EARLY ELIZABETH I RELIGION

Question 1

WHAT were the two parts to the country’s religion Elizabeth had to consider in her settlement?

Answer 1

• The legal status of the Church (papal/royal supremacy)
• The liturgical books to be used in Church services and how religion was practised

Question 2

WHAT would an ‘Anglo-Catholic’ Church look like under Elizabeth I?

Answer 2

Elizabeth as head of the church, but all doctrines and practices remaining essentially Catholic (similar to parts of HVIII’s reign)

Question 3

WHAT would a moderate Protestant Church look like under Elizabeth I?

Answer 3

Similar to the one at the beginning of EdVI’s reign (1549 Act of Uniformity and Book of Common Prayer)

Question 4

WHAT would a more radically evangelical Church look like under Elizabeth I?

Answer 4

Similar to the end of EdVI’s reign (1552 Act of Uniformity and Book of Common Prayer)

Question 5

WHAT three key actions made up Elizabeth’s religious settlement?

Answer 5

1) Two Acts of Parliament (Act of Supremacy and Act of Uniformity)
2) Set of royal injunctions to enforce the acts
3) Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1563)

Question 6

WHEN was the Act of Supremacy passed under Elizabeth I?

Answer 6

1559

Question 7

WHAT did the Act of Supremacy (1559) do?

Answer 7

• Restored royal supremacy
• Restored HVIII’s reformation legislation
• Repealed Mary I’s heresy law
• Revived powers of royal visitation of the Church
• Oath of Supremacy taken by clergymen and church officials

Question 8

WHAT was royal visitation of the Church?

Answer 8

Commissioners were appointed to visit, reform and correct all errors, heresies and abuses (largely undefined). Enforced under the Act of Supremacy (1559)

Question 9

WHAT title was Elizabeth given under the Act of Supremacy (1559)?

Answer 9

‘Supreme Governer’ instead of ‘supreme head’ of the Church (either a Catholic concession, or contemporary misogyny)

Question 10

HOW Protestant was the Act of Supremacy (1559)?

Answer 10

Legally very Protestant, as it restored royal supremacy in its entirety, but not much doctrine enforced (essentially an ‘Anglo-Catholic’ Church)

Question 11

WHEN was the Act of Uniformity under Elizabeth I?

Answer 11

1559

Question 12

WHAT did the Act of Uniformity (1559) do?

Answer 12

• Specified the use of only one Book of Common Prayer (a modified version of Cranmer’s 1552 edition)
• Ornaments of Church and ministers were those of before the 1549 Act of Uniformity. Many Calvinists (strong Protestants) believed this to be an error and thought it wouldn’t be enforced

Question 13

WHAT were the two major changes to the 1552 Book of Common Prayer at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 13

• Variations in Eucharistic belief were permitted, when the 1552 version was more explicitly against transubstantiation
• The ‘Black Rubric’ (which explicitly denied transubstantiation) was omitted

Question 14

HOW Protestant was the Act of Uniformity (1559)?

Answer 14

Majorly Protestant, but with allowances for more Catholic/conservative practices with almost intentionally vague elements (moderate Protestant Church)

Question 15

WHEN were the royal injunctions during Elizabeth’s religious settlement?

Answer 15

1559

Question 16

WHAT were the Protestant elements of the 1559 royal injunctions?

Answer 16

• Attacked Catholic practices: emphasised the simple communion table, instead of an altar; and called for the removal of ‘things superstitious’ (e.g. traditional Catholic practices like pilgrimages)
• Cecil’s royal ‘visitors’ were strongly Protestant

Question 17

WHAT was a more conservative element of the 1559 royal injunctions?

Answer 17

Prospective wives of clergy had to produce a signed certificate signifying their fitness for the role

Question 18

HOW Protestant were the 1559 royal injunctions?

Answer 18

Most strongly Protestant policy of the religious settlement, but still allowing conservative ideas. Elizabeth encouraged people to be more accepting of religious differences.

Question 19

WHICH historians argue that Elizabeth intended her settlement to be strongly Protestant?

Answer 19

Winthrop Hudson (1980), and Norman Jones (1982)

Question 20

WHICH historians argue that Elizabeth intended for a more moderately Protestant religious settlement?

Answer 20

John Neale (1950) believed she was pressured by extremists in Parliament, and William Haugaard (1968) argued that Elizabeth resisted calls for more radical reform.

Question 21

WHAT evidence is there for strong Protestant reform at the start of Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 21

• Newly appointed bishops tended to be returning exiles, meaning the Church was becoming more significantly evangelical
• Strong stance on royal supremacy

Question 22

WHAT evidence is there for moderate Protestant reform at the start of Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 22

• Some bishops were more moderate
• Elizabeth saw the settlement as an act of state, and an end of the religious debate, rather than a radical campaign.
• Elizabeth distrusted the Calvinist (extreme Protestant) method of preaching
• 1563 Thirty-Nine Articles were at times broad and comprehensive
• Some describe the church as ‘half reformed’ in its structures

Question 23

WHAT evidence is there for more Catholic beliefs in Elizabeth’s religious settlement (1558-63)?

Answer 23

• She disapproved of married clergy
• Elizabeth ensured the preservation of the musical culture of cathedrals and university colleges
• The leading reformers were unable to convince Elizabeth to reform the remaining features of Catholic practice (e.g. its structures, disciplinary procedures, services and clerical dress)