Chapter VIII: Section VII

_Effects of the reformation at Lynn further exemplified—dissolution of the convents_, _chapels_, _and gilds—suppression and expulsion of the monks and friars—the consequences_.

It seems very probable, and even morally certain, that all the inhabitants of this town, before the reformation, were in the habit of paying attention to religious institutions and observances, or to the externals of the religion that was then in vogue. The numerous friars and other religious functionaries would not fail to keep them to that, as they had, without doubt, sufficient inclination, influence and power so to do. From this state of things we may reasonably conclude that a change for the worse would, and actually did take place after the reformation, when so many convents and chapels were shut up, which were before much resorted to: in consequence of which the bulk of the people were necessarily deprived of any fair chance or opportunity to attend upon, and profit by the public ministrations of their new or protestant pastors: and this, as was before observed, has really been the case here to this day.

The shutting up and demolition of the _chapels_ must have been a very strange, impolitic, and unaccountable measure; and the suppression of the _gilds_ was perhaps not much less so. The former measure deprived more than half the inhabitants of an opportunity to receive public instruction, or to attend public worship; and the latter dissolved and abolished a number of fraternal institutions, or friendly societies, of long standing, most of which, if not all, seem to have been very harmless, and many of them apparently of the same useful tendency as our modern benefit clubs, whose general utility is unquestionable, and universally acknowledged. Were our present government to abolish or prohibit these, it would certainly be, not only an unjustifiable deed, but a real and very serious grievance. How much less so the suppression of the Gilds may have been, it is perhaps not very easy to determine. Though the possessions of some of these Gilds were very considerable, yet they were all sequestered, and no part of them, that we know of applied to any public advantage, or real benefit to the community. {682} As it was with the sequestration of the possessions of the gild companies, so it was also with that of the possessions of our _convents_, or different religious orders. They were lavishly bestowed and thrown away on a certain royal minion, or court favourite, of the name of _Eyre_, from whom they soon passed into different hands as regardless as himself of the public welfare. Had a due regard been paid to the public good, these possessions might have been laid out, or applied, so as to form such foundations and establishments as might have proved of great and lasting benefit to the community, and amply compensate for any detriment that accrued to the lower ranks of society, or to the public morals, from the expulsion of the friars, or shutting up of their houses. But Henry was not the only sovereign of these realms who appeared more bent upon the gratification of his own caprice and waywardness than the promotion or advancement of the public weal.

The _poor_ of this town must have sustained a most serious loss by the expulsion of the monks and friars and the sequestration of their revenues; which deprived them of their best friends, at whose houses they were entertained, not only with moral and religious instruction, but also with food for their bodies. For it is well known that the monasteries and convents were eminent for their hospitality, and furnished the poor with their chief support in those days. The _friars_ also were very remarkable for the attention which they paid the poor and the rest of the common people, over whom they maintained no small influence, even in seasons of public commotion, distraction and anarchy. It is no wonder therefore that those of the lower orders long regretted their disappearance, and had songs composed to celebrate the superior felicity of the times when the country was honoured with their residence. {684a}

We know of but _two_ periods at which Lynn appears to have materially suffered from the circumstance of unoccupied or _empty houses_. One of those periods is the present, when the number of such houses amounts to some scores, owing to the extreme pressure of burdens brought upon the inhabitants by the inexcusable misdoings of some of their own townsmen. {684b} The other period was at the reformation, or after the dissolution of the monasteries, when all the convents in this town with many chapels and other religious houses were shut up, and afterwards demolished; so that the people, for the most part, were left without places where they might attend public worship and receive religious instruction; which must have proved very unfavourable to the public morals, from its obvious and powerful tendency to deprave and barbarize those who were so situated.

Previously to the actual dissolution of the monasteries, &c. a formal surrender and resignation, and also a _confession_, generally took place. This was solemnly declared to have been done voluntarily, though the contrary was well known to have been the fact. These deeds of surrender are still in being, with some also of the confessions; but most of them are said to have been destroyed in Mary’s reign: it being then, probably, in contemplation, if circumstances would admit, to restore those places to their former occupants.—The instruments or deeds of surrender from Lynn are supposed to be still extant in the Augmentation Office. But as the present writer has not seen them, he can only guess what their tenor was from such as have fallen in his way, which he has met in Burnet’s History of the Reformation, and Martin’s History of Thetford.

The work last mentioned contains a copy of the surrender of the Dominican Convent at Thetford, addressed “To all the Faithful in Christ,” and solemnly declaring that “the Prior and Convent of the House or Priory commonly called The Black Friars and Convent of the same, with unanimous assent and consent, with minds deliberate, and with our free will and certain knowledge, and for certain just and reasonable causes, our souls and consciences in a special manner moving, freely and of our own accord have given, granted, and by these presents do give, grant and restore, release and confirm to the most illustrious prince, our lord Henry VIII, by the grace of God of England and France king, defender of the faith, lord of Ireland, and on earth supreme Head of the English church, all our said Priory or House called the Black Friars, in Thetford aforesaid, together with all and singular the messuages, gardens, tofts, lands, tenements, meadows, feeds, pastures, woods, rents, reversions, services, mills, &c. &c.”

This Surrender was dated 30. Henry VIII, and subscribed by the _Prior Richard Cley_, _Robert Baldry_, _Edward Dyer_, _Edmund Palmer_, and two more.—“Those mercenary monks (says Martin) were obliged by royal authority to resign what they valued most upon earth, and declare the will of their sovereign to be the motion of their own minds; whereas their possessions were extorted from them contrary to their wishes and inclinations. They acquired their wealth by hypocrisy, and parted with it under the influence of the same principle.” {687} But he should have remembered that hypocrisy of much the same sort was displayed by the corporations, or the different cities and boroughs, in the reign of James II, in the surrender of their respective charters: and the hypocrisy of the latter was perhaps much less excusable than that of the poor friars, because they were in much less peril.—The mayors and aldermen ran no risk of hanging, but several of the others were actually hanged, for refusing to surrender and play the hypocrites.

A copy of the Surrender of the _Carmelites_ in Stamford has been preserved by Burnet, and is as follows—

“Forasmuch as we the Prior and Friers of this House of _Carmelites_
in _Stamford_, commonly called the White Friers in Stamford, in the
County of _Lincoln_, do profoundly consider that the perfection of
Christian living doth not consist in some Ceremonies, wearing of a
white Coat, disguising ourselves after strange fashions, dockying and
becking, wearing Scapulars and Hoods, and other-like Papistical
Ceremonies, wherein we have been most principally practised and
noseled in times past; but the very true way to please God, and to
live a true Christian Man, without all hyprocrisy and feigned
dissimulation, is sincerely declared to us by our Master Christ, his
Evangelists and Apostles; being minded hereafter to follow the same,
conforming ourselves to the will and pleasure of our supreme Head,
under God, on Earth, the King’s Majesty; and not to follow henceforth
the superstitious traditions of any forinsecal potentate or power,
with mutual assent and consent, do submit ourselves unto the mercy of
our said Sovereign Lord, and with the Like mutual assent and consent
do surrender,” &c. {688}—signed by the Prior and six Friers.

The poor monks and friars and nuns, previously to their expulsion, were forced to play the hypocrites and tell lies to save their necks, which was certainly very hard upon them. But rulers have seldom minded or commiserated hardships of that sort. With whatever they ordain or impose they always expect a ready compliance, however unreasonable in itself, or however hard it may bear on the consciences of their subjects. The above religious orders, by falsely declaring that they surrendered voluntarily and of their own accord, saved their lives, but lost their livelihood. A few abbots &c. were provided for; but thousands of friars and nuns were turned out into the wide world pennyless; which must have been very inhuman and cruel. We are assured that the arts flourished in the convents to the last. Many of the abbots and other heads of houses had been terrified, persuaded, or bribed, as it is said, to surrender their trusts. Three only (those of Colchester, Reading and Glastonbury) resisted to the last, and fell by the hands of the executioner. {689}

With respect to Lynn, it does not appear that the heads of the houses or convents, or any of the brethren, made the least difficulty to surrender in the form and manner prescribed to them. They therefore ran no risk of the gallows: they saved their lives, but lost their living; for they were turned adrift and thrown upon the wide world. Many of them, and of their fellow sufferers, had a pretty good chance of obtaining subsistence by their own ingenuity; for they had among them some excellent penmen, some notable carvers, some admirable embroiderers, some intelligent gardeners; and, in short, some that excelled in every useful art, and in all handycraft employments. There they had greatly the advantage of our modern clergy, many of whom, it is to be feared, know little beyond what appertains to the occupation of sportsmen or foxhunters, which would afford but a poor prospect of subsistence, if they had nothing else to depend upon.

Moreover, we must reckon among the most striking and memorable effects which the reformation had upon Lynn the very visible and degrading change it produced in the aspect or appearance of the town, reducing it, as it evidently did, to a most mean and paltry object, compared to what it was previously to that event. For the demolition and disappearance of so many stately edifices, which had long been the pride and boast of the inhabitants, must have had a most strange, humiliating and transforming effect upon the place, both with respect to its external aspect, or as it appeared without from the adjacent country, and also as it looked within, to those who passed through its streets, or observed it internally. It must have looked somewhat like a town that had undergone a close and successful siege, and which had been left half demolished and ruined by a victorious and exasperated enemy. In short, the present Lynn, or this town since the reformation, must have always made a far inferior, or much meaner figure than the former or papal Lynn, with its four large and stately convents, adorned with lofty towers, and ranged along the whole town from south to north. Besides them we must also reckon the Benedictine Priory, the convent of the friars _de Penitentia_, the College, the churches or chapels of St. John, St. James, St. Catherine, St. Anne, those of our Lady at the Bridge and on the Mount, and undoubtedly other venerable structures, whose sites and very names are now forgotten and unknown.

In fine, there were perhaps not many towns in the kingdom, if indeed there were any at all, whose appearance underwent a greater change than this, at, and in consequence of the reformation. Had two persons, a papist and a protestant, who remembered the town in its former state, now visited and jointly surveyed it, one would have been apt to take up his lamentation and pronounce _Ichabod_! its glory is departed! while the other would be no less apt exultingly to exclaim “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!”—But a _third_ person, accustomed to view things with the eyes of a christian philosopher, would have given way to neither lamentation nor exultation, but would have considered the whole as the natural effect of a mighty revolution, and an additional proof of the changing and perishing nature of all human productions and sublunary magnificence.

CHAP. II.

History of Lynn for the first hundred years after the reformation; or rather, from the dissolution of the monasteries to the meeting of the long parliament and commencement of the civil wars.

In the preceding account of the immediate effects of the reformation upon this town little or nothing occurs that appears of a very pleasing or favourable nature. No symptoms are discernable of either moral or intellectual improvement. The town had become protestant, but superstition and ignorance still remained, and licentiousness and barbarism seemed rather to increase than diminish. The former religious functionaries or instructors were expelled, and they were succeeded by men less competent than themselves for the tuition or instruction of the people: and therefore it was not to be expected that the latter should be better taught, or further enlightened under their guidance and management. On the contrary, we may suppose them to have gone in a retrograde rather than in a progressive direction: and so it seems really to have happened. In fact, very little appears to have been done here of reformation work, or for the advancement of protestantism during the long period now under consideration, besides the expulsion of the monks and friars and demolition of their Houses. Of that little, some account shall be given in the following section.