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William Laud and the Reunion of the Churches: some Evidence from 1637 and 1638

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

W. J. Tighe
W. J. Tighe
Affiliation:
Mühlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania
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Type
Communications
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 717 - 727
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

1 ‘Richard Hooker and the Church of England’, in Trevor-Roper, H. R., Renaissance essays (London, 1985), pp. 103–20Google Scholar. I am grateful to Professor Conrad Russell for offering me his own thoughts on the significance of these letters.

2 Throughout that essay ‘Erasmian’, ‘Arminian’ and ‘Hookerian’ are assumed to be convertible coin (ibid. p. 113).

3 Ibid. p. 113.

4 But see Trevor-Roper, H. R., ‘The Church of England and the Greek Church in the time of Charles I’, in Studies in church history, vol. 15, ed. Baker, Derek (Oxford, 1978), pp. 213–40Google Scholar for a more detailed treatment – albeit one informed by the same perspective (pp. 230, 238) on Laud's interests – of Anglican–Orthodox relations in these years.

5 Trevor-Roper, H. R., Archbishop Laud (London, 1940, 1962), pp. 263–9Google Scholar.

6 Trevor-Roper notes (Laud, pp. 268–9) that William Penn, who met Durie in Cassel in 1677, recognized in him a fellow-spirit and one whom, he reported, others held for a Quaker.

7 The quotations in this paragraph are all taken from Scudamore's letters to Laud, which are reproduced below

8 An exception is Hungary, where there was then (and yet is) in the Reformed church a form of functional ‘supenntendency’ similar to that which could be found in Scotland from 1560 until Andrew Melville introduced from Geneva the notion, so productive of turmoil and strife from the 1570s onwards, of the ‘parity of ministers’ (Donaldson, Gordon, The Scottish Reformation [Cambridge, 1960], pp 102–29, 190–202)Google Scholar The Hungarian Calvinist church polity was certainly no diocesan or hierarchical episcopacy, although the superintendents came to be called bishops, but neither did it make presbytenan parity its beau ideal

9 Richard Montagu, ∈ανθpωπτKoν seu de vita Jesu Christi domint nostri, originum ecclestasticarum libri duo (London, 1640, 2 parts in 1), STC 18035/18036Google Scholar The most relevant passage runs as follows ‘Hoc ipsum officium et munus in ecclesia sive apostolicum seu sacerdotale adeo esse [sic] de necessitate salutis ordinana, ut sine altero alterum esse nequeat Non est sacerdotium nisi in ecclesia, non est ecclesia sine sacerdotio Illud autem intelligo per X∈ipoθ∈σiαν episcopalem ordinanam Neque enim admittenda[m] censemus extraordinarium aliquem seu vocationem seu λ∈τoνpγiαν, nisi miraculosam Oportet omnino miraculis agant et suam confirment functionem signo aliquo, qui non ab episcopis, denvata ab apostolis per successionem institutione, in ecclesiam inducuntur, sed, vel orti a sese vel nescio unde intrusi, sese ingerunt Nam quod praetendunt, ordinariam vocationem retinendam, adhibidendam, eique adhaerescendum, nisi in casu necessitatis, absurdum est, et suppositiom inntitur impossibilitatis, neque enim talis casus aut extitit ahquando aut contingere potest, nisi fallat nos Dominus qui promissit, “Portae inferorum non praevalebunt Ecce sum vobiscum ad consummationem mundi” Illi autem divino mmisterio per Deum ipsum fini tam solenm instituto, nullus se temere offerre debet, nedum via extraordinaria, hoc est, per fenestram aut pseudothyram, se ingerere, nisi fur et latro audire voluent’ In the light of this passage, in which Montagu dismissed as absurd the plea of necessity to excuse the foreign protestants their lack of episcopacy, it is curious to note how archbishop Laud, at his trial, attributed to Montagu a contrary meaning Accused of denying the foreign protestants to be a church and having had cited against him a form of guilt by association or by contagion? – the page of Montagu's book on which the passage quoted above occurred, he replied, ‘Is this argument come again, that Bp. Mountague's book was found in my study? Leave it, for shame! But they have now left me never a book in my study; so I cannot make them any fuller answer, without viewing the place, than themselves help me to, by their own confession. Which is, that he adds this exception, that none but a bishop can ordain, but in casu necessitatis, which is the opinion of many learned and moderate divines. Yet this is very considerable in the business, whether an inevitable necessity be cast upon them, or they pluck a kind of necessity upon themselves’ (Laud, W., ‘The history of the troubles and tryal of the most reverend father in God William Laud, Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury’, in The works of the mast reverend father in God, William Laud, D.D., ed. Scott, William and Bliss, James (Oxford, 1847 1860), IV, 307–8Google Scholar). All subsequent quotations from Laud's works are from the account of his trial.

10 Andrewes, Lancelot, ‘Reverendi in Christo Patris Lanceloti episcopi wintoniensis responsiones ad petri molinaei epistolas tres, una cum molinaei epistolis’, in Opuscula quaedam posthuma (Oxford, 1842), pp. 191, 211Google Scholar.

11 On the value of the ‘plea of necessity’, see Mason, A. J., The Church of England and episcopacy (Cambridge, 1914), Appendix B, pp. 512–27Google Scholar.

12 Taylor, Jeremy, ‘Of the sacred order and offices of episcopacy, by divine institution, apostolical tradition and catholic practice’, in The whole works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., ed. Heber, Reginald (London, 1828), XV, 138–43Google Scholar.

13 Roberts, Michael, The early Vasas: a history of Sweden 1523–1611 (Cambridge, 1968), pp. 64–5, 84–5, 90–1Google Scholar.

14 On the murky origins of the Bohemian episcopate see Mason, , Church of England, pp. 514–17Google Scholar.

15 Dunkley, E. H., The Reformation in Denmark (London, 1948), pp. 70–80Google Scholar.

16 Kramm, H. H., ‘The “Pastor Pastorum” in Luther and early Lutheranism’, in ‘And other pastors of thy flock’, a German tribute to the bishop of Chichester, ed. Hildebrandt, Franz (Cambridge, 1942), pp. 124–34Google Scholar. Dr Kramm observes (p. 130) that in the duchy of East Prussia the whole episcopate went over to the Reformation when the master of the Teutonic Order espoused Lutheranism and secularized his domain in 1525, and that diocesan episcopacy was maintained there until the civil authorities abolished it in 1587.

17 Trevor-Roper, , Laud, pp. 37–9Google Scholar.

18 Laud's works, III, p. 386.

19 If the project had ever been put into effect it might possibly have included a scheme for providing an ‘apostolic’ episcopate for the other Lutheran churches.

20 Mason, , Church of England, pp 145–51Google Scholardiscusses Laud's views From the dearth of matenal on the topic one might easily conclude that Laud wished to avoid the subject

21 Trevor-Roper, , Laud, Appendix, pp 437–56Google Scholar, prints the surviving letters which Laud wrote to Scudamore from 1622 to 1628 Scudamore was born in 1601 and died in 1671 For further details of his career, see G E C, The complete peerage (London, 1910–1959), XI, 572–4Google Scholarand the biography in the Dictionary of national biography

22 Clarendon, , The history of the rebellion and civil wars in England, ed Macray, W Dunn (Oxford, 1888), II, 418–19 (VI, 184)Google Scholar

23 Articles exhibited tn parliament against William archbishop of Canterbury, 1640 (n p, 1640) The bracketed material in the article as cited above did not appear in the first edition (S T C 15310), which bears on its title-page the date 25 Feb 1640(NS 1641) Five further versions have survived In four the date on the title-page is given simply as 1640 and the bracketed matenal forms part of the article in each case (S T C 15310 3, 15310 4, 15310 6 and 15310 8) S T Cs 15310 1, the fifth, agrees in these points with 15310 The form in which the article appeared in the records of Laud's trial is rather different, and it may or may not be significant that it was presented a day later, on Friday, 26 February 1640/41 Here it runs ‘[XXI He hath traitorously endeavoured to cause division and discord between the Church of England and other reformed Churches, and to that end hath suppressed and abrogated the privileges and immunities which have been by his Majesty and his royal ancestors granted to the French and Dutch Churches in this kingdom, and divers other ways hath expressed his malice and disaffection to these Churches, that so by such disunion the Papists might have more advantage for the overthrow and extirpation of both’ (Laud's works, III, 421)

Laud was able to provide a telling rejoinder to this and similar accusations, if not an entire rebuttal In his recapitulation of his defence on 2 September 1644 Laud used his dealings with the Lutherans to rebut the charge that he was attempting to introduce popery ‘Lastly, there have been above threescore Letters and other papers brought out of my study into this honourable House, they are all about composing the differences between the Lutherans and the Calvimsts in Germany Why they should be brought hither, but in hope to charge them upon me, I know not, and then the argument will be this I laboured to reconcile the Protestants in Germany, that they might unanimously set themselves against the Papists therefore I laboured to bring Popery into England’ (Laud's works, IV, 380)

Similarly, when Laud was accused of favouring Arminian theological views, and hence popery, and a letter seized from his study purportedly written by a Jesuit to his superior, but intercepted, which declared that Armimanism was their ‘drug’ against the Church of England, was read, the archbishop replied that ‘this drug is the received opinion of all the Lutherans, and they too learned Prostestants to use their (I e the Jesuits’) drugs' (Laud's works, IV, 272–3)

24 Dunkley, , Reformation in Denmark p 177Google Scholar

25 See Fincham, Kenneth and Lake, Peter, ‘The ecclesiastical policy of King James I’, Journal of British Studies, XXIV (1985), 169–207CrossRefGoogle Scholarfor a convincing account of these developments

26 Colhnson, Patrick, The religion of protestants the church in English society 1559–1625 (Oxford, 1982), pp 79–82Google Scholar

27 Need anyone doubt any longer that Laud intended to conform the Scottish and Irish churches to the Church of England? He himself declared that rather than divising a new liturgy for Scotland in the 1630s he had ‘laboured to have the English Liturgy sent them, without any omission or addition at all, this [1 e the alteration of the words at the delivery of the sacrament to the communicants] or any other, that so the public Divine service might, in all his Majesty's dominions, have been one and the same’ (Laud's works, III, 356)

28 Gibson, Matthew, A view of the ancient and present state of the churches of Door, Home-Lacy, and Hempsted (London, 1727), pp 73–105Google Scholar

29 The Oxford English dictionary, ed Murray, James A H, Bradley, Henry, Craigie, W A and Onions, C T (Oxford, 1978), VII, 837Google Scholar, no 17d ‘a literary composition, in prose or verse, generally short’

30 Sic for ‘Clausus’.

31 In Laud's hand.

32 Struck through.

33 Interlined word.

34 In Laud's hand.

35 In Scudamore's hand.

36 In a later hand.

37 Interlined word.

38 A small piece of the MS has been torn away at this point, but from what remains it appears that ‘I write’ was written there.

39 In Laud's hand.