The voices of Morebath : Reformation and rebellion in an English village

313 Pages·2003·6.18 MB·English

by  Trychay

THE VOICES OF MOREBATH

Copyright © 2001 Eamon Duffy First published in paperback 2003
3 5272921028262422
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying
permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Typeset by Northern Phototypesetting Co. Ltd, Bolton Printed in Italy
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Duffy, Eamon.
The voices of Morebath: reformation and rebellion in an English village / Eamon Duffy.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Reformation–England–Morebath. 2. Morebath (England)–Church history–16th century. 3. Trychay,
Christopher, ca. 1490–1574. I. Title.
BR 377.5.M67 D84 2001
274.23'52-DC21
2222222222222222222 2001001477
ISBN 0 300 09185 0 (hardback) 978-0-300-09825-9 (paperback)
FRONTISPIECE: The Alchemist, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1558? detail. Staatliche Museen, Berlin
TITLEPAGE: Sir Christopher Trychay's signature, from a list of regulations for the maintenance of the church
hedge [Binney 38 / Ms 181], see pp. 50–1.
for
Jonathan, Hester, Pippa
at their goyng forthe

Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
A note on names and spelling
Preface
Illustrations
1 A Place Apart
2 The Voices of Morebath
3 The Pursuit of Peace
4 The Piety of Morebath
5 Banishing Saint Sidwell
6 Morebath Dismantled
7 Under Two Queens
Appendix: The Wardens of Morebath
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Acknowledgements
While writing this book I have accumulated obligations to a host of friends and
colleagues who have offered insight, advice, information, expertise, hospitality
or merely an indulgent ear – Dr Ian Arthurson, Mr T. Cooper, Dr David
Crankshaw, Professor Pat Collinson, Dr Beat Kumin, Dr Joanna Mattingly,
Professor John Morrill and and Ms Helen Weinstein. I owe special debts of
gratitude to Sir David and Lady Calcutt for hospitality on Exmoor and for the
sight of an archdeacon chasing someone else's hat, to Jim and Mabel Vellacott of
Bampton and Morebath – Jim and Mabel ‘at Wode’ – who walked and talked me
round the farms of Morebath, to Richard and Caryl Rothwell of Little Timewell
for access to the estate map of Morebath Manor, to Professor Diarmaid
MacCulloch for making me think twice, to Dr Neil Jones for unrivalled expertise
in Tudor law, to Professor Nicholas Boyle, who read every word and commented
constructively on almost all of them, and to Dr C. S. Knighton who also read the
typescript. I thank them all. Professor Nicholas Orme has been from the
beginning of this project a generous and supportive friend. A glance at the
footnotes will reveal how often I have borrowed from his deep knowledge of the
religious history of Devon. In addition he has been a tireless source of
hospitality, information and guidance, and a healthily sceptical reader: this
would have been a far poorer book without him.
The Bethune-Baker fund of the Cambridge Faculty of Divinity and the
Morshead-Salter fund of Magdalene College made research grants. John Nicoll
and Sally Salvesen at Yale have again proved themselves peerless publishers and
warm friends, and Margot Levy was a thorough and intelligent copy editor. I am
grateful to the Rector of Bampton and the Devon County Archivist for
permission to reproduce pages from the Morebath account-book, and I am
grateful for the efficiency and cooperation of the staffs of the Devon Record
Office, the Somerset Record Office, and the West Country Studies library. The
final stages of the book were completed as McCarthy Professor at the Gregorian
University, Rome, in the gracious setting of the Collegio Irlandese, where I was
welcomed with truly Hibernian kindness by Monsignor John Fleming, Rector,
and his staff and students.
Finally, I thank my wife Jenny, best support of all, who has borne heroically
with marriage to Sir Christopher Trychay.