'Sunlit meadows and uplands' – perhaps there's even a pot of gold? Rainbow on the South Downs, Sussex, England
Image credit: Antiquary
As we draw close to the last month of the year we can look beyond the gloom of Winter and anticipate more cheerful times.
Individuals who include, as I’ve
discovered, politicians as varied and as revered as statesmen Winston Churchill
and Ronald Reagan, along with lesser politicians whose names have been so familiar in recent
times. You can google this rather hackneyed phrase to see who they are!
Embarkation of the Pilgrims
1857, by
Protestant pilgrims are shown on the deck of the ship Speedwell before their departure for the New World from Delft Haven, Holland, on July 22, 1620.
Protestant pilgrims are shown on the deck of the ship Speedwell before their departure for the New World from Delft Haven, Holland, on July 22, 1620.
(Photograph
courtesy Architect of the Capitol)
Helping in a museum as I do, I tend to notice various anniversaries of events from the past. Like the approach of Mayflower 400 next year.
My thoughts have been turning towards other pilgrims from East Devon who sought freedom in the Promised Land of the New World.
Three years after the Pilgrim Fathers, East Budleigh-born Roger Conant left his homeland to make the perilous journey across the Atlantic with his family.
My thoughts have been turning towards other pilgrims from East Devon who sought freedom in the Promised Land of the New World.
Three years after the Pilgrim Fathers, East Budleigh-born Roger Conant left his homeland to make the perilous journey across the Atlantic with his family.
Seal of the City of Salem. With a merchant dressed in
colourful robes standing next to palm trees on an island, and a ship in the
background under full sail, the seal represents Salem’s
spice trade history
Roger Conant is celebrated for founding the American
city of Salem, Massachusetts, which is already planning to mark its 400th
anniversary in 2026. However hardly anyone in his birthplace knows about him.
There is, by the way, no connection between the city of Salem and East Budleigh's 18th century Salem Chapel. 'Salem' simply means 'Peace'.
There is, by the way, no connection between the city of Salem and East Budleigh's 18th century Salem Chapel. 'Salem' simply means 'Peace'.
Many of us can recognise Sir Walter Raleigh, East Budleigh’s other local hero. This painting, on display in the village's All Saints Church, is a copy of one of the numerous portraits painted in his lifetime. But of Roger Conant there is only this statue, right, dating from 1913, standing outside the Witch Museum in Salem; it's based on how the sculptor Henry Kitson imagined he would have looked.
Like Sir Walter Raleigh, Roger was brought up as a Protestant in a country still racked by conflict between people with different and fiercely held religious views.
Like Sir Walter Raleigh, Roger was brought up as a Protestant in a country still racked by conflict between people with different and fiercely held religious views.
Research into his life inevitably led me to re-read the story of the English Reformation, and I was struck by parallels between his time and ours.
It all began, so they say, in 1534 with King Henry
VIII’s Act of Supremacy. "Break free from the Tyranny of Rome!" "Leave its
corrupt and greedy Church!" "Deliver true
Independence and guarantee Sovereignty for our Great Nation!" are some of the clarion calls that the Government might have used to sway the populace.
Such seductive language. So many wonderful promises to the People of this Great Country.
Top: King Henry VIII and his Lord Chancellor Thomas More, executed on the King's orders in 1535. Both paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger; below, the image shows King Henry II who similarly fell out with Thomas à Becket
Not everyone believed the Government of course. Thomas More, a ‘Remainer’ loyal to the Catholic Church, refused to obey his
King and paid the ultimate price. Just
as his namesake, as Archbishop of Canterbury, had opposed King Henry II.
The bridge at Clyst St Mary, south of Exeter, scene of a bloody encounter between opposing religious forces
And other ‘Remainers’ would follow his example. Thousands of them were slaughtered in the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, many of them only a few miles from us at Clyst St Mary.
And other ‘Remainers’ would follow his example. Thousands of them were slaughtered in the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, many of them only a few miles from us at Clyst St Mary.
During the reign of Queen ‘Bloody
Mary’ it was the turn of the ‘Leavers’
to sacrifice their lives for their Protestant faith. Poor Agnes Prest was burned at the stake in 1557 at Southernhay, Exeter, as shown in this bronze panel sculpted by Harry Hems in 1909. The memorial is located on the corner of the city's Denmark Road and Barnfield Road.
And so it went on, for many many years. "We're faithful to the One True Holy and Apostolic Church!" screamed the 'Remainers', even as they were being tortured to death. "Traitors!" shrieked the others. "Leave means Leave! Get over it."
The St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, August 1572, by the Huguenot painter Francois Dubois: Catholic 'Remainers' in France take revenge on Protestant 'Leavers', also known as Huguenots
Of course compared with France's Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants during the 16th century England was relatively stable. That was surely thanks to the wise and clever Queen Elizabeth I who steered a middle path in religion between the fanatics of both sides.
She shared the attitude of our own equally sensible Sir Walter Raleigh; as a boy he had seen the horrors of the conflict in France for himself. "The greatest and most grievous calamity that can come to any state is civil war", he would write in his 'History of the World', published in 1614.
When Stuarts succeeded Tudors and when a calamitous English Civil War did finally break out later that century it was for a variety of reasons, but religion certainly played a part. The Restoration of 1660 under King Charles II brought peace but did not heal matters.
It didn't help when the extraordinarily manipulative conman Titus Oates - later known as 'Titus the Liar' - threw the country into hysteria with his wild assertions of a 'Popish plot'. He accused Catholic 'Remainers' of conspiring to kill the King: by 1681 at least 15 innocent men had been found guilty and executed before Oates was exposed as a complete fraud.
The St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, August 1572, by the Huguenot painter Francois Dubois: Catholic 'Remainers' in France take revenge on Protestant 'Leavers', also known as Huguenots
Of course compared with France's Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants during the 16th century England was relatively stable. That was surely thanks to the wise and clever Queen Elizabeth I who steered a middle path in religion between the fanatics of both sides.
She shared the attitude of our own equally sensible Sir Walter Raleigh; as a boy he had seen the horrors of the conflict in France for himself. "The greatest and most grievous calamity that can come to any state is civil war", he would write in his 'History of the World', published in 1614.
When Stuarts succeeded Tudors and when a calamitous English Civil War did finally break out later that century it was for a variety of reasons, but religion certainly played a part. The Restoration of 1660 under King Charles II brought peace but did not heal matters.
It didn't help when the extraordinarily manipulative conman Titus Oates - later known as 'Titus the Liar' - threw the country into hysteria with his wild assertions of a 'Popish plot'. He accused Catholic 'Remainers' of conspiring to kill the King: by 1681 at least 15 innocent men had been found guilty and executed before Oates was exposed as a complete fraud.
And then, finally, on 5 November 1688 — a day already special
in the national calendar — the staunchly Protestant William of Orange landed in Devon with an army of
14,000 and the Catholic Stuart King James II was expelled in the ‘Glorious Revolution’.
But fear of 'Remainers', seen as 'enemies of the People', persisted. Nearly a century later more anti-Catholic hysteria swept the Nation in the Gordon Riots. On 2 June 1780, a mob estimated at between 40,000 and 60,000 took to the streets in London and marched on the Houses of Parliament. The army was called out and over 280 rioters were shot dead, with 200 or so wounded.
But fear of 'Remainers', seen as 'enemies of the People', persisted. Nearly a century later more anti-Catholic hysteria swept the Nation in the Gordon Riots. On 2 June 1780, a mob estimated at between 40,000 and 60,000 took to the streets in London and marched on the Houses of Parliament. The army was called out and over 280 rioters were shot dead, with 200 or so wounded.
Chaucer's Friar from his Canterbury Tales
Of course it’s too simple to quote dates in these
matters. Discontent had been simmering for centuries before Henry VIII’s break
with Rome. Think of the Lollards, John Wycliffe and Chaucer’s satire of the
Catholic Church in his Canterbury Tales. And I won't mention Northern Ireland.
It just shows that there is nothing new under the sun.
And that researching the past and understanding the mistakes that people have made may help us enjoy happier lives
in the future.
You can access other posts on this blog by going to the Blog Archive (under the ‘About Me’ section), and clicking on the appropriate heading.
You can access other posts on this blog by going to the Blog Archive (under the ‘About Me’ section), and clicking on the appropriate heading.
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