Now! Then! A lewd church parade at Cawthorne, Barnsley

Excerpt

4. Item… that the premises notwithstanding, the said defendants procured the evening prayer upon Sunday, being the 22nd of August, 1596, to be said out of due time and season, that is to say before the usual and accustomed time wherein the same was and is used to be said, to the end and purpose that they might have the more liberty and space to profane the residue of the said day in ungodly exercises and pastimes, and insolent and lascivious behaviours, and had before purposed, resolved and prepared to bestow the residue of the said Sabbath in such profane and lewd sports, and to dress themselves in the church or chapel of Cawthorne. And in very deed with the help, counsel, consent and presence of Mary Mountney, the wife of Thomas Mountney, gentleman, did assemble themselves together in the said church or chapel of Cawthorne the Sunday aforesaid. And there did arm and disguise themselves, some of them putting on women’s apparel, other some of them putting on long hair and vizards [masks]], and others arming them with the furniture of soldiers, and being there thus armed and disguised, did that day go from the church, and so went up and down the town, showing themselves, drawing the people to concourses with them and after them, and shot of guns. And when they had spent an hour, two or three [?] in going up and down the town, they returned again into the said church or chapel of Cawthorne, and there put off their apparel and furniture, and there also committed much other disorder and abuse, to the grief of the godly, the danger of their own souls, the contempt of the laws and good orders aforesaid, and to the most pernicious example to others to offend in the like.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

This was despite a general warning already having been issued by a predecessor of Matthew Hutton as archbishop of York (perhaps John Piers)

that no rushbearings, summer games, morris dances, plays, interludes, disguisings, shows or abuses should be used set forth or practised in any church or churchyard or upon the Sabbath day or other festival days to the dishonour of God or to the evil example to others or to the hindrance of divine service or profanation of the Sabbath or festival days (Purvis 1948).

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Original

4. Item… that the premises notwithstanding, the said defendants procured the evening prayer upon Sunday, being the 22nd of August, 1596, to be said out of due time and season, that is to say before the usual and accustomed time wherein the same was and is used to be said, to the end and purpose that they might have the more liberty and space to profane the residue of the said day in ungodly exercises and pastimes, and insolent and lascivious behaviours, and had before purposed, resolved and prepared to bestow the residue of the said Sabbath in such profane and lewd sports, and to dress themselves in the church or chapel of Cawthorne. And in very deed with the help, counsel, consent and presence of Mary Mountney, the wife of Thomas Mountney, gentleman, did assemble themselves together in the said church or chapel of Cawthorne the Sunday aforesaid. And there did arm and disguise themselves, some of them putting on women’s apparel, other some of them putting on long hair and vizards [masks]], and others arming them with the furniture of soldiers, and being there thus armed and disguised, did that day go from the church, and so went up and down the town, showing themselves, drawing the people to concourses with them and after them, and shot of guns. And when they had spent an hour, two or three [?] in going up and down the town, they returned again into the said church or chapel of Cawthorne, and there put off their apparel and furniture, and there also committed much other disorder and abuse, to the grief of the godly, the danger of their own souls, the contempt of the laws and good orders aforesaid, and to the most pernicious example to others to offend in the like.

301 words.