Elizabeth Carleton

From Wikipedia

The Marprelate Controversy was a war of pamphlets waged in England and Wales in 1588 and 1589, between a puritan writer who employed the pseudonym Martin Marprelate, and defenders of the Established Church. The first tract by "Martin Marprelate," known as the Epistle, was printed at the home of Mistress Crane at East Molesey in October 1588.[1]

Born Elizabeth Hussey, Mistress Crane was the widow of Anthony Crane (d. 16 August 1583), Master of the Queen's Household, and daughter of Sir Robert Hussey (d.1546), younger brother of John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford[2][3][4]

In the late 1580s she remarried to George Carleton (1529-1590) of Overstone, Northampton; she was prosecuted by the Star Chamber under the name "Elizabeth Carleton.". According to the ODNB, she was fined 1,000 marks for refusing the oath ex officio and a further £500 for sheltering the secret press, and was confined during the Queen's pleasure, although the records do not reveal how long she remained in prison.

Notes

• 1. Pierce 1908, pp. 155–60.
• 2. McCorkle 1931, pp. 276–83.
• 3.Appleton 1868, p. 60.
• 4. For her role in the printing of the Marprelate tracts Elizabeth Crane was heavily fined and imprisoned; The Elizabethan Puritan Movement Patrick Collinson 1967, p. 410.

Martin Marprelate Controversy

From Luminarium

The Martin Marprelate controversy was an Elizabethan religious and literary argument, which stemmed from the strict censorship policies enforced by Archbishop Whitgift. In 1586, Whitgift procured from the Court of Star Chamber a decree forbidding the publication of books, pamphlets, or tracts not authorized by himself or the Bishop of London. This gave Whitgift control over the Stationers' company, control of the printing presses, and thus the ability to repress literature he considered slanderous or seditious. In effect, this decree allowed Whitgift to repress Puritan writings, which he considered heretical.

The identity of Martin Marprelate was never established conclusively, though John Penry and John Udall were arrested. Penry, who may have been the chief author, was hanged in 1593, and Udall probably died in prison.

From The Oxford Authorship Site

The Marprelate tracts are among the most interesting anonymous works of the Elizabethan period. The identity of their author has always been a mystery. However, internal evidence in the tracts (including a slip in the Protestation in which Martin speaks of himself "and other great men") renders it almost certain that he was Edward De Vere (1550-1604), 17th Earl of Oxford

• Will of Sir Robert Hussey, father of "Mistress Crane" PCC 14 Aug 1546. Elizabeth Hussey, daughter of Robert Hussey, by his 2nd wife, Jane Stydolf, daughter of Thomas Stydolf of Surrey.
• Will of Catherine Jernigan Crane Carey PCC 21 Feb 1614
• Memorials of the Cranes of Chilton, page 22.  Also pages 50-53, 62, 87
• extr. from 'The visitation of Suffolke' By William Hervey. Page 28-29
• The British Quarterly Review, Volume 5. By Robert Vaughan. Page 441. * Mistress Crane was among those who appeared before the High Commission Court; but although in the presence of Whitgift and Aylmer, she steadfastly refused to answer any questions, either concerning herself or others, remarking that in conscience she could not accuse others, while, in regard to herself, she said, with true English spirit, ' she would not be her own hangman.'
• CARLETON, George (1529-90), of Overstone, Northants., Wisbech and Coldham, Isle of Ely. Carleton himself was of course involved in these libels. In the last year of his life he married a widow who had harboured Robert Waldegrave’s press in her house at East Molesey when it printed the first of the tracts. The second tract appeared from the Northamptonshire home of Sir Richard Knightley, whose affairs were at this time partly in Carleton’s hands. A number of circumstances link Carleton with the tracts, and he cannot be excluded from the short list of those who could have written the three ‘primary’ tracts. He was probably under some suspicion, for in April 1589 he and the near-separatist preacher, Thomas Settle, then preaching in Northampton, were required to give daily attendance upon the Privy Council. Carleton died early in January 1590, making his wife executrix of his will. As a consequence of her imprisonment for refusing to take the ex officio oath ‘a great part’ of his goods and household stuff at Overstone was stolen.