John Bale | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Church | Church of Ireland |
| See | Ossory |
| Appointed | 22 October 1552 |
| Installed | 2 February 1553 |
| Term ended | September 1553 |
| Predecessor | Milo Baron,OSA |
| Successor | John Tonory,OSA |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 November 1495 |
| Died | November 1563 (aged 67-68) Canterbury,Kent, Kingdom of England |
| Nationality | English |
| Denomination | Catholic Church,ProtestantChristianity |
| Occupation | Churchman, historian and controversialist. WroteIllustrium majoris Britanniae scriptorum, hoc est, Angliae, Cambriae, ac Scotiae Summarium (1548–49) |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Cambridge |
John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian controversialist, andBishop of Ossory inIreland. He wrote the oldest known historicalverse drama in English (on the subject ofKing John), and developed and published a very extensive list of the works of British authors down to his own time, just as the monastic libraries were being dispersed. His contention thatJoseph of Arimathea had brought a proto-Protestant faith to Britain that was purer thanCatholicism was to have far-reaching ramifications; but his unhappy disposition and habit of quarrelling earned him the nickname "bilious Bale".
He was born atCovehithe, nearDunwich inSuffolk.[1] At the age of twelve he joined theCarmelitefriars atNorwich, removing later to the house of "Holme", (possibly theCarmeliteHulne Priory nearAlnwick inNorthumberland). Later he enteredJesus College, Cambridge, and took his degree of B.D. in 1529.[2]
He became the last Prior of theIpswich Carmelite house, elected in 1533.[3] He abandoned his monastic vocation, and got married, saying, "that I might never more serve so execrable a beast, I took to wife the faithful Dorothy". He obtained the living ofThorndon, Suffolk, but in 1534 was summoned before theArchbishop of York for a sermon against the invocation of saints preached atDoncaster, and afterwards beforeJohn Stokesley,Bishop of London, but he escaped through the powerful protection ofThomas Cromwell, whose notice he is said to have attracted by hismiracle plays.
In these plays, Bale denounced the monastic system and its supporters in unrestrained language and coarse imagery. The prayer ofInfidelitas which opens the second act of hisThree Laws is an example of his profane parody. These somewhat brutal productions were intended to impress popular feeling, and Cromwell found in him an invaluable instrument. When Cromwell fell from favour in 1540, Bale fled with his wife and children toAntwerp. He returned on the accession of KingEdward VI, and received the living ofBishopstoke,Hampshire, being promoted in 1552 to the Irish see ofOssory. He refused to be consecrated by theRoman Catholic rites of the Irish church, and won his point, though the Dean ofDublin made a protest against the revised office during the ceremony. He also quarrelled bitterly with the aged and respected judgeThomas St. Lawrence, who travelled toKilkenny to urge the people to reject his innovations.
When the accession ofQueen Mary inaugurated a violent reaction in matters of religion, he was forced to get out of the country again. He tried to escape to Scotland, but on the voyage was captured by aDutch man-of-war, which was driven by bad weather intoSt Ives, Cornwall. Bale was arrested on suspicion oftreason, but soon released. AtDover he had another narrow escape, but he eventually made his way to the Netherlands and thence toFrankfurt andBasel. Bale's intent in his autobiographicalVocacyon was to write a polemical account of his escape from Ireland in parallel with the life ofSt Paul.[4] AlthoughVocacyon is a broadly true account, Bale possessed a "self-dramatizing tendency".[4]
During his exile, he devoted himself to writing. After his return, on the accession ofQueen Elizabeth I, he received (1560) aprebendal stall atCanterbury, where he died and was buried in the cathedral.
John Bale attacked his enemies with vehemence and scurrility, much of which was directed strongly and forcibly against theRoman Catholic Church and its writers: but this cavil does not significantly diminish the value of his contributions to literature. (The Roman Catholic sympathiser and antiquaryAnthony Wood, a man of "uncouth manners" and a condemned libeller, described him as "foul-mouthed Bale" a century afterwards.) Of his mysteries andmiracle plays only five have been preserved, but the titles of the others, quoted by himself in hisCatalogus, show that they were animated by the same political and religious aims. TheThree Laws ofNature,Moses and Christ, corrupted by theSodomytes,Pharisees andPapystes most wicked[5] (produced in 1538 and again in 1562) was amorality play. The direction for the dressing of the parts is instructive: "LetIdolatry be decked like an old witch,Sodomy like a monk of all sects, Ambition like a bishop,Covetousness like a Pharisee or spiritual lawyer, False Doctrine like a popish doctor, andHypocrisy like a gray friar."A Tragedye; or enterlude manifesting the chief promyses of God unto Man,[6]The Temptacyon of our Lorde,[7] andA brefe Comedy or Enterlude ofJohan Baptystes preachynge in the Wyldernesse, etc.[8] were all written in 1538.
Bale is a figure of some literary-dramatic importance as the author ofKynge Johan (c. 1538),[9] which marks the transition between the oldmorality play and the Englishhistorical drama. It does not appear to have directly influenced the creators of the chronicle histories (such asThe Troublesome Reign of King John (1591)), but it is remarkable that such a developed attempt at historical drama should have been made twenty-three years before the production ofGorboduc in 1561.Kynge Johan is itself a polemic against the Roman Catholic Church.King John is represented as the champion of English church rites against theHoly See.
Bale's most important work isIllustrium Maioris Britanniae scriptorum, hoc est, Angliae, Cambriae ac Scotiae summarium ("Summary of the Famous Writers of Great Britain, that is, of England, Wales and Scotland"), published atIpswich by John Overton in 1548,[10] and atWesel by Derick van der Straten in 1549. This first edition contains authors through five centuries. Another edition, almost entirely rewritten and containing fourteen centuries, was printed atBasel byJohannes Oporinus with the titleScriptorum illustrium Maioris Brytanniae, quam nunc Angliam & Scotiam vocant, catalogus ("Catalogue of the Famous Writers of Great Britain, which now they call England and Scotland") in 1557,[11] completed by a latter part in 1559.[12]
This chronological catalogue of British authors and their works was partly founded on theDe uiris illustribus ofJohn Leland. Bale was an indefatigable collector and worker, and personally examined many of the valuable libraries of theAugustinian andCarmelite houses before theirdissolution. His work contains much information that would otherwise have been hopelessly lost. His autograph note-book is preserved in theSelden Collection of theBodleian Library,Oxford. It contains the materials collected for his two published catalogues arranged alphabetically, without enlargement on them nor the personal remarks which colour the completed work. He includes the sources for his information.[13] He noted: "I have bene also at Norwyche, our second citye of name, and there all the library monuments are turned to the use of their grossers, candelmakers, sopesellers, and other worldly occupyers... As much have I saved there and in certen other places inNorthfolke andSouthfolke concerning the authors names and titles of their workes, as I could, and as much wold I have done throughout the whole realm, yf I had been able to have borne the charges, as I am not."
John Bale's written works are listed inAthenae Cantabrigienses.[14] While in Germany he published an attack on the monastic system entitledThe Actes of Englysh Votaries,[15] threeLives asThe Examinations ofLord Cobham, William Thorpe and Anne Askewe, &c,[16] and thePageant of Popes.The Actes of Englysh Votaries is chiefly significant for its appropriation of the legend ofJoseph of Arimathea for the Protestant cause. Joseph's alleged early arrival in Britain had already been gleefully exploited by theologians and diplomats to enhance English claims to precedence. Bale's innovation was to contend that the faith which Joseph brought, was also purer than that of Rome: "the Brytaynes toke the christen faythe at the verye sprynge or fyrst goynge forth of the Gospell, whan the churche was most perfyght, and had most strengthe of the holye ghost". It was a claim that was enthusiastically taken up by English Protestants, including QueenElizabeth.[17] While Rector of Bishopstoke he producedThe Image of Both Churches, and after his stormy association with Ossory he printed an account of his "Vocacyon" to that see.[18]The Resurreccion of the Masse, purporting to be written by one Hugh Hilarie, is generally attributed to Bale.[19][20][21][22]
John Pitts or Pitseus (1560–1616), an EnglishRoman Catholic exile, founded on Bale's work hisRelationum historicarum de rebus anglicis tomus primus (Paris, 1619), better known by its running title ofDe Illustribus Angliae scriptoribus. This is really the fourth book of a more extensive work. He omits theWycliffite andProtestant divines mentioned by Bale, and the most valuable section is thelives of the Roman Catholic exiles resident inDouai and other French towns. He asserts (Nota de Joanne Bale) that Bale'sCatalogus was a misrepresentation ofJohn Leland's work, though in all likelihood he only knew Leland's work through his reading of Bale.
The Image of Both Churches was published by John Bale in 1545, and is a detailed commentary on theBook of Revelation, the last book in the Christian Bible. Bale proceeded by taking short passages and following with a detailed paraphrase to explain the meaning and significance of such things as the opening of the seven seals, the first beast, the second beast with two horns, the blowing of the trumpets, and the going forth of the horsemen. Of central concern was the correct identification of theAntichrist.
Bale's central thesis is that the Book of Revelation is a prophecy of how God's word and those who love it (the "saints") would fare at the hands of men and a false Church during the last age, meaning the time between theascension of Jesus and the end of the world.
Bale identified two types of churches. First, there was a false church, or Church of Antichrist, which persecutes those who do not bow to its dictates. He did not entirely limit his criticism to the Roman Church but, typical of the Puritans, accused also the youngChurch of England. By contrast, the "true Church" loves and teaches God's word truly. He also speaks critically of the Church of Mohammed ("Mahomet"): its tyranny over the people (the "Turks") and persecution of the saints.
He is the central figure in the 1988 novelBooks of Bale by the novelist and playwrightJohn Arden. He also appears inC. J. Sansom's quasi-historical novel,Lamentation set in the last part ofHenry VIII's reign.
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