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Martin Marprelate was the name used by the anonymous author or authors of the Marprelate tracts. These circulated illegally in the years 1588 and 1589. Their principal focus was an attack on the episcopacy of the Anglican Church. In 1583, the appointment of John Whitgift as Archbishop of Canterbury had signalled the beginning of a drive against the Presbyterian movement in the church, and an era of censorship began. In 1586, by an edict of the Star Chamber, the archbishop was empowered to licence and control all of the printing apparatus in the country.The true identity of "Martin" has long been speculated upon. Many have suggested John Penry, who was hanged in 1593, others Edward de Vere and Christopher Marlowe. As the tracts had to be printed in secrecy, some sort of organisation was clearly involved to handle their production and distribution, and as their intent found widespread support among the PuritanThe Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. Terminology The word puritan is now applied unevenly to a number of Protestant churches from the late sixteenth century to the early eighteenth c element, some sort of communal authorship is likely.
Penry was definitely involved in the printing, and his press was frequently relocated to different parts of the country in order to avoid the authorities. He himself denied any involvement in the actual authorship.
The government was concerned enough at the virulence of the attacks on the ecclesiastical hierarchy to respond in kind, hiring professional writers such as Thomas NasheThomas Nashe (November 1567 ? 1600) was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, poet and satirist. Son of William Nashe a minister and Margaret (nee Witchingham) his wife. Baptized in Lowestoft, Suffolk. The family moved to West Harling, near Thetford in 1573, Robert GreeneThis article is about the writer Robert Greene, who lived in the 16th century. There is also an article on the contemprorary writer Robert Greene Robert Greene ( 1558 September 3, 1592) was an English playwright, poet, pamphleteer, and prose writer. He wa and John LylyJohn Lyly Lilly or Lylie (c. 1553- 1606) was an English writer, best known for his Euphues''. He was born in Kent in 1553 or 1554. At the age of sixteen, according to Anthony Wood, he became a student at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he proceeded to his to write counter-tracts. Like most polemics, the tracts are full of hatred of their opponents, describing the bishops as representing the AntichristIn Christian eschatology, the Antichrist is a person or other entity that is the embodiment of evil, and utterly opposed to truth. In the New Testament, the word "antichrist" (Greek antichristos is used only in 1 John and 2 John, where it generally descri, and equally convinced of the righteousness of their own cause.
1 See also
- Elizabethan Religious SettlementThe Elizabethan Religious Settlement was Elizabeth I’s response to the religious divisions created over the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. This response was set out in two acts of parliament. The Act of Supremacy of 1559 re-established the En
- Religion in the United KingdomSt Paul's Cathedral The United Kingdom is traditionally a Christian country, with two of the Home nations having official faiths: Anglicanism, in the form of the Church of England, is the Established Church in England. The Queen is Supreme Governor of the
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History of EnglandEngland is the largest and most populous of the four main divisions of the United Kingdom. The division dates from the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in the fifth century. The territory of England has been politically united since the tenth century. This art
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