Clergy & marriage.- Gardiner (Stephen, Bishop of

Clergy & marriage.- Gardiner (Stephen, Bishop of Winchester) A Traictise declaryng and plainly provyng that the pretensed marriage of Priestes, and professed persones, is no mariage, but altogether unlawful..., first edition, largely printed in black letter, title with woodcut architectural border, woodcut initials, that on A2 12-line and historiated, errata leaf at end, early 20th century dark blue morocco by W. Pratt, gilt, g.e., covers a little mottled, [STC 17517], 4to, In aedibus Roberti Caly, 1554.

⁂ A reply to Bishop John Ponet's Defence for Mariage of Priestes, 1549, attributed on the title to Thomas Martin but most likely written by Gardiner, as also suggested by Ponet himself. The book begins with a six-page dedication to the newly crowned Queen Mary, whose virginity he praises. The new line on the celibacy of priests resulted in the deprivation of hundreds of clergymen who had married in the 1540s and in the effective discrediting of many Edwardian bishops.

Provenance: Cardiff Castle (bookplate).