Marprelate Controversy

▪ English history

      brief but well-known pamphlet war (1588–89) carried on by English Puritans using secret presses; they attacked the episcopacy as “profane, proud, paltry, popish, pestilent, pernicious, presumptious prelates.” The tracts, of which seven survive, never had the support of Puritan leaders and ceased when the presses were discovered by government agents. The identity of the author, who signed himself “Martin Marprelate gentleman” and “Martin junior,” is still a mystery, but the case for Job Throckmorton as at least the principal author has now been widely accepted. Anonymous replies appeared in 1589, and in February of that year Richard Bancroft delivered a sermon against the tracts at Paul's Cross, London, which is considered the first statement of the “divine right” of episcopacy in Anglican apologetics.

Additional Reading

The texts are collected in William Pierce (ed.), The Marprelate Tracts, 1588, 1589 (1911). Two powerful attempts to establish their authorship are Donald J. McGinn, John Penry and the Marprelate Controversy (1966); and Leland H. Carlson, Martin Marprelate, Gentleman: Master Job Throkmorton Laid Open in His Colors (1981).John S. Morrill

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