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Reformation and society in Guernsey : c.1500-c.1640
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Ogier, D. M. (1993) Reformation and society in Guernsey : c.1500-c.1640. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1449333~S15
Abstract
The maintenance of civil order in Guernsey's pre-Reformation
community was regulated by a variety of secular institutions, the
most important of which was the Royal Court. Religious beliefs
and practices helped to reinforce stability and legitimized
traditional authority. Catholic practice, including charity and the
activities of numerous fraternities - not hitherto noticed in
Guernsey - engendered social cohesion. Any major changes in
the island's religious life threatened this traditional polity. When
religious alterations loomed in the wake of Henrician and
Edwardian changes in England, the Guernsey authorities chose
to conceal religious revenues and subvert English intentions.
Traditional practices and institutions predominated until the reign
of Elizabeth -a finding which contradicts previous studies. In the
fifteen-sixties, however, the English Government appointed a
series of commissions to seize Catholic dues and close down
traditional institutions. The commissioners favoured local
Protestants materially, and in 1565 elevated some of them to the
Royal Court. The possibilities offered by a Calvinist system of
social control appealed to the island's elite group. Calvinist
organisation facilitated the enforcement of discipline, Catholic
revenues were turned to private and secular purposes, and the
elite retained power. The new Church depended on the secular
authorities for its survival; it needed magistrates to allow foreign
ministers to settle, to educate local ones, and to fend off the
threat of an imposed settlement in line with the English settlement
of 1559. The Church also repeatedly requested the Court to
enact legislation in line with Calvinist principles, which it did.
Although the records do not lend themselves to quantitative
analysis, it is clear however that the Court often neglected to
enforce such legislation. The Church's own remedies frequently
were inadequate and ineffective. The secular power responded
more positively in other areas. The Church's role in succouring
the poor was encouraged, and the elite itself benefited materially
as a consequence of Calvinist ideas. But the price paid for the
retention of the elite's control and the material advantages it
gained was the failure of the Calvinist dream and increased
cultural differentiation in the community.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Guernsey (Channel Islands) -- Politics and government -- 16th century, Guernsey (Channel Islands) -- Politics and government -- 17th century, Guernsey (Channel Islands) -- Church history -- 16th century, Guernsey (Channel Islands) -- Church history -- 17th century | ||||
Official Date: | September 1993 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of History | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Capp, B. S. | ||||
Extent: | xx, 368, 283 leaves | ||||
Language: | eng |
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