RELIGION

1. RELIGION Various beliefs and practices of people in EME

2. Why was religion imp. to people? • Church had huge role in daily life • People used religion to try and make sense of the challenges they faced in everyday life • Religion was one way (and prob best way of that time) to get community together • Year was structured around religious festivals – work stopped so people could participate • Belief in God and Devil was certain – not up for debate – the idea of hell was very real • Not many people literate – so religion expressed in visible ways – very dramatic.

3. 16th – 17th C very anxious time • Medical knowledge limited –plague scary but just a toothache could be fatal • Death was reality – depicted in paintings and murals everywhere in churches • Weather could be fatal – storm damage / starvation due to damaged crops. • Huge contrast in society from rich to poor – lots of violence and war. People needed hope. • World was battlefield btw God and Devil • Daily life such a grind – people hoped for salvation and peace in afterlife

4. Seasons • Routine of family life dictated by seasons – waiting for spring or summer; dreading arrival of harsh winters. • Survival depended on hunting, planting and harvests. If they went well, all was ok – if not….. • Pagan (pre-Christian) priests developed many rites and ceremonies designed to influence the seasons • Roman Catholic church incorporated some of these practices • Midwinter and midsummer became focal points of the year • Celebration of bountiful harvests or reminders of tough times coming and a brief time to forget their troubles.

5. Main Seasonal Celebrations • NEW YEARS • WINTER festival aimed at encouraging return of spring – day of gift-giving and ‘sweeping’ out old year to make way for new one • ASH WEDNESDAY (Feb) • Began 40 days of fasting before Easter – helped conserve food for winter • EASTER (March) • Ritual burning of Jack-O’-Lent figure on Palm Sunday ( represented either getting rid of winter OR Jesus’ betrayal by Judas) • MAY DAY – Pagan origins – marked return of spring. People danced around the maypole (pagan fertility symbol)

6. People calmed their anxieties • People used herbal remedies / blood letting • Law used = to prosecute witches • Charms and spells to ward off evil spirits • Praying to God • Religious and worldly concerns linked • People didn’t distinguish between religious and secular reasons for something happening (both occurring at same time) • Belief in devil, demons, witches, astrology – not due to ignorance – EVERYONE believed those things

7. Church vs ‘Popular’ Beliefs • Church • Established religion • Written • Theological (God) • Formal rituals • Ecclesiastical structure (Christian beliefs on discipline and conformity) • Anglican church after 1559 • Traditional ‘oral’ culture • Belief in supernatural and superstition • Non-theological – pagan origins • Not concerned with faith, rather effects on day-to-day life

8. Popular Religion • Included ‘folklorised’ Christianity and ‘conventional’ Christianity • Has been used to distinguish btw those beliefs of the ‘governed’ and the ‘elite’ – historians now say it incl. ALL people’s beliefs. Example is belief in witches. • Not a single entity – range of popular beliefs – not all villages had same religious experiences but you can’t call one religion and one not. • Reay (1984) suggests that the masses would not have “drawn any rigid distinctions between Christian and non-Christian” when looking at religious practices

9. The ‘Average’ Person • Majority believed in God (but not necessarily to the exclusion of other beliefs) • Attended Church at Easter; for baptisms, marriages and burials. • Liked the community aspect; ritual and ceremony BUT didn’t want interference of the minister. • Wanted to live a ‘godly’ life – meant following ‘decent moral code’ – thought this was path to salvation – NOT prayer. • PELAGIANISM – belief that it was human actions that determined salvation – NOT God (biggest challenge to Anglican Church) • Believed in good and evil spirits

11. PURITANS Comes form word – ‘pure’ – they were members of C of E, so not a separate religious entity – just a different mindset.

12. What did the Puritans do? • They wanted to ‘purify’ the church and society • Thought priests had too much power – said anyone could get in touch with God just by reading the Bible and living ‘Godly’ • Opposed use of church for social functions – e.g. stalls on Sunday markets • Critical of bishops and clergy who couldn’t ‘control’ their flock (ironic?) • Promoted thrift and hard work opposed to drunkenness/promiscuity/dependence on society • Equated immoral behavior with godlessness • Zealous with rules for themselves to follow – attended church regularly (sometimes as often as 19 times in a week)

13. Views of Puritans • Society saw Puritans as far too zealous • Puritans were frequently at odds with others in society because they tried to impose their beliefs on everyone. • ‘Puritan’ became almost a swear word – term of abuse • They thought themselves the ‘chosen few’ – only ones who were ‘godly’ this infuriated many. • They differed from from most people because they seemed to gain enormous enjoyment from ‘religious exercises’. • Puritan family = mini church, Dad as Priest

14. Puritan attempts at change • Courts in EME often tied up with people who had broken church ‘rules’ • Recusancy, sabbath breaking, bastard bearers, drunkards. • Puritan reforms relatively unsuccessful during reign of Elizabeth (mainly because Eliz. was moderate towards Catholics.) • Also because she reigned for so long – people got used to things • Puritanism firmly established in gentry families • 1604 – Book of Sports – Sabbatarianism – law about what you should do in Sundays. (reversed in 1618) • Puritans remained a minority group

15. Parish Anglicans and Anti-Calvinists • Puritans not the only devout people. • Parish Anglicans or ‘Prayer book protestants’ known because of their defence of the liturgy and rites from Elizabethan Settlement. • ANTI-CALVINISTS • Supported idea of ‘free-will’ – that salvation was available to ALL people – attained by living good lives – not PREDESTINATION • Didn’t want to lose too many of the sacraments of church (the more Catholic bits) • Sometimes called Arminians or Laudians)

16. Popular beliefs • Magic • Astrology and Horoscopes • Witchcraft • These things were what people believed in to get through their daily lives • They were commonly believed in – ALONGSIDE the Church and Religion.

17. Magic • Unlike religion – attempt to control the unknown • E.g. rabbit’s foot for luck, charms and amulets; divining rod to find water; carrying posies to ward off plague. • Many beliefs centered on healing – Royal touch could heal scrofula (TB of the neck glands) • Healers – or ‘cunning men’ used range of remedies and beliefs.

18. Magic

20. Witchcraft • Most people in Middle Ages 1200-1500 believed in magic and the power of witches. • In EME – charge of maleficium most common (means primary witchcraft or curses) – people caught doing this were ‘black’ witches. • Witches were believed to be agents of the Devil • Witchcraft could only be inherited by women according to EME society – women were the ‘weaker vessel’ • Ironically good or ‘white’ witches were mostly male. • Women used words as weapons – men used physical force – power of words scary for people in EME.

21. Protection against Witches • Only form of protection was counter-magic and the Law. • Suspected witches were forced to swim in a pond – if they floated – they were condemned as witches. • Also subjected to physical examination (looking for the ‘mark’, torture (in order to extract a confession) • If animals were bewitched they were burnt alive or had their ears cut off • White witches could also be women or ‘cunning folk’ – apparently quite numerous in EME – healers, fortune tellers – ‘combatants of black witches. • Some white witches were charged with becoming black witches if they were thought to have spirits or angels working for them.

22. Why did people believe in Witches? • Hysteria about witches partly caused by Reformation (Prots. Didn’t have saints and angels like Caths. • Bible said they existed = Bible was truth. • Church taught that history was solely about battle btw God and the Devil. • Time of superstition, not reason • Economic hardship brought on accusations as people looked for someone/something to blame e.g. a denial of charity usually led to the refuser being cursed – often reported at witchcraft trials

23. Numbers of witches

24. Revision Questions • Key Terms • Define the following terms. • Official Church; Popular Religion; Folklorised Christianity; Puritan; White witches; Maleficium; Sabbatarianism; May Day. • Write word, phrase, date or name that best relates to statements below; • Could reinforce use of magic; Leading Elizabethan astrologer; Root of many witchcraft accusations; Those mostly accused of being a witch; Monarch who wrote book on Demonology.

25. Revision answers • Church as institution set up by monarch; Beliefs and practices of masses; Fusion of Christian and non-Christian beliefs; a more ‘Godly’ Protestant; perform good by occult means (magic) eg. Means cunning women; Causing of harm by cursing/touching; belief that no secular activity should take place on a Sunday; celebration of first day of spring. • Faith that it worked; John Dee (or Simon Forman); denial of charity; determined prosecutors; old widows; James I.