Talk:Richard Atkins

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What does this mean[edit]

I quote: "He was charged with exclaiming against (western) Christianity as it then stood and in particular too the pope in public places of resort, and with an act of sacrilege in attempting to throw down the sacrament while being carried through the streets by a priest".

What was he charged with? was it "exclaiming against (western) Christianity as it then stood" or is it "exclaiming against (western) Christianity as it then stood and in particular too the pope in public places of resort"? (Not that I understand the second quote.)

What on earth does "in particular too the pope in public places of resort" mean? It doesn't appear grammatical. I presume it is a jargon use of "resort" - what meaning? I can understand "exclaiming against the pope", but the "in particular too" just confuses things. Is "in public places of resort" a fancy way of saying "in public"?

"with an act of sacrilege in attempting to throw down the sacrament while being carried through the streets by a priest". What was being carried by the priest? A bible or Richard Atkins? I guess RA intercepted a bible carrying priest and either knocked the priest over or knocked the bible from his hands.

If this is a quote of something, it needs showing as a quote, referencing and explaining. If this is someone's attempt to say what happened, it needs a complete rewrite.

Puzzled. -- SGBailey (talk) 11:32, 31 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Someone is attempting a précis of the contents of the Old DNB article by C.H. Coote, our article's only cited source (q.v., to answer your doubts). The précis is as you say, amusingly imprécis. Coote seems to depend on Anthony Munday, whose text I haven't found yet. The whole episode is reminiscent of what happened to John Strete in 1554 in West Smithfield. Many protestants were condemned to death for refusing to accept the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Hence there was a bit of a vogue among some protestants for stamping on the sacramental bread, or stabbing it, as a demonstration against what they perceived as Catholic idolatry. It seems that Atkins was one of them. Eebahgum (talk) 12:54, 8 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Here's the text, in the Harleian Miscellany (Google). Also in the Acts and Monuments (1583 edition). Have not yet found our editor's source for his younger life, but probably R.S. Peterson, 'Atkins, Richard (1559?–1581)' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004) here. Eebahgum (talk) 13:50, 8 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]