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William Tyndale's Use of History as a Weapon of Religious Controversy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

Rainer Pineas
Rainer Pineas
Affiliation:
Pace College, New York, New York
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Extract

In their struggle against the Church of Rome, a number of sixteenth century English reformers became students of ecclesiastical and secular history. To support their contention that the Roman Church had deviated from New Testament principles, these reformers studied the available records concerning the dogma and ritual of primitive and early medieval Christianity. To prove their charge that for eight hundred years the Church of Rome had usurped the temporal power of European and English rulers, they turned to the medieval chronicles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , April 1962 , pp. 121 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1962

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References

1 Both William Tyndale, the subject of this paper, and John Bale, for example, engaged in such a study for polemical purposes. See The Whole workes of W. Tyndall (London, 1573), pp. 146, 268, 346–347, hereafter cited as Workes, and Bale's The Pageant of the Popes (London, 1574), sigs. A1r-B4v.

2 It is highly probable that Tyndale's polemical use of history influenced Bale ot expand the material Tyndale touched on. For instance, Tyndale's brief references to King John are developed by Bale into the full-length drama of King Johan. Cf. Honor McCusker, John Bale (Bryn Mawr, Pa., 1942), pp. 90–93.

3 Workes, p. 181. It is just possible that by “the Chronicles of England” Tyndale means a specific chronicle of this name printed by Caxton. However, the capitalization of the word “chronicles” is in itself no indication of a specific reference, since Tyndale often capitalizes this word.

4 Workes, p. 374. Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon.

5 The major chronicles dealing with English history in print by 1536 were: The Brut or The Chronicles of England (1480), Polychronicon (1482), Robert Fabyan's The New Chronicles of England and France (1516), The Chronicle of Froissart (1523). It is unlikely that Tyndale on the Continent saw John Rastell's The Pastime of People (1529) before publishing the bulk of his assertions about English history in The Practice of Prelates (1530). Polydore Vergil's Historia Anglica (1534) was published one year after Tyndale's last polemical work.

6 See fns. 22, 23, and 24.

7 A Brefe Chronycle Concernynge … Oldecastell (1544), The Actes of Englysh Votaryes (1346), Acta Romanorum Pontificum (1558), translated in 1574 as The Pageant of the Popes.

8 Bale also uses this technique; see Pageant, sig. B4v and Votaryes, sigs. A5r-A5v.

9 For a discussion of Tyndale's attitude toward tradition, see Flesseman-van Leer, E., “The Controversy about Scripture and Tradition between Thomas More and William Tyndale,” Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis, New Series, XLIII (1959), iii, 143–165Google Scholar.

10 Cf. Bale's The second part … of the English votaries (1551), sigs. A3r-A4v, where he holds the Roman Church responsible for the actions of such Roman Emperors as Nero, on the basis of the common name “Roman.”

11 Workes, p. 351. For a discussion of Tyndale's use of historical sources, see below, p. 131.

12 Workes, p. 129. A reference to the case of Richard Hunne, for which see Ogle, Arthur, The Tragedy of the Lollard's Tower (Oxford, 1949)Google Scholar.

13 See Pollard, A. F., Wolsey (London, 1953), p. 177Google Scholar and note.

14 Workes, pp. 114–115. A reference to Wolsey's alliance with the Emperor against the French and subsequent alliance with the French against the Emperor. See Pollard's Wolsey, pp. 99–164.

15 Such a claim is made, for instance, by More; see The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght (London, 1557), pp. 304Google Scholar, 313.

16 Workes, p. 155. Bale makes the same point about confession; see his Yet a course at the Romyshe foxe (1543), sig. C6v and The Epistel Exhortatorye (1544), sig. B1r.

17 Henry's first French campaign in 1522. See Pollard, A. F., Henry VIII (London, 1951), pp. 119–126Google Scholar.

18 Workes, p. 181. See fn. 13.

19 See Workes, pp. 231, 251, 269, 366.

20 Workes, pp. 102, 116, 391. The same points are made in Simon Fish's A Supplycacion for the Beggars (1529) and Christopher Saint-German's The diuision … betwyxte the spiritualitie and the temporalitie (1532), A dialogue betwyxte … Salem and … Bizance (1533).

21 See Pollard's Wolsey, pp. 121–123.

22 See, for instance, The Annals of Roger De Hoveden, trans. Riley, Henry T. (London, 1853), I, 35–36Google Scholar; Roger of Wendover, The Flowers of History, trans. Rev. Giles, J. A. (London, 1849), I, 178Google Scholar; Mathew of Westminster, The Flowers of History, trans. Yonge, C. D. (London, 1853), I, 396–397Google Scholar; Higden, Ranulph, Polychronicon, ed. Rev. Lumly, J. R. (London, 1876), VI, 277–279Google Scholar; The Brut or The Chronicles of England, ed. Brie, Friedrich W. D., EETSOS, 131 (London, 1906), pp. 103–104Google Scholar.

23 See Wendover, I, 330–331; Polychronicon, VII, 239; Fabyan, Robert, The New Chronicles of England and France, ed. Ellis, Henry (London, 1811), p. 235Google Scholar.

24 The Rev. H. Walter's note on this passage in his edition of Tyndale's works is: “William of Malmesbury confirms part of this statement, though he does not say on what ground the money was to be paid.” Expositions and Notes, Parker Society (Cambridge, 1849), p. 295Google Scholar.

25 See Wendover, II, 254–255; The Brut, EETSOS, 131, p. 158; Fabyan, p. 316.

26 Tyndale regards a rebellion against John as evil since in his eyes John was England's first “Protestant” hero.

27 See Wendover, I, 330–331; Polychronicon, VII, 239; Fabyan, p. 235.

28 The Brut, EETSOS, 136, p. 511; Fabyan, pp. 616–617.

29 The only evidence the Rev. H. Walter can cite in support of Tyndale's claim that Edward IV's proposed marriage was broken off by the clergy through the instrumentality of Friar Bungay is as follows: “In the first edition of Fabian's Chronicle after relating the events of the battle of Barnet in 1471, he says: ‘Of the mists and other impediments which fell upon the lord's party by reason of the incantations by friar Bungay, as the fame went, we list not to write.’ fol. ccxxiii.” Expositions and Notes, p. 304. It is evident that here once again Tyndale has “filled out” the chronicler's account.

30 For Skelton's attacks on Wolsey, see Pollard's index under “Skelton,” Wolsey, p. 389.

31 Workes, p. 137. Saint-German expresses the same views in his Diuision and Salem and Bizance.

32 Cf. Saint-German, Diuision in The Apologye of Syr Thomas More, Knyght, ed. Taft, Arthur I. (London, 1931), p. 224Google Scholar and More, Workes, p. 896.

33 More, Workes, pp. 969, 982.

34 Workes, p. 180. Cf. Fish's Supplycacion.

35 Henry is reported to have said of Tyndale's Obedience, “This is a book for me and for all kings to read.” Strype, John, Ecclesiastical Memorials (Oxford, 1820–1840)Google Scholar, I, Part 1, 173.

36 See Brinklow, Henry, Complaynt of Roderyck Mors, ed. Cowper, J. M., EETSES, 22 (London, 1874), pp. 56–57Google Scholar.

37 In 1531 Henry instructed Cromwell to attempt to win Tyndale to the royal cause. In this attempt Cromwell was unsuccessful, but he did manage to secure for the crown the services of such polemicists as the reformers Robert Barnes and John Bale, as well as Christopher Saint-German. See Mozley, J. F., William Tyndale (London, 1937), p. 187 ff.Google Scholar; Dickens, A. G., Thomas Cromwell (London, 1959), pp. 22Google Scholar, 156; McCusker, Bale, p. 75; Zeeveld, W. Gordon in The Thought and Culture of the English Renaissance, ed. Nugent, Elizabeth M. (Cambridge, 1956), p. 245Google Scholar.

38 By the Submission of the Clergy, 1532.

39 The Statutes at Large, Runnington edition (London, 1876), II, 166Google Scholar.

40 See Pollard, Henry VIII, p. 221.