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The Origins of Divinity Lectureships at the Inns of Court, 1569–1585

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

R. M. Fisher
R. M. Fisher
Affiliation:
Lecturer in British History, University of Queensland, Australia
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Extract

Following the Reformation, the Inns of Court established a tradition of preaching inferior to none. The wealth and influence of-these centres of legal and genteel education attracted such noted preachers and divines as Richard Alvey, Thomas Gataker Jr., John Donne, Richard Sibbes and John Preston. In an age of religious disputation, their activities could easily provoke controversy. At the Temple in 1585 to 1586 the celebrated clash took place between Richard Hooker and Walter Travers. In subsequent years the puritan proclivities of William Crashawe and the Laudian pretensions of Paul Micklethwaite produced similar debate. Considering the prominence of their office, the parallel expansion of London preacherships and the attention given to events after 1585, the earlier development of divinity lectureships at the Inns of Court deserves particular treatment.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , April 1978 , pp. 145 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

1 See the table of preachers in Prest, Wilfrid R., The Inns of Court under Elizabeth I and the Early Stuarts, 1) 90–1640, London 1972, 189Google Scholar. On preacherships at the Inns and in London generally, see Seaver, Paul S., The Puritan Lectureships, 1560–1663, Stanford 1970Google Scholar.

2 Knox, Samuel J., Walter Travers: Paragon of English Puritanism, London 1962, 70–8Google Scholar, Bauckham, Richard, ‘Hooker, Travers and the Church of Rome in the 1580s’ in this Journal, 29 (1978), 37–50Google Scholar.

3 Prest, op. cit., 197–802; Fisher, R. M., ‘The Predicament of William Crashawe, Preacher at the Temple, 1605–1613’;, in this Journal, xxv (1974), 267–76Google Scholar.

4 Gray's Inn Pension Book i, fol. Iv (also calendared in The Pension Book of Gray's Inn: i, 1569–1669, ed. Fletcher, Reginald J., London 1901, 3Google Scholar). Cl. Visitation Articles and Injunctions of the Period of the Reformation, ed. Frere, Walter H. and Kennedy, William P. M., London 1910, iii. 16Google Scholar. The dean of the chapel at Gray's and Lincoln's Inns was elected from the Bench to supervise divine service.

5 GIPB i, fols. 41 Av, 65V (i. 485–6).

6 GIPBi, fols. Iv (i. 3),52V.

7 Gataker, Thomas Jr., A Discours apologetical…, London 1654, 35Google Scholar.

8 GIPB i, fols. 156, 160v (i. 50, 54), 165v, the audited accounts for 1581–4 in fols. 170–1, 323–4 and then Gray's Inn Ledger Book, fols. 7v, 15v 17v f. The total income of Crook, who remained in office until 1598, is incorrect in Paul S. Seaver, op. cit., 151.

9 Lincoln's Inn Black Book v, fol. 141 (also calendared in The Records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn: The Black Books, ed. Baildon, W. Paley, London 1897–8, i, 379Google Scholar).

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11 British Library, Lansdowne MS. 106, fol. 93; LIBB v, fols. 320v, 334v, 357v, 386v and succeeding treasurers' accounts, 476, 482v (i. 421, 424, 432, ii. 27, 28).

12 Gataker, op. cit., 35. Charke continued in office until 1592.

13 Inner Temple, Pecyt MS. 538/47, fol. 342.

14 See my unpublished thesis, ‘The Inns of Court and die Reformation, 1530–1580’ (Cambridge Ph.D. 1974) 91–2, 98–103Google Scholar.

14 Gataker, op. cit., 35.

16 Inner Temple Act Book, i, fol. 186 (also in A Calendar of Inner Temple Records, ed. Inderwick, F. A., London 1896–8, i. 261Google Scholar); Middle Temple Minute Book, ii, fols. 98v, 129v, 131v, 143, 185 (also calendared in Minutes of Parliament of the Middle Temple, ed. Martin, Charles Trice, London 1904–5Google Scholar, ii. 182, 221, 224, 239, 287). The total income is incorrect in McFadden, William, ‘The Life and Works of Antonio del Corro, 1527–1591', (Ph.D. thesis, Queen's University, 1953), 398Google Scholar, and in Hauben, Paul J., Three Spanish Heretics and the Reformation, Geneva 1967, 57Google Scholar. Corro remained in office until 1578.

17 Their careers are fully documented in my thesis, 243–5 and appendix 4, except for those who have not been identified with any certainty: Henry Ward, Mr. Style, Mr. Redman (possibly Lionel Redman, vicar of Bedfont), and Mr. Argall (probably John Argall, the perpetual curate of St. Katherine's).

18 Seaver, op. tit., 148–51.

19 Gray's Inn: benchers 3/4, ancients 2/-, other barristers 1/8, gentlemen 1/4 per term. Inner Temple: benchers, barristers, practisers and attorneys 1/-, other gentlemen 6d. per term. Lincoln's Inn: 5/- each per annum.

20 Prest, op. cit., 191.

21 See Parmiter, Geoffrey de C., ‘Elizabethan Popish Recusancy in the Inns of Court’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Special Supplement No. 11 (1976)Google Scholar, and R. M. Fisher, ‘Privy Council Coercion and Religious Conformity at the Inns of Court, 1569–1584', Recusant History (forthcoming), from which succeeding details are derived.

22 Visitation Articles and Injunctions, iii. 304.

23 GIPB i, fol. 25 (i. 12).

24 LIBB v, fols. 320v, 334” (i. 421, 424). See the index of my thesis for biographical documentation of members.

25 BL, Lansdowne MS. 106, fol. 93. Though this copy is not addressed, signed or dated, its context and the clause ‘as we do still accompt you one of us’ makes Hickes the recipient.

26 Strype, John, Annals of the Reformation, Oxford 1824, iii. i. 78–80Google Scholar; Porter, Harry C., Reformation and Reaction in Tudor Cambridge, Cambridge 1958, 139, 141, 179–80Google Scholar.

27 Acts of the Privy Council of England, ed. Dasent, John Roche, London 1890–1964 (cited hereafter as APC), xiii. 310Google Scholar; BL, Lansdowne MS. 106, fol. 94 (copy). This evidence conflicts with Seaver's view that the council forced Aylmer to accept Charke (217).

28 GIPBi, fol. 52v (i. 52).

29 GIPB i, fol. 149v (i. 48–9), copy.

30 Antonio del Corro, Theological dialogue, London 1575, A.i.

31 McFadden, op. cit., chaps. 19–25; Hauben, op. cit., 35–36.

32 Corro, op. cit., i. iv-vii; Hauben, op. cit., 62–4.

33 ITAB i, fols. 161v–3v, 200 (i. 215–9, 286–7). See also McFadden, op. cit., 406; Axton, Marie, ‘Robert Dudley and the Inner Temple revels', Historical Journal, xiii (1970), 365–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 See McFadden, op. cit., 315–6, 337, 359, 367–8, 383, 388–9, 406, 434–40, ch. 29, 493–4, 506–8.

35 According to McFadden, op. cit., 405, Corro's appointment was probably the outcome of some hypothetical discussions between the benchers and Parker; Prest, op. cit., 193, maintains that it was an official ‘experiment’ to extirpate Catholicism; Hauben, op. cit., 57, 61, 76, n.80, assumes that ‘Sandys and Leicester set up Corro's “election” with the benchers’ to combat this tendency.

36 See Fisher, Thesis, 215–20.

37 McFadden, op. cit., chaps. 29–32; Hauben, 59–66.

38 ITAB i, fols. 202, 214 (i. 289, 293); MTMB ii, fol. 129 (i. 221).

39 MTMBii, fol. 143 (i. 239).

40 ITAB i, fol. 214v (i. 311).

41 I TAB i, fol. 215(1.312).

42 Inner Temple, Miscellaneous MS. 30, no. 5. Cf. Travers's later supplication to the privy council in The Works of Richard Hooker, ed. Keble, John, 7th ed. revised Church, R. W. and Paget, F., Oxford 1888, iii. 556Google Scholar, which also refers to two letters from Aylmer.

43 Knox, op. cit., 55, 57, 64, 67, 79–80; Read, Conyers, Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth, London repr. 1965, ii. 298Google Scholar.

44 ITAB i, fols. 225v, 226v (i. 331, 333).

45 ITABi, fol. 215 (i. 312).

46 Gataker, op. cit., 33–5.

47 Prest, op. cit., 192–3; Read, op. cit., 294–6; Seaver, op. cit., 121–3.

48 BL, Lansdowne MS. 213, fol. 2.

49 APC, xiii. 307.

50 APC, xiii. 310.

51 IT, Misc. MS. 30, no. 12, and Travers's subsequent troubles in Knox, op. cit., chaps. 4–5, and Prest, op. cit., 193–4.

52 See Seaver, op. cit., 37, 123–32.

53 See Fisher, R. M., “Thomas Cromwell, Humanism and Educational Reform, 1530–1540”, Bulletin ofthe Institute ofHistorical Research, 50 (1977), 151–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 See Fisher, R. M., ‘Reform, Repression and Unrest at the Inns of Court, 1518–1558’, Historical Journal, xx (1977), 783–802CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 PRO, SP12/60, fol. 203.

56 BL, Lansdowne MS. 16, fol. 191v.

57 BL, Harleian (Foxian) MS. 101, fols. 6–63.

58 PRO, will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 45 Pyckering (1575).

59 PRO, PCC 9 Daughtrey (1577); cf. Thomas Meade, 52 Brudenell (1585).

60 Diary of John Manningham, of the Middle Temple … 1602–1603, ed. Bruce, John, Camden Society xcix, 1868Google Scholar.

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62 Ibid., fols. 3v–106.

63 Ibid., 9v, 55–76,106–21.

64 Antonio del Corro, Sapientissimi regis Salomonis concio in latinum linguam ab A. Corrano versa, London 1579; Solomon's sermon of mans chief felicite with a paraphrase gathered out of the lectures of A. Corranus, trans. Thomas Pye, Oxford 1586, which included the original dedication; STC, nos. 2762–3.

65 Ibid., A. i, 14–110.

66 Corro, Solomon's Sermon, 112–24.

67 Ibid., 112, 126–201.

68 Ibid., 74–80.

69 Ibid., 113, 131–4, 144–69. 195–219.

70 Corro, Theological Dialogue, B. ii.

71 Ibid., B. viii; Dedication of Salomonu concio, A. 2–7, to Thomas Bromley.

72 Corro, Theological Dialogue, fols. 152–4.

73 Ibid., fol. 12.

74 IT, Petyt MS. 538/47, fol. 23; Correspondence of Matthew Parker, ed. Bruce, John and Perowne, Thomas, Cambridge 1853, 476Google Scholar. According to Strype, John, The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker, Oxford 1821, ii. 402–3Google Scholar, Parker believed Corro's doctrine to be quite sound.

75 The Zurich Letters, 1558–1602, ed. Robinson, Hastings, Cambridge 1845, 261–2Google Scholar.

76 Corro, Theological Dialogue, B. iv. The character and development of his theology have been fully examined in McFadden's thesis.

77 Laurence Chaderton, An excellent and godly sermon … preached at Paules Crosse the xxvi daye of October 1578, London 1578?, C. viii, D. iii, G. iii, and Porter, op. cit., 376–8; Travers's ‘Supplication’ in Hooker, op. cit., iii. 558–60, and Knox, op. cit., 74–5; Blague, Thomas, A sermon preached at the Charterhouse before the Kings Maiestie on Tuesday the tenth of May, 1603, London 1603, B. 8Google Scholar; William Charke, A Replie to a Censure written against the two answeres to a Jesuites seditious Pamphlet, London 1581, A. iii; Thomas White, A sermon preached at Paules Cross on Sunday the ninth of December 1576, London 1578, 61–2 and A godlie sermon preached the xxj day of June 1586 … at the buriall of … Sir Henry Sidney, London 1586, C. 2V.

78 E.g. Robert Crowley, A deliberate answere made to a rash offer which a popish catholique made to a learned protestant, London 1588, A. 2; White, Sermon (1576), 62.

79 Henry Bedell, A Sermon exhorting to pitie the poore. Preached the xv of November. Anno 1571 at Christes Churche London, London 1573, A. iiiv; Chaderton, Sermon (1578), B. ii, vii, C. vii; William Charke, An Answere to a seditioits pamphlet lately cast abroade by a Jesuite, London 1580, A. Iv and Reply, A. iii; Travers's ‘Supplication', in Hooker, op. cit., iii. 560–1; White, Sermon (1576), A. iii, 3, and Sermon (1586), passim.

80 Richard Porder, A sermon of gods fearfull threatnings for idolatrye, London 1570, omitted by Maclure, Millar, The Paul's Cross Sermons, 1534–1642, Toronto 1958Google Scholar, as it was preached inside the Cathedral because of rain.

81 White, Sermon (1576), 46. See Blench, J. W., Preaching in England in the late Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Oxford 1964, 306–7Google Scholar, and Maclure, op. cit., 210.

82 Chaderton, Sermon (1578), F. i, iiiv; Maclure, op. cit., 211.

83 Quoted in Collinson, Patrick, The Elizabethan Puritan Movement, London 1967, 218Google Scholar.

84 White, Sermon (1576), 30–42, 50–3.

85 Chaderton, Sermon (1578), C. ii, iii, vii and A Fruitfull Sermon on the 3.4.5.6.7 and 8 verses of the 12. Chapiter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, London 1584, 80–3; Robert Crowley, The opening of the wordes of the Prophet Joell in the second and third Chapters rehersed by Christ … concerning the Signes of the last day, London 1567; Thomas White, A sermon preached at Paules Cross, the 17 of November An. 1589, London 1589, 34–5.

86 Chaderton, Sfrmon( 1584), 83.

87 Blague, Sermon, passim.

88 Crowley, Deliberate Answers, fols. 85–6.

89 Porder, Sermon, 16.

90 White, Sermon (1586), C. 2v–4v.

91 Chaderton, Sermon (1578).

92 Corro, Theological Dialogue, Ms. 139–55.

93 Blague, Sermon, A. 7”.

94 In Bedell, Sermon. Cf. Travers, who objected to Hooker's practice of praying for the bishops, in Hooker's answer toTravers's supplication, Works, iii. 572.

95 William Ashbold to [Henry Howard], earl of Northampton, n.d. [1608–14], B L. Cotton MS. Titus C. vi, fol. 192.

96 Magdalene College, Cambridge, Pepys MS. 2503, fol. 701; Robert Crowley, A briefe discourse concerning the outwarde apparell of the popishe church, London 1506; Collinson, op. cit., 48–9, 74–8; Seaver, op. cit., 206–7.

97 White, Sermon (1576), 30, 36–41; Sermon (1589), 45.

98 Chaderton, Sermonii578), C. iii, A. iii; Collinson, op. cit., passim.

99 Tracts Ascribed to Richard Bancroft, ed. Peel, Albert, Cambridge 1953, 57Google Scholar.

100 Chaderton, Sermon (1578), c. iiii; Sermon (1584.).

101 PRO, SP12/93, ‘The distressed state of the Church of England by division', n.d. [1580s], fol. 6sv.

102 Hooker, op. cit., iii. 572–5; Knox, op. cit., 58–60.

105 Corro, Theological Dialogue, 74–80.

104 Porder, Sermon, 13–33; prayer in Bedell, Sermon; Blague, Sermon, A. 8v; Robert Crowley, A sermon made in the Chapel at the Gylde Halle in London, the xxix day of September 1574, London 1575, C. i; White, Sermon (1576), 41.

105 PRO, SP12/133, no. 45; IT, Petyt MS. 538/47, fol. 18: Charke, op. cit.; Walter Travers, An Answere to a supplicatorie epistle of G.T. for the pretended catholiques, London 1583.

106 Hooker, op. cit., iii. 572–5; LIBB v, fols. 264, 278, 349 (i. 412, 414–6, 430–1); GIPB i, fols. 217v–2 (i. 68–70).

107 Chaderton, Sermon (1578), A. iii.