The parish was the essential and ever present canvas on which most lives were painted in early modern England. We discuss how it changes, it’s harmonies and the context of protest

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Transcript

And so here we are – my opportunity to introduce to you the English Parish. Listener, English parish, how do you do? English Parish, Gentle listeners, how do you do? Now I have to confess that my ignorance is pretty total about the relative importance of the Parish in the religious and secular lives of other European countries over the centuries, but I can tell you that it is a super important part of the English story, both from the point of view of the ordinary people, in which category I put pretty much everyone with the possible exception of the tippy top aristocracy, and from the grander, more highfalutin’ viewpoint of the formation of the modern English state, and let me tell you, you falute away as much as you like, you will get no higher in English history than the formation of the English state. At our current point in time, quivering in the morning dew like a young doe or buck on the pivot of the fundamental changes of the Early Modern age, Parishes go through a change of which you might weep about as cataclysmic, celebrate as invigorating and dynamic, but which everyone will describe as dramatic.

In fact the point has been made rather testily that the requirements of the Protestant reformation and the constant historical debate about said Reformation has rather over emphasised our view of the importance of the parish in late medieval days; we can be wont to forget all of the other apparatus of the medieval church, the corporate apparatus if you like of monasteries and nunneries, of chantries, hospitals, almshouses. But of course many of those will disappear or be changed by the reformation; and what remains most strongly are the parish, the parish as a pastoral centre, and as a centre of secular governance. The parish was the space where the drama of most peoples lives played out, both affected by its community and adorning it.

The parish network had grown out of the old minster network established in the early centuries of Anglo Saxon England, and developed their shape essentially to suit the needs of the nobility. As you may know if you are a shedcast member, nudge, nudge, wink, and if I may wink, late Anglo Saxon England and the Norman centuries saw the fissioning of the old large AS royal estates into a series of smaller manors, in order to endow, pay and reward the elite that supported the king and his kingdom. The new nobility liked having their own place, and they adorned the cake of their manor with the cherries of their ever grander halls and then castles, and their very own church and priest. As the church organised its dioceses and administration, these manors often became parishes as well, because it’s easier that way, and by 13^th century the structure was largely settled, save for a bit of tinkering around the edges. They were formed then around the needs of the secular church, the parish church and minister sort of thing.

The late medieval parish was a rather more richly adorned entity than the early medieval version. One main reason for this was the concept of purgatory. As the concept sank its teeth into the psyche of society, investment and devotion followed, in the form of Chantry chapels with associated priests and clerks to pray for the souls of the dead and conduct services in the chapels of the church. Fraternities grew up around those devotions and chantries, which quite apart from their main purpose gave involvement in communal life for all, whether rich or poor, male or female. Alongside those fraternities might also be confraternities established by guilds, or corporations depending where you are. Alongside these of course are those more national and corporate institutions, like monasteries. With 9,000 parishes and around 900 monastic institutions, by no means very parish would have a monastery, but a significant number would, well 10%, and in addition monastic institutions were not tied to or bound by the parish, and might have relationships and ties with many. Together with the richly visual nature of late medieval catholic religion, what you have are churches which are often sumptuously and flambouyantly equipped, with both furnishings, and with people. We are not just talking about the village vicar and clerk of the village of Miss Read and Trollope, no indeed.

To return briefly to the debate of the morbundity or vitality of the late medieval church, although briefly, since we have probably done that to death now. One of the many things that helped us understand that actually, whatever its problems, the late medieval church remained vital and central in the localities, was the thing standing in plain sight – the lavish and widespread rebuilding and extension of church buildings. There is perpendicular architecture all over the place. All of this investment in religious stuff, fabric and people was helped by the conditions of the late 15^th and early 16^th centuries; [1]not very many people but relatively buoyant individual wealth. The better off had money to spend and they often spent it with great pride by beautifying their locality, in the form of the church most obviously, and through donations in their will when they died – whether donations for their soul to be sung maybe by the chantry priests at the parish church, or for the poor of the parish, or most commonly, for both.

The parish is central to all this sense of Community pride, and pride of place was strong in this one. And that community showed itself in many ways. There was a very physical aspect to it; in the annual beating of the bounds for example, on Accession Day or Rogation day, the latter being the 25^th April. The Parish priest would set out around the boundaries of the parish with the officials of the parish and importantly a cloud of small boys with willow twigs or birch, and they’d give the boundaries a good beating just in case they were thinking of moving. You chose small boys on the principle that they were incipient blokes and this is a patriarchal world as I may have mentioned half a billion times, and because then hopefully the collective memory will last longer, via those soon to be big blokes. It’s a tradition some still carry out today; it wobbled under the Edwardian Reformation, but just like the weebles, it merely wobbled but did not fall down, as Elizabeth took a more relaxed view of the whole thing. In common with many festivals of the year, the church was heavily involved and there were other activities or rights build around it; you might have a church ale at the end of it, begging might be allowed for the day, that sort of thing.

The church and parish were at the very heart of life. I have been frequently told that I cannot consider myself even to have placed my dainty slipper on the first step of the long and winding road to the status of historian until I have read the History of Myddle, by a chap called Richard Gough, who was essentially a wealthy peasant of the Parish, a Yeoman. Now Richard was writing in 1700, and so in a way his world is a long way from the late medieval one, and yet, there are many commonalities. Richard knows the fabric of his parish world in fine detail.  He runs it lovingly through his fingers and knows the texture of it without needing to see; the parish is his world, and yet he is connected through it to a more regional community as people move away or come and join, and also to the wider national community too and that’s important. It is indeed a good read, and will give you an entrance not just to 1700 England, but also the breeze of 1500 will kiss your cheek as well. Ricgard Gough, the History of Myddle.

Anyway, what was I saying central, yes central that’s it. The church lay at the heart of it all then, the church and its officials – principally the Churchwarden and his assistants the sidesmen. More and more there is and will be the village Constable. The churchwarden writes out his accounts and every year they are approved by the parish, which we’ll come to. The Parish chest contains all the written records of the village – those same accounts, deeds, inventories, legal agreements. The churchwarden’s accounts are almost a history of the parish in a way, their collective memory. The parish would keep costumes and instruments for the seasonal rituals and events; they’d organise such events, because they were an important source of fundraising, as well as fulfilling their actual specific function. And they provided a release for the tensions of the hierarchies of the time, but we’ll talk about festivities at some other time, I deem, so hold your horses on that.

The parish gave a role for various groups within society; for women, for example, the parish gave visibility, through things like attendance at church; it gave status, through the veneration of a range of female saints, and it gave involvement too; although women were denied decision making through the formal governance system, fraternities and guilds gave them a voice. The poorer members of the parish also had some involvement since giving was considered a condition of the well regulated parish, rather than being viewed as a generous and optional gift.

But the poor were also engaged with