Prophesyings were religious training exercises favoured by Puritan clergy in England, significant during the 1570s.
[2] The institution of "prophesyings" dated back to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, and Huldrych Zwingli who started them.
The use of the word "prophecy" rested on a remark of Erasmus, on the terminology used by St Paul for the explanation of Scripture.
Patrick Collinson argues that the library of Zwingli's successor, Heinrich Bullinger, was intended as a training resource for students and clergy.
Grindal saw virtues in the development, in terms of improving the standard of preaching, refused to act decisively, and was sidelined.