A Corpus of the arms of King Edward VI

Lindfield, Peter N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8393-9344 2023. A Corpus of the arms of King Edward VI. The Coat of Arms 6 (240) , pp. 198-218.

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Abstract

Edward VI (1537–53 (reigned 1547–53)), the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was the first King of England to be raised Protestant. His reign is characterised by reforming zeal: this impacted not only Christian ceremony but also the decoration and appearance of churches. For example, church interiors were reworked by the removal of the rood—depictions of the crucified Christ—as well as images of saints: the former being replaced with the royal arms. Such a substitution is recorded and explained by Bishop Gilbert Burnett (1643–1715) in the second part of his History of the Reformation (1681): But now they that were weary of the Popish Superstitions observing that Arch-bishop Cranmer had so great a share of the young Kings [sic] affection, and that the Protector and he were in the same Interests, began to call for a further Reformation of Religion; and some were so full of zeal for it, that they would not wait on the slow motions of the State. So the Curate and Church-wardens of St. Martins [sic] in Ironmonger-lane in London, took down the Images and Pictures of the Saints, and the Crucifix out of their Church, and painted many Texts of Scripture on the Walls; some of them according to a perverse Translation, as the Complaint has it; and in the place where the Crucifix was, they set up the Kings [sic] Arms with some Texts of Scripture about it. Upon this the Bishop and Lord-Major of London complained to the Council. And the Curate and Church-wardens being cited to appear, answered for themselves, That the Roof of their Church being bad, they had taken it down, and that the Crucifix and Images were so rotten, that when they removed them they fell to powder: That the charge they had been at in repairing their Church was such, that they could not buy new Images: That they had taken down the Images in the Chancel, because some had been guilty of Idolatry towards them. In conclusion, they said, what they had done was with a good intention; and if they had in any thing done amiss, they asked pardon. and submitted themselves. Some were for punishing them severely; for all the Papists reckoned that this would be a leading Case to all the rest of this Reign. As Munro records, the painting of the King’s arms at St Martin’s is representative of a broader trend, even if, as the passage quoted above indicates, the installation of the royal arms within the church was legal but the removal of the rood was neither customary nor legal. The reconceptualisation of St Martin’s decoration, however, was far from unique and a 1550 inventory of St Dunstan’s-in-the-East, London, records a ‘small hangyng of red and blew sarsenet with the Kynges Armes’. Further examples from Essex churches include that at Wix, where an inventory from 1552 details a ‘cloth stayned and wrytte with the scripture, the Kings Majestys Arms in the middle, which cloth is hanging upon the candell-beam’; at Paglesham £2 3s 4d was spent on ‘paynting the King’s Arms and wrytting of the schriptures within the Church’; and at St Mary’s, Maldon, 6s 8d was spent on ‘one hundred of gold for the Kyng’s Majesties Arms, and 12d for one pottell of oyle for the same’. Churches in Edward VI’s reign were being decorated with the King’s arms.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture
Subjects:	C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CR Heraldry D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain N Fine Arts > NK Decorative arts Applied arts Decoration and ornament
ISSN:	0010-003X
Related URLs:	https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/publi...
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	22 June 2023
Date of Acceptance:	22 February 2023
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2024 01:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/160490

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