Summary Of The Beggars Summons

‘The Beggars Summons’ is a document which appeared pinned to the doors of religious establishments- , particularly friaries. The text appeared starting from the 1st of January 1559, although it was 1558 in consonance with the ‘old reckoning’ as it was not until 1600 that the year began on the 1st of January, previously it commenced on the 25th March. The author is unknown, with the document supposedly written by ‘The blynd, cruked, bedrellles, wedowis, orphelingis, and all uther pure’ or in modern English: ‘The blind, crooked, lame, widows, orphans and all other poor’ (Brown, p. 41). It is, however, given the relative eloquence of the document doubtful that these are the actual authors of ‘The Beggars Summons’, as will be discussed later in greater depth. Just as gauging the actual author of the document is difficult, it is equally problematic to know it’s real purpose. The document being

Janet P. Foggie in her work ‘Renaissance Religion in Urban Scotland: The Dominican Order 1450-1560’ speculates the ‘The Beggars Summons’ was written either nobly on behalf of these aforementioned disadvantaged groups or as a ‘propagandist weapon’. The exact nature of the document, whether politically or sympathetically motivated is difficult to determine. The incendiary condemnations do seem to come from truth; Peter Hume Brown comments that there is abundant evidence to support the claims of ‘The Beggars Summons’, Brown asserts that ‘one half of the wealth of the country was in the possession of the clergy’. (Brown, pg.42). However, Anne Pagan asserts that the Catholic church was not in a state of deterioration and corruption. Pagan stipulates that local parish priests were popular, praying for the dead and being the bridge to God people needed (Pagan, pg.