In the diocese of Norwich a considerable number of the
parsons who died belonged to the gentry class. Then, as now, there
were family livings to which younger sons might hope to be presented,
and were presented, as vacancies occurred; but, in the face of the
sudden and widely extended mortality, it was inevitable that
appointments should be made with very little reference to a man's
social grade or intellectual proficiency. Patrons had to take whom
they could get. This of itself would tend to a deterioration in the
character of the clergy; but this was not all. The clergy died; but
other holders of offices, civil and ecclesiastical, were not spared.
There was a sudden opening out of careers in every direction for the
ambitious and the unemployed: young men who ten years before would
never have dreamt of anything but "resorting to holy orders," turned
their eyes to other walks and adopted other views; and it is plain
that a large number of those who presented themselves for admission
to the clerical profession as we now understand it, in many instances
belonged to a lower class than their predecessors. Some were devout
and earnest, such country parsons as Chaucer described--he does not
turn aside to caricature _them_--but others were mere adventurers,
hirelings whose heart was not in their work. These clerical scamps
gave Archbishop Simon Islip a great deal of trouble.
Pages:
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239