrine. Ironically, it had even got to the point where the bones of a burned Essex Protestant were being carried around the country and revered as relics.

The Queen's marriage to Philip of Spain was also proving unpopular, especially as there had been no offspring. Her supporters knew that, if she died without leaving a son or daughter to succeed her, the crown would pass to Elizabeth who could not be relied upon to keep England Catholic. Bad harvests and the loss of Calais only made matters worse for Mary's faltering administration.

Then came another major setback. Incredible though it may seem, in June 1557 the Pope summoned Cardinal Pole to Rome to face a charge of heresy. The Queen protested but to no avail. She therefore refused to let the Cardinal leave the country.

Exasperated by the difficulties they faced, the Queen and the Cardinal became increasingly ill. The Cardinal was faced by a massive overload of administrative matters. In addition to the formidable task of renewing the Catholic Church in England, there were also routine matters of church law to deal with. One of the last of these was a request from John Eyston of East Hendred for a dispensation to marry a relative, Joan Clifford. This the Cardinal granted on 8 November 1558.

Nine days later, at St James's Palace, London, just before dawn, Mary Tudor died whilst at Mass. The news was relayed across the Thames to Cardinal Pole at Lambeth Palace. The Queen's death was too much for him and he passed away early that evening. His gentleman usher, William Perkins of Brimpton, died a few days later, perhaps of the fever that killed so many that year.

Stonor, Fortescue, Chamberlain, Vachell, Englefield, Yate, Perkins, Plowden, Wollascott, Eyston; members of all these families were to remain loyal to the form of Christianity re-established under Mary Tudor.

Introduction

Map 1 (1000 x 827 pixels) Although not as easy to read as the map below, this version is quick loading and gives a good appreciation of the area covered.

Map 2 (2058 x 1701 pixels) Four times the size, and therefore much clearer, this map will open in a separate window making it easier to correlate with the text. You will need to use your vertical and horizontal scroll bars.

How Christianity Came to the Thames Valley (3rd-7th cent.)

Lollard Influence (1382 onwards)

The Thames Highway (16th-19th cent.)

The Early Catholic Martyrs (1534-1539)

The Religious Changes (1534-1558)

The Elizabethan Settlement (1558-70)

The First Missionaries (1570-1581)

The Press at Stonor (1581)

The Mission Becomes Established (1582-1588)

Thomas Belson (1583-1589)

Elizabeth's Later Years (1589-1603)

The Gunpowder Plot (1604-1606)

The Jacobean Period (1606-1625)

Charles I (1625-1642)

The Civil War (1642-1646)

The Commonwealth (1646-1660)

The Restoration (1660-1685)

The End of a Dream (1685-1700)

When Alexander Pope Lived in Berkshire (1700-1715)

Twixt Fifteen and Forty-Five (1715-1745)

Low Ebb (1745-1770)

A Little Relief (1770-1792)

The French Exiled Clergy (1790-1808)

Emancipation (1808-1829)

Appendices:

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.