Dissenters and their liturgical objects

8/12/2019 Dissenters and their liturgical objects

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We are looking at some rather uncommonobjects. Their very interest lies indeed in their being

objects that have been designed to respond the needs of a very precise - through not small - part of

the market of religious objects. But what was common, then? Who were those nonconformists that

used very strange, completely unorthodo! liturgical devices?

"n #$%& Thomas 'ranmer, who was (rchbishop of 'anterbury under )dward *", edited The Book

of Common Prayerthat was a try to give to the newly seceded 'hurch of )ngland a liturgy that

considered its national character and its legal independence from +ome. This book, along with

Tyndales translation of the Bible, was supposed to bring uniformity of 'hristian rituals in all

)ngland, where apparently there wasnt any.

When enry *""" called the arliament for the secession from +ome in #$%, very little changed

from the point of view of rituals and how did they were performed. 'ommunion and 'onfessionwere still at use in a very similar fashion to the 'atholic use and Transubstantiation was still active.

/While suppressing the monastic 0rders, enry decided to keep both the structure and the leading

priests of the 'hurch 1ordained by +ome2. The majority of the bishops meant to avoid dogmatic

controversies and they were very reluctant to leave the traditional way to celebrate the 3ass. ( part

of them, openly rejected any change and kept a passive attitude to the new primacy. 4o that, in

general, a true +eformation did not happened.

/ 0n the other side of the fence, 5uthers writing were circulating in 0!ford and 'ambridge since

the 67s and 5utheran ideas soon entered the 'ourts milieu. *ery influential characters - as 'ranmer

himself - have strong sympathies for )uropean +eformers. But even if the nationalistic ideals of

5uther were highly appreciated, his conclusions were often minimised and limited to the intellectual

debate. 0utside the court, however, small sacks of rotestant refugee, especially from the

8etherlands founded the first rotestant churches in )ngland and started to preach to growing

communities. They were mainly 'alvinists and their ideals attracted many from the middle-low

class of the countryside - and in 4cotland.

The reign of )lisabeth " directed the 'hurch of )ngland through a more defined 5utheran

inspiration. Transubstantiation was no more accepted. owever, 4acraments were maintained and

also the greater oblation 1or offering2 - though the Body of 'hrist was now found in the Body of the

'ongregates.

"t is hard to tell how the population thought about these changes. This would be important to know

because in )ngland, more than in other )uropean countries, communities tended to be very small.

"n the 'ity of 5ondon, for instance, a population of $7.777 in #$7 was served by nearly #.777

parishes, all now controlled by the 'athedrals. 'alvinist communities however augmented their


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influence, while keeping the distance from the traditional hierarchy.

(fter the 'atholic revival of 3ary was over, in #$$&, a new (ct of 9niformity was promulgated by

the arliament, under )lisabeth ". :ames *" enforced the moderate attitude of his predecessor. 8ow

that the majority of the bishops had adhered to 5utheranism, the left wing was represented by

'alvinists, known as uritans, whose influence was great in the commercial class and in the

universities. Their goal was to reform the whole )nglish society, starting from the re-organisation of

the communities on evangelical principles.

They placed the biblical family at the centre of the society and the apostolic 'ommunion as a

model for their 'hurch. They truly believed in the +estoration of the primitive 'hurch and in the

concrete possibility to obtain perfect societies through the enforcement of the 3osaic 5aw. ere,

for instance, we see some 'ommunion tokens which identified someone who had attended to all there;uired activities to receive the )ucharist. 0f course there was a whole system of markers of the

moral status of the bearer, as in the case of the ester rynn of awthorne.

uritans enjoyed a major role in the )nglish 'ivil War and the destitution of 'harles *". olitical

reasons and religious issues are not clearly separated. 5ets just say that uritans pushed through a

severe morality and a distributed and libertarian management of the social life< while traditionalists

rather tended to maintain a hierarchical structure and patronage as a form to control communities.

The +estoration of the monarchy after 'romwells republic meant the end of the uritans dream

and a harsh repression of any form of free religious association. 'harles "" (ct of 9niformity in

#==6 adopted the Book of 'ommon rayer for the liturgy and prohibited any religious association

of more than five people without the consent of the 'hurch of )ngland.

(round 6.%77 clergymen left the 'hurch. ( great number of the defeated uritans fled to the 8ew

)ngland and started new colonies. Those who stayed, continued to preach in an unofficial fashion.

(fter some attempts to include these groups in the 'hurch of )ngland, the Toleration (ct of #=>&

gave them back the freedom of worship< / they could not enjoy public or academical positions until

#>#. 1&=2

These objects come precisely from such free communities. (s you can see, no carved image was

permitted inside the 'hurch - no music at all - the only furniture admitted being clocks. (s we said

before, the reason of the dissent of those people was not doctrinal rather than liturgical. The whole

)nglish +eformation can be seen as the history of the changes of its liturgy, therefore of the e!ternal

form of the rite. But it is also clear that this e!ternal form mattered to an incredible e!tent, because

it shaped the communal life.

These object tell us more about the administration of the rites of 'alvinisturitan parishes. (s you


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may see, the chalice was substituted by large silver cups from which the whole community drank

the Blood of 'hrist. 'ompared to the 'atholic and 5utheran functions, the uritans were much

more informal, so to say. The preaching on the Word and the discussion on the needs of the

community were not separated.

Ban;ueting had a central social role and followed a ritualistic structure as well. This, for instance is

a 5ovefeast cup, which was one monthly reunion of the community around the table. This came

from "t could have being guided by any member of the 'ongregation and it consisted in food

sharing and performing of hymns and praises to @od. "n order not to create confusion with the

5ords 4upper, the only beverages admitted were water, tea, coffee and lemonade. (nother kind of

uritan ban;uet, still in use today, is Thanksgiving.

"n this display, unfortunately, there are no e!amples of probably the most significant object for the

life of the communityA i.e. the book. uritan attitude through writing was defined by an amaingeal and level of personal involvement, on one hand< and an e!traordinary C almost obsessive C

control on the style and the aesthetic form, on the other. " had the pleasure to handle some of these

fantastic diaries at the Dr. William 5ibrary just beside the 'hurch of 'hrist the Eing, near the

Warburg. astor Tim taught me that these were spiritual and personal diaries that anyone in the

community was re;uired to keep and to pass to hisher neighbour regularly, so that anyone could

know each others feelings. These were therefore veritable presentations, portrays of each ones

selves to the society 1###2.

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Dissenters and their liturgical objects