The Remains of Edmund Grindal, D.D., Successively Bishop of London, and Archbishop of York and Canterbury, ed. Parker Society (Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 1843).
This is Elizabeth’s second Archbishop of Canterbury and the nation’s second Reformation-Bishop following Mary (1519-1583).
(Of note, the Harvard Library did not possess this work until 30 Dec 1899, which may suggest that studies in Anglican developments and Tractarianism were hampered as late as 1899.)
As for all the Parker Society volumes, we call attention again to the usual frontispiece:
“For the Publication of the Works of the Fathers and Early Writers of the Reformed English Church.” The term “Reformed” is used copiously.
This book is free and downloadable at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=5xOYAWCNqSkC&pg=PP7&dq=remains+edmund+grindal&ei=sChZSueIEYaCywTBicS-Bw
This book includes: a Biographical Notice, a Sermon for the Funeral of Emperor Ferdinand, a Dialogue between Custom and Verity, Various Services for the Plague, Articles and Injunctions of Inquiry for the Provinces of York and Canterbury, the Disputation at Cambridge (1549), Examination of Londoners before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (1567), and Sundry Letters (e.g. to John Foxe, Ridley, Archdeacons, Suffragan Bishops, Sir William Cecil, Magistrates of Frankfort, Parker, Lord Robert Dudley, Zanchius, Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Whitgift, and the Bishop of London).
Another essential and ancillary volume is John Strype’s. We believe that aside from involvement directly with the Grindal manuscripts—as primary sources—that the current volume and Strype’s give us an authoritative picture of this Elizabethan Bishop and Archbishop as well as the Episcopal Sees of London, York and Canterbury.
John Strype (1710), Life and Acts of Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury. This volume is free and downloadable at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mp965368HU0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=john+strype+grindal&as_brr=1&ei=5yhZSs6uOoXgygS41MyQBw
Edmund Grindal was born in 1519 in the parish of St. Bees, Cumberland. He died on 6 July 1583 following leadership as the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of York and Canterbury.
Events prior to the Edwardian period.
Grindal was the boyhood friend and companion of Edwin Sandys. Sandys was born in the same area and afterwards succeeded Grindal in the sees of London and York.
He entered Magdalen College, Cambridge, and later went to Christ’s College and Pembroke Hall. Of the latter, he became a fellow, president and master. He earned his B.A. about 1538. In 1541, he earned the M.A. He was ordained 4 Jul, 1544, by John Bird, bishop of Winchester. By 1548, he served in the office of senior proctor. He had earned a reputation as “one of the ripest wits and learnedest men in Cambridge.
In 1549, Grindal was nominated to be one of four disputants from Cambridge against the doctrine of transubstantiation. In the same year, he was appointed Lady Margaret’s preacher and the president, or vice-master, of his college.
In 1550, Ridley appointed Grindal as one of his chaplains, alongside Bradford and Rogers, both afterwards martyrs in Queen Mary’s reign. Ridley may have come to learn of Grindal as a member of his college.
Ridley’s estimation of Grindal is captured by this letter to Sir John Cheke:
“Now the man master Grindal, unto whom I would give this prebend [that of Cantrells or Kentish Town], doth move me much; for he is a man known to be both of virtue, honesty, discretion, wisdom and learning.” (p.ii)
On 24 Aug, 1551, Grindal was preferred to the office of precentor of St. Paul’s. While connected to Bishop Ridley, Grindal preached widely throughout the diocese, “in order to impress the popular mind in favour of the reformed religion.” Ergo, to know Ridley's works is also to understand Grindal's thoughts and works.
In the same year, we find him engaged in two private conferences about the eucharistic controversy, the question being the true meaning of the words, “This is my body.” Was it figurative or literal? Grindal, Horn, Cheke, and Whitehead took the Protestant side. Fecknam, Young and Watson took the Romanist side. A segment of this book is devoted to that debate.
By Dec 1551, Grindal was appointed chaplain to King Edward and, by July, 1552, he obtained a prebend in Westminster.
Events during Queen Mary’s reign.
King Edward died on 6 July 1553, an omen of more difficult days to come. Grindal, along with others, headed to the Continent. His first place of exile was Strasburgh. He despaired of returning to England, so he undertood the study of German that he might be useful in ministry. He also occasionally visited other places, e.g Wasselheim, Spires, and Frankfort. While in exile, one of his chief occupations was to collect the writings and stories of the learned and pious who suffered in England. He had a view towards publishing them. As a result, he had much correspondence with John Foxe of the infamous work, Acts and Monuments.
Unhappy divisions arose amongst the English exiles in Frankfort in 1554 over the Prayer Book. Cox, later a Bishop, and others were satisfied with the 1552 BCP. John Knox and his company wanted a service that was simpler and akin to that at Geneva. Grindal and Chambers were deputed to allay the controversy, we are told—yet deputed by whom? This debate was odoriferous to all observers, German, Swiss, and English, Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican. Perhaps this was Grindal’s first exposure to the intolerant wing of extreme Anglican Puritans.
Confessional Presbyterians to this day, like so many others, dislike that godly Book of Common Prayer...without merit, then as now. Correspondingly, Confessional Anglicans to this day, like so many others, reject the Westminster Confession of Faith...without merit, then as now.
Queen Mary died 17 Nov, 1558, and those who fled to the Continent were now returning. By the end of December, 1558, Grindal was on his way back to England.
The skills and learning of the returning exiles were now pressed into operation in behalf of the Reformation in the Edwardian church—they were call upon to undo the defacements and obliterations of the Marian faction. Grindal was one such Reformer.
The first matter of business for Elizabeth’s first parliament was the revision of The Book of Common Prayer. A committee of divines met consisting of Cox, Sandys, Whitehead, Grindal, Pilkington, Parker, May, Bell and Sir T. Smith. Grindal was chosen because he was close to Bishop Ridley and therefore “well acquainted with the reasons and methods used under king Edward in the composing the Common Prayers, wherein that bishop, with archbishop Cranmer, had the chief hand.” (p.16) Experienced with Puritans but also the early Reformers, Grindal was chosen.
In March 1559, a solemn Conference was held at Westminster before the Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon, along with many nobility and gentry, eight Roman divines, and eight Protestant divines, of which Grindal was one. His overall skills would be needed when he fleeted up to the Episcopal See of York, where Romanist recusancy was dominant.
On Sunday, 12 May 1559, the new Book of Common Prayer was used in the Queen’s chapel. On the following Wednesday, Grindal preached at St. Paul’s before the entire court, the privy council, the lord mayor and the city’s aldermen. This points to the stature that he had attained by this time.
In July 1559, Bishop Bonner was deposed from his London see. Grindal was nominated for the vacancy and was consecrated by Archbishop Parker on 21 Dec 1559 at Lambeth Palace, assisted by Bishops Barlow, Scory and Hodgson. Alexander Nowell, later Dean of St. Paul’s preached the sermon from Acts 20.28.
During 1560, Grindal is heard preaching before large audiences.
By 1562, Bp. Grindal is involved in that famous synod. “…the famous synod, wherein divers weighty matters of religion were to be discussed, and the orders and usages of the church corrected and purged, and worship settled according to the prescript of the gospel, and an uniformity in all prescribed. In this our bishop was much employed for the giving notice thereof to all the bishops of the province, and for the summoning of all that had a right to sit there, to meet at St. Paul’s for that purpose on the 12th day of January. But this was the least matter he had to do in relation to this synod; for he was one of those select learned men, appointed to prepare and adjust matters for to lay before the synod, against the time they should sit. I have seen his hand in many of the papers drawn up to be debated in that notable convocation; he being, together with archbishop Parker, bishop Sandys, bishop Cox, and some few more, all along from the Queen’s first access to the crown hitherto, employed in consultation for the reformation of religion.” (Pg. 18, footnote four citing John Strype (1710), Life and Acts of Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury , p.99.)
On 10 April, 1564, Grindal proceeded to the degree of doctor in divinity. On 3 October, 1564, he preached a sermon at the “funeral solemnity of Emperor Ferdinand II.” We have that sermon in this book.
Details in Grindal’s life and work are evident in the letters in this volume.
One of the greater undertakings, however, was his involvement in the Bishops’ Bible in 1568. Archbishop Parker was its chief promoter and it derived its name from the men who produced it—“the best qualified men, both for learning and character.” “Edmundus London,” or Edmund Grindal, was responsible for “Hoses, Joel, Amos, to Malachi inclusive.” Biblical scholarship was a part of the Bishop's array of skills.
In April 1570, Grindal was nominated to the Episcopal see of York. He was confirmed at Canterbury on the Monday following Trinity Sunday by Archbishop Parker. Bishop Edwin Sandys, his boyhood friend, succeeded him to the London see.
Grindal found York to be “far from encouraging.” (p.20) The greater part of the gentry in the north were opposed to the reformation. The common people were “sunk in ignorance and superstition.” Grindal writes Sir William Cecil, saying, “This seems to be, as it were, another church, rather than a member of the rest.” Grindal began an investigation resulting in Articles of Inquiry and Injunctions, as are contained in this book. By diligence and time, Grindal provided learned, reformed, and able men, daily diminishing the control of the papists in the north.
Part Two to be continued.
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