Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, it became customary for the illiterate feudal lord to employ his literal chaplain to administer his estate, the church being the only form of education available (thus the term 'cleric' and our modern word 'clerk'). In time, as education became more widespread, the clergy frequently continued to fill such administrative functions.

Mass was said in Latin, a tongue alien to all but a few of the population and the chancel, belonging to the clergy, was separated from the nave (belonging to the congregation and serving as village hall as well as church) by the rood screen. Churches where brightly painted with scenes from the bible and the population at large recieved its religion not from the established church, but from the preaching in their native tongue by itinerant friars which was much scorned by the clergy.

As in Saxon times, Medieval punishments for contravening religious conventionswere severe; Blasphemy was punishable by branding with a "B". Those causing disturbances in church were branded with and "F" for �fraymaker�. Heresy was punishable by burning at the stake until 1602 Two witnesses to the crime were sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused. To question the understanding of the world as pronounced by the clergy was to question God and therefore a heresy.

MEDIEVAL CHURCH & STATE
In the Middle Ages the Church was largely independent of the State. Although in civil and, to a certain extent criminal, matters the clergy were subject to the law of the land, in ecclesiastical matters they were governed by canon law, administered by ecclesiastical courts and the Pope was supreme. Despite this, there were many clashes between the Church and the State.

FOLLOWING THE NORMAN CONQUEST
Stigand was deposed and Lanfranc of Pavia, the Abbot of Caen, was made Archbishop of Canterbury. The new archbishop was a statesman and lawyer rather than a great theologian and believed that the reform of the isolated Saxon church depended on the power of the Norman kings, working closely with both William I (the Conqueror, 1066-1087) and his successor William II (Rufus, 1087-1100).

The church in England was brought much closer to Rome, the authority of Canterbury over York was recognised and national synods were regularly held for ecclesiatical legislation. Spiritual pleas were removed from the temporal courts, simony (the purchase of livings, named after Simon Magus, Acts VIII, 20) was strongly opposed, as was the marriage of clergy.

Bishops sees were removed from small towns and village to larger centers (as with Dorchester in Oxfordshire which was removed to Lincoln).

Despite the church's closer connection to Rome and the king's sanction of the payment of Peter's Pence, the Conqueror refused to take the oath of fealty to Pope Hildebrand (Gregory VII) as his feudal lord. The king's consent was declared necessary for the recognition of the Pope in England, meetings of the synods, receipt of papl bulls and the excommunication of the king's tenants-in-chief. While Lanfranc worked closely with the monachs of England, the settlement worked well but it left the relatonships between monarch and archbishop and that between bishops and lay and ecclesiastical courts undefined leading to disputes over these issues between Henry I (1100-35) and Anselm and later between Henry II (1154-1189) and Becket.

14th CENTURY
Because of the very different attitude to religion in medieval times, religion and the church played a far greater part in everyday life than in modern times. While institutions we would recognise as modern were being grafted onto lay medieval society (such as tenant farmers replacing feudal servitude) in the coutryside and the towns, the church, a rigid and conservative institution remained unchanged despite changing opinions and thought.

If the church was venerated as an institution in what was seen as the natural and ordained order of the universe, the 'corruption' of the clergy was widely denounced, not only by the likes of Wycliffe and the Lollard heretics, but also by the orthodox such as Chaucer, Gower and Langland.

While the medieval church was no more corrupt than most medieval institutions by modern standards, it remained unchanged with its privileges protected by ever-growing wealth.

Originally, the Lollards were offered some protection, particularly at Oxford, by John of Gaunt. After his departure from England to press his claim to the throne of Castile, this protection evaporated and Lollardy became strongly resisted by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities.

Criticism of the church was not, however, restricted to the laity - many a parish priest advocated reform or openly rebelled while the friars were scathing of the Bishops and the secular clergy.

Whilst previously many popes had sought to reform the church, the fourteenth century popes fostered the very abuses (the sale of indulgences, simony, plurality and non-residence) which angered the critics but enriched the Papal court in Rome. The Pope appointed foreign favourite to many of the choice positions in the church with the collusion of the English kings and despite parliamentary laws forbidding such practice. To maintain the system, the appointment of bishops was left in the hands of the Crown.

The bishops, while highly respected, able and hard-working, made little effort to reform the church and right abuses being too preoccupied with secular matters, many acting as servants of the Crown while in the pay of the Church and holding high secular offices which sometimes included acting as ambassadors abroad. Some had risen to recieve bishoprics for secular service to to the king or his sons (the Bishop of Salisbury had been Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for John of Gaunt while the Bishop of Bath and Wells had been Chancellor of Gascony for the Black Prince) and it had become customary for the chancellor of the kingdom to be a bishop (eg: Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury and William of Wykeham).

Of twenty-five bishops in England and Wales between 1376 and 1386, no less than thirteen held high secular office under the Crown while several of the other twelve were prominent in politics. While such a situation may have been desirable during the reigns of the Norman kings when the bishops proved a body of learned and able administrators, by the fourteenth century there were many among the laity, highly trained as lawyers, able to replace the clerics and indeed envious of their monopoly on administration.

The one part of their duties which the bishops never failed to neglect was to defend the privileges of the Church and its endowments and the persecution of heretics (Wycliffe's denial of transubstantiation in 1380 and the emergence of the Lollards being the first serious heresy to occur in England).

15th CENTURY
Lollardy was vigorously repressed as a heresy during the late fourteenth century by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities and the movement was extinguished during the early fifteenth century (as by the burning of John Badby in 1410 for his denial of transubstantiation).

Although the clamour for ecclesiatical change subsided considerably during the fifteenth century with the suppression of the Lollards, the immutability of the church as an institution under the Plantagenet kings led to the religious revolution during the time of the Tudors.

see also:   Medieval England

As became the case with feudal dues, the ecclesiastical courts acquired the habit of commuting penance for monetary payment and the practice begame general. The practice of accepting money payments in the "Bishops' Courts" soon turned into the blackmailing of alleged sinners, particularly by the "Summoners" who were responsible for presenting the offenders before the courts and were the most despised on account of their corruption.

The Reformation revolutionised the relationship between Church and State, establishing the doctrine of absolute sovereignty of the State. In England, the seal was set upon this doctrine by the Act of Supremacy of 1558, whereby the Sovereign became the Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England.

The Act of Supremancy (entitled "An Act concerning the King's Highness to be supreme head of the Church of England and to have authority to reform and redress all errors heresies and abuses in the same") was passed by the Parliament on November 3rd, 1534 (26 Henry VIII c.1), and conferred on the King the title of supreme head of the Church of England, nullifying the authority of the Pope in England and giving the King the right to reform the church and to judge heresies;-

Be it enacted by authority of this present Parliament that the King our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted and reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia, and shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the same Church belonging and appertaining. . .

. . . Henry VIII formally adopted the new style as head of the Anglican Church in the presence of the leading officers of state on January 15th, 1535.

An similar Act of Supremacy was passed by the Irish Parliament between October 13th and December 20th, 1536 making the monarch supreme head of the Church of Ireland.

To deny the Sovereign's supremacy, to refuse to assent to the Thirty-nine Articles or Book of Common Prayer is a ground for depriving a clergyman of his benefice. See: 'Subscriptions' by Clerics

It is not only the relationship between Church and State which was transformed, but also that of doctrine and practice. In 1571, an Act of Parliament adopted the Articles of Religion (otherwise known as the Thirty-nine Articles) which had been framed much earlier but achieved that form adopted in 1562. The Form of church Services (or the Book of Common Prayer) adopted during the reign of Edward VI, became more Puritan during the Civil War and the ensuing Commonwealth but recieved its present for after the Restoration of Charles II in 1562.

Since the reign of Elizabeth I, the Church of England has been know as the " Church of England as by law established ", and the relations between Church and State in their totality have become known as the "Establishment ".

Failure to conform to the doctrines of the Established Church once entailed many civil disabilities but these have now been removed byt the State which, although closely linked with the Church, no longer sees religious tolerance as a threat, recognizes the right to freedom of conscience and now protects other forms of worship and other religious bodies.

RELIGIOUS ORDERS

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