The Hidden History of the Marian Exiles, and the Secret Lives of Tudor Printers

 

In the early 20th century, more work was done on the Marian Exiles and their impact on the English Reformation.

One of the texts in this work was The Marian Exiles: A Study in the Origins of Elizabethan Puritanism by Christina Hallowell Garrett, published in 1938, which is available here. This work, makes reference to E. Gordon Duff’s A Century of the English Book Trade: Short Notices of All Printers, Stationers, Book-binders, and Others Connected with It from the Issue of the First Dated Book in 1457 to the Incorporation of the Company of Stationers in 1557 (1905).

These texts are against the grain the longstanding historical consensus that Sir Rowland Hill and Rouland Hall were one and the same, and that the Rouland Hill press was a cover for Sir Rowland Hill’s controversial and deeply dangerous activities within a widely accepted historical conspiracy. Examples of that older, settled view can be found, for example The Holy Bible … With a General Introduction and Short Explanatory Notes by B. Boothroyd and James Duncan (1836), and A New History of the Holy Bible, from the beginning of the world by Thomas Stackhouse (1838).

Before looking deeper into these alternative perspectives, Hallowell Garrett provides some helpful context, as follows.

Firstly, this area is really complex and much under studied:

The story of these English merchant-bankers of the mid-sixteenth century forms an interesting -chapter of Tudor history yet to be written. The impression they leave on the mind is a pleasant, human one that invites sympathy and a closer acquaintance. Richard Springham, a trader in English cloth, was one of the original committee of ways and means organized by the protestant party in 1553-4 to supply the needs of the exiles overseas. His protestant affiliations are revealed as early as 1551, when he acted as executor to Lady Locke, widow of Sir William Locke*

Secondly, these matters were an acknowledged and sophisticated conspiracy, with all that implies, including involving deliberate obfuscation and the use of aliases:

…from 1554 to 1558 the protestant gentry of England were using the opportunity of exile to organize themselves into a formidable ‘opposition’. Through misfortune they had gained solidarity as a party; and in the comparative security of Germany they soon developed a political technique which employed every device known to later campaigning from the party ‘slogan’ to the party ‘press’. [For example a]t Dantzig in 1554 a certain… printed a libel against Queen Mary of which some hundred copies were sent back to London there to be strewn in the streets. The pamphlet literature of the period is enormous, and though theological in form is political by implication. All of it was to be disseminated in England for purposes of propaganda. English printers were thus suddenly thrust into a role of importance hitherto unknown to them.

Thirdly, it shows that complex dual identities (Catholic and Protestant) that should be in conflict were actually held comfortably enough in one body and that these thing were much linked to London Mercers and merchants:

Though generally known by his nickname of Erkenwald,** derived perhaps from the Shrine of St Erkenwald in London near which he may have lived, the real name of this merchant was Edward [Rawlins]… William Rawlins [was the] Brother of Edward Rawlins, and perhaps the William Rawlins, grocer, whose daughter, Amye, married Rafe Hill, a London haberdasher… another William Rawlins, mercer, of London, died 1581.

Recapturing this, it confirms that it is well-established that a complex network of 16th-century English merchant-bankers was involved in a sophisticated Protestant conspiracy, using propaganda, aliases, and covert operations.

That is a profoundly true thing. A specific example can be seen in the publication of the mercantile 1537 Matthew Bible, which epitomizes the complex and often clandestine nature of religious and political activity during the Reformation. By using the pseudonym “Thomas Matthew,” John Rogers shielded himself from potential persecution and ensured the widespread dissemination of the Bible in English. This strategic use of a pseudonym highlights the high stakes involved in such endeavors and the necessity of employing careful tactics to navigate a dangerous and uncertain landscape.

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The general Tudor and immediately post-Tudor understanding of the clandestine nature of these activities, requiring high-level approval, was universally accepted within the cultural memory of Sir Rowland Hill’s family and very widely beyond. In the Shropshire community, it is held that he used the alias “Rouland Hall” as a kind of sock puppet. As we have already seen, senior churchmen and writers matter-of-factly propagated this narrative well into the 19th centur; not only this, it is graven in stone in evidenced by the construction of costly monuments. Furthermore, Rowland Hill’s unique dual role as a Commissioner against heretics and for ecclesiastical causes is highly suspicious and suggests a more complex and potentially clandestine agenda.

In the 20th century, a novel notion was put forward: that Rouland Hall may have been a real person, albeit a rather enigmatic and perhaps even fictitious figure. This view contradicts the enduring, centuries-old belief that Rouland Hall was merely a pseudonym used by Sir Rowland Hill. Duff, in his 1905 work, first introduced the theory of a real, physical person named Rowland Haule, citing an entry in the St Vedast, Foster Lane burial records for a printer, apparently a plague victim, buried in September 1563 along with others of his family. However, there are problems with accepting this person at face value as a robust and verifiable historical figure, which clearly occupied the minds of scholars working in that immediately post-Victorian generation of scholarship.

Rouland Hall… appears to have been an original member of the Company of Stationers though his name is not on the charter. At the time he was probably in Geneva [where he was until 1560] On returning to [London] between 1560 and 1563 be printed a large number of books, mostly theological..

-Hallowell Garrett

The unusual spelling of “Rowland Haule” in the burial record is striking, given the consistent use of “Rouland Hall” on all the printed books of the Rouland Hall press. The clergy responsible for the record would have been familiar with the standard spelling from the Bible and other religious texts.

If Rowland Haule was a real person, as suggested by the burial record, his ability to publish books without a license raises profound questions about his identity, connections, and social status. Given the strict regulations governing the publishing industry at the time, it is impossible that an ordinary printer could have undertaken such activities without the support of influential patrons or connections to the Privy Council. The content of the publications, including the definitive Bible of that moment, closely mirrors Sir Rowland Hill’s known interests, and would likely have required the permission of Rowland Hill himself if they were different people.

Assuming Rowland Haule was a real person complicates (though not insurmountably) the historical narrative and makes it difficult to reconcile the complex web of identities and activities associated with Sir Rowland Hill and the Soulton estate. If Hill, Hall, and Haule are different individuals, they seem to be part of the same intricate network.

We must also confront a number of strange questions about the motivations behind the creation of numerous monuments and cultural references to Sir Rowland Hill over hundreds of years, in light of the potential ambiguity surrounding his true identity.

One possibility to reconcile the historical discrepancies is to consider that a burial record for someone linked to the Rouland Hall press was convenient and needed to bring to a close the activities of the powerful Rouland Hall press, which continued after Old Sir Rowland’s death for a period on his instructions.

It is a question that Hallowell Garrett rightly said needed more work, and may never be fully resolved.

We know that the Privy Council raided Verulam House and destroyed the records immediately after a Lord Chancellor died, within a generation of this period. False names and different names were frequently used, even within Hill’s own family. Such dramatic events were not uncommon during this tumultuous era.

Soulton Hall, a physical manifestation of the past, and the enduring cultural narratives associated with Sir Rowland Hill have long solidified his connection to these publishing activities.

While the complex and often deceptive nature of the period necessitates a nuanced understanding of history, the widely accepted and long-standing belief that Hill and Hall are one and the same remains a powerful and enduring social construct with real-world consequences. It is undeniable that Old Sir Rowland was intimately involved with all the players in the Geneva Bible project and was well-acquainted with the intricacies of religious affairs during both the Marian and Elizabethan periods, uniquely serving on both commissions related to these matters.

Regardless of these undercurrents, the ancient and enduring understanding, widely promoted and accepted for centuries, remains a powerful social construct. It has had a profound and observable impact on history, independent of the complexities and potential deceptions of the 1550s.

Addendum: The St. Vedast Administration

The timing of the appointments at St. Vedast matches the wind-down of the Gutter Lane press. On October 1, 1561—one month before Sir Rowland Hill died—William Mousell became the new rector at St. Vedast.

St. Vedast was a “peculiar” of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which meant it skipped the local Bishop of London and answered directly to Lambeth Palace. Archbishop Matthew Parker, who worked closely with Sir William Cecil, personally appointed Mousell to this post.

This put an archbishop-appointed rector in charge of the parish right next door to the Gutter Lane workshop. When the 1563 plague broke out, Mousell handled the burials of the Haule family. Recording those deaths in the parish register effectively ended the paper trail, shutting down the front operation before any Crown investigation could begin.

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* It is important in this context to note William Lock and Rowland Hill were very close: they charted a ship attacked by pirates together, and Rowland was executor to William’s Will, receiving a gift of a ring as a bequest.

** The name Erkenwald is that of a saint of the undivided church whose relics were removed from St Paul’s Cathedral in 1549 – hardly an obvious nickname for Protestant who had vacated England.