Clerical Celibacy Versus Clerical Marriage: The Struggle for the Preisthood in 16th Century England
Uploaded by platner on Jun 01, 2013
Clerical Celibacy versus Clerical Marriage: The Struggle for the Priesthood Throughout the Reign of the Tudor Monarchs
Prospectus: pages 1-10
Works Cited: page 11
Revised Annotated Bibliography: pages 12-24
Primary Source Citation: page 25
Copy of Primary Source Document: pages 25-28
Stephanie Platner
History 100 – Introduction to Historical Skills in Tudor England
Dr. Stephanie Seery-Murphy
May 24, 2013
Pages 1-28, Word Count: 10,592
Clerical Celibacy and Clerical Marriage: The Struggle for the Priesthood
Throughout the Reign of the Tudor Monarchs
Throughout the reign of the Tudor monarchs, the traditional Catholic ideal of clerical celibacy was completely opposed by Reformation proponents who supported clerical marriage. While Catholic monarchs demanded their clergy abide by celibate oaths, Protestant reformers used their platform to institute changes which allowed the clergy to marry. The vacillating religious ideologies of each of the Tudor monarchs made clerical marriage and clerical celibacy an increasingly complex issue; the creation of laws which allowed clerical marriage, and their subsequent repeal, created conflict and confusion within the church. In England, clerical marriage was one of the most fiercely debated issues of the Reformation, and caused deep divisions between religious leaders on both sides of the aisle. However, the maelstrom over religious ideology and practices had serious consequences, which tremendously impacted the lives of clergy members and their families. As of now, clerical marriage and clerical celibacy continue to be important topics in the study of Tudor England, while proponents of both views debate the impact their position had on the church and the priesthood. Even today, the issue of celibacy versus marriage within the priesthood is widely discussed, and therefore remains a timely and relevant issue.
In order to clarify the sequence of events surrounding the controversy over clerical celibacy and marriage, I organized the results of my research chronologically in order to examine how the reign of each monarch directly affected the lives of clergy members. Beginning with Henry VIII, and continuing with Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, I looked at how each monarch’s reign impacted: a.) the position of the church regarding celibacy/marriage, b.) the laws, statues or articles created/changed regarding celibacy/marriage, c.) the arguments made
for/against celibacy/marriage, d.) examples of clergy who were impacted by the above factors, and the impact/outcome on the clergy member and their family. I incorporated one primary source into the discussion of clerical marriage, an anonymous letter written by a witness to the execution of Thomas Cranmer....