The Transformative Power of Literacy

Transcription

1 The Transformative Power of Literacy Seminal Readings during the English Reformation St John s Adult Education February 15, 23 & March 1 Nancy Elkington

2 David said of the Apostles and their preaching, "the sound of them went out into each land, and the words of them went out into the ends of the world." John Purvey s Prologue to the English Bible Translated by John Wycliffe and John Purvey 1390s

3 Week 1: Literacy ca Setting the Scene On Being Christian John Wycliffe Listeners and Readers Teaching and Learning Praying and Prayers Scribal Culture University Learning Vernacular Bible Movements

4 Week 2: Transformations Transformative Technologies Paper, Printing, Moveable Type, Ink Spread of the combined technologies Transforming England Wycliffe and Caxton Impact of Vernacular Bibles on Literacy What Were They Reading? Incunable Bestsellers

5 Week 3: English Reformation 16 th C Henry VII First Tudor; he and his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort were both patrons of William Caxton Henry VIII Anne Boleyn & Thomas Cromwell (both Protestants, both died as heretics), The Dissolution, the first royally authorized vernacular bible, Archbishop Cranmer Edward VI Cranmer & Book of Common Prayer 1549 Mary I Latin mass, bibles, lots of heretics burnt-at-stakes Elizabeth I Elizabethan Settlement, Book of Common Prayer 1559 revision, disliked long sermons & raised hosts, religious toleration, a middle way

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7 Week 1: Literacy ca Setting the Scene On Being Christian John Wycliffe Listeners and Readers Teaching and Learning Praying and Prayers Scribal Culture University Learning Vernacular Bible Movements

8 Setting the Scene: Great Western Schism: Gregory XI s et al corrupt papacy in Avignon; Urban VI stays in Rome, Clement VII (Anti-Pope) moves to Avignon Crop Failures & Famine: throughout 14 th century: climate change led to devastating crop failures and widespread famine across Europe , 1321, 1351 & %-25% death rate The Hundred Years War: France and England Black Death: lost as much as 50% of population of Europe within two years; kept returning Peasant s Revolt (England): fewer workers (after Famine and Plague), crushing payments to church, higher taxation by government

9 Illiterate Workers Printers & Publishers Literate Gentry & Above Semi- Literate Clergy

10 On Being a Christian Masses of masses - regular attendance required (but remember, no pews until mid-16 th century) The sacraments: baptism, the Eucharist, confirmation, reconciliation, marriage, ordination and unction Most could recite the ten commandments, Paternoster, Apostle s Creed in Latin, many did so by sound & rote Learned some bible stories: cathedral and church schools, church wall paintings, stained glass windows, sacred drama, mystery plays, itinerant preachers Most ordinary folks never saw a bible their entire lives

11 John Wycliffe ( ) English activist, reformer, proto-protestant Eucharist not transubstantiation Separation of Church and State Secularization of Church possessions Anti-Simony Believed bible should be studied Translated bible from Latin Vulgate to Middle English available as manuscript to be copied Died naturally then was dug up 43 years later and burned for heresy

12 Cultural Norms: Listeners and Readers Listening Reading privately Reading aloud Writing

13 15 th Century Teaching and Learning Children: rote learning Boys: primers, readers, grammars, catechisms, classical authors, church fathers, letterwriting manuals Girls: religious fare CREDO in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et terrae. Et in Iesum PanemChristum, nostrum Filium eius unicum, Dominum quotidianum nostrum, da nobis qui hodie, et dimitte nobis conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, debita nostra sicut et nos natus ex Maria dimittimus Virgine, passus debitoribus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit in tentationem, ad inferos, sedtertia libera die resurrexit a nos mortuis, a malo. ascendit Amen. ad caelos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis, inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem, remissionem Donatus's Latin Grammar (B.M. IB,66) A fragment from an edition, printed by an unidentified printer at Mainz, about 1455, in an earlier state of peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem, the 36-line Bible type. The British Museum vitam aeternam. Amen. PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. nostris. Et ne nos inducas

14 For the Literate: Prayers and Devotionals Books of Hours Manuscript on paper Manuscript on vellum Printed on paper Printed on vellum Illumination Gilding Rubrics

15 For the Illiterate: Few Opportunities to Grasp Religion Stained glass windows Walls Statues Tombs Memorials Miracle plays

16 Ever-Present Church Baptism Confirmation Confession Teach latin Give alms Require labor Offer counsel Sell pardons Pray, preside

17 Scribal Culture Monastic scribes: copying any text, decorating too, primarily for their monastic library; also commissioned work (including royalty) Lay (or clergy) Clerks: letters, contracts, inventories, wills, testimony, decrees, et al Only the well trained or highly cultured could write as well as read

18 Attend lectures Listen Discuss Remember Read books Beg Borrow Steal Learn languages Euro Languages Greek Arabic & Hebrew University Learning

19 Vulgate Latin or Vernacular Englishmen learn Christ's law best in English. Moses heard God's law in his own tongue; so did Christ's apostles. - John Wycliffe "By this translation, the Scriptures have become vulgar, and they are more available to lay, and even to women who can read, than they were to learned scholars, who have a high intelligence. So the pearl of the gospel is scattered and trodden underfoot by swine. - Papal decree

20 Latin & English Liturgy for Clergy A breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, Psalms, readings and notations for everyday use by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office. Medieval breviary, manuscript on vellum, 15th century. Text in Latin and Middle English. Huntington Library.

21 Vernacular Bible Movement: Stage 1 Latin Vulgate St Jerome 5 th C Syriac Bible of Paris 6 th or 7 th C Arabic Old Testament 10 th C Wessex Gospels 11 th C Bible Historiale 13 th C Wycliff Bible 14 th C Wycliff Bible Bible Historiale Arabic Bible Wessex Gospels St Jerome Syriac Bible (Middle English) (French) (Old English)

22 Vernacular Bible Movement: Stage 2 Wenceslas Bible German Mentelin Bible German 1466 Delft Bible Dutch 1477 Luther Bible German Christian II Bible Danish 1524 The printing press played a key role in the emancipation of the vernacular Bible in the late Middle Ages, creating a juggernaut that became the Reformation.

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24 The Transformative Power of Literacy Seminal Readings during the English Reformation St John s Adult Education February 15, 23 & March 1 Nancy Elkington

25 Renaissance/Early Modern Who s Who ART Donatello ( ) Da Vinci ( ) Michelangelo ( ) Raphael ( ) Titian ( ) MUSIC Tallis ( ) Palestrina ( ) Byrd ( ) Dowland ( ) Gibbons ( ) OTHER KEY PLAYERS Caxton ( ) de Worde (14??-1534) More ( ) Cromwell ( ) Tynedale ( ) SCIENCE Copernicus ( ) Mercator ( ) Vesalius ( ) Galileo ( ) Kepler ( ) THEOLOGIANS Savonarola ( ) Erasmus ( ) Luther ( ) Cranmer ( ) Calvin ( )

26 Week 2: Transformations Transformative Technologies Paper, Printing, Moveable Type, Ink Spread of the combined technologies Transforming Europe Wycliffe and Caxton Impact of Vernacular Bibles on Literacy What Were They Reading? Incunable Bestsellers

27 Transformative Technologies Paper Printing press Movable type Ink All of which combined to facilitate the rapid development of mass production processes

28 The Huntington Library s 1455 Gutenberg Bible Printed on Vellum

29 The Spread of Printing Interactive timeline:

30 Canterbury Tales 1478 Biblia Pauperum 1460 Phisicorum with Marginalia 1485

31 First 50 Years of Printing in Europe

32 Regional Incunabula

33 Languages of Incunabula

34 Evolving Role(s) of Printers Investment required: printing press, paper (sourcing), ink, workshop premises, bookbinders, trained workers Sponsorship sought, sometimes freely offered Source material to print? Existing bestsellers in manuscript form Vernacular translations Commissioned work from royal/noble sponsors Invite authors to create new works As printers began contracting out the printing functions, they looked more and more like publishers

35 William Caxton ( ) First book printed in English (Bruges) 1473: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye First book printed in England (Westminster) 1476: Canterbury Tales Patrons: Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII, Earl of Oxford, among others Wrote detailed prefaces, giving context for most publications Used 10 different typefaces while printing 105 titles in Bruges and Westminster; translated 26 titles.

36 Martin Luther ( ) Monk, priest, teacher, theologian, exile, reformer, hymn-writer, translator, husband, anti-semite 95 theses -- all doctrines and dogma of the Church not found in Scripture should be discarded (sola scriptura) translated the NT and in 1534 the OT into German Worked from Erasmus 1516 Latin-Greek translation Went out among townspeople to listen to them speak so could translate into commonly understood words

37 Luther s Post Went Viral Oct 31, 1517 Obscure theologian and minister is fed up and nailed 95 objections to the Church on the door to Wittenberg Dec 1517 copies had been sent to Leipzig, Nuremberg and Basel Translations from Latin to German then to other vernacular languages Within 4 weeks all of Christendom had read his protestations

38 William Tyndale ( ) Priest, scholar, reformer, exile, heretic Inspired by Martin Luther & Erasmus Printed English translation of the New Testament 1525 in Cologne Old Testament half completed Betrayed and arrested (Thomas More) Staked, strangled, revived, burned Tyndale's lovely English absorbed into the King James Bible 1611 In the beginning God created heaven and earth * lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil * knock and it shall be opened unto you * seek and you shall find * ask and it shall be given you * judge not that you not be judged * the word of God which liveth and lasteth forever * let there be light * the powers that be * my brother's keeper * the salt of the earth * a law unto themselves * filthy lucre * it came to pass * gave up the ghost * signs of the times * the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak * love thy neighbor as thyself

39 The First Mss English Bible 1395 John Wycliffe (et al) translated from the Latin Vulgate into Middle English Its huge popularity challenged the Church-held belief that only priests could interpret the bible. Severe censorship laws (1408) upheld by both Church & State: vernacular translations banned. British Library Shelfmark: Add MS f.105r

40 The First Printed English Bible 130 Years Later William Tyndale s 1525 NT translation from the Greek & Latin. Printed in Worms, Smuggled into England in bales of cloth many were seized & burned.... Then those found owning copies were also seized and burned. Gospel of John (beginning) British Library C.188.a.17 Copyright The British Library Board

41 Impacts on Language English: Wycliffe s and then Tyndale s Bibles brought the beginnings of standardization in word construction, choices as to which (regional) word should predominate over other (regional) selections, spelling, and the realization that English when written to be read and spoken aloud could be a beautiful form of expression German: similar to English - Luther s Bible, based often on spoken German, brought desperately needed standardization and was a significant step toward the modernization of the German language

42 What were the Clergy Reading? Liturgical: breviaries, missals, psalters, bibles, epistles and gospels Pastoral: handbooks, manuals of confession, penitentials, collections of sermons, manipulas curatorum and stella sacerdotum

43 What were the Laity Reading? Schoolbooks Books of Hours Vernacular Bibles Sermons Classical authors Romances Household manuals Chronicles, histories, broadsides, etc Legal & medical

44 Incunable Bestsellers ( ) 1. Romanum Breviarium (11 th C Latin daily hours & prayers) 2. Books of Hours (many mix of Latin and vernacular) 3. The Doctrinale Puerorum (a 12 th C Latin grammar) 4. Missals (various, predominantly Latin) 5. Ars Minor (a 4 th C Latin grammar by Donatus) 6. Psalters (various, Latin for reading and choral uses) 7. Distich de Cato (3 rd C Latin textbook proverbs, wisdom & morality) 8. Bibles (various, Latin and vernacular)

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46 The Transformative Power of Literacy Seminal Readings during the English Reformation St John s Adult Education February 15, 23 & March 1 Nancy Elkington

47 Week 1: Literacy ca Setting the Scene On Being Christian John Wycliffe Listeners and Readers Teaching and Learning Praying and Prayers Scribal Culture University Learning Vernacular Bible Movements

48 Week 2: Transformations Transformative Technologies Paper, Printing, Moveable Type, Ink Spread of the combined technologies Transforming England Wycliffe and Caxton Impact of Vernacular Bibles on Literacy What Were They Reading? Incunable Bestsellers

49 Week 3: English Reformation 16 th C Henry VII First Tudor; he and his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort were both patrons of William Caxton Henry VIII Anne Boleyn & Thomas Cromwell (both Protestants, both died as heretics), The Dissolution, the first royally authorized vernacular bible, Archbishop Cranmer Edward VI Cranmer & Book of Common Prayer 1549 Mary I Latin mass, bibles, lots of heretics burnt-at-stakes Elizabeth I Elizabethan Settlement, Book of Common Prayer 1559 revision, disliked long sermons & raised hosts, attempted religious toleration, sought a middle way

50 England: 15 th to 16 th C Transitions From civil war to peace to religious wars Manuscript to print overlapping modalities One-at-a-time production to mass printing Cost of a book comes within reach Reform: moving from conservatives to radicals Increasingly literate society New form of schooling: grammar school Language, syntax, spelling moving toward fixity Rise of a middle class ( the middling sort )

51 The first half of the 16 th century was all about literacy, reform & bibles Including bibles as both conduits and as destinations

52 Explosion of (Mostly) English Bibles Wessex Gospels (ca 11 th C - Old English) Wycliff Bible (late 14 th C - Middle English) Early Modern English The Tyndale Bible (1525) The Coverdale Bible (1535) The Matthew Bible (1537) Taverner s Bible (1539) The Great Bible/King s Bible (1539) The Geneva Bible (1557/60) The Bishops Bible (1568/72) [The Douay-Rheims Bible (Catholic-Latin) (1582/1610)]

53 Tudor Catholics and/or Reformers Henry VIII s Defense of the Seven Sacraments (Anti-Luther, Pro-Pope) Thomas Cromwell & Thomas Cranmer Act of Supremacy 1534 Dissolution of the Monasteries Henry VIII s Great Bible 1539 Edward VI s Book of Common Prayer 1549/52 Mary I Repeals Act of Supremacy 1554 Elizabeth Reinstates Act of Supremacy 1559 and issues slightly revised Book of Common Prayer

54 War of Words: Martin Luther Babylonian Captivity of the Church Henry VIII Assertio Septem Sacramentorum Martin Luther Contra Henricum Regem Angliae Thomas More Responsio ad Lutherum More A Dialogue Concerning Heresies More The Supplication of Souls More Confutation of Tynedale s Answer More An Answer to a Poisoned Book

55 Thomas Cromwell ( ) Henry VIII s chief minister Architect of Henry s divorce Architect of the Dissolution of the Monasteries Persuades (with Cromwell) Henry against the wishes of Thomas More to allow English bibles to enter the kingdom In 1540 Henry accuses him of treason, heresy and corruption execution by beheading

56 Thomas Cranmer ( ) 1530 worked on Henry s papal dispensation named Archbishop of Canterbury With Thomas Cromwell, supported vernacular bibles Vision of a unified English congregation worshipping in their own language Conceived and compiled the Book of Common Prayer Under Mary I declared a heretic and burned at the stake

57 Henry VIII s 1534 Act of Supremacy Henry declares himself Supreme Head of the Church in England Expects Parliament to grant divorce over clergy wishes Now treason to support Pope over King (death) King covets wealth of the religious bodies in England

58 Henry VIII s copy of the 1538 Great Bible He commanded that a copy should be in every church in some convenient place so that anyone could read it.

59 Henry VIII: Head of Church & State Giving Bibles to the People Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cromwell

60 Five years later, in 1543, Henry VIII s Parliament passed an Act which banned artisans, husbandmen, labourers, servants and almost all women from reading or discussing the Bible Act for the Advancement of True Religion

61 The King is Dead, Long Live the King Henry VIII Edward VI

62 Book of Common Prayer: Engine of Change Archbishop Cranmer s 1549 BCP - embodiment of a religious revolution in doctrine, liturgy, personal piety and communal worship Thrust on congregations unfamiliar with the reforms underway causing shock & even riots Yet it also preserved some beloved parts of the traditional Latin rites Its language and approach undergirded Anglicanism and came to embody Englishness

63 The Book of Common Prayer Reforms (Edward VI) More Radical Reforms (Edward VI) Less Radical Reforms (Elizabeth)

64 Enter Mary I ( ) Repealed Henry s Act of Supremacy, returning England to the Pope Act to revalidate her mother s marriage Act to repeal all of Edward s Protestantleaning laws Mary marries Phillip II of Spain 1554 Burns over 300 heretics including Cranmer and Bishops Latimer and Ridley

65 Reading, Speaking, Listening The Bible & the BCP were the basis of instruction both spiritual and corporal: texts as well as tools Even now, the language of the BCP profoundly influences the lives of English speakers everywhere... to love, comfort, honor and keep... in sickness and in health, forsaking all others... as long as you both shall live? In the midst of life we are in death... Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust

66 Elizabethan Religious Settlement The Forty-Two Articles of Religion 1553 Finally honed to thirty-nine in 1571 Act of Supremacy 1558 Redefined heresy Supreme Governor of Church of England Swear allegiance via Oath of Supremacy Act of Uniformity 1559 Order of prayer set: Book of Common Prayer Every person must go to church at least weekly

67 The Thirty-Nine Articles Ten Articles 1536 (Foxe helped by Cranmer and Ridley) Clearly a shift toward Luther-inspired reform Only three sacraments: baptism, penance and the Eucharist Thirteen Articles 1538 (Henry VIII in response to German Princes) Six Articles 1539 (Henry VIII) returns to orthodoxy 42 Articles 1553 (Edward VI and Cranmer) The Thirty-Nine Articles (Elizabeth) Articles 1 8 The Catholic Faith Articles 9 18 Personal Religion Articles Corporate Religion Articles Miscellaneous

68 Two of Elizabeth s Many Challenges Catholics wanting a return of a church with the Pope at the head secret worship Radical Protestants wanting an even more extreme, reformed church Puritans Ministers should face the congregation No making the sign of cross at baptism Kneeling unnecessary for aged and sick Ministers should wear plain clothing Elizabeth continued trying to steer a middle way

69 What They Were Reading Travel narratives & atlases Romances Science books How-to manuals Poetry & plays Statements of belief Broadside ballads, political tracts

70 1603 First Stuart King: James I and VI Committed Protestant Hampton Court Conference 1604 Convened 47 bible & language scholars and commissioned a new bible translation based on all available sources (Greek, Hebrew, Latin) Translations were based on the 1572 Bishop s Bible as well as on the Tyndale and Wycliffe

71 The beloved 1611 King James Authorized Version the most popular of all English translations to date.

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73 Books that Changed the World (pt 1) Commentary on True and False Religion (The Third Man of the Reformation (German 1525) Huldrych Zwingli Obedience of a Christian Man (English 1528) Wm Tynedale Augsburg Confession Statement of Belief (Latin and German ) Martin Luther

74 Books that Changed the World (pt 2) Christia Religionis Institutio (Institutes of the Christian Religion) (Latin 1536) Jean Calvin Book of Common Prayer (First edition - Edward VI) (English 1549) Thomas Cranmer First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women (English 1558) John Knox

75 Bibles that Changed the World (pt 1) New Testament (From the Vulgate into Middle English 1382) John Wycliff Novum Instrumentum (From Latin & Greek into Latin and Greek 1516) Desiderius Erasmus Holy Bible (From Hebrew & Greek Into English ) William Tynedale

76 Bibles that Changed the World (pt 2) The Coverdale Bible (from Tynedale & Vulgate) English 1535) Myles Coverdale The Great Bible (Cromwell s too) (From various Eng & Ger into English 1539) Myles Coverdale The Geneva Bible (Protestant language) (All the biggies involved. First w/apparatus) English 1560) Coverdale & William Whittington

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78 Religions in Europe in 1560 Up to 1517: only Catholic & Islam

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