ST PAULS CATHEDRAL LONDON IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 1

On November 17 1558 Queen Mary of England died. On her accession to the throne Queen Elizabeth 1 did not interfere immediately with the actions Mary had taken in restoring England to the Roman Catholic Faith.

However, by the time a solemn Requiem Mass was sung at St Pauls Cathedral London in July 1559 for the repose of the soul of Henry II of France, all of the restored images had been removed.

A complete silence had descended on Paul's Cross and lasted for several months, but when that silence broke and Pauls Cross was once again in use it reverberated once again to the sounds of the Reformed Faith.

Bishop Bonner was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, the English Communion service was again in use and the following August the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth 1 held a Visitation in St Pauls Cathedral London.

Anyone who refused to conform with it were pronounced willfully and obstinately disobedient and deprived.

The Rood was again taken down and disposed with, as were the images, but without the wholesale and wanton destruction displayed during the reign of Edward VI.

December 17th saw Parker consecrated Archbishop at Lambeth and he in turn consecrated Grindal, Bishop of London four days later.

Bishop Bonner was transferred from the Tower of London to the Marshalsea Prison in Southwark, where he stayed tending to his gardens and orchards until his death in 1569.

But What exactly had turned the tide of quite a sizeable amount of public opinion against the religion, which only five years previously, the very same people had welcomed back with open arms?

Although it is completely untrue that the whole of the country welcomed the Reformed Religion, - (for whole swathes of the kingdom, especially in the north of England would not renounce their Roman Catholic Religion at any price.

This was proved without any shadow of a doubt, when in the later years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, many many more people were executed for their adherence to the ancient Faith, than had been executed during the Marian Persecutions.

This however, does not in any way excuse the barbarity of what took place during those same Marian Persecutions) - there can be little doubt about the answer to the question.

John Rogers, a prebendary of St Pauls Cathedral London, was the first person to be executed in what were termed the Marian Persecutions.

He had given much assistance to William Tyndale in his translation of the Bible into English, and having brought it to England, he published it.

Only three days after the reception of Cardinal Pole, he was sentenced to be burned at the stake and had full encouragement from his wife and children.

The following October, saw the same Sentence of Death carried out on his Bishop and patron, Ridley.

Machyn recorded, the regular and seemingly endless burnings which went on in Smithfield, which horrified the citizens of London, turning their hearts steadfastly to the persecuted faith.

Most of these executions by fire took place in London, and St Pauls Cathedral London was the place of trial.

On the 13th of November 1558, just four days before she died, Queen Mary of England issued a brief to Bonner, giving him command to burn heretics without mercy. Cardinal Pole also died on the same day.

A tremendous thunderstorm burst out over London on June 3rd 1561. The Church of St. Martin Within Ludgate took a direct hit by a bolt of lightning which caused great masses of stone to plunge, crashing down onto the pavement below.

While the terrified people were trying to come to terms with this, it was discovered that the great steeple of St Pauls Cathedral London was on fire.

The timber framework was ablaze and the leadwork which covered it poured down like lava onto the roof, the very bells themselves were melting in the ferocious heat.

For the next four hours the whole cathedral was in danger, but fortunately, with the exception of the roof of the nave, the Cathedral was saved.

As soon as the flames were extinguished, it did not take Pilkington, (whose works are published by the Parker Society), long to furiously blame it all on the retention of Popery.

They in turn wasted no time, and with equal vigour, countered by attributing the disaster to the desecration of the Cathedral carried out by the Puritans.

The steeple of St Pauls Cathedral London was never rebuilt, but the nave roof was begun without loss of time.

Queen Elizabeth 1 sent letters to the Lord Mayor, commanding him to take immediate steps, gave him 1000 marks from her own purse, and warrants for 1000 loads of timber from her woods.

Seven Thousand Pounds were raised at once by the clergy and laymen of London, "very frankly, lovingly, and willingly," says the Guildhall record. Before a month had elapsed a temporary roof was made, and in five years the lead roof was complete.

One of the early headmasters of St Pauls School was Richard Mulcaster, considered to be the father of modern football.

He was the first headmaster at Merchant Taylors School in London, taking up the position in 1561. It was at the time the largest school in the country. He became headmaster of St Pauls School in 1596.

The game of football had been popular in England for centuries, with suggestions that some form of the game had been played by the Roman Legions during their occupation.

It continued its popularity with the peasant classes during the Middle Ages (sixth century to late fifteenth century). Games, known as mob football or Shrovetide football, would be arranged between villages, involving any number of players on opposing sides.

Without any specifically defined size of pitch as we have nowadays, these opposing teams would commit themselves, by fair means or foul and with anything at their disposal, to move an inflated pig's bladder to a pre-defined marker in their opponents half.

In other words the size of the pitch could be anything, even stretching between the villages if necessary, taking in streets, fields or any other place where the ball happened to land.

These games were extremely violent and without any fixed rules of engagement. Kicking and punching ones opponents was commonplace. They were continually being banned as a result.

When football began to be played in London is unclear, but by the latter part of the twelfth century, the game is known to have become established in the city.

Along with many towns and cities, it is known to have held traditional Shrove Tuesday football (Mob Football) games as part of their community celebrations. There were reports of people being killed, either by accidentally running into an opponents dagger, or being intentionally stabbed.

However, it was detested by the ruling authorities and Church leaders, albeit for different reasons. ( NOTE: Here, we will just concentrate on the place which, St Pauls Cathedral London occupies in the History of Soccer and its connection with the modern game. We will go into the History of Soccer much deeper elsewhere)

The main objections by the Monarchy, were mainly for military reasons, whereas the leaders of the Church were far more concerned about participation in the game on the Sabbath.

Throughout the reigns of Kings Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, many laws were introduced in an effort to ban the game. These Medieval Kings had been concerned with the lack of time being spent in the practice of archery.

Archery practice was considered to be of major importance at a time when many conflicts were taking place, especially the Hundred Years War between England and France from 1337 to 1453, but also conflicts arising between England and Scotland.

The bubonic plague had devastated the population between 1348 and 1350, making serious inroads into the numbers of skilled archers that were at England's disposal.

This policy of archery practise proved very effective for the English forces in several battles, most notably the Battle of Agincourt, which took place on St. Crispin's Day, Friday 25th October 1415.

The use of the English longbow by English and Welsh longbowmen, completely devastated the numerically superior French army and had a crippling effect on France.

Both the Church and the State, were also concerned with the horrendous injuries that were continuously being inflicted by the participation in the game of football. Broken necks, backs, arms and legs were very commonplace.

Not everyone shared this opinion of football being a barbaric game however. Richard Mulcaster, a former Eton College student, pedagogue and headmaster at both Merchant Taylors' School (1561) and St Pauls School (it is here we have the connection between St Pauls Cathedral London and the History of Soccer), was one of them and is known as "the greatest sixteenth century advocate of football."

He was able to inform us that, by the end of the sixteenth century, football in England had grown to greatness and was much used in all places.

It was Richard Mulcaster who made the most convincing case for a move away from Latin as the language of education, which had up until then held sway as the language of learning.

In his work, the Elementaire, which was published in 1582, he provoked a movement which ultimately led to English displacing Latin as the language of learning throughout the English speaking world.

In 1581, in his publication, ‘Positions Wherein Those Primitive Circumstances Be Examined, Which Are Necessarie for the Training up of Children,' he mentioned the many benefits of "footeball" when he published in ENGLISH AND NOT LATIN, thereby marking his own unique contribution, by not only referring to "football" by its correct name in English, but also in providing the earliest indication of a football match being organised as a team game.

He wrote that football had a valuable part to play in education whilst also promoting health and strength...." the game "strengtheneth and brawneth the whole body, and by provoking superfluities downward, it dischargeth the head, and upper parts, it is good for the bowels, and to drive the stone and gravel from both the bladder and kidneys."

Richard Mulcaster also claimed that all that was needed, was to refine football a little and give it better manners. His ideas were that the game would benefit most if the number of participants in each team were limited and, more importantly, there were stricter referees.

His writings on the merits of football, was the first in which there was a reference to teams, positions ("standings") of players, referees and coaches ("trayning maisters").

He describes a game which was comprised of small organised teams and controlled by the supervision and guidance of a referee....

"Some smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one another so barbarously ... may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges"

This was clear evidence that his idea of the game had certainly progressed from the earlier and violently disordered "mob" football into something much more refined. He was clearly implying a game where the passing of the ball took place, with his reference to different positions or standings on the field.

It is because of his obvious enthusiam for the game of football and his accurate description of what can be seen as a modern version of the game, that Richard Mulcaster came to be seen as the father of early (ie sixteenth century) modern football.

It was decided to include the above piece of the History of Soccer in this part of the History of St Pauls Cathedral London, due to Richard Mulcaster being the headmaster of St Pauls School.
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