Religion and the Rise of Capitalism · Chapter
The Land Question explained
This chapter examines the economic and social upheaval in Reformation England, focusing on the land question.
What happens
This chapter examines the economic and social upheaval in Reformation England, focusing on the land question. It describes how the redistribution of wealth from monastic and church lands, driven by unscrupulous speculators and courtiers, exacerbated rural distress and sparked a torrent of criticism from reformers. The chapter contrasts the traditional Christian social ethic—which viewed property as a trust and the owner as a responsible officer—with the emerging creed of irresponsible ownership and profit-maximization. It highlights the disillusionment of reformers who saw the Reformation's promise of social righteousness betrayed by greed and exploitation.
Themes in this chapter
Conflict Between Ethics and Economics
The chapter contrasts the traditional Christian social ethic—property as a trust with communal obligations—with the new economic forces of profit-seeking and irresponsible ownership, exemplified by the land speculation and exploitation following the dissolution.
Transformation of Social Ethics
The reformers' critique of the new economic practices represents a restatement of traditional social obligations, even as the actual transformation of society moved toward individualism and market-driven values.
The Role of the Church in Society
The Church is depicted as a moral authority that should rebuke landowners who sacrifice their duties for personal gain, as seen in the Book of Private Prayer and the sermons of reformers like Lever and Crowley.
Impact of Economic Revolutions
The economic revolution of the sixteenth century, including enclosures, the rise of pasture farming, and the redistribution of church lands, is shown to have deepened social unrest and provoked a crisis in traditional social ethics.
Characters to notice
- Martin Bucer
Tutor of Edward VI and Professor of Divinity at Cambridge; drafted a manual of Christian politics outlining a social program for a Christian renaissance, including state regulation of trade, just prices, and education.
- King Edward VI
The young king whose government attempted to fix just prices and establish schools, but whose reign saw widespread confiscation of educational endowments and a mania of land speculation.
- Sir Thomas Gresham
Financial adviser to the government of Edward VI; his likely skepticism about restricting commerce to pious persons is noted.
- Robert Crowley
A reformer who pilloried lease-mongers and usurers, criticized the seizure of hospital endowments, and expressed sympathy with Ket's Rebellion.
- Thomas Lever
Preached in St. Paul's, criticizing the gentry for their greed and selfishness in the wake of the dissolution of monasteries and chantries.
- King Henry VIII
His reign, along with Thomas Cromwell's, initiated the confiscation of monastic estates, setting off a wave of land speculation and social disruption.
- Thomas Cromwell
Instrumental in the dissolution of the monasteries and the redistribution of church lands, contributing to the agrarian crisis.
Key passages
“Willful idlers are to be excommunicated by the Church and punished by the State. The Government, a pious mercantilist, is to revive the woollen industry, to introduce the linen industry, to insist on pasture being put under the plow.”
Bucer proposed that the state should compel idlers to work, promote wool and linen manufacturing, and convert pasture back to arable farming.
Bucer's social program for Edward VI combined religious discipline with state economic intervention.
“The men who had invested in the Reformation when it was still a gambling stock naturally nursed the security, and denounced the revolting peasants as communists, with the mystical reverence for the rights of property which is characteristic in all ages of the nouveaux riches.”
Those who had profited from the Reformation's land grab defended their gains and condemned peasant rebels as communists, displaying the typical reverence for property among the newly wealthy.
The author critiques the hypocrisy of the new proprietors who benefited from the dissolution.
“Property is not a mere aggregate of economic privileges, but a responsible office. Its raison d’être is not only income, but service.”
Landownership is a duty, not just a source of profit; the owner must serve the community, not merely collect rents.
This encapsulates the traditional Christian social ethic that the chapter contrasts with emerging capitalism.
“He who exploits his property with a single eye to its economic possibilities at once perverts its very essence and destroys his own moral title, for he has 'every man’s living and does no man’s duty.'”
Using land solely for profit corrupts its purpose and forfeits the owner's moral right, as he takes everyone's livelihood without fulfilling his own responsibilities.
A key critique of the new economic individualism from the reformers' perspective.
