Penitential Bookends: John Fisher and Thomas Sternhold interpret Psalm 6

Abstract

The sermons on the Penitential Psalms delivered by Bishop John Fisher to the household of Henry VII's mother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond (published 1508), and the complete collection of Metrical Psalm paraphrases by royal courtier Thomas Sternhold (published 1549) serve as convenient penitential psalm ‘bookends’ to the reign of Henry VIII. This article examines the continuities and discontinuities in penitential psalms interpretation bracketed by these two works, and proposes that the harsh lines often drawn between mediaeval scholasticism and humanism, and between orthodox and evangelical interpretations of the Psalms are far less rigid and impermeable than has hitherto been suggested.