levo

The English Reformation c.1520–c.1550

The church in England c.1520 and its critics

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

The church's wealth and its churchmen in government, papal authority, the Latin mass and purgatory, parish guilds and lay involvement, the Lollards, Luther's teaching and its arrival in England, the Supplication against the Ordinaries and complaints against the clergy.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Why were leading churchmen powerful in government as well as in religion?

Key term

Who stood at the head of the church in England in 1520?

Key term

In what language was the mass said before the Reformation, and what did that mean for worshippers?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Where did the English church get its wealth in the years before the Reformation?

    Model answer

    From its huge landholdings, from the tithe paid by every household, and from fees and gifts for burials, masses and other services.

  2. 2

    Why were leading churchmen powerful in government as well as in religion?

    Model answer

    Bishops and abbots sat in the House of Lords, and Cardinal Wolsey held the office of Lord Chancellor as well as being a papal legate.

  3. 3

    Who stood at the head of the church in England in 1520?

    Model answer

    The Pope in Rome, whose spiritual authority was recognised as standing above the king’s.

  4. 4

    In what language was the mass said before the Reformation, and what did that mean for worshippers?

    Model answer

    Latin, so almost no ordinary parishioner understood the words and the priest performed the service on their behalf.

  5. 5

    What was purgatory, and how did belief in it shape everyday religion?

    Model answer

    A place where souls were purified before reaching heaven, so people paid for masses, candles and prayers to shorten a soul’s time there.

  6. 6

    Name two ways ordinary parishioners took an active part in the life of their church.

    Model answer

    Through parish guilds and fund-raising ales that paid for lights, images and repairs, and through pilgrimage to shrines such as Walsingham and Canterbury.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

See a huge jump in your memorisation

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750
China 1950–1981: The People and the State
Germany 1925–1955: The People and the State
International Relations: The Changing International Order 1918–1975

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

John presided.
BradshawLambertPym

Blank Blitz consolidates the facts

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AFactories switched from consumer goods to weapons.
BCar plants turned out tanks, aircraft and jeeps.
CProduction outstripped that of every enemy.

Build It trains answer structure

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Whigs means party given almost every office by George I after 1714.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in The English Reformation c.1520–c.1550, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.