16. Of cups and plate

“You have chosen wisely,” the Grail knight tells the hero in the film 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.'  Terrible things befall those who choose poorly and drink from the wrong communion cup.

And so it was during the turbulent years of religious wars brought about by the Reformation in Europe during the 16^th and 17^th centuries, when Protestant ‘Leavers’ struggled to break from what they saw as the tyranny of Rome. ‘Remainers’ fought equally hard to keep the Catholic traditions to which they were so accustomed.

The replica communion cup in display in Budleigh Salterton's Fairlynch Museum is an exact copy of the 16^th century silver vessel from which both Sir Walter Ralegh and Roger Conant may have drunk during services at East Budleigh’s All Saints Church.

The cup tells the story of how a clever Queen of England steered a path between the two groups of extremists to ensure that her kingdom would not follow France’s example with its tragic Wars of Religion. 

‘The greatest and most grievous calamity that can come to any state is civil war,’ wrote Ralegh in his ‘History of the World’, published in 1614. He had had direct experience of such a calamity, having fought as a teenager on the Huguenot side in France.  

Left: A chalice with the inscription: 'My blood truly is a libation', made in 1549 for the church of St John the Baptist in Salinas, Spain.  © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; 
right: wooden communion cups, Bernisches Historisches Museum, Bern, Switzerland dated 1718  
https://www.reforc.com

Countries which broke from Rome and embraced Protestantism rejected the decorative, sometimes bejewelled chalices which were characteristic of the Catholic tradition.


In Europe, the most extreme example of the tendency to reject such Catholic practices was seen as early as April 1525 when the reformer Ulrich Zwingli celebrated Maundy Thursday with wooden rather than silver cups. 

Was such Protestant extremism seen in English parishes? 'It is hard to be sure what was happening, especially since there was such variation on the ground,' says Dr Laura Sangha, of the University of Exeter’s Department of History.

'We do know from churchwarden accounts that many parishes either sold their communion chalices during Edward VI's reign, or they had them confiscated by the authorities. There is also evidence that some parishes bought wooden cups at around the same time, so certainly they were in use in some places.'

Goldsmiths and silversmiths benefited enormously  from changes brought about by English Reformation.  Much church treasure was confiscated by Henry VIII, with plate being melted down and reworked to conform to the new Protestant liturgy.  The process was even more marked in the 1550s, which saw the seizure of most church gold and silver ornaments by officials of Edward VI’s government.  

In the West Country, up to and including the 16th century, silversmiths relied heavily upon the Church for business. Two notable Exeter craftsmen of the 16th century were John Jones and Richard Hilliard, father of Nicholas the famous miniaturist. 

One of the most productive silversmiths of his age, John Jones (d.1583-84) was a Bailiff of the city in 1567 and Churchwarden at St. Petrock's in 1570. 

A silver gilt communion cup and cover from St Petrock’s church, Exeter, made by John Jones in about 1572. The churchwarden’s account records that in 1571 Jones was paid one pound, 15 shillings and five pence for converting this piece from a Roman Catholic chalice into a Protestant communion cup. From the RAMM collection

You can see examples of communion cups made by both Jones and Hilliard on display at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter.  More than a hundred of Jones's communion cups have survived. They made his fortune.

Queen Mary I, Portrait by Antonis Mor, 1554 Museo del Prado

The brief period of Mary Tudor’s reign saw a return to Catholic practices, welcomed by those who wanted to remain with Rome.  But by 1559 when her half-sister Elizabeth ascended the throne England was ready to ready to accept compromises in matters of religion.

The new Queen evidently shared his view. “Away with those torches, for we see very well,” she is supposed to have exclaimed at her coronation, when greeted by the Abbot of Westminster and his monks.

Queen Elizabeth I. The 'Darnley' portrait 
National Portrait Gallery

Elizabeth’s apparent rejection of the Catholic practice of lighted candles, a relic from the previous reign, would have been interpreted by Protestants as a sign of her Reformist tendencies.

Equally, the queen wanted to reassure Catholics that she respected elements of the old tradition. “The coronation was a typical Elizabethan compromise with something to confuse and offend everyone,” concludes Professor Richard McCoy in an article about the ceremony, which was keenly watched by contemporaries for hints of the government’s religious policy in the new reign.

The Elizabethan Settlement deliberately encompassed a range of preferences when it came to religious worship, and this included more decoration and ceremonial that would have been tolerated during the Edwardian regime, writes Laura Sangha.  

Fairlynch Museum’s copy of the 1570s chalice made by John Jones, moderately decorated, but not too decorated,  reflects perfectly the spirit of compromise which characterized the Virgin Queen’s reign. 

Photo of the 16th century original artefact

And that Tudor rose on the paten – the lid of the chalice - told English people that London, not Rome, was in control.  

Beautifully crafted by Birmingham pewterers A.E. Williams – probably the oldest firm of its kind in the world – Fairlynch Museum's replica of one of East Budleigh’s treasures tells a fascinating story from a crucial period in British history. 

It may give a clue as to Roger Conant's East Devon background, which would form his moderate views in matters of religion. 

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.    

13. Past and Present: Seeking a Promised Land of sunlit uplands and meadows

 

'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.  Finally the people of this country will glimpse the ‘sunlit uplands and meadows’ that so many individuals have promised.

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 Robert W. Weir 
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. 

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 400^th 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'.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.   

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.