If you think the difficulties that we experience in the Anglican Church today are bad, go to the Lectionary and read James Kiefer's account of the "Surplice Wars". Of course, the wars were about much more than surplices. William Laud was the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Charles I, a violent period in English history. In the end, he was executed in the Tower, as Kiefer says, "...not because there was any evidence of his guilt, but because the House of Commons was determined that he should die."
Laud's prayer before the ax came down was, "The Lord receive my soul, and have mercy on me, and bless this kingdom with peace and charity, that there may not be this effusion of Christian blood amongst them."
Amen.
Unfortunately, what followed his death was an "effusion of Christian blood among them".
Readings:
Psalm 73:24-29 or 16:5-11
Hebrews 12:5-7,11-14
Matthew 10:32-39
PRAYER:
Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like your servant William Laud, we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Thanks to Ann for the reminder that the church has endured far greater turmoil than we experience today and for the push to post about William Laud.
Another ABC (Becket being the other) who is not in my personal calendar of saints, Mimi. His rather short Wiki entry opens with the observation that "his support for Charles, absolute monarchy, and his persecuting of opposing views led to his beheading in the midst of the English Civil War". He was every inch (what inches there were, him being decidedly on the short side - Archie Armstrong, Charles I's jester, joked "give great praise to the Lord, and little laud to the devil") a Schofield/Iker sort of guy where the toleration of diversity was concerned. Flight from his persecutions encouraged the expansion of the English colonies in North America and, by extension, of the United States. Prominent among the N. American Laudian refugees is Anne Hutchinson, a person far more deserving of our remembrance.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hutchinson
Lapin, I don't have a say in the choice of who's in and who's out of the canon of saints. The reason that I didn't say much about Laud is because the story is complicated, and I am not authority on English history.
ReplyDeleteThe point of the post was to show that the Anglican Church had been through worse times.
I admire Anne Hutchinson as a strong woman and her advocacy for women's rights, but I am, in general, not an admirer of the Puritans.
The Massachusetts puritans condemned and banished her. She became co-founder of Rhode Island, the first North American colony to allow freedom of conscience. Her descendants include Chevy Chase, Marilyn Monroe (possibly), Mitt Romney, FDR, both presidents Bush, and Charles Manson. In the words of Archie the Cockroach, "Blood will tell, but often it tells too much"
ReplyDeleteMy friend, and former rector, Michael Povey had a post related to this subject a while back, and it was the first I had heard of such controversies. The information he offered is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://jmichaelpovey-retiredpoveinsarasota.blogspot.com/2007/09/strange-case-of-dr-dodgson-sykes-and.html
When I visited my sister in England a few years ago, we toured several old churches (of which there are many in Ye Olde England!!). It was sad to see first hand the destruction wrought by the Puritans (God bless 'em nevertheless) in their misguided attempts to rid the church of all they felt was wrong with it. They may have been correct about some things, but very wrong about others. In the instance of church property, they destroyed much beautiful, historically significant artwork.
Thank you for the reminder that our present controversies are certainly not new, nor are they the most violent, our church has experienced.
The vast majority of the destruction in the English parish churches and cathedrals was a consequence of official church policy in the immediate wake of the 1559 Elizabethan settlement, Suzer. The relative ease with which the Roman ritual was restored in the previous reign - in particular the re-emergence of images, vestments, altars and altarpieces that had been concealed against a "better" day - and the speed that they were again restored in the North, ten years into Elizabeth's reign, during the 1569 rebellion - led to strict enforcement of the articles against these and other "superstitious" items by Elizabeth's bishops. There was certainly a second wave of destruction of lesser items that had survived Elizabeth's reign (stained glass; carved angels on ceilings, etc.) during the English Civil War, but their destruction can validly be seen as a political gesture - a reaction to royal "tyranny" and Laud's enforced reforms - as much as a religious one. Not that one can separate the religion and the politics of the day any more, say, than one can separate them today in the ongoing Virginia CANA dispute. Incidentally, and largely as a consequence of the Reformation, far more medieval church architecture and decoration survives in England than survives in the continental RC countries, were new fashions resulted in ongoing "renewal" of architecture, decoration and devotional items and the destruction of the objects that they replaced.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to sympathize with Laud's love of "the beauty of holiness" and equally easy, at this distance in time, to lose sight of the fact that it was harnessed to the purpose of establishing in England and Scotland the royal absolutism that Charles I's nephew by marriage, Louis XIV of France, was shortly to establish succesfully in France.
"Blood will tell, but often it tells too much"
ReplyDeleteThat's right.
I did not find the destruction as evident in England as, say, in Switzerland, where some of the soaring Gothic churches are stripped bare and the niches are so obviously empty. Those were some of the coldest places I've ever been in.
The quote comes at the close of "a roach of the taverns". Archie is weary of a brown roach, who is boasting of his ancestors
ReplyDelete"one of my elizabethan
forbears was plucked from
a can of ale in the
mermaid tavern by
will shakespeare and
put down kit marlowe s back
what subtle wits they were in
those days"
Finally Archie exclaims
"i weary
of your ancestors i
have often noticed that
ancestors never boast
of the descendants who boast
of ancestors i would
rather start a family than
finish one blood will tell but often
it tells too much"
Earlier editions of Archie and Mehitabel are lavishly illustrated by George Herriman, of Krazy Kat fame. These double the fun of the book,so look out for these editions. Herriman was of New Orleans Creole ancestry.
Lapin, you know so much. I believe that way back when I read the books, the library must have had at least one of the Herriman versions, because the illustrations look quite familiar.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe I'm thinking of Krazy Kats.
I'm sure you are correct, Lapin, as I know little of that particular history. In at least one of the churches I visited (we saw three, I think), it did specifically say the destruction of that particular church was due to the Puritans. I can't remember if it was in Southwold or somewhere else -- I'd have to look up my notes as I've forgotten the names of some of the places we visited.
ReplyDeleteI'll trust, though, that you are correct about the majority of the destruction done. I had just gotten a sense that more was done by the Puritans, and perhaps was led to believe that by the lady who showed us that particular church (Southwold, or wherever it was!). Perhaps she had a dislike for Puritans which led to some tall tales? Thanks for setting me right about the history involved! :)
Southwold would have come in for the attention of the notorious William Dowsing, Suzer. This piece on him from the Suffolk Churches site puts him in context:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/zdowsing.htm
The preponderance of "superstitious images" that survived the Reformation were on tombs - often protected by members of the influential families that had erected them - and in stained glass windows. Window glass, stained or plain, was hand-blown at this date, and an expensive commodity. All but the most enthusiastic reformer thought long and hard before smashing glass images, on account of the inevitable cost of replacement. Often the face of a Virgin, or a representation of the Trinity would be removed, but otherwise the glass would be left intact. When the Parliamentary army captured York in 1644, Sir Thomas Fairfax, its commander, forbade the smashing of the windows in the Minster and the city churches, with the result that roughly 50% of England's surviving medieval glass is said to be in that city. Canterbury also retains much medieval glass.
Time to quit rambling. The Dowsing piece gives good perspective on 17th century "Puritan" iconoclasm.
PS Southwold lost its glass to Dowsing but has one of the finest surviving painted and decorated medieval rood screens in England. The faces are mutilated, but otherwise it is a wonderful survival:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/Southwold.htm
It retains 36 late medieval images of saints and prophets. The lady should have been exceedingly grateful for what survives.
When the Parliamentary army captured York in 1644, Sir Thomas Fairfax, its commander, forbade the smashing of the windows in the Minster and the city churches,
ReplyDeleteThanks be to God for that. Seeing the glass in York Minster was one of the delights of my life.
And Southwold is destined to become a suburb of London?
East Anglia is way off my beaten track, Mimi, but I just checked the wonderful Google Earth (if it's not on your pc, install it and enjoy) and I now know exactly where it is. If there's good rail service - and that seems unlikely - it's just within range for long-distance commuting. But too far away to become a suburb.
ReplyDeleteLapin, then that's a good thing for Southwold. I'll look into Google Earth.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes!!! St. Edmund -- that's one of the churches I visited. The panels were beautiful, as was the rest of the church. I'm going to go back through my little online diary and find out the other church(es) we visited. It was at least two, maybe three. How wonderful to see all the photos of St. Edmund's online! Thanks for the link, Lapin! :)
ReplyDeleteSuzer, if Lapin doesn't know it, he knows where to find it. He's a right handy rabbit to have around.
ReplyDeleteHop. Hop.
ReplyDelete