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High Commission, court of
High Commission, court of (Ecclesiastical Commission), a group of secular officials and Protestant clergy granted special powers to enforce the Reformation in Ireland. After an inconclusive trial in 1539, four commissions (23 May 1561, 6 Dec. 1562, 6 Oct. 1564, 27 Nov. 1593) were issued, on the authority of the Act of Supremacy, during the reign of Elizabeth I. Although it was seen by its advocates as a means of cutting through the obstruction, corruption, and conservatism that prevented the Reformation from gaining widespread support, infighting, local hostility, and the inadequacies of the central and local systems of government prevented the court from ever being an effective means of spreading Protestantism. The fifth commission, issued on 11 February 1635, proved, however, much more formidable. Under the firm central control of Lord Deputy Went‐worth, the commissioners concentrated, not on attacking recusancy, but on establishing uniformity within the Church of Ireland and restoring the church to its rights, privileges, and property. The success of the court in driving out Presbyterian clergy and in forcing landowners, both Catholic and Protestant, to disgorge church property that they had illegally detained aroused great hostility, and when Wentworth fell in 1641 the court was abolished.
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"High Commission, court of." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "High Commission, court of." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-HighCommissioncourtof.html "High Commission, court of." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-HighCommissioncourtof.html |
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High Commission, Court of
High Commission, Court of Known as such from c.1570, it emanated from earlier ecclesiastical commissions (after 1547), was given statutory authority (1559), reconstructed (1583), and exercised the ecclesiastical appellate and original jurisdiction of the crown as supreme governor. Extensively used by Whitgift, Bancroft, and Laud, its inquisitorial methods, swift and secret in action, were more efficient than diocesan courts. Feared and detested universally, its abolition with Star Chamber (1641) was not revoked (1661), though James II revived it briefly in modified form (1686–8).
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JOHN CANNON. "High Commission, Court of." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "High Commission, Court of." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-HighCommissionCourtof.html JOHN CANNON. "High Commission, Court of." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-HighCommissionCourtof.html |
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High Commission, Court of
High Commission, Court of. From 1549 ecclesiastical commissions to check heresy and enforce the prescribed forms of public worship were often appointed in England. The term ‘High Commission’ began to appear c.1570 and was normally employed after 1580, a development corresponding with the elevation of an ad hoc commission into a permanent court. It became the normal court of appeal from the ancient ecclesiastical courts in doctrinal and disciplinary cases. It was abolished in 1641.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "High Commission, Court of." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "High Commission, Court of." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-HighCommissionCourtof.html E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "High Commission, Court of." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-HighCommissionCourtof.html |
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