Those who speak do not know.
Those who know do not speak.
Have you ever sat in a Chair of Pestilence ?
If you do not recognise that hermeneutics is
political, that interpretation is influenced by
external factors, that the interpretation has to
do with power, that the interpretation you
make can be dangerous for your health,
consider this as a cautionary tale...
Edward Powell was a Welshman, born in
Wales about 1478.
As a young man he had a brilliant career at
Oxford, becoming Fellow of Oriel in 1495.
In 1501 he was appointed Rector of Bleadon,
Somerset. There followed positions as Prebend
at Lincoln, then Salisbury, Vicar of Carlton -
cum - Thurly, Lyme Regis, Cabstock, Bedminster,
St. Edmunds, Salisbury, St. Mary Redcliffe at
Bristol, and in 1525, Sutton le Marsh.
He was a frequent Court preacher, in high
favour as such, with King Henry VIII in his
earlier days.
In 1523 he wrote a book against the Lutheran
' heresies '. The Oxford University authorities
recommended it to the King, saying " It seems
proper to select the work of Dr. Powell as a
chief and brilliant gem. " and spoke of him
as " the glory of the University ".
When the King began his agitation for
' divorce ' from Queen Catherine, Edward
Powell was engaged as one of the Queen's
advocates, and was one of only four who
had the courage to stand up and defy the
King in the matter of the proposed divorce.
Powell preached in various parts of the
country in defence of the Catholic Church,
arguing for the sanctity of marriage. In 1533
he gave sermons at Bristol, in which he had
the temerity to declare : " A King ought not
to break his contract of marriage when the
Church will not and cannot dispense him.
The authority of the Church is above that
of the worldly ruler ". He took as his text
Psalm i,I, ' Blessed is the man who sitteth
not in the chair of pestilence ', and declared
" Two manner of people sit in the chair of
pestilence. One and the first be those which
corrupteth and infecteth the people with
sinning and evil example of living, as he
that doth put away his first wife and taketh
another without assent or dispensation of the
Church. And especially in a head or governor,
as in a King, which doth occasion others that
heareth and seeth the same to follow and do
likewise, as King David with his adultery
also sat in the chair of pestilence ".
Thus Edward Powell interpreted the ' rules ',
the teaching of the biblical scripture and of
the Catholic Church. Was he being loyal to
his boss, the Pope, or was he genuinely
concerned that the King's example would
have a deleterious moral effect upon ' family
values ', or was he just a victim of his own
internal ' will to power ', picking a fight with
his other boss, the King ? Perhaps he was
motivated by an urge to champion Queen
Catherine ? How could anyone ever know
for certain what goes on in another persons
inner world. Whatever the reasons, he was to
pay a penalty for his words.
1534 found him in gaol in Dorchester, at first
simply in chains, but then deprived of his bed
and made to sit in stocks, with an iron collar
around his neck, riveted to the wall, and with
heavy gyves upon his feet.
His fate had, of course, been sealed from the
day he defended the Queen, and when he
was transferred to the White Tower, he found
his fellow advocates already there.
Bills of Attainder were hastily rushed through
Parliament in January 1535, for having
' animated the Lady Katherine obstinately to
persist in her wilful opinion against the same
divorce and separation'. There was no
pretence of a trial, and all were condemned
to imprisonment at the King's will, and loss
of all their property.
The three lingered in gaol for five years. On
one occasion, their gaoler, acting without due
authority, let Powell out during the day on
bail, for which mistake the gaoler joined the
imprisoned.
July, 1540, without further charge or trial, a
Bill of Attainder, this time for treason, was
passed against the prisoners, in which it was
said that they : ' By the instigation of the
Devil, putting apart the dread of God, and
the excellent benefits received of your
Highness, have not only traitorously refused
their duties of allegiance, but have also most
traitorously allied themselves with the Bishop
of Rome, refusing your Highness to be our
and their Supreme Head of this your Realm
of England '.
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