Page:VCH London 1.djvu/380

 A HISTORY OF LONDON answer for his conduct." The trial went against him, and he was deprived of his bishopric and imprisoned in the Marshalsea." By an Act of ParHament " of this year the clergy were released from the obligation of celibacy, but it does not appear that very many of them availed themselves of the opportunity to marry/* If we may rely on the statistics in Bishop Bonner's Register, only eight persons were ordained in the diocese of London between 13 March 1546-7, and 3 March 1548—9, and of these only five were made priests, two being ordained deacons, while one was admitted to the first tonsure only." It would seem that the English form of ordination ** was first used in London by Bishop Ridley, 23 June 1550, when twenty-five persons were ordained deacons." In the autumn of 1 549 a second royal visitation of the Church was made, and a fresh set of Injunctions issued. These were intended principally to check the tendency to Romanize the Book of Common Prayer,*' the use of the old ceremonies being entirely prohibited.*' The altars in many of the parish churches were now removed, and replaced by Communion tables. A few churches seem to have sold their chalices, or converted them into Com- munion cups, and in some instances new Communion cups were purchased. In every church apparently the rood with its attendant images was taken down, but in some cases the rood-loft was not removed till much later, and in other cases not at all." The churchyard crosses of St. Stephen's Walbrook, St. Alphage London Wall, and St. Margaret's Westminster were taken down and sold in or before 1550. In many cases the walls of the churches were whitened and portions of Scripture painted upon them ; in St. Margaret's Westminster, for example, the whole of the sixth chapter of St. John was written up in the quire. Floral decora- tions were generally discontinued, and lights were done away with. There is ample evidence that the Holy Communion was celebrated in the London parish churches, but great irregularity appears to have prevailed as to the number of celebrations " and the ritual observed." The following incident illustrates the bigotry which prevailed at this time. The old May- pole from which the church of St. Andrew Undershaft took its name had not been used since 15 17," but was still in existence. In 1549 the curate of St. Katharine Cree gave it as his opinion that ' this shaft was made an idol by naming the church of St. Andrew with the addition of " under-that-shaft," ' and the May-pole was accordingly destroyed.** " S.P. Dom. Edw. VI, viii, 57. ^ Lond. Epis. Reg. Bonner, fol. 220 et seq. Bishop Gardiner was deprived 14 Feb. 1 550-1 ; Stow, 4nn. ; Wriothesley, Chton. ii, 45-6 ; Monum. Franc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 228-30 ; Acts of B.C. iii. " Stat. 2 & 3 Edw. VI, cap. 2 1 . " Out of six registers examined, four contain no mention of priests' marriages between 1547 and 1553 ; in the Reg. of St. Pancras Soper Lane there are three entries of such marriages, and in that of St. Peter Cornhill there is one. " Lond. Epis. Reg. Bonner, fol. 175-6. ^ See Gasquet and Bishop, Edw. VI and the Bk. of Com. Prayer, 299, &c. " Cardwell, Doc. Annals, 63. "Corp. Rec. Repert. xii (2), fol. 476^; Allhallows Staining Accts. 155 1 ; St. Olave Southwark Vest. Min. 1552, &c. " Cf. Chwdns.' Accts. for entries of the purchase of bread and wine for this service. ^ e.g. at St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street the communicants seem to have knelt during the administration, mats being provided for that purpose (Accts. 1551-2) ; but at St. Andrew Holborn (Accts. 1550) and at St. Olave Southwark (Accts. 1552-4) forms were purchased and placed round the Communion table. There was much controversy on this subject ; see Orig. Letters (Parker Soc), 591, &c. 294
 * Issued Feb. 1549-50. " Lond. Epis. Reg. Ridley, fol. 319.
 * ' On account of the riot of ' Evil May-day ' in that year. ^ Stow, Surf. (ed. Kingsford), i, 143.