20
December 1576 A.D. Grindal
Bucks Queen Elizabeth & Writes Her a Long Letter—72nd Archbishop of Canterbury Chides a
Tudor Queen; the 72nd Put Under House Arrest
Edmund Grindal was once saved from instant death
because he loved to read. As a youngster, he was so intent on improving himself
that he took a book with him wherever he went. Walking in the woods one day, he
had just tucked one of these books back into his breast pocket when an arrow
sped out of nowhere, thumped into the book and quivered there. Thanks to his
reading habit, Grindal was not killed on the spot. He matured to become one of
the few men who dared to openly buck an order from Queen Elizabeth I.
Grindal's bold challenge to his queen would not
come for many years, however. While studying at Cambridge, Grindal sat under
the teaching of Martin Bucer, a continental reformer, closely acquainted with
both Luther and Zwingli. Grindal became a Protestant and sought to imitate this
teacher, who was notable for his holy and peaceful life. During the reign of
Edward VI, Grindal held religious office at Westminster and was a chaplain to
the king.
But upon the accession of Mary, whose intention to
restore the Roman Church was no secret, Grindal fled overseas. While in Europe,
he gathered material on the many martyrs that Mary's reign supplied. Grindal's
notes became the basis of John Foxe's famous Book of Martyrs.
With the death of Mary and the rise of Queen
Elizabeth, Grindal returned to England. He was made bishop of London. Eleven
years later, he advanced to become Archbishop of York. While in York, Grindal
led teams of ministers throughout his archdiocese, teaching the reformed
doctrine, establishing churches and placing men in the pulpits who showed
evidence of genuine conversion experience. He cared less if a man had a
university education than if he had the Holy Spirit. The result was genuine
revival in York.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, died
in 1575. The following January, Elizabeth moved Edmund Grindal into England's
highest church office. Grindal was in office not even a year before the crisis
came. A form of preaching known as "prophesying" was in vogue,
especially among Christians with Puritan sympathies. Two or
three pastors would band together to speak on a chosen topic, questioning and
critiquing each other. This method of presenting the gospel drew large crowds.
Grindal himself had made heavy use of it in York.
Elizabeth feared that under guise of such meetings,
insurrections could gather. She ordered Grindal to suspend the practice.
Grindal might have complied or he might have quietly ignored the queen.
Instead, he sent her a long letter on this day, December 20, 1576. In it he refused to comply with her order.
Christ commanded us to preach the gospel, he said. Church matters should be
left to the church. The archbishop reminded her that she, too, was mortal,
although a great monarch.
Elizabeth was furious. She placed Grindal under
house arrest. That she did not execute him was owing to his wide popularity and
winsome spirit. He remained under arrest until his death, despite petitions
from the other clergy that he be restored to his archdiocese. The queen did,
however, send Grindal a heavy silver cup as a gesture of peace, and allowed him
to conduct some of his functions quietly. She was wise enough not to appoint
anyone else in his place during his life, even after he went blind and
requested to be relieved of his duties.
Bibliography:
Archbishops
of Canterbury. Elizabeth I.
(www.elizabethi.org/us/elizabethanchurch/archbishops.html)
Grindal,
Edmund. The Remains of Edmund Grindal Successively Bishop of London and
Archbishop of York and Canterbury; Edited for the Parker Society, by the Rev.
William Nicholson. Cambridge, England: University Press, 1843.
"Grindal,
Edmund." Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and
Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921 - 1996.
Hook,
Walter Farquhar, 1798-1875. Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. London: R.
Bentley, 1865 - 1884.
McKilliam,
Annie E. A Chronicle of the Archbishops of Canterbury. London: J. Clarke, 1913.
Last updated November, 2006.
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