'The Lay Folks' Mass Book' and Thomas Frederick Simmons: medievalism and the Tractarians

Jasper, D. and Smith, J. (2019) 'The Lay Folks' Mass Book' and Thomas Frederick Simmons: medievalism and the Tractarians. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 70(4), pp. 785-804. (doi: 10.1017/S002204691900054X)

Abstract

Thomas Frederick Simmons (1815-84) combined his ecclesiastical duties and liturgical interests with editing the fourteenth-century Middle English Lay folks’ mass book (1879) for the Early English Text Society, with the aim of showing the continuity of the English Church from the medieval period through the Reformation. In the light of modern scholarship, this article recontextualises both medieval text and Simmons’s own editorial practice, and shows how Simmons, as a second generation Tractarian churchman, sought in this text – and others associated with it – evidence for the Church of England’s Catholic underpinning in an imagined medieval English Church.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Jasper, Professor David and Smith, Professor Jeremy
• Authors: Jasper, D., and Smith, J.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion; D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain; P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics; P Language and Literature > PE English
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Language and Linguistics; College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Journal Name: Journal of Ecclesiastical History
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 0022-0469
• ISSN (Online): 1469-7637
• Published Online: 26 April 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Cambridge University Press
• First Published: First published in Journal of Ecclesiastical History 70(4):785-804
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher