Colet, Wolsey and the Politics of Reform

Following his entrance into political life as a royal councillor, in 1518 Dean John Colet proposed amendments to the existing St. Paul's Cathedral statutes concerning residence and behaviour of cathedral clergy and staff. Colet compiled extracts from the pre-existing cathedral statutes, adding comments of his own and moreover endeavoured to enlist Cardinal Wolsey's help in proposing fresh statute reform at St. Paul's. Contrary to existing scholarship, I argue that both Colet's statute additions and his proposed reforms were based upon his sacramental and hierarchical ecclesiology; that his recourse to an archbishop was entirely consistent with his ecclesiological emphases on hierarchy and episcopal authority; that neither his comments nor his 1518 proposals can be called statutes because they were not implemented as such; that his ideas were probably never submitted to the cathedral body for consideration; and that, although Wolsey produced statutes for St. Paul's, they were not based upon Colet's proposals. By the end of 1518, Colet's declining health prevented further reform attempts during his lifetime. He died, in September 1519, without contributing to the St. Paul's statute books. His attack on clerical behaviour exposed his weaknesses of spiritual pride and lack of ability to see good in others. Most of all, his ecclesiology blinded him to what could be realistically expected of the clergy. The dean's perfectionism led him to ask the impossible and ignore the meritorious. Thus his ideals for the Church remained an unrealised vision of perfection

Archbishop · Ecclesiology · Perfection · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Statute · Theology · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies