ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



in timber or stone. The churchwardens' accounts for Minchinhampton 

 and several of the parishes of Bristol illustrate the changes in the reigns of 

 Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. 1 



On the accession of Elizabeth the see of Gloucester was vacant, and the 

 bishop of Bristol died within a month. Both sees remained unfilled until 

 19 April, i 562, when Richard Cheyney was consecrated bishop of Gloucester, 

 and on account of the slender endowment he was allowed to hold the bishopric 

 of Bristol in commendam. There were very few changes among the clergy ; 

 between 1558 and 1564 the dean of Bristol and one prebendary, two 

 prebendaries of Gloucester, and nine incumbents were deprived.* Unlike the 

 other Elizabethan bishops, Cheyney held the Lutheran view of the sacrament, 

 and objected to signing the articles in 1563, on account of the second ' only ' 

 in No. 28, though Guest, bishop of Rochester, explained that the word was 

 intended to safeguard, not to deny, the Real Presence.* In 1568 he preached 

 three sermons in the cathedral of Bristol which gave great offence to some 

 of the Puritan citizens. The sheriffs, two aldermen, and thirty-five other 

 persons made a formal complaint to the queen of his ' strange, perilous, and 

 corrupt doctrine.' * They objected to his teaching that they should follow 

 the fathers and doctors of the Church, although Calvin was opposed to some 

 of them. He also said that Luther wrote a very evil book against free will, 

 and that he himself was of the mind of Erasmus. Pointing to the strife 

 among the reformers of Germany and Switzerland, he bade them follow neither 

 this city nor that, but ' the catholic and universal consent.' Cheyney wrote 

 to Cecil in his own defence, telling him that many liked his sermons well, for 

 he merely upheld the authority of the Catholic Church, the fathers, and 

 general councils.' Complaining of one Norbrooke, a preacher in Bristol 

 against free will, he said, ' If young and hot heads shall be suffered to say and 

 preach what they list in matters of great weight, there must needs ensue a 

 Babylonical confusion.' He also notified that there were two in his diocese 

 who administered the communion, christened, married, &c., but were not in 

 orders. 



In reply to the queen's mandate of 15 October, 1577, for a return of 

 such persons as refused to come to church, Cheyney said that some supposed 

 to savour of papistry alleged sickness, others alleged debt and a fear of a 

 process, and a third sort commonly called Puritans wilfully refused, not liking 

 the surplice, ceremonies, and other services. 8 These had been arraigned and 

 indicted in several sessions, and were in prison. A week later he sent a full 

 return of such absentees in the diocese of Gloucester as were presented by 

 sworn men in every parish, making in all seventy-five persons. 7 It is 

 probable that many of these were Puritans, 8 for when a separate return of 

 Popish recusants was made in 1592, after the teaching of the seminary priests 

 had influenced many waverers in other dioceses, only twenty names were 

 notified in Gloucestershire.' Among these were six gentlemen, seven yeomen, 

 one husbandman, two labourers, and three spinsters. In 1602 twenty-two 

 recusants, of whom ten were women, paid fines. 10 



1 Arch. nutv. 415-8. Nicholls and Taylor, op. cit. ii, 15*, 163, 175, 210, 221, 154. 



' Gee, The Elizabethan Clergy, 272, 278. 



1 Frere, Hiit. of the Engl. Church, 1558-1625, p. 163. Briit. and Gloue. Arch. Soe. Tram, r, 226. 



4 Britt. and Glouc. Arch. Sac. Trans. 229-32. ' Ibid. 227-9. * Ibid. 2 3 2> ' Ibid. 234-6. 



1 Harl. MS. 594, 225-55 (B.M.). ' Exch. L.T.R. Rectuant R. (Pipe Off. Ser.), i. " Ibid. xi. 



3 1 



