History of the Church of Nortend

Middle Ages

• 744: Arrival of Laurence of Sulthey
• 749: Founding of the church on the Isle of Sulthey
• 751: Founding of Sulthey Abbey
• 753: Egbert dies
• ~754: Edmund is martyred in Echester
• 756: Hartmold the Great takes the throne and begins the conversion of the Kingdom
• 870: Synod held dividing the Kingdom into the three dioceses of Sulthey, Chepingstow and Mast.
• Benedictine reforms in the 11th century
• Investiture controversy in the early 12th century
• Gothic architecture introduced in the late 12th century.
• Bishops of Chepingstow in the early 13th century become ex officio Lord Chancellour.
• 1225: First Dominicans arrive
• 1239: First Franciscans arrive
• 1256: University of Lendert charter issued
• 1272: Lendert Abbey completed
• 1284: Lendert elevated to bishopric
• 1382: Bishop of Lendert dies.
• 1382: Peter II obtains papal approval for Lendert to replace Sulthey as the metropolitan see, translating Silvester de Tongue from Sulthey to Lendert.

Reformation

• 1530: Declaration of Sulthey made by Thomas Akeep, Provost of Sulthey
• 1534: Clement VII intervenes to forbid Thomas Akeep becoming Bishop of Chepingstow
• 1545 to 1563: Nortish bishops attend Trent
• 1566: Accession of Alexander I
• 1567: Pius V abolishes the title of Cardinal
• 1567: Pius V sends the Decrees of the Council of Trent to Alexander for publication
• 1567: Proclamation of Manfarham by Alexander I rejecting the Council of Trent's errors and stating alternative propositions
• 1568: Statute concerning the Convocation, restricting the holding of the Convocation and the authority of canons to override the laws. Statute concerning Temporalities.
• 1568: Alexander replaces the Chancellour of the University of Lendert and orders the reform of the Aldesey
• 1569: Statute of Supremacy and Restoration of the Cardinalacy
• 1569: Arrest and deposition of two bishops, and imprisonment of three others who refused the Supremacy of the King
• 1569 to 1572: Various statutes as to licences, payments, appeals and the like
• 1572: Injunctions of Cainmare and the Short Homilies to be read in every parish church as touching the late reforms.
• 1572: Statute for the Obedience of Clerks to forbid the preaching of unauthorised doctrinal innovations and to secure oaths
• 1573: Convocation and issuance of the Canons General of 1573 establishing the reformed church order.
• 1575: Execution of the Six Hereticks
• 1575: By this time, nearly 100 houses have been dissolved for refusal to swear obedience to the King, as well as the secularisation of the Grey Friars with secular priests
• 1580: Death of Archbishop Cainmare and Consecration of Henry Frympell
• 1582: Abolition of the sub-diaconate and minor orders; condemnation of transubstantiation, indulgences, sacrifices of masses, &c.
• 1582: Order for Black Friars to have degrees and licensed, before preaching; choir monks to take degrees
• 1583: Parliament investigates the Gregorian calendar amid the Calendar Controversy
• 1584: Adoption of the Gregorian calendar and reduction of the number of saints' days by over half
• 1585: Nullification of vows and the dissolution of smaller religious houses
• 1586: Carmelite (White Friars) convents dissolved and dispersed
• 1589: Publication of Frympell's Bible
• 1590: By this date since 1582, establishment of the “Modern Halls” at Aldesey, of Mancourt Hall and Trinity Hall; expansion of Canonshall, Gosthall and Maudlynhall
• 1590: Death of Archbishop Frympell and Consecration of George Miers
• 1590: Secularisation of the canons regular
• 1591: Henfoot appointed to reform the liturgy
• 1593: First books of Masses and Hours presented, in Latin; rejected by the King
• 1593: Miers issues Injunctions forbidding the Chasuble, Stole and Maniple during the mass and other temporary directions for reforming the existing liturgy; and enjoining the reordering of parish churches in the „collegiate” style with pews
• 1594: Revised books presented, in Latin
• 1595: Great Convocation begins.
• 1597: Great Convocation ends; Canons General of 1597 issued; revised books authorised; monastic and mendicant reforms issued
• 1597: Immediate implementation of the new Canons and reforms

17th and 18th centuries

• 1612: Death of George Miers
• Development of reformed scholasticism in the Aldesey
• Doctrines of the Church clarified and the late Alexandrine orthodoxy develops
• 1634: Death of Alexander I; accession of Edmund V
• Pietism spreads to the Church of Nortend as a mostly clerical movement known as the Millerans
• The Aldesey battles against the Millerans, who reject elements of the pre-Reform heritage of the Church
• 1650: Millerans at Aldesey begin to refuse to wear the gown, cap and surplice
• By 1660, the so-called Undress party are dominant in some colleges
• 1663: New Bishop of Chepingstow and Chancellour, Harkin, issues the Harkinian Statutes to enforce the gown and cap
• 1663: Non-conformism is persecuted in the Church and they escape to found chapels
• 1664: Death of Edmund V; accession of Charles III
• 1666: Wearing of the surplice enjoined by Charles III
• 1669: Death of Charles III; accession of William III
• Non-conformist factions grow in prominence in parishes
• Statute of Conformity passed to deal with Protestant non-conformity
• Forcibly seizes chapels and imprisons non-conforming ministers
• Reincorporates majority of their worshippers into the Church, albeit as a more radical Protestant faction who refuse to obey the rubricks
• Standard of worship and divine service conformity declines
• 1690: Injunctions issued for conformity to the Rubricks; catechism of children taken more seriously
• 1694: Death of William III; accession of Edmund VI
• 1700 onward: increasing trade with Exponent and growing „Catholic” renaissance, leading now to Catholic non-conformity
• 1705: Abolition of the Statute of Obedience oath against the Pope
• 1731: Protestant Augustus I of Aquitayne arrives seeking support for independence from the Roman Exponent Empire
• 1736: Death of Edmund VI; accession of Mary
• 1737: Bishop Lofthouse defects to Rome and flees
• 1738: Statute of Abjuration passed to re-require the oath against the Pope
• 1740: Mary announces her intention to marry the Count of Scode
• Parliament and the Church factionalise into the Scodes and Droughers

19th and 20th centuries

• Recovery of religious piety as the Faith Movement revives the Church in the early 19th century
• Church music improves as literacy and musical education increases, and organs are installed throughout the 19th century
• Parishes open schools and quire knaves increase in the 19th century
• Bell-ringing becomes an art-form in the 19th century
• Romanticised mediaeval art and music becomes associated with the Church in the late 19th and early 20th century
• Monthly communion becomes the norm in the 20th century
• Nationalist conservative movement re-emphasises the links between Church and State, and the particular quality of the Church of Nortend as the church for Nortchmen
• Religious tolerance increases in the 20th century
• 1956: Four new homilies issued on the issues „of the day”, on abortion, eugenics, sexual relations, the family and justice, forming part of the school curriculum