Chapter 23 - Religious developments and the 'golden age' of elizabethan culture

Question 1

what was the key issue with religion?

Answer 1

whether the settlement was complete or whether there was scope for change

Question 2

who did puritanism emerge amongst?

Answer 2

those who considered the settlement to be incomplete

Question 3

what did puritans believe in?

Answer 3

the eradication of ‘popish superstition’

Question 4

what can the emergence of puritans be traced back to?

Answer 4

the failure of the convocation of canterbury in 1563 to go further in its reform of the church

Question 5

what was the vestiarian controversy?

Answer 5

• several figures within the church decided that they could not obey the rules on clerical dress laid down in the act of uniformity and royal injunctions as this specified the wearing of catholic and therefore ‘supersitious’ dress
• the queen forced the issue by dismissing the prominent oxford academic thomas sampson from his post at christ church college for his refusal to wear the required vestments

Question 6

what happened when archbishop parker, and 5 bishops, issued the ‘advertisments’ in march 1566?

Answer 6

37 london clergymen refused to signify their support and were consequently deprived of their posts

Question 7

what were the ‘advertisments’?

Answer 7

they required the clergy to follow ‘one uniformity of rites and manners’ in the administration of sacraments and ‘one decent behaviour in their outward apparel’

Question 8

what did the vestiarian controversy show?

Answer 8

• the extent of the queen’s determination to enofrce the settlement
• but reforming bishops were caught between conflicting pressures: the need to obey the royal supremacy and the desire to remove the remaining vestiges of catholic practice within the church

Question 9

what did presbytarians believe?

Answer 9

they believed that the church of england, which was already calvinist in its doctrine, should be further reformed in its structure and its forms of worship

Question 10

what did the presybytarian movement emerge partially in response to?

Answer 10

the vestiarian controversy

Question 11

what it import to note about puritans and presbytarians?

Answer 11

not all puritans were presbytarian

Question 12

what did some did some presbytarians begin to question?

Answer 12

• the scriptural basis for the authority of bishops and other aspects of the church
• the criticisms were voiced in two pamphlets known as the two admonitions, whose main author was john field

Question 13

what did the two admonitions do?

Answer 13

• the first admonition attacked the book of common prayer and called for the abolition of bishops
• the second admonition provided a detailed description of a presbytarian system of church government

Question 14

what followed the two admonitions?

Answer 14

• a pamphlet war between Thomas Cartwright, a cambridge academic and the spiritual leader of the presbytarian movement, and the vice-chancellor of cambridge university, John Whitgift
• cartwright believed that a church founded on ‘supersitious’ or ‘popish’ principles must be spiritually flawed and the 1559 settlement had to be modified
• while whitgift argued that the presbytarians’ attitude was destructive and would split the church

Question 15

where was presbytarianism geographically confined to?

Answer 15

London, Essex, cambridge uni, suffolk and parts of the east midlands

Question 16

what high-ranking support did the presbytarian movement have?

Answer 16

• the Earl of Huntingdon, the earl of leicester and even lord burghley saw the advantages of presbytarianism against the influence of catholicism.
• all 3 of them defended clergymen who fell foul of the authorities because of thier alleged sympathy for the presbytarian movement

Question 17

what was a synod?

Answer 17

a church council that in this context would exist outside the official church hierarchy

Question 18

how did the presbytarian movement grow in the 1580s?

Answer 18

ideas for church government through local assemblies and provincial and national synods were developed, but attempts to bring change through parliament failed, despite the efforts of peter turner in 1584 and anthony cope in 1587

Question 19

what was whitgift determined to do?

Answer 19

destroy presbytarianism

Question 20

what three articles, issued by whitgift, did the clergy have to subscribe to?

Answer 20

1. acknowledgement of the royal supremacy
2. acceptance of the prayer book as containing nothing ‘contrary to the word of god’
3. acceptance that the thirty-nine articles conformed to the word of god

Question 21

why did the second article create a crisis of conscience for many clergy, not just presbytarians?

Answer 21

some thought that some parts of the prayer book lacked scriptural justification

Question 22

why did whitgift have to reduce the second article to just acceptance of the prayer book?

Answer 22

he was forced to back down under pressure from councillors such as leicester and walsingham

Question 23

why were most clergy able to justify accepting the reduced second article?

Answer 23

by arguin that their preaching ensured godliness within the church

Question 24

what elements of success did whitgift’s campaign against presbytarianism have?

Answer 24

he forced burghley’s protégé, george gifford, out of his post, and cartwright was refused a licence to preach, despite leicester’s pleas

Question 25

why did treating radicals and moderates alike create problems for whitgift?

Answer 25

• he caused much despair among clergymen
• moreover, while he undoubtedly had the support of the queen, his policies and attitudes were regarded with suspicion by many of her ministers

Question 26

why was presbytarianism in decline by the late 1580s?

Answer 26

• very few puritan clergy were prepared to break with the church by refusing to accept the three articles
• the failure of Cope’s ‘Bill and book’ in 1587 showed the futility of a parliamentary approach
• it was further weakened by the death of its key organiser, John Field, in 1589
• no synod was held after 1589 and the reputation of the presbytarian movement suffered on account of the satirical marprelate tracts

Question 27

what were the marprelate tracts?

Answer 27

a set of scurrilous and satirical attacks written in the late 1580s about some of the bishops of the time

Question 28

what were sectaries?

Answer 28

a term used, usually with disapproval, to describe members of sects which had separated from the church of england

Question 29

what was the most extreme form of puritanism?

Answer 29

separitism

Question 30

how did most mainstream puritans view separitists?

Answer 30

with abhorrence

Question 31

what were the beliefs of separtists?

Answer 31

• they wanted to separate from the church of england altogether
• separatists regarded the church of england as incapable of reforming itself sufficiently to root out all ‘popish’ or ‘superstitious’ practices and they wanted to create independent church congregations
• they were resolutely opposed to the queen’s status as supreme governor of the church of england

Question 32

what did separitism emerge as a movement?

Answer 32

the 1580s

Question 33

why is robert browne significant with separatism?

Answer 33

he became the leader of significant congregation in norwich, but his challenge soon petered out, and he went into exile in the netherlands with some of his congregation in 1582
- he later returned to england and made his peace with the authorities in 1585, aided by the good offices of his relative, Lord Burghley

Question 34

why was the act againt seditious sectaries passed in 1593?

Answer 34

• henry barrow and john greenwood led separitist movements in London, although the number involved were small
• under the act Barrow, greenwood and john penry were tried and executed ‘for devising and circulating seditious books’

Question 35

why did puritan influence decline in the late 1580s?

Answer 35

• partly because of the deaths of Leicester, Mildmay and walsingham, its political supporters at court.
• and partly because the defeat of the spanish armada reduced the perceived threat of catholicism and lessened its attractions

Question 36

why did puritan attitudes become more acceptable within the traditional church structure?

Answer 36

the disappearance of presbyterianism

Question 37

how were the fundamentally calvinist beliefs of the CofE confirmed?

Answer 37

• the lambeth articles of 1595, which proved acceptable to puritans and their opponents such as whitgift alike
• furthermore, the 1559 book of common prayer was accepted by both as the basis for an acceptable form of worship

Question 38

what is elizabeth often quoted as saying?

Answer 38

as not wishing to make ‘windows into mens souls’

Question 39

what was toleration of catholics at the beginning of her reign conditional on?

Answer 39

obdience

Question 40

what was rarely demanded?

Answer 40

fines for recusants (at the beginning)

Question 41

what was much energy spent on?

Answer 41

• removing catholic imagery from parish churches and on searching out images that had been hidden away
• furthermore, the old religious ‘mystery plays’ were abolished because of their link to the feast of corpus christi and hence to the doctrine of transubstantiation

Question 42

how did most english catholics survive?

Answer 42

as church papists - outwardly conforming and obeying the law by attending anglican services

Question 43

what did an active minority of catholics follow?

Answer 43

the catholic bishops who had refused to conform to the oath of supremacy

Question 44

what did some catholic intellectuals do?

Answer 44

go into exile, most commonly in the spanish netherlands

Question 45

how did some priests survive?

Answer 45

as private chaplains to catholic members of the nobility who protected them or conducted secret catholic services

Question 46

what did the northern rebellion provoke with regards to the treatment of catholics?

Answer 46

a more punitive attitude

Question 47

what placed english catholics in an impossible position?

Answer 47

• elizabeth being excommunicated and the pope Pius V calling on all loyal catholics to depose her
• catholics were now forced to choose between loyalty to their church and loyalty to their monarch

Question 48

what did the 1571 act against catholcis do?

Answer 48

made the publication of papal bulls treasonable

Question 49

what did the 1581 Act to Retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in their due obedience do?

Answer 49

• this made it treason to withdraw subjects’ allegiance to either the queen or the church of england
• saying mass became punishable by a heavy fine and imprisonment and the fine for non-attendance at church was raised to the prohibitive figure of £20 a month
• although the laity were not too harshly treated, four catholic priests were executed in 1581, and 11 in 1582

Question 50

what did the 1585 Act against Jesuit and Seminary Priests do?

Answer 50

• made it treasonable for priests ordained under the pope’s authority to enter england
• this made it much easier for the courts to secure convictions for treason; 123 priests were convicted under the terms of this act from 1586 to 1603

Question 51

how was the law against recusants tightened further in 1587?

Answer 51

any recusant who defaulted on his payment of fines could have two thirds of his estate seized by the exchequer.

Question 52

when was the persecution of recusants at its height?

Answer 52

1588-92

Question 53

what was the tightening of anti-catholic legislation a response to?

Answer 53

• partly because of the international situation, worsening relations with spain
• partly in response to the fear of catholic rebellion, made worse by the onset of catholic missions of priests intent on upholding and spreading the catholic faith

Question 54

how was the pressure against catholics furthered by the drafting of a ‘Bond of Association for the preservation of the queen’s majesty’s royal person’ in october 1584? (in response to the throckmorton plot?

Answer 54

anyone who took the oath of association was required to execute summarily (murder) anyone who attempted to usurp the crown or make an attempt on elizabeth’s life

Question 55

who drafted the ‘Bond of Association for the preservation of the queen’s majesty’s royal person’ in october 1584?

Answer 55

burghley and walsingham

Question 56

when was a college founded at douai, in the spanish netherlands, to train catholic priests to be sent to england and convert people?

Answer 56

1568

Question 57

when did seminary priests begin to arrive?

Answer 57

• by 1575 there were 11 in england
• by 1580 there were about 100
• 179 arrived between 1580 and 1585

Question 58

why was being a seminary priest dangerous work?

Answer 58

• they had to operate, in secretive circumstances, from the country houses of catholic gentry and aristocracy
• from 1585, merely being a catholic priests was enough to incur the death penalty

Question 59

what was the society of Jesus?

Answer 59

formally recognised as a religious order in 1540, this looked actively to reconvert places which had become protestant during the reformation

Question 60

when did the society of jesus first begin sending jesuit priests to england?

Answer 60

1580

Question 61

what did the jesuits combine?

Answer 61

high intelligence and organisational skills with a dedication to the cause of the restoration of catholicism to england

Question 62

who were the first jesuits to attempt to re-catholicise england?

Answer 62

robert parsons and edmund campion (campion was executed in 1581)

Question 63

why was the success of the catholic missions limited?

Answer 63

• while the catholic gentry were able to retain their faith, humbler catholics were often ignored
• the educated priests associated more readily with their protectors than the ‘ordinary people’ and often became more like household chaplains
• catholicism thus became more of a ‘country-house religion’ than the popular faith it had been in the 1560s
• priests themselves necame divided as a result of a bitter dispute over leadership of the missionary movement, thereby weakening the catholic mission
• most landed and stayed in the south, where there was less catholic support

Question 64

what was one aspect of shakespeare’s distinctive appeal?

Answer 64

his ability to appeal both to an educated elite and to the ‘groundlings’ who attended performances in large numbers

Question 65

did formal portraiture remain important?

Answer 65

yes, with the queen a frequent sitter, as were courtiers, especially the earl of leicester, along with sitters from the gentry and mercantile classes

Question 66

what became culturally the most important aspect of elizabethan painting? (as a result of the lack of an artist as skilful as holbein)

Answer 66

the portrait miniature, whose most technically gifted exponents were nicholas hilliard and isaac oliver

Question 67

why was it a golden age in architecture, despite the queen’s reluctance to commission new buildings?

Answer 67

her courtiers and other wealthy individuals made up for this lack, often being able to afford extravagant building projects because of the family acquisition of former monastic land at knock-down prices

Question 68

who was the first named english architect?

Answer 68

Robert Smythson, who worked on longleat in wiltshire and wollaton hall in nottinghamshire as well as on a series of other country houses

Question 69

what did the increased educational opportunities of the sixteenth century lead to?

Answer 69

the emergence of a highly literate and often quite sophisticated viewing and reading public

Question 70

which notable playwrights were there?

Answer 70

shakespeare, thomas kyd and christopher marlowe

Question 71

describe the increasingly sophisticated infrastructure for the production of plays in london?

Answer 71

• companies of actors operated under the patronage of courtiers, most importantly the lord chamberlain’s men, of which shakespeare was a member
• however, the companies operated within a competitive market environment at theatres such as the globe and the swan
• these placed an emphasis on the ability of dramatists such as shakespeare to produce new plays on a regular basis to appeal to audiences drawn from across the social classes

Question 72

what was the most notorious of shakespeare’s plays having political connotations?

Answer 72

the sponsoring at the globe theatre by supporters of the earl of essex of a performance of richard II, a medieval king who had been the victim of usurption in 1399

elizabeth was alleged to have remarked ‘I am richard. Knowe ye not that?’

Question 73

what was an exception to most prose literature having a narrow readership?

Answer 73

Foxe’s book of martyrs, which had a wide readership amongst ‘godly’ puritans

Question 74

who were the two most influential writers?

Answer 74

• Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser
• Sidney saw himself as a conscious moderniser of the english language through the adaptation of classical forms
• he was largely responsible for the revival of the sonnet in english poetry and was therefore an essential precursor of shakespeare in that context
• despite their courtly connections, both sidney and spenser were political outsiders; some of their work can be seen as being highly critical of the elizabethan court

Question 75

was elizabeth as skilful musician?

Answer 75

yes

Question 76

what was elizabeth responsible for with regard to music?

Answer 76

for saving the musical culture of english cathedrals and oxbridge colleges which were threatened by protestant reformers who emphasised the importance of the word of god rather than the ‘beauty of holiness’

Question 77

who were the greatest composers of the reign?

Answer 77

• Thomas Tallis and William Byrd
• both wrote extensively for the church of england
• each of them, however, was catholic and Byrd, in particular, demonstrated the strength of his catholicisim in works composed in secrecy for his catholic patrons

Question 78

what did renaissance convention lay down?

Answer 78

that courtiers should be skilled musically

Question 79

what encouraged the development of the madrigal?

Answer 79

renaissance convention laying down that courtiers should be musically skilled

Question 80

what was the madrigal?

Answer 80

a musical form that originated in Italy, as a complex part-song that could be sung by a small mixed-voice choir and whose most important composers were Thomas Morley and Thomas Weelkes

Question 81

what is a notable exception to madrigals usually being non-political?

Answer 81

• in 1601 Morley put together a collection of 25 madrigals by 23 different composers entitled ‘the triumph of oriana’ which explicitly honoured the queen
• music was therefore a means of reinforcing the ‘Gloriana’ myth which sustained support for the queen at a time when her reputation was slipping

Question 82

why did instrumental music and song flourish at a more popular level?

Answer 82

• many towns had official bands (waits) who performed on formal occasions and who presumably performed informally on other occasions
• broadside ballads, songs printed cheaply on a single sheet of paper, became popular.
• often these were extremely bawdy; the innuendo in a popular song such as Watkins’ ale in unmistakable