Daily Life During The Reformation (17 page)

In Scotland, Patrick Hamilton, a student of Luther, began
to preach the new doctrine and soon found a following. Invited to a conference
at St. Andrews by Archbishop Beaton, he was arrested for propagating heretical
views. Beaton had made sure that the king, James V, was indisposed, lest he
intervene on behalf of Patrick, a relative. Patrick was tried as a heretic by
the archbishop and burned at the stake in 1527.

The death of Hamilton, a member of the royal family,
demonstrated that the Catholic Church recognized no social boundaries when it
came to preserving its supremacy. However, instead of creating fear of
repression, Hamilton’s death attracted people more than ever to Lutheran
doctrines.

Meanwhile, Scottish nobles had drawn up a common bond
calling themselves “Lords of the Congregation of Jesus Christ.” They asked John
Knox to assist their cause, and he returned to Scotland in May 1559. He
instituted reforms giving the common people a voice in Church affairs for the
first time. The populace was so receptive to his preaching against idolatry,
they destroyed Catholic churches and their idols, burned and pillaged
monasteries, and assaulted priests. Riots followed Knox’s preaching from town
to town, and war ensued to end French presence in Scotland. The Lords of the
Congregation were aided by troops from England under Queen Elizabeth. The
battles ended with the Treaty of Edinburgh, which gave Scotland freedom from
interference in its affairs by either England or France. The Reformation
Parliament of 1560 repudiated the pope’s authority, forbade celebration of the
Mass, and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith drawn up by Knox.

After the split with Rome, it was uncertain for a century
or so whether the Church in Scotland would be Episcopal or Presbyterian.
Charles I, King of Scotland and England, preferred the Episcopal form, while
the Scottish people insisted on the Presbyterian. They prevailed, and
Presbyterianism was permanently established in Scotland by constitutional act
in 1689.

The Scottish Catholic Church

Almost half the wealth in sixteenth-century Scotland lay in
Church coffers. A merchant of the first rank in his day, Andrew Halyburton was
also Scottish Consul at Middleburg (Netherlands), where he transacted business
mostly on behalf of Scotsmen buying and selling and charging a percentage for
his services. According to Halyburton’s ledger, items exported from Scotland
were meager, consisting mainly of wool, hides, and fish, reflecting not the
produce of a skilled society but, rather, that of the simple sheep herder,
hunter, and fisherman.

Imports into Scotland included some dye, gunpowder,
equipment for building, and materials for Church decoration; but the foremost
items were luxury materials followed by wines, spices, and specialty foodstuffs
such as olives, dates, and figs. In Halyburton’s ledger, the first account is
that of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, followed by bishops and nobles, all of
whom were involved in importing items of great luxury. It appeared that
cardinals and bishops lived as well or better than kings.

There was no such thing as banking in Scotland at the time,
and those with money to spare generally invested it in precious metals, jewels,
and expensive furnishings. This was especially true of the Church, for even the
nobility had little in the way of precious metal; pewter was more their style.
The farmer, who slept on the ground in a mud hut lined with straw with a dirty
blanket around him and a log for a pillow, had every reason to question the
sincerity and fitness of the men of God and their Church.

Monks tended to live in idleness and comfort, paying little
heed to their religious duties, and most of the preaching in Scotland was done
by friars who often had little education. The convents were in the same state,
housing generally illiterate, undisciplined sisters. Parish churches were
neglected and without sufficient funds to pay qualified priests. Further, the
moral standards of the secular clergy suffered as attested by the large number
of children they sired.

As in other parts of Europe, the poverty of parish priests
stood in sharp contrast to the wealth of those more important members of the
Church hierarchy, whose lucrative positions were often maintained within the
family. Many noble families drew good incomes from the control of Church
offices.

Dining
in a Castle

Fynes Moryson, the English traveler, described some of the
dinners he attended while in Scotland and the accouterments he encountered. He
observed that dishes were almost always of pewter, the wealthy sometimes owning
as many as 40 dozen plates of varying sizes, whereas in lesser households they
would have three to four dozen. Drinking cups and the jugs and basins for
washing the hands were silver or pewter.

Guests invited to a castle for a meal would enter the great
hall on the first floor via a winding, stone staircase and be greeted by two
servants, one holding a metal bowl and the other holding a pitcher of water to
pour over the hands. The most important were then seated at a long, narrow
table, slightly raised, and serving as a line of social distinction. The long
wooden boards of oak or fir that were used as the table sat on a pair of
trestles and were removed and placed against the wall when not in use. A fire
would be burning in a large, open fireplace, a tapestry hung from the wall, and
a rug lay in front of the fire. Rushes or grass covered the floor.

The lord of the castle would sit in the middle of the table
in a high-backed chair, a canopy suspended above him. Others sat on benches
with loose cushions, while less influential guests sat at side tables. All had
their backs to the wall, so food could be served from the middle of the room.

With the exception of the servants, everyone would have
their heads covered, the women using kerchiefs in the form of two horns draped
from a mound of real or false hair. Such coverings prevented fleas, lice, or
scabs falling into the food.

The tablecloth, generally green, was made of imported
material; candles were lit to increase the light from the overhead chandelier.
The silver saltshaker, a most important table piece that was put in a prominent
place in the middle of the table, could be of great size and intricate design.
Plates were usually pewter, although wooden ones were also used in some houses.
Spoons were pewter or silver; forks were not used since people ate with their
fingers: two fingers and the thumb were the rule for eating from the common
dish and for also lifting a cup. Basins, towels, and table napkins were
provided for washing the fingers. If needed, guests tended to use their own
knives that they carried on them. Cultivated people were taught not to be
greedy, not to stare at others who were eating, and not to roll their eyes at
the table. They should drink in moderation, diluting their wine with water. At
the end of the great hall, musicians entertained from a gallery as people ate.

The hall itself was sparsely furnished with perhaps a side
table for pitchers and plates, a chest for towels and napkins, and a
comfortable chair for the lord. Furniture was strictly functional and not used
for decoration. The great barren halls of Scotland contrasted sharply with
those in France, England, Italy and elsewhere.

Bedrooms were also scantily furnished in Scotland as they
were in England at this time, usually containing a bed, table and a chair along
with a few tapestries on the walls. Bedrooms for guests had just the beds and
perhaps a stool and chest for clothes. Nothing else was considered necessary.
Every castle or mansion had a bake house, a brew house, and a kitchen with only
the bare necessities.

The Manse of Stobo

The solid mansion of Stobo in Glasgow provides a good
example of the disproportionate wealth of some Church members as compared to
the rest of the populace. It belonged to a priest, Adam Colquhoun, rector of
the university, who drew his income from a sparsely populated district at the
same time as the benefice of Stobo brought with it enormous earnings, enough to
ascertain that Adam Colquhoun’s relatives (churchmen also owned property in the
area) lived well. It was one of many houses in the district of Stobo where the
clergy that served the cathedral found residence. The manse was a far cry from
the castle described previously, and while it may not be representative of the
homes of all Catholic clergy, it does give a glimpse of the more opulent and
ostentatious life they led. It is also an example of why the common people and
many nobles despised the haughty and self-aggrandizing churchmen.

A tower-like building with stone walls three foot thick, it
was entered via a winding staircase onto which the doors of several apartments
opened directly. Fireplaces were in the hall as well as in the priest’s room,
but all rooms were dark since the windows were very small, and the walls were
dense. The back of the building faced south and had galleries overlooking an
orchard and garden, and all the furnishings were of the highest quality.

The hall had panels of tapestry on the walls showing scenes
of plants and animals, huntsmen, or scriptural stories, a large fireplace and a
cupboard standing against the wall with shelves arranged so that the contents,
including some forty dishes of silver, were displayed. Here, too, was a fine
buffet covered by luxurious Flemish quilted material. Other furnishings were of
carved wood and included a variety of chairs and footstools.

The bedroom contained a bed, the frame of which was of
carved wood, decorated with gold. Pillows filled with down and the sheets,
pillow cases, and coverings were the best money could buy. In the daytime, the
bed was covered with rich velvet lined with cotton. Panel tapestries lined the
walls for beauty and for warmth, and curtains could be drawn around the bed to
keep the occupant free from drafts.

This chamber was furnished lavishly. A chandelier hung from
the ceiling, and besides the bed, there was an oak bench, a carved wooden chest
for keeping valuables, various storage boxes and a locked, leather trunk. Within
the chest, he kept a rosary, a gold cross, a chain, various rings of gold, and
other items of value. On top of the chest stood a silver water vessel, a
sponge, some combs, and a brush.

At the same time as the common people suffered under the
demands of the Church, they were forced to witness priests flaunting their
wealth on the streets of the cities such as Glasgow, indulging their personal vanity
with sumptuous clothing and jewelry.

The priest of Stobo’s everyday costume seems to have
consisted of a velvet doublet lined with scarlet, a scarlet vest worn over a
white shirt, and black hose with silk garters and gold tassels. His damask
gown, lined with marten sable, was fastened with a gold button. His shoes were
of velvet, his gloves of cloth interwoven with gold and silver. A silver
toothpick was kept in the bag at his waist. There was no sign of frugality or
asceticism displayed by this son of the Church!

Other rooms in his house included one containing an altar
hung with velvet (the most expensive of cloths) with fringes of gold, on top of
which were the sacred vessels for celebration of the Eucharist. Next to this
room was the oratory where the sumptuous vestments were kept, and a carved desk
with religious and secular books that were expensively bound and decorated with
gold and silver.

The kitchen had two functional tables for preparing the
food and various pots, pans, and items needed to provide feasts. No stools or
chairs were provided for those who worked there. His barn was well stocked with
wheat, oats, hay, peas, and hoards of salted meat and fish, butter, and cheese.
In addition, there was a stable with riding equipment and even armor, although
members of the clergy were not supposed to bear arms. Here, too, was all
equipage needed for practicing archery, and a silk leash and collar studded
with silver for his dog or dogs. He kept a parrot for company, a crane, a tame
deer, and characteristic of his time, a mistress.

Merchants’ Houses

A merchant typically lived above the shop where he worked
his trade. A low curtain would form a partition behind which he could keep
chests containing necessary items. A house such as this gives an idea of the
transition in progress in the sixteenth century toward more modern concepts of
privacy for the family (as opposed to life in a castle filled with nobles and
their large retinues). A prosperous merchant was able to introduce new ideas,
art, and fashion into his life through trade with other countries.

There was often an entrance to the upstairs living quarters
from the outside. The main room would probably be decorated with a few wall
hangings and contain a long table covered by a piece of tapestry. A couple of
small windows, glazed or shuttered, generally faced the street.

At the table would be the merchant’s seat and a bench for
his wife and children. Alongside the table was generally a serving counter upon
which were placed dishes of tin or silver. Of course, some merchants were wealthier
than others, and this would be reflected in the decor. A saltshaker was an
integral component of every table, and its design and decoration (gold, silver,
or glass) would indicate the owner’s prosperity. Also in this room might be an
oak aumrie (cupboard) containing various precious belongings such as a rosary,
rings and jewelry.