Thomas More and the Defence of the Religious Orders in Henry VIII's England
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8958151 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martin Heale (0000-0003-0697-1126, University of Liverpool, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 922-945 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x21000637 |
| OpenAlex | W3207128345 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
Much has been written about Thomas More's alleged monastic vocation and spirituality, but rather less about his views on the religious orders of his day. This article argues that a consistent position towards contemporary English monasticism can be discerned across More's (highly varied) oeuvre and in his personal connections with religious houses. He was an enthusiastic supporter of strictly observant monasticism throughout his career, but seems to have looked much more critically upon other branches of the religious orders in early Tudor England (which comprised the large majority). This orientation was shared with some other English humanists, but clashed with the position of Erasmus who held no special regard for strictly observant monasteries. More's misgivings about general monastic standards in the realm held a wider significance, in view of his status as the most prolific and influential polemicist writing in support of the early Tudor church. The defence of the religious orders in the controversialist works that More wrote and oversaw in the later 1520s and early 1530s was distinctly lukewarm, and even at times evasive. Partly as a result, the mounting evangelical and anticlerical attacks on English monasteries in these years went largely unanswered
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art history · Erasmus · Genealogy · Humanism · Monasticism · Political science · Realm · Spirituality · Supporter · The Renaissance · Theology · Classics · Early Modern Women Writers · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies
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A Companion to Observant Reform in the Late Middle Ages and Beyond
An Answere Unto Sir Thomas Mores Dialoge
Charity or Fire? The Argument of Thomas More's 1529 Dyaloge
Thomas Starkey and the Commonweal
Closed and kept most surely in religion”
Reginald Pole
Religious Life and Observant Reform in the Fifteenth Century
A noughtye and a false lyeng boke
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |