Monastery
to whom does that monastery belong? I mean which sect? Anglicans?
shareConsidering the dissolution of the monasteries happened only a half-century before the film's start, the matter of which branch of Christianity the monastery belongs to is... somewhat confusing. I think it's meant to be Catholic: if so, it's the equivalent of a speakeasy, considering the treatment of Catholics at the time.
share I think I raised this question before, months or longer ago, and I hope I'm not just beating a dead horse, but ... what would Kane, *of all people*, be doing in a monastery?
I mean, he's not merely *not* a Catholic, he's like *waaaay* not a Catholic. When he got caught by the Spanish Catholic Inquisition they put him on the *rack* for being a heretic, man! And I don't believe they converted him either.
His people were not even on good terms with the official Anglican Church, which was far too "Popish" for their tastes. Hence the term "Puritans." It meant they were out to "purify" the Anglican Church of its Catholic elements (not so much that they were necessarily all that much "purer" in their personal lives, though they *did* tend to be stricter/sterner there).
I can't help suspecting that a lot of Hollywood screenwriters are only dimly aware that there is even a difference between Catholics and Protestants. I suspect most of them are from places where everybody is either Catholic or Jewish, and the only Baptist they ever heard of was Martin Luther King.
Ozy
And I stood where I did be; for there was no more use to run; And again I lookt with my hope gone.
Reading my mind, Ozy. My belief is that *this* Kane went to a monastery because he really had nowhere else to turn. He needed to go somewhere that he felt protected spiritually, defended from the forces of Satan. Monasteries might've offered that. But then, I don't even recall if he's a Puritan in the film at all...
shareWell, in the film he meets a group of Puritans *after* leaving the monastery, admires their serenity and faith, and starts dressing like them, though there's no particular indication that he's adopted any new religious ideas. You could assume that that represents his conversion, in which case he's not a Puritan at the time he goes to the monastery.
Some have tried to argue that the monastery isn't a goof, because Anglican monasticism exists. But in its modern iteration it has existed only since the 1840s. Archbishop Laud flirted with the idea of restoring monasticism in the 1630s, but nothing came of it. Technically, the monasteries which were dissolved were themselves Anglican (though in fact no doubt they were hotbeds of semi-secret Catholicism): Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy was passed in 1534, and the Dissolution didn't even begin until 1536, and at first the plan was not to dissolve all monasteries: but by 1541 there were none left. So, no monasteries in England in 1600. A secret Catholic community would be a very Solomon-Kane-ish idea, but the one in the film clearly *isn't* secret.