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The Irish parliament of 1560: the anglican reforms authorised

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Henry A. Jefferies
Henry A. Jefferies*
Affiliation:
Haberdashers’ Aske’s School, Elstree, Herts
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Extract

Few Irish parliaments were more important than that of 1560. It recognised Elizabeth Tudor’s title to the crown of Ireland and authorised the reform of the Irish church. Yet the sparse documentary record of its proceedings has lent itself to wildly differing interpretations. Controversy has centred upon the manner in which the ecclesiastical legislation reached the statute books, and the disposition of the bishops towards it. Even today, long after the interdenominational debate has ended, there is no consensus among historians on this very difficult subject.

In the most comprehensive treatment to date of the 1560 parliament Robert Dudley Edwards concluded that fraud and deception were employed to force the queen’s ecclesiastical legislation through a recalcitrant House of Commons. However, the opposition of the bishops in the upper house was insurmountable and the parliament was quickly prorogued without its legislative programme being sanctioned.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 102 , November 1988 , pp. 128 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1988

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References

1 The last denominational studies were those of Ronan, Myles V., The Reformation in Ireland under Elizabeth (London, 1930), pp 17–40 Google Scholar, and Jourdan, G.V., ‘The transitional stage of reform, 1558–75’ in Phillips, W.A. (ed.), History of the Church of Ireland (3 vols, London, 1933-4), ii, 292–311 Google Scholar.

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20 This was first suggested by Edwards, Church & state, p. 177; see also Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 210.

21 These files are referred to in Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Hen. VIII—Eliz., p. 123.

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25 The English-born councillors in the House of Commons were Sir William Fitz-William, Sir George Stanley, Sir Henry Radcliffe, John Parker, Sir John Allen, James Wingfield, Francis Agard and Humphrey Warren. Sir Thomas Cusack, M.P. for Athenry, was the only Irish-born councillor elected to the lower house. The other English officials who sat in the Commons were Nicholas Heron, Francis Cosby, Henry Draycott and Henry Cowley.

26 Cal. S. P. Ire., 1509–73, p. 157.

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28 Ibid., nos 56, 65.

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32 The original list was in a state of decay when Hardiman printed it, and illegible in parts. Hence it appears that the bishop of Emly’s name has been obliterated by time.

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36 Rec. comm. Ire. rep. (3 vols, 1815–25), ii, rep. 8, suppl., p. 357.

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46 St Leger reported in January 1551 that an experimental Latin version of the first Book of Common Prayer was very well received in Limerick city (Cal. S. P. Ire., 1509–73, p. 110). The 1560 Liber precum publicarum is significantly closer to the 1549 prayer-book than is the Elizabethan prayer-book (Haugaard, Elizabeth & the reformation, pp 112–19).

47 Stat. Ire., i, 284–90; The prayer-book of Queen Elizabeth, 1559 (London, 1890), p. 41.

48 Haugaard, Elizabeth & the reformation, pp 183–232.

49 Fiants Ire. Eliz., nos 223, 224.

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56 Salisbury MSS, iii, no. 968.

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58 Rothe, Analecta, pp 234–6.

59 Falkiner, C.L., ‘The parliament of Ireland under the Tudors’ in R.I.A. Proc., xxv (1904-5), sect. C, pp 553-66Google Scholar; Fiants Ire. Eliz., no. 185.

60 Lennon, Colm, Richard Stanihurst, the Dubliner, 1547–1618 (Dublin, 1981), p. 22 Google Scholar.

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71 Rothe, Analecta, pp 447–55.

72 ‘Annals of Ireland, Elizabeth’, n.d. (1560), in Sir James Ware, Antiquities, pp 3–5.

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78 Cal. S. P. Rome, 1558–71, no. 108.

79 Hogan, Edmund (ed.), Ibernia Ignatiana, 1540–1607 (Dublin, 1880), p. 13 Google Scholar. Wolfe commissioned Dónal Mac Comgayll to deliver the letter of 12 October 1561, and also to give a detailed verbal report on the Irish bishops to Rome.

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82 Fiants Ire. Eliz., nos 221, 666, 667, 668.

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88 Ibid., pp 432–4.

89 Haugaard, Elizabeth & the reformation, pp 112–19.

90 Ibid., passim.

91 Jones, Faith by statute, pp 130–31.

92 Rothe, Analecta, pp 447–55. Interestingly, Viscount Baltinglass justified his rebellion in 1580 on the grounds that ‘a woman uncapax of all holy orders’ could not be governor of the church, as well as by reference to the increasingly unjust character of Elizabeth’s rule in Ireland.