Recusant prayer books from the Elizabethan era

Yesterday lunchtime I attended an online lecture at the Society of Antiquaries about the way in which members of the Elizabethan recusant community added illustrations to their printed prayer books or produced their own manuscript versions. Few of these books have survived, and most that have indicate extensive use which has left them battered and fragile, a precious testimony to a faith lived under persecution.

The speaker was Dr Earle Havens from Johns Hopkins University, and the talk with its fascinating illustrations was an intriguing insight into the world of recusancy. Not only did one sometimes encounter known individuals but also got a glimpse into the secret Jesuit printing shops and those working in the Spanish Netherlands in and around Antwerp, and the risky business of smuggling such literature into England and distributing it

The lecture can be seen from the Society of Antiquaries website at Extra-Illustration & Book Adaptation in the Elizabethan Catholic Underground by Dr Earle Havens FSA

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

The partially restored Augustinian friary, which, of course, makes this all the more topical as a place of Pilgrimage, in the historic town of Clare, and the related Marian devotion is introduced in my set of linked posts from last year in Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

Like many friaries in caputs of great lordships it owed much to the aristocratic patronage of the  local great family based at the nearby castle. As I wrote in one of my previous posts Clare is a charming, sleepy, East Anglian town rich in historic associations and buildings, including not just the friary, but also the very striking parish church, the remains of the castle ( enclosing a closed Victorian railway station), and many sixteenth or seventeenth century houses which are often bedecked in shades of ‘Suffolk Pink’

I should add that it is not entirely clear if the friary was an established focus for medieval Marian pilgrims, although it was very clearly a recognised house of prayer and of aristocratic burial. The contemporary life of the buildings as a retreat house with the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel may be a modern extrapolation of life there in the medieval centuries rather than a revival.

May Our Lady of Clare pray for Pope Leo XIV

Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

The next Pilgrimage station today is that of Our Lady of Sudbury in the parish church of St Gregory in the town. 

It is the largest and most impressive of the three medieval parish churches in the town.  In addition to once being a recognised place of pilgrimage the church has some fine late medieval architecture and furnishings, and still houses the skull of the murdered Archbishop Simon Sunbury from 1381. He had constituted it as a collegiate church - and was the predecessor about whom the former, useless, Archbishop of Canterbury tried to make a tasteless joke in his last appearance speaking in the House of Lords.

My article from last year linking several aspects of the shrine and the church can be seen at 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

May Our Lady of Sudbury pray for Pope Leo XIV

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woodbridge

The Pilgrimage now heads further east into Suffolk and goes to Woodbridge.

Less less appears to be known about this shrine than about many of the others on this journey, and it may have had a more local following than other images and traditions of prayer.

My article from last about what I could glean can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woodbridge

May Our Lady of Woodbridge pray for Pope Leo XIV

 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woolpit

The next stop on the itinerary is at the parish church at Woolpit near Bury St Edmunds. 

My post from last year,about this shrine, together with links to other articles, including material about the Green Children, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage  - Our Lady of Woolpit

If you ever go physically to Woolpit just keep an eye out for any Green people - other than the political variety who, coincidentally, seem to be doing quite well in central Suffolk. 

May Our Lady of Woolpit pray for Pope Leo XIV 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Ely

Today the Pilgrimage has a several shrines to visit so as to maintain momentum and the schedule for the month. The first visit is to Ely Cathedral in the Fenland west of Thetford

My post about this long established shrine from last year has a number of links about the Lady Chapel which presumably housed the devotional Image. It can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Ely 

May Our Lady of Ely pray for Pope Leo XIV

Medieval English Roads

Whilst we are making our way on the pilgrimage around medieval Marian shrines, not to mention following a very idiosyncratic route, we might feel it useful to have a road map. If we do then we might feel like eschewing Sat-Nav, online maps, Google Earth or even a standard motoring artlas. The answer is, of course, the Gough Map.

The Gough Map in the Bodleian is the most detailed map of the British Isles, and in particular of England and Wales, to survive from the later medieval period. It was, fortuitously, rescued by the antiquarian Richard Gough - hence its name - in the eighteenth century. The argument I have heard is that it was mounted on a board which was hinged to the wall of the Star Chamber so it could be consulted during Council meetings.

Medievalists.net has an article summering a recent research paper, which it links to, about the red lines indicating roads on the Gough Map. It has sought to identify which were Roman roads that were then, and probably still are, in use, and those which were created in the medieval centuries, though which might be much older. A third category are those which cannot be identified before the mid-sixteenth century but which were quite probably in existence long beforehand.

This is interesting, and rather confirms what a knowledge of local history for any particular place or locality would indicate. The road building of the later eighteenth and earlier nineteenth centuries had a huge impact, often completely reordering our perceptions about towns and villages, and the links between the. That, of course, is before the landscape was ripped apart by motorways….

Rivers were an important feature to the Gough cartographer, and it is important to remember that, particularly in eastern, lowland England rivers were important both for carrying heavy goods, including stone for building, but also people. Royalty, nobility and doubtless others used the rivers for speedy travel and, probably,

comfort. 

One thing that slightly surprised me was the attribution of the Gough Map to the fifteenth century or more precisely 1390-1410. I had been brought up to date it to the period 1360-75. Wikipedia outlines the discussion, with relevant links, at Gough Map

The article, and links to the academic paper and more about the Gough Map, can all be accessed at Medieval England’s Road Network Mapped Using the Gough Map

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Thetford

The Pilgrimage now goes to west Norfolk to the Cluniac priory at Thetford and its shrine of Our Lady. As can be seen in the links from my previous posts the origins and development of the priory as a place of devotion is much better documented than most others which adds considerably to its historical interest. 

My article from last year, with the relevant links can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Thetford

May Our Lady of Thetford pray for Pope Leo XIV