A 16th-century printing shop. From Batman's    The Doom Warning All Men to the Judgement (1581)

The Martin Marprelate controversy was an Elizabethan religious and literary argument, which stemmed from the strict censorship policies enforced by Archbishop Whitgift. In 1586, Whitgift procured from the Court of Star Chamber a decree forbidding the publication of books, pamphlets, or tracts not authorized by himself or the Bishop of London. This gave Whitgift control over the Stationers' Company, control of the printing presses, and thus the ability to repress literature he considered slanderous or seditious. In effect, this decree allowed Whitgift to repress Puritan writings, which he considered heretical.

    In response, numerous Puritan pamphlets criticizing Whitgift, the bishops, and the Church of England, appeared under the pseudonym Martin Marprelate (1588-1589). They were printed at an unauthorized, private press, which was moved several times to avoid discovery. Surviving tracts include: The Epistle (Oct. 1588), The Epitome (Nov. 1588), Certain Mineral and Metaphysical Schoolpoints (Feb. 1589), Hay Any Work for Cooper (Mar. 1589), Martin Junior (July 1589), Martin Senior (July 1589), and The Protestation of Martin Marprelate (Sep. 1589). The quality of satire in the Marprelate tracts is among the best in Elizabethan England.

    The bishops answered with An Admonition to the People of England (1589), authored by Thomas Cooper, Bishop of Winchester (the 'butt' of Hay Any Work for Cooper). The church also hired professional writers to attack Marprelate. Among others, John Lyly wrote Pap with a Hatchet (1589), Nashe wrote An Almond for a Parrot, and Richard Harvey wrote Plain Percival (1589) and A Theological Discourse of the Lamb of God (1590).

The identity of Martin Marprelate was never established conclusively, though John Penry, John Udall, and Job Throkmorton were arrested. Penry was hanged in 1593, Udall probably died in prison, and Throkmorton's case was thrown out on a technicality. Until new evidence comes to light, the identity of Martin Marprelate will remain a mystery.

• John Penry
  
• Archbishop Whitgift
  

• The Marprelate Libels
  
• Hay any Worke for Cooper
  
• The Epistle
  

• The Marprelate Tracts on the Web - The Anglican Library
  
• Marprelate Controversy - Columbia Encyclopedia
  
• Marprelate Controversy - Britannica
  
• Marprelate Controversy - Cambridge History of English and American Literature
  
• Martin Marprelate Press: A Documentary History - J. L. Black
  
  

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