{"id":2822,"date":"2017-07-10T07:30:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T07:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?page_id=2822"},"modified":"2017-11-02T14:57:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T14:57:38","slug":"change-and-continuity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?page_id=2822","title":{"rendered":"Change and Continuity"},"content":{"rendered":"
<– Performing Plays<\/a> | Dramatic Traditions in the North East<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

He maketh mention of a dauncer, a poore mans sonne, borne in this Citie, yet proude, & insolent, and lately made a Recusant, and by his daunceing crept into manie houses, and his wife a younge woman (being base Recusants) haue done much harme and might haue done more…<\/p>\n

The transcript above is from a letter from Bishop James to the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot, about the Robert Hindmers case. (Cal. State Papers 1611-18. MS SP 14\/81, f.92)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

During the sixteenth century, Henry VIII began the process of the Reformation: monasteries were famously dissolved, but other changes threatened many cultural traditions that were based on the traditional Catholic faith. Biblical plays came under suspicion because their message was unreformed, and many processions and other customs performed on feast days such as Corpus Christi were endangered by Edward VI\u2019s abolition of the very feasts they celebrated. Records from York<\/span>, for instance, show that its mystery plays began to be performed less often; then the texts were called in for examination by the ecclesiastical authorities \u2013 and finally, in 1572, the York Cycle ceased to be performed.<\/p>\n

All over England, from the time of Queen Elizabeth, it became an offence not to attend Anglican church services; those who did not, called \u2018recusants\u2019 (literally, \u2018refusers\u2019), were punished.<\/p>\n

In 1615, the Bishop of Durham<\/span>, William James, imprisoned Robert Hindmers, a recusant dancer born in Durham who toured with his wife Anne, entertaining households throughout the county. We don\u2019t know their itinerary, nor what kind of dances they performed; but we do know that he was supported by the Catholic community – among them William Southerne, a priest later to be martyred in Newcastle. Probably Robert Hindmers was imprisoned not for his dancing, nor even simply for recusancy, but for using his dance tours to gain support for English Catholicism.
\n