Editing Marprelate Controversy

{{short description|Puritan versus Church of England pamphlet "war"}}
{{use British English|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
[[File:Pasquilltp.gif|thumb|right|The title page of [[Pasquill (the Cavaliero)|the Cavaliero Pasquill]]'s "Countercuffe to Martin Junior," 1589, one of the anti-Martinist tracts.]]
The '''Marprelate Controversy''' was a war of pamphlets waged in England and Wales in 1588 and 1589, between a [[puritan]] writer who employed the pseudonym [[Martin Marprelate]], and defenders of the [[Church of England]] which remained an [[Established Church|established church]].

==Character and reception==
Martin's tracts are characterised by mockery of [[Anglican]] dignitaries and satire against the corruptions of the Church of England. The style is 'a heady mixture of nonsense, satire, protest, irony and gossip', combined with pungent wit, 'full of the language of the street'. While Martin maintained puritan doctrines as a whole, the special point of his attack was the [[episcopacy]]. The pamphlets were printed at a secret press established by [[John Penry]], a Welsh puritan, with the help of the printer [[Robert Waldegrave]], about midsummer 1588, for the issue of puritan literature was forbidden by the authorities.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Journey to the Mayflower|last=Tomkins|first=Stephen|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=2020|location=London|pages=160}}</ref>

The first tract by "Martin Marprelate," known as the ''Epistle'', was printed at the home of Mistress Crane at [[East Molesey]] in October 1588.{{sfn|Pierce|1908|pp=155–60}} Born [[Elizabeth Hussey]], Mistress Crane was the widow of Anthony Crane (d. 16 August 1583), Master of the Queen's Household, and daughter of Sir Robert Hussey (d.1546), younger brother of [[John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford]].{{sfn|McCorkle|1931|pp=276–83}}{{sfn|Appleton|1868|p=60}}<ref>For her role in the printing of the Marprelate tracts Elizabeth Crane was heavily fined and imprisoned; {{Harvnb|Collinson|1967|p=410}}.</ref> The ''Epistle'' is an answer to ''A Defence of the Government established in the Church of Englande'', by [[John Bridges (bishop)|Dr John Bridges]], [[Dean of Salisbury]], itself a reply to earlier puritan works. Besides attacking the episcopal office in general, it assails certain prelates with much personal abuse. The ''Epistle'' attracted considerable notice and a reply was written by [[Thomas Cooper (bishop)|Thomas Cooper]], [[Bishop of Winchester]], under the title ''An Admonition to the People of England'', but this was too long and too dull to appeal to the same class of readers as the Marprelate pamphlets, and produced little effect.{{sfn|McKerrow|1911|page=750}}

Penry's press, removed in November to the home of [[Richard Knightley|Sir Richard Knightley]] at [[Fawsley]],{{sfn|Pierce|1908|p=157}} near [[Northampton]], then produced a second tract by Martin, the ''Epitome'', which contains more serious argument than the ''Epistle'' but is otherwise similar.{{sfn|McKerrow|1911|page=750}}

Shortly afterward the press was moved to the [[Whitefriars, Coventry]], the home of Knightley's great-nephew,<ref>John Hales' grandmother was Anne Fermor, and Sir Richard Knightley's first wife was Anne's sister, Mary Fermor; at his subsequent trial Hales protested that 'He had great reason, as he thought, to gratify Sir Richard Knightley in anything, to whom he owed much reverence, as he that had married his aunt'; {{Harvnb|Pierce|1908|pp=180, 206, 320}}.</ref> John Hales (d. 1 January 1607/8), and his wife, Frideswide, the daughter of William Faunt.<ref>{{Harvnb|Reader|1846|p=126}}.</ref> In late January 1589, Martin's ''Certain Mineral and Metaphysical School-points'' was printed at the Whitefriars, followed in March by John Penry's ''View of Some Part of Such Public Wants'', and Martin's ''Hay Any Work For Cooper'', a reply to the ''Admonition''. Hales, the son of Christopher Hales and Mary Lucy, daughter of William Lucy, esquire, of [[Charlecote]],{{sfn|Thomas|1730|p=506}}{{sfn|Garrett|1938|p=171}}{{sfn|Metcalfe|1887|pp=19, 32}} was the nephew and heir of [[John Hales (died 1572)|John Hales]] (d.1572).

It now appeared to some of the ecclesiastical authorities that the only way to silence Martin was to have him attacked in his own railing style, and accordingly certain writers of ready wit, among them [[John Lyly]], [[Thomas Nashe]] and [[Robert Greene (16th century)|Robert Greene]], were secretly commissioned to answer the pamphlets. Among the productions of this group were ''Pappe with an Hatchet'' (Sept. 1589), probably by Lyly, and ''An Almond for a Parrat'' (1590), which, with certain tracts under the pseudonym of [[Pasquill (the Cavaliero)|"the renowned Cavaliero Pasquill"]], has been attributed to Nashe. Some anti-Martinist plays or shows (now lost) performed in 1589 were perhaps also their work.{{sfn|McKerrow|1911|page=750}}

Meanwhile, in July 1589, Penry's press, now at [[Wolston]], near Coventry, produced two tracts purporting to be by sons of Martin, but probably by Martin himself, namely, ''Theses Martinianae by Martin Junior'', and ''The Just Censure of Martin Junior by Martin Senior''. Shortly after this, ''More Work for Cooper'', a sequel to ''Hay any Worke'', was begun at Manchester, but while it was in progress the press was seized. Penry however was not found, and in September issued from Wolston or [[Haseley]] ''The Protestation of Martin Mar prelate'', the last work of the series, though several of the anti-Martinist pamphlets appeared after this date. He then fled to [[Scotland]], but was later apprehended in London, charged with inciting rebellion, and hanged (May 1593). The authorship of the tracts has been attributed to several persons: to Penry himself, who however emphatically denied it and whose acknowledged works have little resemblance in style to those of Martin;{{sfn|McKerrow|1911|page=750}} to [[Michael Hicks (1543-1612)|Sir Michael Hicks]] (by the historian [[A.L. Rowse]]);<ref>Rowse, A. L. ''The England of Elizabeth'' (1953), p. 531.</ref> to [[Henry Barrow]]; to [[Roger Williams (soldier)|Roger Williams]]; to [[George Carleton (died 1590)|George Carleton]] by Kathryn M. Longley and [[Patrick Collinson]];{{sfn|Black|2008|p=xxxv}}{{sfn|Carlson|1981|p=24}}{{sfn|Collinson|2004}}{{sfn|Collinson|2013|p=64}} and to the [[Warwickshire]] squire and Member of Parliament [[Job Throckmorton]], whom most Marprelate scholars now believe was the primary author with the assistance of Penry.<ref>Auchter, Dorothy. ''Dictionary of Literary and Dramatic Censorship in Tudor and Stuart England'' (2001), p. 231.</ref>

==See also==

*[[Elizabethan Religious Settlement]]
*[[Vestments controversy]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{Cite book |last=Appleton |first=William S. |year=1868 |title=Memorials of the Cranes of Chilton |location=Cambridge |publisher=John Wilson and Son |isbn=9780598993175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_8HAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA60 |access-date=27 April 2013 }}
*{{Cite book |editor-last=Black |editor-first=Joseph L. |year=2008 |title=The Martin Marprelate Tracts; A Modernized and Annotated Edition |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=l-li }}
*{{Cite book |last=Carlson |first=Leland H. |year=1981 |title=Martin Marprelate, Gentleman: Master Job Throckmorton Laid Open in His Colors |location=San Marino, California |publisher=The Henry E. Huntington Library }}
*{{Cite ODNB |last=Collinson |first=Patrick |year=2004 |title=Carleton, George (1529–1590) |id=37261}} 
*{{Cite book |last=Collinson |first=Patrick |year=2013 |title=Richard Bancroft and Elizabethan Anti-Puritanism |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107023345 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VFk29F6ChMC&pg=PA64 |access-date=14 December 2013 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Collinson |first=Patrick |year=1967 |title=The Elizabethan Puritan Movement |location=Bristol |publisher=J.W. Arrowsmith Ltd |isbn=9780416340006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8c9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA497 |access-date=27 April 2013 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Garrett |first=Christina Hallowell |year=1938 |title=The Marian Exiles; A Study in the Origins of Elizabethan Puritanism |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNZxec42AhEC&pg=PA171 |access-date=7 January 2013 |pages=171–174 |isbn=9781108011266}}
*{{Cite journal |last=McCorkle |first=Julia Norton |year=1931 |title=A Note concerning 'Mistress Crane' and the Martin Marprelate Controversy |journal=The Library |series=4th |volume=XII |issue=3 |pages=276–283 |doi=10.1093/library/s4-XII.3.276}}
*{{Cite book |last=Metcalfe |first=Walter C. |year=1887 |title=The Visitations of Northamptonshire |location=London |publisher=Harleian Society |url=https://archive.org/stream/visitationsofnor00harvrich#page/18/mode/2up |access-date=7 January 2013 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Pierce |first=William |year=1908 |title=A Historical Introduction to the Marprelate Tracts |location=New York |publisher=Burt Franklin |url=https://archive.org/stream/anhistoricalint01piergoog#page/n179/mode/2up |access-date=27 April 2013 }}
*{{Cite journal |last=Reader |first=W. |year=1846 |title=Documents Relating to the Family of Hales, of Coventry, and the Foundation of the Free School |editor1-last=Nichols |editor1-first=John Gough |editor-link1=John Gough Nichols |journal=The Topographer and Genealogist |publisher=Baywood Publishing |volume=I |pages=120–132 |url=https://archive.org/stream/topographergenea00nich#page/120/mode/2up/ |access-date=8 January 2013}}
*{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=William |year=1730 |title=The Antiquities of Warwickshire ... by Sir William Dugdale |location=London |language=en |publisher=John Osborn and Thomas Longman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWhZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA506 |edition=2nd rev.}}

;Attribution
* {{EB1911 |wstitle=Marprelate Controversy |volume=17 |page=750 |first=Ronald Brunlees |last=McKerrow |authorlink=Ronald Brunlees McKerrow}}

==Further reading==
*[[John Lyly|Lyly, John]] ''Pap with an hatchet''; edited by Leah Scragg. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*For the full texts of the tracts, see http://www.anglicanlibrary.org/marprelate/
*For a long, if dated, discussion in the ''Cambridge History of English Literature'', see http://www.bartleby.com/213/1701.html
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D7239786 Will of Anthony Crane, Master Of the Queens Household, proved 3 September 1583, National Archives]. Retrieved 27 April 2013

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Elizabethan Puritanism]]
[[Category:History of the Church of England]]
[[Category:Tudor England]]
[[Category:Protestantism-related controversies]]
[[Category:Pamphlets]]
[[Category:1588 in England]]
[[Category:1589 in England]]
[[Category:1588 in Christianity]]
[[Category:1589 in Christianity]]