Chapter 2

Direct Access

Abstract

This chapter reports what documents of the Western Christian controversy over Scripture and worship record. It covers a provincial council in Languedoc in 1229, English church, royal and parliamentary documents from 1401 to 1977, and Virginia and the United States from 1784 to 1791. It does not speak for Eastern Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or other traditions, and it makes no claim about doctrine or about whether any belief is true. Every finding concerns a named council, statute, proclamation or office. None concerns a faith or its members. The documents show bishops, kings and Parliament requiring a license or an approval before lay people could have Scripture in their own language, and most of the documents state a reason: heresy, unlicensed preaching, the risk of mistranslation or sedition. Between 1530 and 1543 the English Crown prohibited English Scripture, then required it in every parish church, then limited by social rank who might read it. After 1534 the Crown controlled the election of bishops, the oath of supremacy, the order of worship and the proceeds of first fruits and tenths. Dissenters faced fines shared with informers, exclusion from office and, after 1689, continued tithe. Tithe rentcharge was extinguished in 1936, and the last redemption annuities ended in 1977. In Virginia the House of Delegates agreed in 1784 that the people ought to pay a tax for Christian religion, and the General Assembly enacted in 1786 that no man shall be compelled to support any ministry. Other documents limit these findings: Innocent III's 1199 letters, Thomas More's 1529 defense of the licensing rule, and about 250 surviving manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible. How far vernacular Scripture was restricted before 1520 is disputed. It gives no figures for prosecutions, burnings or sums collected.

2.1 The Council of Toulouse, 1229

Finding REL-2.1Primary record

The provincial Council of Toulouse in 1229 forbade lay people in its province to have the books of the Old or New Testament, except a Psalter, a breviary or the Hours of the Virgin, and forbade them to have those books translated into the vernacular.

Canon 14 is a rule of one provincial council, made in the context of the suppression of heresy in Languedoc. The Latin has two sentences with different scope, and both are set out below.

Evidence: Exhibit 493

§2.1.1

The Council of Toulouse met in 1229 as a provincial council. Its canons 1, 6, 10 and 11 order parish searches for heretics, destruction of houses where heretics are found, and marked clothing for penitents. Edward Peters, who prints the canons in Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe (1980), groups this council with Tarragona in 1242 as "extreme condemnations of heresy." Canon 14 states no reason of its own.

§2.1.2

In Peters's English, after S. R. Maitland's translation of 1832, canon 14 reads: "We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or the New Testament; unless anyone from motives of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books."

§2.1.3

The Latin printed in Maitland's appendix has two sentences. The first bars lay people from having the books of the Old or New Testament, with the Psalter, the breviary and the Hours of the Virgin excepted. The second ends "in vulgari translatos" and bars having those books translated into the vernacular.

§2.1.4

The rule was made by a provincial council for its own province. The first sentence applies to "laici" without limiting the rule to people suspected of heresy. Innocent III's 1199 letters to Metz, which treat the desire to understand Scripture differently, are in section 2.9.

Exhibit 493 · Council canon (in translation)

Council of Toulouse, canon 14 (1229)

We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or the New Testament; unless anyone from motives of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.

Canon 14 forbids lay people to have the books of the Old or New Testament, with an exception for a Psalter, a breviary or the Hours of the Virgin for devotion, and forbids their having translations of these books. The same council's canons 1, 6, 10 and 11 order parish searches for heretics, destruction of houses where heretics are found, and marked clothing for penitents.

Source: Council of Toulouse (provincial council, Bishop Folquet de Marselha)
Date: 1229
Quoted from: Canon 14, in Peters, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe (Penn, 1980), no. 37, p. 195 (translation after S. R. Maitland, Facts and Documents, 1832, pp. 192-94)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/factsdocumentsil00mait
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: English wording is Peters's. The Latin of canon XIV is printed in Maitland's Authorities appendix (from Labbe, Concilia XI pt 1, col. 427); its second sentence reads 'in vulgari translatos', that is, translated into the vernacular. Peters p. 191 groups this council with Tarragona 1242 as 'extreme condemnations of heresy'.

2.2 Arundel's Constitutions and the 1401 statute

Finding REL-2.2Primary record

The Constitutions of Archbishop Arundel, drafted in 1407 and promulgated in 1409, forbade anyone to translate a text of Scripture into English on his own authority and forbade reading any such translation until the diocesan or a provincial council approved it, under the greater excommunication.

The Constitutions set an approval requirement enforced by excommunication. Scholars disagree on how it worked in practice, and the stated reason, the 1401 statute and the dispute are set out below.

Evidence: Exhibit 494, Exhibit 495, Exhibit 529

§2.2.1

Parliament's statute of 1401, De heretico comburendo (2 Hen. IV c. 15), forbids preaching without the diocesan's license and making or writing books contrary to the Catholic faith. It requires holders of such books to deliver them to the diocesan within forty days. It orders the sheriff to burn before the people anyone convicted who refuses to abjure or relapses. Its preamble gives the reasons as unlicensed preaching, schools and books meant "to excite and stir them to sedition and insurrection," and states that the diocesans cannot correct such people "without aid of the said royal majesty." The statute does not mention translating Scripture.

§2.2.2

The Constitutions of Archbishop Thomas Arundel of Canterbury were drafted in 1407 and promulgated in 1409. Pollard dates the Oxford constitution to 1408 and its ratification at St Paul's to 14 January 1408/9. Constitution 7 states its reason: "The translation of the text of Holy Scripture out of one tongue into another is a dangerous thing; as blessed Jerome testifies, because it is not easy to make the sense in all respects the same." The preamble states the wider aim as "the rooting up of tares, and whatever evils have sprung up by means of perverse preaching and unsound doctrine."

§2.2.3

Constitution 7 then enacts: "therefore we enact and ordain that no one henceforth do by his own authority translate any text of Holy Scripture into the English tongue or any other by way of book, pamphlet, or treatise." It forbids reading any such book, whether composed in the time of John Wycliffe, since, or hereafter, "in whole or in part, in public or in private," under the greater excommunication, until the translation is approved by the diocesan or by a provincial council. A person who acts to the contrary is to be punished "in the same manner as a supporter of heresy and error."

§2.2.4

Constitution 1 requires a preacher to present himself to the diocesan and be examined, and states that the examination and the diocesan's letters are to be dispatched "gratis." Constitution 6 bars Wycliffe's books from the schools. Constitution 12 bars offenders from benefices for three years.

§2.2.5

The text of Constitution 7 speaks of reading and approval. It does not use the words possession or confiscation. Anne Hudson, in an essay in the Tyndale Society Journal, reads it as "a formal prohibition of the translation of the Bible into English" under which existing copies were to be confiscated unless both text and owner had been approved by the local bishop, after which "possession of English scriptures became regarded as serious evidence of heresy." Hudson adds that the requirement of scrutiny "must have been virtually impossible to carry through" at a time of manuscript circulation. Evidence of the licensing practice is in section 2.9.

Exhibit 494 · Provincial constitutions (in translation)

Constitutions of Archbishop Thomas Arundel against the Lollards (Constitutions of Oxford), 1407-1409

therefore we enact and ordain that no one henceforth do by his own authority translate any text of Holy Scripture into the English tongue or any other by way of book, pamphlet, or treatise.

Constitution 7 forbids anyone to translate a text of Scripture into English on his own authority and forbids reading any such translation, already made or to be made, until the diocesan or a provincial council approves it, under the greater excommunication. Constitution 1 requires a diocesan license to preach; constitution 6 bars Wycliffe's books from the schools; constitution 12 bars offenders from benefices for three years.

Source: Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, with the clergy of the Province of Canterbury
Date: 1407-1409 (Oxford 1407/8; ratified at St Paul's, London, 14 January 1408/9)
Quoted from: Constitution 7 (trans. J. Johnson, 1851, rev. M. Marlowe; Latin in Wilkins, Concilia III, p. 317)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://bible-researcher.com/arundel.html
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Also printed, with the Latin of constitution 7 from Lyndwood's Provinciale and Wilkins and a modern translation, in Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record I, pp. 79-81. Dating differs between sources (1407, 1408, 1409); Pollard gives Oxford 1408 and St Paul's 14 Jan 1408-9. Further quotes read: reason ('a dangerous thing; as blessed Jerome testifies, because it is not easy to make the sense in all respects the same'), approval clause, and constitution 1's license 'gratis'. Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), p. 80 n. and intro p. 3, states that licenses came to be granted to specified readers and that a license could be procured; this is a 1911 editor's gloss and is not quoted.

Exhibit 495 · Statute (modern-spelling text)

Statute De heretico comburendo, 2 Henry IV c. 15

that none from henceforth anything preach, hold, teach, or instruct openly or privily, or make or write any book contrary to the catholic faith or determination of the Holy Church

Forbids preaching without the diocesan's license and making or writing books contrary to the Catholic faith, requires holders of such books to deliver them to the diocesan within forty days, lets the diocesan arrest suspects, and orders the sheriff to burn before the people anyone convicted who refuses to abjure or relapses. The statute does not mention translating Scripture.

Source: Parliament of England (Henry IV)
Date: 1401
Quoted from: Statutes of the Realm II, p. 125 (text as transcribed by R. Potter; also Gee and Hardy, Documents Illustrative of English Church History, 1896, no. XL; Peters no. 44)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://w3.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/heretico.html
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: The recital gives the stated reason: heretics 'usurping the office of preaching' and holding schools, with diocesans unable 'without aid of the said royal majesty' to correct them.

Exhibit 529 · Scholarly essay

Anne Hudson, 'The First Complete English Bible', Tyndale Society Journal no. 2

Orthodox owners are known: for instance the copy now found in the Bodleian Library Oxford, MS Douce 277, belonged to Henry VI

States that about 250 manuscripts of the Wycliffite translation survive; that the hierarchy tolerated translation until Arundel's Constitutions; that those Constitutions banned translation and ordered unapproved English Scriptures confiscated; that owners included Henry VI; that Arundel licensed Nicholas Love's Meditationes as a substitute; and that possession of English scriptures became evidence of heresy.

Source: Anne Hudson (historian of Lollardy)
Date: n.d. (Tyndale Society Journal no. 2)
Quoted from: Paragraph 'Despite this prohibition circulation of copies...'
Grade: Reported
Document: https://www.tyndale.org/journals/tsj02/hudson.html
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Hudson's reading ('confiscated') goes beyond the text of constitution 7, which restricts reading until approval.

2.3 The 1530 proclamation and Tyndale

Finding REL-2.3Primary record

A royal proclamation of June 1530 forbade having the New or Old Testament in English except persons appointed by the king and the bishops to correct the translation, forbade printing English Scripture without the diocesan's approval, and stated that its distribution "dependeth onely vpon the discretion of the superiours."

The proclamation is a royal document made with the bishops. Tyndale's statements are his own words, and his account of the clergy's motives is his allegation. His death is known from a secondary source.

Evidence: Exhibit 496, Exhibit 497, Exhibit 498, Exhibit 499, Exhibit 530

§2.3.1

On 24 October 1526 Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, ordered the archdeacons of London to require, within thirty days, delivery to his vicar-general of "all and singular such books conteyning the translation of the new testament in the English tongue." The penalty was excommunication and suspicion of heresy. The mandate gives as its reason that "children of iniquitie mainteiners of Luthers sect" had translated the New Testament and mixed in "hereticall articles and erronious opinions." The text survives through John Foxe's 1563 printing, reproduced by Pollard, and its Latin and English versions differ on the day (24 and 23 October).

§2.3.2

The royal proclamation of June 1530 is titled a proclamation "for dampning of erronious bokes and heresies, and prohibitinge the hauinge of holy scripture, translated into the vulgar tonges of englisshe, frenche, or duche." Pollard dates it "Mense Junii" 1530, and other sources give 6 May or 22 June. It condemns named English books printed abroad. It forbids printing any English book on Scripture until it is "examyned and approued by the ordinary of the diocese." It forbids any person to "bie, receyue, kepe or haue the newe testament or the olde, in the englisshe tonge" except persons "appoynted by the kinges highnes and the bishops of this his realme, for the correction or amendinge of the sayd translacion."

§2.3.3

The proclamation states that the king consulted the primates and learned divines of both universities and that "it is not necessary, the sayde scripture to be in the englisshe tonge, and in the handes of the commen people: but that the distribution of the sayd scripture, and the permyttyng or denyenge therof, dependeth onely vpon the discretion of the superiours, as they shall thynke it conuenyent." It states that the people should have Scripture expounded by preachers in sermons. It promises that, if the people abandon the condemned books and it then seems convenient to the king, Scripture will be translated into English "by great lerned and catholyke persones." It describes the condemned English books as meant "to stirre and incense them to sedition, and disobedience agaynst their princes."

§2.3.4

William Tyndale's preface to the 1530 Pentateuch, in Pollard's edition, reports that some of his opponents said "it is not lawfull for the laye people to have it in their mother tonge." He states that he sought a place in the Bishop of London's house, was told it was full, and found "no place to do it in all englonde." He offers to have his work corrected, and even "burnte, if it seme worthy," if his critics "first put forth of their awne translatinge a nother that is more correcte."

§2.3.5

Tyndale also alleges a motive. He writes that his opponents wished to keep the people from Scripture "to satisfye their fylthy lustes their proude ambition, and vnsatiable couetuousnes." This is Tyndale's charge, written in a polemical preface. No cited document confirms or tests it.

§2.3.6

In a letter of 20 May 1531 to Henry VIII, the king's envoy Stephen Vaughan reports Tyndale's terms. If the king would grant "only a bare text of the scriptures" to be put forth among his people, in a translation by whomever the king pleased, Tyndale would promise "neuer to wryte more." No cited document records that the Crown accepted the terms.

§2.3.7

The Dictionary of National Biography (1899) states that Tyndale was arrested in May 1535 and executed at Vilvoorde on 6 October 1536, strangled and then burnt, and that "No record of his trial has been found." Hall's chronicle gives September for the execution. The date rests on the DNB and is graded reported. Vilvoorde is in the Low Countries, and no cited source attributes the arrest or execution to an English order.

Exhibit 496 · Episcopal mandate (printed in Foxe, 1563)

Bishop Tunstall's mandate calling in English New Testaments

all and singular such books conteyning the translation of the new testament in the English tongue

Orders the archdeacons to require, within thirty days, delivery to the bishop's vicar-general of all books containing the New Testament translated into English, under excommunication and suspicion of heresy, and states the reason as translators 'maintainers of Luther's sect' mixing heretical articles into the text.

Source: Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London
Date: 24 October 1526
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XV, p. 134 (English version printed in Foxe, Acts and Monuments, 1563, pp. 449-50)
Grade: Reported
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Known through Foxe's 1563 printing, 37 years later; Pollard corrected obvious misprints. Latin date reads 24 October; the English version reads 'xxiii'.

Exhibit 497 · Royal proclamation

Royal proclamation against erroneous books and the having of Scripture in English, French or Dutch, June 1530

the distribution of the sayd scripture, and the permyttyng or denyenge therof, dependeth onely vpon the discretion of the superiours, as they shall thynke it conuenyent

Condemns named English books printed abroad, orders delivery to the bishop within fifteen days, forbids printing English books on Scripture without the diocesan's examination and approval, states that the people need not have Scripture in English and that its distribution depends on the discretion of the superiors, and forbids having the New or Old Testament in English except persons appointed by the king and bishops for correcting the translation. Promises a translation by learned and Catholic persons if the people abandon the condemned books.

Source: Henry VIII (printed by Thomas Berthelet)
Date: June 1530
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XXII, p. 167 (copy printed by Berthelet, British Museum)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Pollard dates it 'Mense Junii' 1530 (22 Henry VIII); other websites give 6 May or 22 June. Pollard n., p. 165: the 24 May 1530 'Publick Instrument' (Wilkins, Concilia III, 728) condemned the books and 'the translation also of Scripture corrupted by William Tyndall'. Pollard dates it "Mense Junii" 1530; other sources give 6 May or 22 June.

Exhibit 498 · Printed preface by the translator

William Tyndale, preface to Genesis, 'W. T. To the Reader' (Pentateuch, 1530)

some that it is not lawfull for the laye people to have it in their mother tonge

Tyndale reports that opponents say it is impossible to translate Scripture into English, or not lawful for lay people to have it in their mother tongue, or that it would make them heretics; that he sought a place in the Bishop of London's house, was told it was full, and learned there was no place in England to translate the New Testament; and that he will submit his work to correction if his critics first put forth a more correct translation of their own. He also attributes the opposition to the clergy's wish to keep the people ignorant, which is his allegation.

Source: William Tyndale
Date: 1530
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record V, p. 93; compare p. 98 ('there was no place to do it in all englonde')
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Tyndale's statement of his own experience and of his opponents' arguments.

Exhibit 499 · State letter

Stephen Vaughan to Henry VIII, reporting Tyndale's terms (Barroughe, 20 May 1531)

graunte only a bare text of the scriptures

Vaughan reports that Tyndale, shown Cromwell's offer of mercy if he would return, said that if the king would grant a bare text of the Scriptures to be put forth among his people, in a translation of whomever the king pleased, he would write no more and return to submit himself.

Source: Stephen Vaughan (English envoy)
Date: 20 May 1531
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XXIII, pp. 170-71 (Cotton MS Galba B. x, 5; brackets in the printed text are Pollard's restorations)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Vaughan's report of what Tyndale said; Tyndale's own letter to Vaughan is in State Papers v. 65.

Exhibit 530 · Reference biography

Dictionary of National Biography, 'Tyndale, William'

No record of his trial has been found

Says Tyndale was arrested in May 1535 and taken to Vilvorde, tried for heresy, condemned and degraded from orders; that no record of the trial has been found; and that he was executed at Vilvorde on 6 October 1536, strangled and then burnt.

Source: Dictionary of National Biography (vol. 57)
Date: 1899
Quoted from: Entry text, paragraph on Vilvorde
Grade: Reported
Document: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Tyndale,_William
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Secondhand. Primary records would be the Council of Brabant archives and Letters and Papers of Henry VIII (Vaughan to Cromwell, 13 April 1536, as cited by the DNB). Hall's Chronicle (1548) places the condemnation in September.

2.4 The Bible in the churches, 1537 to 1543

Finding REL-2.4Primary record

Between 1530 and 1543 the English Crown, by proclamation, injunction and statute, prohibited English Scripture, then required an English Bible in every parish church, then barred women, artificers, apprentices, journeymen, servingmen of yeoman rank or under, husbandmen and laborers from reading it.

Each step is a document of the Crown or the Convocation of Canterbury. The authorization was a license that the Crown could revoke, and the later rank restriction carried an informer's share of the penalties.

Evidence: Exhibit 500, Exhibit 501, Exhibit 502, Exhibit 503, Exhibit 504, Exhibit 505

Mechanism: The middleman

§2.4.1

On 4 August 1537 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer wrote to Thomas Cromwell asking him to obtain from the king "a license that the same may be sold and redde of euery person, withoute danger of any acte, proclamacion, or ordinaunce hertofore graunted to the contrary," until the bishops produced a better translation. Cranmer added that this would not be "till a day after domesday." Pollard states in his introduction that this Matthew Bible was largely Tyndale's work.

§2.4.2

The Second Royal Injunctions of 1538, drawn up by Cromwell as vicegerent, required each parish to set up an English Bible of the largest volume, with the cost "ratablie born between you the parson, and the parishners aforsaid, that ys to say, the one half by yowe, and th'other half by them." Parsons were to "discourage no man" from reading or hearing it and were to refer obscure places to "men of higher judgment." The proclamation of 16 November 1538 forbade printing any English book without examination by the king, a privy councillor or a bishop, forbade marginal notes or prologues to English Scripture unless the king had examined and allowed them, and set the penalty at forfeiture of goods and imprisonment "at his gracis wyll and pleasure."

§2.4.3

The proclamation of 6 May 1541 required a Bible of the largest volume in every parish church at the cost of the curates and parishioners. A parish without it was to forfeit "fourty shyllynges" for every month, half to the king and half to "hym or them whyche shall fyrste fynde and present the same." It capped the price at ten shillings unbound and twelve shillings bound. It told readers to read "humbly, mekely, reuerently and obediently," not aloud during Mass, and not to "take vpon them, any common dysputacyon, argumente or exposicyon of the mysteries therein conteyned."

§2.4.4

In January and February 1543 the Archbishop, speaking for the king, told the Convocation of Canterbury that the English Old and New Testaments needed reform. In Pollard's abridged translation of Wilkins, "the majority resolved that the said Bible could not be retained until first duly purged and examined side by side with the (Latin) Bible commonly read in the English Church." Committees were set to examine it.

§2.4.5

The 1543 Act for the advancement of true religion (34 and 35 Hen. VIII c. 1) states that the people had "greate libertie" to have the Old and New Testament, which many "sedicious people arrogant and ignoraunt psones" had used to preach and dispute. It abolishes books of Tyndale's translation as "craftye false and untrue." It requires annotations in other English Bibles to be cut out and bars anyone not appointed by the king or an ordinary from reading, preaching or teaching the Bible openly in church. It provides that "no woomen nor artificers prentises journeymen serving men of the degrees of yeomen or undre, husbandemen nor laborers shall reade within this Realme" the Bible or New Testament in English, privately or openly, on pain of one month's imprisonment. Noblemen and gentlemen who are householders may read it or have it read to their families, and merchant householders may read it privately. Half of all penalties go to the king and half to "suche psone or psones as will detecte and sue."

English Scripture in Crown and Convocation documents, 1530 to 1543
Date	Document	Rule
June 1530	Royal proclamation	Forbids having English Scripture except by appointed persons; printing needs the diocesan's approval
August 1537	Cranmer to Cromwell	Asks the king's license for the Matthew Bible to be sold and read by every person
1538	Second Royal Injunctions	Every parish sets up an English Bible; cost split between parson and parishioners
16 November 1538	Royal proclamation	Printing English books and Scripture needs examination by the king, a privy councillor or a bishop
6 May 1541	Royal proclamation	Forty shillings a month for a parish without the Bible, half to the first informer; price cap
January to February 1543	Convocation	Majority resolves the Great Bible cannot be retained until purged and compared with the Latin
1543	Act of Parliament	Abolishes Tyndale's translation; bars named ranks from reading English Scripture; half of penalties to informers

§2.4.6

The documents give their own defenses. The 1538 injunctions order the clergy not to discourage reading, parishes and not the Crown bore the cost of the Bibles, and the 1541 price cap limited what printers could charge. The 1541 proclamation states the purpose of reading as that subjects "learne ... to obeye theyr soueraygne Lorde." The 1543 Act states its reason as the abuse of the Bible by "the lower sorte." The Crown's authorization of 1538 to 1541 was a license, and the 1543 Act shows the Crown revoking part of it by statute.

Exhibit 500 · Letter

Thomas Cranmer to Thomas Cromwell, 4 August [1537], requesting the king's license for the Matthew Bible

a license that the same may be sold and redde of euery person, withoute danger of any acte, proclamacion, or ordinaunce hertofore graunted to the contrary

Cranmer sends Cromwell an English Bible of a new translation, dedicated to the king, and asks him to obtain the king's license that it may be sold and read by every person without danger of any earlier act, proclamation or ordinance, until the bishops produce a better translation.

Source: Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury
Date: 4 August 1537
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XXXIII A, pp. 214-15 (original in the Record Office; Letters and Papers Henry VIII xii pt 2, no. 434)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Pollard (introduction, p. 16) says the 'Matthew' Bible was largely the work of Tyndale and Coverdale. Quote only the letter. Cranmer's words "till a day after domesday" are at Pollard Rec. XXXIII A. Pollard, intro p. 16, states the Matthew Bible was largely Tyndale's work.

Exhibit 501 · Royal injunctions

Second Royal Injunctions of Henry VIII (Cromwell), 1538

the charges of which boke shal be ratablie born between you the parson, and the parishners aforsaid, that ys to say, the one half by yowe, and th'other half by them

Every parish must set up an English Bible of the largest volume in the church, with the cost shared half by the parson and half by the parishioners, and must not discourage anyone from reading or hearing it, while referring the explanation of obscure places to men of higher judgment.

Source: Thomas Cromwell, vicegerent for Henry VIII
Date: September-October 1538
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XLIII, p. 262 n. (from Reg. Cranmer fol. 99b; Wilkins III, 815); also Gee and Hardy no. LXIII, pp. 275-76
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Gee and Hardy date the Second Injunctions to 1538 (Cromwell's letter of 30 September; Cranmer's mandate of 11 October); Wilkins prints them under 1536, which Pollard calls probably two years too early. A parallel quote read: 'discorage no man pryuely or apertly from the readinge or hearing of the same Bible'.

Exhibit 502 · Royal proclamation

Royal proclamation of 16 November 1538 on importing and printing English books

Item that no persone or persons in this realme, shall from hensforth print any boke in the englyshe tonge, onles vpon examination made by some of his gracis priuie counsayle, or other suche as his highnes shall appoynte, they shall haue lycence so to do

Forbids importing English books without the king's license; forbids printing any English book, and any English book of Scripture, unless examined and admitted by the king, a privy councillor or a bishop, with the examiner's name printed; forbids marginal notes or prologues unless allowed; penalty forfeiture of goods and imprisonment at the king's pleasure.

Source: Henry VIII (printed by Thomas Berthelet)
Date: 16 November 1538
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XXXVII, p. 241
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: The licensing came three weeks after the Great Bible's printing was under way in Paris; Pollard (introduction, p. 18) reads it as aimed at preventing a repeat of the 1537 episode.

Exhibit 503 · Royal proclamation

Royal proclamation of 6 May 1541 ordering the Bible of the largest volume in every church

for euery moneth that they shall lacke and want the sayde Bybles, after the same feast of Alsayntes fourty shyllynges

Orders curates and parishioners to buy a Bible of the largest volume for each church at their own cost; readers are to read humbly and not aloud during the Mass or dispute the mysteries; a parish without the Bible forfeits forty shillings a month, half to the king and half to whoever first presents the default; the price is capped at ten shillings unbound and twelve bound.

Source: Henry VIII (printed by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch, 'Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum')
Date: 6 May 1541
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XLIII, p. 264
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Price cap: 'the pryce of ten shyllynges' unbound, 'twelue shyllynges' bound (p. 264).

Exhibit 504 · Convocation record (in abridged translation)

Convocation of Canterbury on the Great Bible (Wilkins, Concilia III, 860), 1542-43

The Archbishop, speaking for the king, told Convocation that the English Old and New Testaments needed reform; a majority resolved that the Great Bible could not be retained until duly purged and compared with the Latin Bible commonly read in the English Church; committees were set to examine it.

Source: Convocation of the Province of Canterbury
Date: January-February 1543
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record XLV, pp. 272-74 (Pollard's abridged translation of Wilkins's Latin); wording not quoted.

Exhibit 505 · Statute

Act for thadvauncement of true Religion and for thabbolisshment of the contrarie, 34 & 35 Henry VIII c. 1

no woomen nor artificers prentises journeymen serving men of the degrees of yeomen or undre, husbandemen nor laborers shall reade within this Realme

Abolishes books of the Old and New Testament in English of Tyndale's translation and requires annotations in other English Bibles to be cut out; bars anyone not appointed by the king or an ordinary from reading or teaching the Bible in English in church; forbids women, artificers, apprentices, journeymen, serving men of the degree of yeomen or under, husbandmen and laborers to read the Bible or New Testament in English, privately or openly, on pain of one month's imprisonment; exempts noblemen and gentlemen householders and merchant householders; gives half of penalties to those who detect and sue.

Source: Parliament of England (Henry VIII)
Date: 1543 (session 1542-43)
Quoted from: Statutes of the Realm III, pp. 894-96 (the reading clause is on p. 896; page numbers read from the OCR)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/the-statutes-of-the-realm-3
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Preamble also says the king had granted 'the greate libertie ... of having ... in theyre handes the Newe and Olde Testament' and that the lower sort had abused it.

2.5 The Crown and the church, 1534 and 1559

Finding REL-2.5Primary record

In 1534 Parliament required cathedral chapters to elect the person the king named in his letter missive, declared the king supreme head of the Church of England and granted the Crown first fruits and an annual tenth of church income; in 1559 Parliament required clergy and royal officers to swear that the queen is "only supreme governor" and every minister to use the Book of Common Prayer.

The acts set out below give the Crown the nomination of bishops, an oath of supremacy and a share of church revenue.

Evidence: Exhibit 506, Exhibit 507, Exhibit 508, Exhibit 509, Exhibit 510, Exhibit 511

Mechanism: The middleman

§2.5.1

The Ecclesiastical Appointments Act of 1534 (25 Hen. VIII c. 20) ends payments of annates and first fruits to Rome. At each vacancy the king grants the chapter a license to elect, with a letter missive naming the person, whom the chapter "shall with all speed and celerity in due form elect and choose." If the chapter delays beyond twelve days, the king nominates by letters patent.

§2.5.2

The Act of Supremacy of November 1534 (26 Hen. VIII c. 1) declares the king "the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England." It gives him power "to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities." The Act states that it is made "for corroboration and confirmation" of an existing title. The First Fruits and Tenths Act of 1534 (26 Hen. VIII c. 3) is titled as an Act concerning payment of first fruits of all dignities and benefices and "one annuell pencyon of the tenthe parte of all the possessions of the Churche" granted to the king and his heirs.

§2.5.3

In 1559 Parliament passed a new Act of Supremacy (1 Eliz. c. 1). It requires every archbishop, bishop, ecclesiastical person, judge, mayor and officer in royal pay to swear that "the queen's highness is the only supreme governor of this realm" in spiritual and temporal causes. Refusal means loss of office. The queen may appoint commissioners by letters patent to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

§2.5.4

The Act of Uniformity of 1559 (1 Eliz. c. 2) requires every minister to use the Book of Common Prayer. A minister who refuses "shall lose and forfeit" the profit of all his benefices for one year after conviction and be imprisoned six months, with life imprisonment for a third offense. Every person must attend the parish church on Sundays and holy days or forfeit twelve pence per offense, levied by the churchwardens for the poor of the parish. The queen's Injunctions of 1559 forbid printing "any manner of book or paper" unless licensed by the queen, six privy councillors or named bishops and chancellors.

§2.5.5

The Acts state their own reasons: 1534 "to repress and extirp all errors, heresies," and 1559 to restore "one uniform order of common service and prayer." Section 2.9 sets out the limits the established church placed on these powers in its Articles of 1571 and in the 1559 Act itself.

Exhibit 506 · Statute

Act for the Absolute Restraint of Annates and Election of Bishops, 25 Henry VIII c. 20

shall with all speed and celerity in due form elect and choose the said person named in the said letters missive

Ends payments of annates and first fruits to Rome; at each vacancy the king grants the chapter a license to elect with a letter missive naming the person, whom the chapter must elect and none other; if the chapter delays beyond twelve days the king nominates by letters patent.

Source: Parliament of England (Henry VIII)
Date: 1534
Quoted from: Gee and Hardy, Documents Illustrative of English Church History (1896), no. LII, p. 205 (from Statutes of the Realm III, 462)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/documentsillustr00geehuoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Gee's headnote: the election clause was repealed by 1 Edw. VI c. 2, which substituted direct nomination.

Exhibit 507 · Statute

Act of Supremacy, 26 Henry VIII c. 1

Declares the king and his successors the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England, called Anglicana Ecclesia, with the title, honours, jurisdictions, profits and commodities of that dignity, and full power to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain and amend all errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts and enormities.

Source: Parliament of England (Henry VIII)
Date: November 1534
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/the-statutes-of-the-realm-3
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Gee and Hardy no. LV, pp. 243-44; Statutes of the Realm III, 492 (original spelling: 'the onely supreme [heed'] in erthe of the Churche of England callyd Anglicana Ecclesia')

Exhibit 508 · Statute

Act concerning the payment of First Fruits and an annual tenth of the possessions of the Church, 26 Henry VIII c. 3

An Acte concerninge the paiment of Firste Fruites of all dignities benefices

Title: an Act concerning the payment of first fruits of all dignities, benefices and spiritual promotions, and an annual pension of the tenth part of all the possessions of the Church, granted to the king and his heirs.

Source: Parliament of England (Henry VIII)
Date: 1534
Quoted from: Statutes of the Realm III, p. 493 (title; OCR)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/the-statutes-of-the-realm-3
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Exhibit 509 · Statute

Act restoring ancient jurisdiction (Elizabethan Act of Supremacy), 1 Elizabeth c. 1

the queen's highness is the only supreme governor of this realm

Annexes ecclesiastical jurisdiction to the Crown; the queen may appoint commissioners by letters patent to exercise it; all archbishops, bishops, ecclesiastical persons, judges, mayors and everyone in royal pay must swear the queen is 'only supreme governor' in spiritual and temporal causes, on pain of losing their offices; limits what commissioners may adjudge to be heresy to what Scripture, the first four general councils, or Parliament with Convocation determine.

Source: Parliament of England (Elizabeth I)
Date: 1559
Quoted from: Gee and Hardy no. LXXIX, p. 449 (oath); pp. 447-48 (commissions); p. 455 (limit on heresy)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/documentsillustr00geehuoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Exhibit 510 · Statute

Elizabethan Act of Uniformity, 1 Elizabeth c. 2

shall lose and forfeit to the queen's highness, her heirs and successors, for his first offence, the profit of all his spiritual benefices or promotions coming or arising in one whole year next after his conviction

Requires all ministers to use the Book of Common Prayer; a convicted minister who refuses forfeits a year's profit of his benefices and is imprisoned six months, with life imprisonment on a third offence; requires every person to attend the parish church on Sundays and holy days on pain of censure and a twelve-pence forfeit levied by the churchwardens for the poor; bishops and justices share enforcement.

Source: Parliament of England (Elizabeth I)
Date: 1559
Quoted from: Gee and Hardy no. LXXX, p. 460 (from Statutes of the Realm IV pt 1, p. 355); attendance clause p. 463
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/documentsillustr00geehuoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Exhibit 511 · Royal injunctions

Injunctions of Elizabeth, 1559

no manner of person shall print any manner of book or paper, of what sort, nature, or in what language soever it be, except the same be first licensed by her majesty by express words in writing, or by six of her privy council

Parishes must provide the whole Bible of the largest volume in English and the clergy must not discourage reading; no one may print any book or paper unless licensed by the queen, six privy councillors, or specified bishops and chancellors.

Source: Elizabeth I
Date: 1559
Quoted from: Gee and Hardy no. LXXVIII, pp. 436-37 (Injunction 51; contemporary print, BM 5155.a.14)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/documentsillustr00geehuoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: The Bible-in-church injunction is at p. 421; cost 'by the parson or proprietary and parishioners borne by equal portions' (bracketed in Gee).

2.6 Dissent: tests, fines and informers

Finding REL-2.6Primary record

Between 1661 and 1673 Parliament required officeholders to receive the sacrament according to the Church of England and fined nonconforming ministers and attenders at conventicles with part of the fines going to informers, and the Toleration Act of 1689 excused Protestant dissenters from the attendance penalties while saving tithes, parochial duties and ecclesiastical-court prosecution.

Each statute states a civil purpose. The relief of 1689 left tithe in place, and the repeal of the sacramental test came in 1828.

Evidence: Exhibit 512, Exhibit 513, Exhibit 514, Exhibit 515, Exhibit 516, Exhibit 517

Mechanism: The middleman

§2.6.1

The Corporation Act of 1661 (13 Car. II stat. 2 c. 1) provides that no one shall be elected to municipal office who has not within the year "taken the Sacrament of the Lords Supper according to the Rites of the Church of England." Its preamble aims that the succession in corporations "may be most probably perpetuated in the hands of persons well affected to His Majesty and the established Government." The Five Mile Act of 1665 (17 Car. II c. 2) bars ministers who have not given unfeigned assent to the Book of Common Prayer from coming within five miles of any corporate town or their former parish unless they take an oath. The penalty is "Forty pounds," divided in thirds among the king, the parish poor and whoever sues. The Act says such ministers "distill the poysonous Principles of Schisme and Rebellion into the hearts of His Majestyes Subjects."

§2.6.2

The Second Conventicle Act of 1670 (22 Car. II c. 1) penalizes presence at a meeting of five or more persons "under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion" other than the Church of England's liturgy. The fines are five shillings for a first offense and ten for a second, and twenty pounds for a preacher or a householder who allows the meeting. One third goes to the informers, "haveing reguard to their diligence and industry in the discovery, disperseing and punishing of the said Conventicles." The Act calls the meeting persons "Seditious Sectaries."

§2.6.3

The Test Act of 1673 (25 Car. II c. 2), titled "An Act for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants," requires every holder of a civil or military office or of royal pay to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance and receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church of England within three months. The officeholder must deliver a certificate under the hands of the minister and churchwarden. A person who refuses "shall be ipso facto adjudged uncapeable and disabled in Law" to hold the office. A person who acts anyway is barred from suing, from guardianship and from legacies, and forfeits five hundred pounds. The sacramental test applies to every officeholder, not only to the Roman Catholics named in the title. The exhibit does not show how far it excluded Protestant dissenters in practice.

§2.6.4

The Toleration Act of 24 May 1689 (1 Will. and Mary c. 18) opens by stating that "some ease to scrupulous consciences in the exercise of religion may be an effectual means to unite their majesties' Protestant subjects in interest and affection." It excuses Protestant dissenters who take the oaths and subscribe the declaration from the penalty statutes on attendance and conventicles. Its savings clause states that nothing in it exempts those persons "from paying of tithes or other parochial duties, or any other duties to the church or minister, nor from any prosecution in any ecclesiastical court or elsewhere, for the same."

§2.6.5

The Act of 9 May 1828 (9 Geo. IV c. 17) repeals the parts of the Corporation Act and the Test Act that required officeholders to receive the sacrament according to the Church of England, and substitutes a declaration. The statutes state civil purposes: the succession, the danger of rebellion and, in the Test Act, popish recusants.

Exhibit 512 · Statute

Act for the well Governing and Regulating of Corporations, 13 Charles II stat. 2 c. 1

taken the Sacrament of the Lords Supper according to the Rites of the Church of England

Requires municipal officers to take the oaths and a declaration and, afterwards, no one to be elected to those offices who has not within the year taken the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England; the preamble aims that the succession in corporations be 'perpetuated in the hands of persons well affected to His Majesty and the established Government'.

Source: Parliament of England (Charles II)
Date: 1661
Quoted from: Statutes of the Realm V, p. 323 (OCR)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/statutes_of_the_realm_5
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Exhibit 513 · Statute

Act for restraining Non-Conformists from inhabiting in Corporations (Five Mile Act), 17 Charles II c. 2

upon forfeiture of every such offence the summe of Forty pounds of lawfull English money

Bars ministers who have not given unfeigned assent to the Book of Common Prayer from coming within five miles of any corporate town or of their former parish unless they take a non-resistance oath, on penalty of forty pounds, divided in thirds among the king, the parish poor and whoever sues.

Source: Parliament of England (Charles II)
Date: 1665
Quoted from: Statutes of the Realm V (17 Car. II c. 2; page not read)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/statutes_of_the_realm_5
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Page number to be added from the page image.

Exhibit 514 · Statute

Second Conventicle Act, 22 Charles II c. 1

And the other third part thereof to the Informer and Informers and to such person and persons as the said Justice, Justices or cheife Magistrate respectively shall appoint haveing reguard to their diligence and industry in the discovery, disperseing and punishing of the said Conventicles

Penalises presence, at fifth-person meetings 'under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion' other than the Church of England's liturgy, with fines of five and ten shillings, twenty pounds for a preacher or a householder who allows it, and one third of the fines to informers according to their diligence.

Source: Parliament of England (Charles II)
Date: 1670
Quoted from: Statutes of the Realm V, pp. 648-49 (OCR); also Gee and Hardy no. CXIX, pp. 623-27
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/statutes_of_the_realm_5
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: The meeting definition quote: 'under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion in other manner then according to the Liturgy and practice of the Church of England'. Preamble names 'Seditious Sectaries' who 'contrive Insurrections'; repealed for those taking the oaths by the Toleration Act 1689.

Exhibit 515 · Statute

Act for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants (Test Act), 25 Charles II c. 2

shall be ipso facto adjudged uncapeable and disabled in Law to all intents and purposes whatsoever to have occupy or enjoy the said Office

Requires all holders of civil or military office or royal pay to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance and receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church of England within three months, with a certificate signed by the minister and churchwarden; those who refuse are disabled from the office, and one who acts anyway is barred from suing, from guardianship and legacies and forfeits five hundred pounds.

Source: Parliament of England (Charles II)
Date: 1673
Quoted from: Statutes of the Realm V, pp. 782-83 (OCR)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/statutes_of_the_realm_5
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: The title and preamble name popish recusants; the sacramental test applied to every officeholder.

Exhibit 516 · Statute

Toleration Act, 1 William and Mary c. 18

paying of tithes or other parochial duties, or any other duties to the church or minister, nor from any prosecution in any ecclesiastical court or elsewhere, for the same

Excuses Protestant dissenters who take the oaths and subscribe the declaration from the penalty statutes on attendance and conventicles, but saves tithes, parochial duties and prosecution in the ecclesiastical courts for them.

Source: Parliament of England (William and Mary)
Date: 24 May 1689
Quoted from: Gee and Hardy no. CXXIII, pp. 657-58 (from Statutes of the Realm VI, 74)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/documentsillustr00geehuoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Preamble: 'some ease to scrupulous consciences in the exercise of religion may be an effectual means to unite their majesties' Protestant subjects in interest and affection'.

Exhibit 517 · Statute

Act repealing the sacramental qualification for certain offices, 9 George IV c. 17

An Act for repealing so much of several Acts as imposes the Necessity of receiving the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a Qualification for certain Offices and Employments.

Repeals the parts of the 1661 Corporation Act, the 1673 Test Act and a 1743 indemnity Act that required officeholders to receive the sacrament according to the Church of England, and substitutes a declaration.

Source: Parliament of the United Kingdom
Date: 9 May 1828
Quoted from: 9 Geo. IV c. 17, long title (9 May 1828)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo4/9/17/pdfs/ukpga_18280017_en.pdf
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

2.7 Tithe, 1836 to 1977

Finding REL-2.7Primary record

The Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 converted tithe in each parish into a money rentcharge on the land recoverable by distress; church rates ended in 1868, tithe rentcharge was extinguished on 2 October 1936 with compensation to owners and redemption annuities charged on land, and the last annuities were extinguished from 2 October 1977.

The 1836 Act converted tithe into a money rentcharge, and tithe stayed compulsory until 1936. The dates and sources for each step are in the table below.

Evidence: Exhibit 532, Exhibit 518, Exhibit 519, Exhibit 520, Exhibit 521

§2.7.1

An Act of 1548 (2 and 3 Edw. VI c. 13), summarized here, confirms two earlier Acts of Henry VIII and requires every subject to pay predial tithes in kind as they arise. A person who carries off produce before the tithe is set out forfeits treble value. Withholding is recoverable before the ecclesiastical judge for double value.

§2.7.2

The Tithe Commutation Act of 18 August 1836 (6 and 7 Will. IV c. 71) states in its preamble that "it is expedient to amend the Laws relating to Tithes in England and Wales, and to provide the Means for an adequate Compensation for Tithes." It converts tithe in each parish into a sum of money "in the Nature of a Rent-charge issuing out of the Lands charged therewith." The sum is fixed by an average of seven years to Christmas 1835 and varies with the price of wheat, barley and oats. It is recoverable by "Distress and Entry." Of the three commissioners, one is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and two by a Secretary of State.

Compulsory payments to the church in England and Wales, 1836 to 1977
Date	Act	Effect
18 August 1836	Tithe Commutation Act	Tithe in kind becomes a money rentcharge on the land
31 July 1868	Compulsory Church Rate Abolition Act	No suit may enforce payment of a church rate
2 October 1936	Tithe Act 1936	Tithe rentcharge extinguished; owners compensated with stock; landowners charged redemption annuities
2 October 1977	Finance Act 1977, s. 56	All remaining tithe redemption annuities extinguished

§2.7.3

The Compulsory Church Rate Abolition Act of 1868 (31 and 32 Vict. c. 109) provides that "No suit shall be instituted or proceeding taken in any ecclesiastical or other court, or before any justice or magistrate to enforce or compel the payment of any church rate made in any parish or place in England or Wales." The Tithe Act 1936 (26 Geo. 5 and 1 Edw. 8 c. 43) provides that "all tithe rentcharge shall be extinguished on the second day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-six," compensates the owners with stock and charges the landowners redemption annuities. Section 56 of the Finance Act 1977 doubles the payment due on 1 October 1977 and provides that "as from 2nd October 1977 all annuities then charged under those Acts shall be extinguished."

§2.7.4

The defenses of the system rest on the terms of the statutes. Commutation replaced collection in kind with a fixed charge and was intended to end disputes. Compensation in 1936 went to all tithe owners, who included lay impropriators as well as clergy. Parliament ended church rates in 1868. Tithe rentcharge nevertheless stayed compulsory for one hundred years after 1836, landowners paid redemption annuities until 1977, and dissenters owed tithe under the 1689 Act. No cited source gives an aggregate tithe, church-rate or first-fruits total.

Exhibit 532 · Statute

Act for the true payment of Tithes, 2 & 3 Edward VI c. 13

Confirms the two Henrician tithe Acts and requires every subject to pay predial tithes in kind as they arise; one who carries off produce before the tithe is set out forfeits treble value; withholding or obstructing is recoverable before the ecclesiastical judge for double value.

Source: Parliament of England (Edward VI)
Date: 1548
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/statutes-of-the-realm-volume-4-part-1-1547-1-edward-6-to-1584-5-27-elizabeth
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Re-read from a page image before use.

Exhibit 518 · Statute

Act for the Commutation of Tithes in England and Wales, 6 & 7 William IV c. 71

a Sum of Money equal in Value, according to the Prices ascertained by the then next preceding Advertisement, to the Quantity of Wheat, Barley, and Oats respectively mentioned therein to be payable instead of the said Tithes, in the Nature of a Rent-charge issuing out of the Lands charged therewith

Commutes tithes in each parish into a yearly money rentcharge issuing out of the land, valued by a seven-year average to 1835 and varying with the price of wheat, barley and oats, recoverable by distress; one of the three commissioners is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and two by a Secretary of State.

Source: Parliament of the United Kingdom
Date: 18 August 1836
Quoted from: s. LXVII, pp. 605-06 (OCR of the King's Printer copy; margin notes interleaved in the OCR)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4/6-7/71/pdfs/ukpga_18360071_en.pdf
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: The Act did not end compulsory payment. Commissioners: s. I.

Exhibit 519 · Statute

Compulsory Church Rate Abolition Act 1868, 31 & 32 Victoria c. 109

No suit shall be instituted or proceeding taken in any ecclesiastical or other court, or before any justice or magistrate to enforce or compel the payment of any church rate made in any parish or place in England or Wales.

Ends suits and proceedings to enforce or compel payment of any church rate in England and Wales.

Source: Parliament of the United Kingdom
Date: 31 July 1868
Quoted from: s. 1
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/31-32/109
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Exhibit 520 · Statute

Tithe Act 1936, 26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8 c. 43

all tithe rentcharge shall be extinguished on the second day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-six

Extinguishes tithe rentcharge on 2 October 1936, compensates the owners with stock and charges landowners redemption annuities.

Source: Parliament of the United Kingdom
Date: 31 July 1936
Quoted from: s. 1 (as enacted); Part I heading 'Extinguishment, Compensation by issue of Stock, Charge of Redemption Annuities'
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5and1Edw8/26/43/section/1/enacted
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Exhibit 521 · Statute

Finance Act 1977, section 56 (annuities under the Tithe Acts 1936 and 1951)

as from 2nd October 1977 all annuities then charged under those Acts shall be extinguished

Doubles the 1 October 1977 payment and extinguishes all remaining tithe redemption annuities from 2 October 1977.

Source: Parliament of the United Kingdom
Date: 1977
Quoted from: s. 56 (as enacted)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/36/section/56/enacted
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

2.8 Virginia and the United States

Finding REL-2.8Primary record

In November 1784 the Virginia House of Delegates agreed, 47 to 32, that the people ought to pay a moderate annual tax for the support of the Christian religion or of some Christian church, and in January 1786 the General Assembly enacted that no man "shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever."

The documents record a vote for a general religious tax and a statute that reversed it. New Hampshire's 1784 constitution shows that the reversal was not adopted by every state.

Evidence: Exhibit 522, Exhibit 523, Exhibit 524, Exhibit 525, Exhibit 526

§2.8.1

The journal of the Virginia House of Delegates for 11 November 1784 records a resolution "That the people of this Commonwealth, according to their respectful abilities, ought to pay a moderate tax or contribution, annually, for the support of the christian religion, or of some christian church, denomination or communion of christians, or of some form of christian worship." The House agreed to the first resolution by 47 votes to 32. The resolution names "some christian church, denomination or communion" and so covers more than one church. The same page records a Baptist petition describing the marriage and vestry laws as "oppressive and repugnant to the equal rights of religious liberty."

§2.8.2

James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance of 20 June 1785 is a petition argued against the proposal. It states: "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial." It argues that "the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever." These are an advocate's arguments in a petition and do not establish facts about any clergy.

§2.8.3

The Statute for Religious Freedom, enacted on 16 January 1786, provides that "no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever." Its preamble states that compelling a man "to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical." It adds that forcing a man to support a teacher of his own persuasion withdraws from the ministry "those temporary rewards" that come from approval of their conduct.

§2.8.4

The First Amendment, ratified on 15 December 1791, states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It binds Congress. The New Hampshire constitution of 1784 authorized towns and parishes to make provision "for the support and maintenance of public protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality," and provided that "no person of any one particular religious sect or denomination, shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the teacher or teachers of another persuasion, sect or denomination." Massachusetts and Connecticut are reported to have kept public support for Protestant teachers into the nineteenth century.

Exhibit 522 · Legislative journal

Journal of the House of Delegates, 11 November 1784 (resolution on a tax for the Christian religion)

Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee , That the people of this Commonwealth, according to their respectful abilities, ought to pay a moderate tax or contribution, annually, for the support of the christian religion

A committee-of-the-whole resolution that the people ought to pay a moderate annual tax for the support of the Christian religion or of some Christian church was agreed by 47 to 32; the same page records a Baptist petition against the marriage and vestry laws.

Source: Virginia House of Delegates
Date: 11 November 1784
Quoted from: Journal of the House of Delegates (1784-1785), pp. 18-19 (Encyclopedia Virginia transcription)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/tax-on-religion-an-excerpt-from-the-journal-of-the-house-of-delegates-1784/
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Exhibit 523 · Petition

James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments

During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial.

Argues against the 1784 bill establishing a provision for teachers of the Christian religion; paragraph 7 says experience shows establishments have had a contrary effect on religion.

Source: James Madison (petition to the Virginia General Assembly)
Date: 20 June 1785
Quoted from: Paragraph 7 (Papers of James Madison 8:298-304)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions43.html
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Advocacy text; report as his argument.

Exhibit 524 · Statute

An Act for establishing religious Freedom (Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom)

no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever

Enacts that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry; declares in the preamble that compelling contributions for opinions one disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical and that forcing support of a particular teacher deprives a man of the liberty of giving to the pastor he chooses and withdraws from the ministry rewards proceeding from approbation of their conduct.

Source: Virginia General Assembly
Date: 16 January 1786 (signed 19 January)
Quoted from: Enacting clause, page 2 of the enrolled bill (Library of Virginia; Encyclopedia Virginia transcription, 'some spelling has been modernized')
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-for-establishing-religious-freedom-1786/
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Preamble quotes also read: 'to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical' and 'to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion ... is a dangerous fallacy'.

Exhibit 525 · Constitutional amendment

First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Forbids Congress to make a law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise.

Source: United States Congress (ratified by the states 15 December 1791)
Date: 15 December 1791
Quoted from: Amendment I
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Binds Congress only; state establishments persisted (see New Hampshire 1784).

Exhibit 526 · State constitution

New Hampshire Constitution of 1784, Part I, art. VI

no person of any one particular religious sect or denomination, shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the teacher or teachers of another persuasion, sect or denomination

Empowers the legislature to authorize towns, parishes and religious societies to make adequate provision at their own expense for public Protestant teachers, while providing that no person of one sect may be compelled to pay toward the teacher of another.

Source: State of New Hampshire (constitutional convention)
Date: 1784
Quoted from: Part I, art. VI (Thorpe, Federal and State Constitutions, 1909, 4:2454-55)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions42.html
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Shows the post-Revolution settlement was not uniform. Massachusetts (1780) and Connecticut: not yet read.

2.9 The other side of the record

Finding REL-2.9Reported

Innocent III in 1199 called the desire to understand the divine Scriptures "commendable" while condemning secret lay assemblies and usurped preaching; Thomas More wrote in 1529 that the clergy kept from the laity only translations not yet approved or already condemned; the 1559 Act of Supremacy limited what commissioners could adjudge heresy; and Anne Hudson reports about 250 surviving manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible, including a copy owned by Henry VI.

These documents limit the findings in sections 2.1 to 2.5. One is graded reported because it rests on a secondary account.

Evidence: Exhibit 527, Exhibit 528, Exhibit 529, Exhibit 509, Exhibit 531

§2.9.1

Innocent III's letters of 1199 to the faithful and the bishop of Metz report that lay men and women had Scripture, Gospels, the Pauline epistles, the Psalter and other books translated into French for their own use. The letter states: "But although the desire to understand the divine Scriptures, and, according to the Scriptures themselves, the zeal to spread them, is not forbidden, but is rather commendable, nevertheless the arguments against it appear well-deserved, because those who do not adhere to such arguments celebrate their assemblies in secret, usurp for themselves the duty of preaching, mock the simplicity of the priests and reject their community." The companion letter orders the bishop to investigate and states that the pope is ignorant of the life and opinion of those who made the translations. The English is a volunteer translation on Wikisource.

§2.9.2

Thomas More wrote in 1529 that the clergy "kepe none frome theym, but suche translacyon as be eyther not yet approued for good, or such as be all redy reproued for naught, as Wyclyffys was and Tyndals." He added that the other old English translations from before Wycliffe's days "remayn lawful, and be in some folkys handys had and red." More also proposed that approved translations be delivered to lay readers by the bishop. This is More's claim, made as a defender of the clergy's position.

§2.9.3

Pollard's 1911 edition of the English Bible records adds two points. A footnote states that in practice a license seems to have been granted to specified readers instead of to a specified version. The introduction states that a license "could be procured" and that a copy was owned by the Bridgetine house of Sion at Isleworth. Hudson reports that about 250 manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible survive, "the largest number of any medieval English work," and that orthodox owners are known, including Henry VI. She also reports that Arundel licensed Nicholas Love's Meditationes as a substitute for the banned vernacular Bible and that ownership of English scriptures is mentioned repeatedly in investigations of Lollards between the 1380s and 1530s. No cited source gives a count of prosecutions.

§2.9.4

The Constitutions state that the examination and license for preaching are to be dispatched "gratis." No cited source states that a license under Constitution 7 was ever refused or granted to a named lay person, and no fee schedule was found. The 1401 statute concerns preaching and books contrary to the faith and does not mention translation.

§2.9.5

Elizabeth's Act of Supremacy of 1559 limits what the commissioners may adjudge to be heresy to what has been so determined "by the authority of the canonical Scriptures, or by the first four general Councils," or by Parliament with the assent of the Convocation. Article XX of the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 states that "besides the same, ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of salvation." Article XXXVII states: "we geue not to our princes the ministring either of God's word, or of Sacraments."

Exhibit 527 · Papal letters (in translation)

Innocent III, letters Cum ex injuncto and Sicut Ecclesiarum praelatis (to Metz), 1199

But although the desire to understand the divine Scriptures

Reports that lay men and women of Metz had Scripture and other books translated into French for their own use and met in secret to discuss and preach; says the desire to understand Scripture is not forbidden but commendable, while the secret assemblies, usurped preaching and contempt of priests are condemned; the companion letter to the bishop orders him to investigate and to warn them, noting the pope's ignorance of their faith.

Source: Pope Innocent III
Date: 1199
Quoted from: Cum ex injuncto (Wikisource volunteer translation; Latin in Migne PL 214)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Cum_ex_injuncto
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: The letters were later included in canon law.

Exhibit 528 · Printed polemical dialogue

Thomas More, A Dyaloge ... of the pestylent sect of Luther and Tyndale (1529), book 3, ch. 16

For as for other olde onys, that were before Wyclyffys days, [these] remayn lawful, and be in some folkys handys had and red.

More states that the clergy keep from the laity only translations 'not yet approued for good' or 'reproued for naught', as Wycliffe's and Tyndale's, and that older English translations before Wycliffe remain lawful and are in some hands; elsewhere he proposes translations approved by the ordinaries and delivered to the lay by the bishop.

Source: Thomas More
Date: 1529
Quoted from: Pollard, Records of the English Bible (1911), Record II, p. 81 (from fol. xciii verso); Record III, pp. 84-85
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/recordsofenglish00polluoft
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: More's own statement of the defense and his proposal; Tyndale's reply (Answere vnto Sir Thomas Mores dialoge, fol. cv, in Pollard p. 82 n.) is that the bishops could have shown which translation was lawful and let it be printed.

Exhibit 531 · Formulary

Articles of Religion of the Church of England (1571 English text), Articles XX and XXXVII

we geue not to our princes the ministring either of God's word, or of Sacraments

Article XX says the Church has power to decree rites and authority in controversies of faith but may not enforce as necessary for salvation anything besides Scripture; Article XXXVII says the Queen has the chief government of all estates, ecclesiastical or civil, and that this does not give princes 'the ministring either of God's word, or of Sacraments'.

Source: Convocation of Canterbury, with royal authority
Date: 1571
Quoted from: Art. XXXVII, in Schaff, Creeds of Christendom III, pp. 512-13 (from Cawood 1571 as printed in Hardwick)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds3/creeds3.iv.xi.html
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Used for the established church's own statement of the limits of its claim. Article XX: besides Scripture the Church 'ought it not to enforce any thing to be beleued for necessitie of saluation'.

2.10 What remains open

Finding REL-2.10Open question

How far vernacular Scripture was restricted in Europe and England before 1520, given licensing, noble and orthodox ownership and the limits of the Toulouse and Oxford texts, is disputed and is not settled by the documents cited here.

The documents cited here do not settle how far vernacular Scripture was restricted in Europe and England before 1520. Historians dispute it.

Evidence: Exhibit 494, Exhibit 493, Exhibit 527, Exhibit 528, Exhibit 529

§2.10.1

The restricting texts are Toulouse canon 14, Constitution 7 and the 1530 proclamation. The limiting texts are Innocent III's 1199 letters, More's 1529 statement, Pollard's licensing footnote, the noble and orthodox owners Hudson names, and the "gratis" licensing clause. No cited source gives the reach of the Toulouse and Oxford texts in provinces or in readers.

§2.10.2

The scholarly debate includes Nicholas Watson in Speculum (1995), Anne Hudson's The Premature Reformation (1988), Margaret Deanesly's The Lollard Bible (1920), Henry Ansgar Kelly and Andrew Gow.

§2.10.3

No cited source gives counts of prosecutions, burnings or deaths, and none is stated. No cited source gives the amounts of first fruits and tenths or the totals of tithe and church rates. Eastern Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other traditions are outside the documents used.

Key findings

The Council of Toulouse in 1229 forbade lay people in its province to have the books of the Old or New Testament and to have them translated into the vernacular (2.1).
Arundel's Constitutions of 1407 to 1409 forbade unapproved English translations of Scripture and their reading, under the greater excommunication (2.2).
A royal proclamation of 1530 forbade having English Scripture except by appointed persons and put its distribution at the discretion of the superiors (2.3).
Between 1530 and 1543 the Crown prohibited English Scripture, required it in every parish church, then barred named ranks from reading it (2.4).
Parliament gave the Crown the election of bishops, supremacy over the church and, in 1534, first fruits and tenths (2.5).
Between 1661 and 1673 Parliament imposed a sacramental test and fines shared with informers, and the 1689 relief left tithe in place (2.6).
Tithe was converted to a rentcharge in 1836, church rates ended in 1868, and the last tithe annuities ended in 1977 (2.7).
Virginia's House of Delegates agreed to a general religious tax in 1784, and the 1786 statute enacted that no man be compelled to support a ministry (2.8).
Innocent III, Thomas More, the 1559 Act of Supremacy and the manuscript record limit the restriction findings (2.9).
The extent of restriction before 1520 is disputed and unresolved here (2.10).

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