Simon Fish (died 1531) was a 16th-century Protestant rebel and English propagandist. He is best known for helping to spread

William Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execu ...

's New Testament and for writing the vehemently anti-clerical pamphlet ''Supplication for the Beggars'' (''A Supplycacion for the Beggars'') which the Roman Catholic Church condemned as heretical on 24 May 1530. His pamphlet can be seen as a precursor to the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

and the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

. Fish was eventually arrested in London on charges of heresy, but he was stricken with

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as wel ...

and died before he could stand trial. His widow married vocal reformer James Bainham, and then became a widow again in April 1532 when Bainham was burned at the stake as a heretic.

''Supplication for the Beggars''

Fish wrote his incendiary pamphlet ''Supplication for the Beggars'' during his second exile in Antwerp. The 16-page pamphlet accused the Roman Catholic Church of everything from avarice to murder to treason. Johannes Grapheus of Antwerp was probably the printer, but that is unconfirmed. The ''Supplication'' was smuggled into England from Antwerp, penetrating the country's borders despite its prohibition. Fish had dedicated it to

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. According to

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587), an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of '' Actes and Monuments'' (otherwise ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''), telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the s ...

, Fish's ''Supplication'' arrived in England on 2 February 1529.

Economic Argument

Fish's pamphlet cries out to the king on behalf of the poor and accuses the Roman Catholic Church and its clergy of increasing their miseries.

Most lamentably compleyneth theyre wofull mysery vnto youre highnes youre poore daily bedemen the wretched hidous monstres (on whome scarcely for horror any yie dare loke) the foule vnhappy sort of lepres, and other sore people, needy, impotent, blinde, lame, and sike that live onely by almesse, howe that theyre nombre is daily so sore encreased that all the almesse of all the weldisposed people of this youre realme is not half ynough for to susteine theim, but that for verey contreint they die for hunger.

Fish argues that the clergy and the Roman Catholic Church hold a disproportionate share of England's resources, alleging that they hold half of England's wealth while only representing 1/100 of the male population and only 1/400 of the total population. The monasteries, he claims, further compound the Church's corruption by heaping taxes on the poor instead of helping them. Fish calculates that the English clergy own 1/3 of the land and 1/10 of all farm produce and live stock, and simultaneously receive 1/10 of all servants' wages within England. The pamphlet finds that, if there were ten households for each of the 52,000 parish churches in England, then just one of five orders of mendicant friars alone would take in an annual £43.333 6s. 8de. These economic arguments compose the bulk of his pamphlet's claims, and they might have gained further strength because an economic crisis had crippled all of Europe by 1529.

Theological Argument

Fish's pamphlet also lodges specific theological objections against the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. His two principal arguments contest the existence of

purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

and the sale of

indulgences In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God o ...

Against the Doctrine of Purgatory

Fish expends few words on theological matters. With regard to purgatory, he simply contends that "there is not one word spoken of it in all holy scripture", making an argument in line with the Reformation idea of ''

Sola scriptura , meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of aut ...

''. To contest the doctrine of purgatory, he continues to state that "we have no command from God to pray for the dead". Beyond these statements, however, Fish furnishes no further details in defence of his position. Fish also rejects the sale of

and argues that the supposed act of penance was merely a ruse to fill the clergy's coffers.

They sey also that if there were a purgatory, and also if that the pope with his pardons for money may deliuer one soule thens: he may deliuer him aswel without money: if he may deliuer one, he may deliuer a thousand: yf he may deliuer a thousand he may deliuer theim all, and so destroy purgatory. And then is he a cruell tyraunt without all charitie if he kepe theim there in prison and in paine till men will giue him money.

He calls all Catholic clerics "tyrauntes" who "lakke charite" because they would withhold prayers for a person who could not pay for them.

Anti-Clerical Argument

Fish claims that the clergy is attempting to usurp the power of the state. At present, Fish holds that the power of the clergy has surpassed that of the state, creating their own sovereign, subversive state. Despite attempts by the state to enact laws to restrain the clergy, these laws remained ineffective. Fish references the ancient kings of the Britons, likely in an attempt to play off of Henry's own Welsh background. These kings, Fish explains, never allowed themselves to be subjugated by the clergy or assent to taxation by foreign representatives. Rather, they kept a firm hand on such external powers. Fish explains that it was thanks to “so many clerical parasites among them as now infest the realm of England” that the Danes, Saxons, and the Romans succeeded against England. The ''Supplycacion'' warns Henry that should he fail to meet the needs of the poor, they will rise up against as they did with King John.

Anti-Clerical Charges: The Case of Richard Hunne

To make his anti-clerical case, Fish cites the case of

Richard Hunne Richard Hunne was an English merchant tailor in the City of London during the early years of the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547). After a dispute with his priest over his infant son's funeral, Hunne sought to use the English common law courts ...

, which at the time was a sensational story. It is not surprising, then, that in More's response to Fish's historical claims, the Hunne scandal merited more ink than any of Fish's other historical contention. The controversy began in 1514 when Hunne, a wealthy Londoner, refused to pay a burial fee to his parish priest for the burial of Hunne's child. The priest sued Hunne in ecclesiastical court; Hunne counter-sued, insisting that the case fell within the jurisdictional purview of common law, not ecclesiastical law. Upon filing his suit, Hunne was seized on charges of heresy and taken to the Bishop of London's prison. Hunne was found two days later in his cell, dead, hanging by a rope. The clergy claimed Hunne had committed suicide, but the coroner's investigation found signs of foul play. The evidence later collected suggested that the chancellor of the Bishop of London, Dr. Horsey, was responsible for the death. Dr. Horsey, however, never stood trial because the Bishop of London obtained a royal pardon on his behalf. Fish uses this incident to argue that the clergy used the brand of heresy to persecute.

Anti-Clerical Charges: Treachery and Corruption

Fish's pamphlet declares the clergy treasonous and corrupt. The clergy, according to Fish, levy crippling taxes that sap the population of funds they could otherwise use to support the king and finance defence measures. Moreover, the clergy themselves are excluded from the government's tax base. The clergy's resulting largess provides them with the requisite power to oppose the king, which Fish dubs the clergy's “treason fund.”Fish, Simon. Supplycacion for the Beggar. 1529 in Carroll, Gerald L. and Joseph B. Murray. The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More. Vol. 7. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990),3. This charge of treason against the clergy, according to the pamphlet, is rooted in fact that the clergy have “placed themselves above the law of the realm.”Fish, Simon. Supplycacion for the Beggar. 1529 in Carroll, Gerald L. and Joseph B. Murray. The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More. Vol. 7. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990),10. The mere existence of ecclesiastical courts is another sign of this treason. Hunne was murdered, Fish maintains, because he properly recognise the king's authority as existing above that of the clergy. As for the clergy's corruption, Fish launches an assault against the clergy based upon their inability to marry. His pamphlet asserts that this requirement moves the clergy, with their expendable wealth, to entice women to lead lives of sin.

"By all the sleyghtes they may to haue to do with euery mannes wife, euery mannes daughter, and euery mannes mayde, that cukkoldrie and baudrie shulde reigne ouer all among your sibiectres, that noman shoulde knowe his owne childe, that theyre bastardes…These be they that by theire absteyning from marriage do let the generation of the people whereby all the realme at length if it should be continued shall be made desert and inhabitable."

Fish's shocking claims continue with arguments that priests’ deplorable sexual promiscuity spreads diseases thereby corrupting “the hole generation of mankind yn your realme, that catche the pokes of one woman,” and who “catch the lepry of one woman, and bere it to an other…”

''Supplycatyon of Soulys'': St. Thomas More’s Response to Simon Fish

Within months of the circulation of Fish's pamphlet,

St. Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord H ...

produced a response in defence of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, entitled ''The Supplycatyon of Soulys''. The response, printed by October 1529, came in two books, the first addressing the social and economic concerns raised by Fish, and the second defending the doctrine of purgatory. More's lengthy, legalistic and logic-driven response was ten-times longer than Fish's sixteen-page pamphlet.

Legacy

Fish's legacy continues through his famous pamphlet. Its repeated printings, either despite or because of its banned status, show the sustained interest in the piece throughout the sixteenth-century. After its initial circulation, the ''Supplycacion'' is known to have been reprinted five times in the nineteenth century and twice in the twentieth century, not counting its repeated inclusion in various editions of

's ''

Acts and Monuments The ''Actes and Monuments'' (full title: ''Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church''), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant Engli ...

'' that reach up into the present. Fish's propagandistic pamphlet functioned within a broader, international clash that entangled politics and religion. Joining in a growing anti-clerical movement, Fish's pamphlet, however inflammatory, demonstrates some of the popular objections to the

in the years preceding the

References

*Carroll, Gerald L. and Joseph B. Murray. ''The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More.'' Vol. 7. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. *Daniell, David. ''William Tyndale: A Biography.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. 219–220. *Fish, Simon. Supplycacion for the Beggar. 1529 in Carroll, Gerald L. and Joseph B. Murray. The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More. Vol. 7. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990). *Helt, J.S.W., 'Fish,Simon (d.1531),' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004

accessed 1 April 2007. *Levin, Carole. "A Good Prince: King John and Early Tudor Propaganda.” ''Sixteenth Century Journal'', Vol. 11, No. 4. (Winter, 1980), 23–32. *Marti, Oscar A. “Revolt of the Reformation Parliament against Ecclesiastical Exactions in England, 1529–36.” ''The Journal of Religion'', Vol. 9, No. 2. (Apr. 1929), 257–280. *More, Thomas. ''Supplycacyon of Soulys''. 1529 in Carroll, Gerald L. and Joseph B. Murray. ''The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More''. Vol. 7. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. *Pineas, Rainer. “Thomas More’s Controversy with Simon Fish.” ''SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900'', Vol. 7, No. 1, ''The English Renaissance'', Winter, 1967. *

Footnotes

External links

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Entry on Simon Fish

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fish, Simon 1531 deaths 16th-century deaths from plague (disease) Infectious disease deaths in England Year of birth unknown English pamphleteers Alumni of the University of Oxford English religious writers 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers 16th-century Protestants English Protestants 16th-century English theologians