24. Elizabeth- religious settlement Flashcards
explain the act of supremacy?
- 1559
- re-established that the English monarch is the head of the church =supreme governor (used a less controversial title than her father because it was able to satisfy people who still saw the pope as the head of the church)
- all churchmen swear an oath of loyalty to the supreme governor
- court of high commissions sent out to investigate and prosecute those whose loyalty was suspected
explain the act of uniformity?
- 1559
- rules about the appearance of the church
- practices that existed when the first prayer book was issued, should be followed
- also set out what priests should wear
- the church had a catholic appearance as alter could be decorated with crosses, meaning people would accept the introduction of mildly protestant ideas of worship
- attendance to church was compulsory
explain the meaning of bread and wine?
-central to the disagreements between catholics and protestants was the question of what happened to the bread and wine during mass
Catholics:
-bread= body (Transubstantiation)= god into them and cleaning of sin
Protestants:
-bread= just a symbol
explain reactions to the settlement at home?
-Elizabeth hoped the settlement would calm down tensions that had been growing since VIII, to avoid religious upheaval
-virtually all the catholic bishops appointed by Mary refused and were dismissed =Elizabeth could make new appointments
overall refusal was minimal
-localised opposition was evident from the start, some ministers ignored the common prayer book, and some of the strongest reaction was against the financial side of the settlement
explain foreign reactions to the church settlement?
- Neither Phillip or the Pope saw the changes in England as permanent and hoped to persuade her to return to catholicism= they weren’t concerned
- 59, Phillip offered to marry Elizabeth designed to keep open the hopes of catholicism being reinstalled in England, but she saw Spain as a threat
explain the Scottish-French dimension?
- by 1559 MQofS was already married to Francis, they were King and queen
- Mary also had a strong claim to the throne being the great grand-daughter to Henry VII
- Francis died suddenly, and Mary returned to Scotland a widow, looking to marry Lord Darnley who had a distant claim to the English throne
explain the French Civil War?
- 1562= french civil war between the Guise and Huguenot families led by Prince Conde= although good for Elizabeth, tipped the balance of power towards Spain
- treaty of Hampton court, English promised military aid to Huguenot’s
- failed as Enlgish tried to bargain for Calais, in which the Protestant and Catholics in France had a truce and attempted to oust England
- both England and France later signed a peace treaty= shows that there was no clear thinking in English Foreign policy at the time and marked the end of Elizabeth’s ambition for Calais
explain the influence of the council of Trent?
- this was a meeting of Europe’s clergy, to discuss the future of the church
- they produces a series of hardline catholic decrees, ending the possibility of a compromise with protestants showing fears of both P and Ottoman Turks
- some wanted Elizabeth excommunicated but Phillip believed he could persuade her to change reforms settlement
explain the significance of Phillip ruling the Netherlands?
-Phillip also ruled Netherlands which was vital for English trade
-1563: banned import of English cloth officially to protect from plague, but it reflected the annoyance that the balance of trade had turned in England’s favour
-E responded by banning all imports from the Netherlands= both backed down in 64
= this showed the powerful catholic spanish monarchy behind these events, and her response was to contain the might of Spain without aggravation
explain religion in England as Elizabeth came to power?
- there is a debate over the relative strengths of protestantism and catholicism
- due to years of change and confusion, the majority of the population were were inclined to be religiously indifferent
- Elizabeth was protestant and wanted a protestant England, but did not want to alienate her subjects or antagonise her continental neighbours
- neither religion had a strong hold when Mary died
- her approach was one of a middle way
explain the Northern Rebellion?
- 1569-70
- led by the earls of northumberland, was motivated by both political and religious frustrations
- the earls resented being marginalised at court and never truly accepted the religious settlement
- detention of MQofS was a catalyst intentions of marrying MQofS
- it failed, as majority of the north weren’t motivated to support it as they were more worried about the economy and availability of food
explain the effect and response of/to the Northern rebellion?
- Elizabeth raised large force against them
- reminded the government that their were regions of the kingdom that had not fully embraced her rule, changes
- responded by being more sensitive to regional issues = local based landowning
explain the royal supremacy?
- strong support amongst the elite who were willing to follow the religion of their queen
- the mass of the population simply continued to maintain an affection for traditional forms of worship= out of habit and in most cases followed the lead of their social superiors
explain puritans and recusants?
- majority occupied the middle ground as no religion had a strong hold
- groups of deeply religious people were committed to either side =recusants and puritans
- they threatened the religious stability of the kingdom so to keep unity Elizabeth implemented the 1559 religious settlement= keeping peace for 10 years
- however after Elizabeth’s excommunicated from the pope in 1570, the anglican church became more protestant, non conformity outlawed, non-attendance at church was punished
- despite this, puritan movement continued to grow, factoring into presbyterians and Separatists
explain the counter reformation?
- Elizabeth’s protestant fuelled reformation fuelled the counter-reformation which the catholic church tried to counter-attack by:
- seminars were established to train priests in Europe, sent to England to spread catholicism over 100 sent within 10 years.
- the government not only banned priests and their books but also executed them
- the priests were followed by hard-line catholics (Jesuits) who were committed to the reconversion of England
