Elizabeth Flashcards
What was Elizabeth’s first parliament about?
6th feb 1559 a parliamentary delegation led by speaker of House of Commons presented Elizabeth with petition that she marry and give kingdom an heir but Elizabeth suggested she remain unmarried, other main issue of Parliament was establishing new religious settlement, adjourned session after weeks of bitter arguments between catholics and protestants, 3rd April 1559 reassembled and she compromised on religion but tried to unite the people behind her sovereignty
What was Elizabeth’s title in the Church?
Supreme Governor of Church not Supreme Head because it wasn’t culturally right for a women to have that title
What was the Spanish Armada?
Summer 1558 Philip sent Spanish fleet to coast of England as threat of invasion, he tried to keep England Catholic by proposing marriage to Elizabeth then supporting any opposition against her but this was his attempt to make England catholic by conquest
How did Elizabeth respond to the Spanish Armada?
9th August rode out to rally troops and said ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble women but I have the heat and stomach of a king, and a king of England too’, Elizabeth wanted subjects to know she was exceptional and chosen by god to be King and Queen in one. Armada shipwrecked by storms in Atlantic
What is episcopacy?
Type of Protestant who believes in authority and power of bishops (sees them as more elevated than ordinary people)
Who are Puritans?
Type of Protestant who believes all forms of Popery should be abolished, wants full scale reform of the church
Who are Presbyterians?
Type of Protestant who follows Calvin, want bishops abolished and believe all ministers are of equal status
Who are radical Puritans/Separatists?
Extreme Protestants who are absolutely opposed to Queen’s position as Supreme Governor, small group
What were the political problems with changing religion?
Elizabeth is Protestant but protestants are increasingly divided, extreme Calvinists want radical puritan settlement but objected to her gender, Mary’s reign showed sympathy to the old faith, House of Lords full of catholic bishops and nobles thanks to Mary, House of Commons contained more reformists but was very divided
What were the religious problems with changing religion?
speed of change since 1547 caused confusion, country had been welcomed back into catholic world but moving back to protestantism would cause another ‘schism’ and excommunication, quality of priests on both sides was weak
What were the international problems with changing religion?
Possible problems with Catholic Spain and France so loss of allies, explains why Philip proposed marriage
How did Elizabeth try to build a united England through her religious settlement?
25th Jan 1559 at first parliament lord Keeper of Privy Seal Nicholas Bacon delivered its mission statement ‘to unite the people of this realm to a uniform order of religion’, members not to insult each other with words like ‘papist’ ‘schismatic’ ‘heretic’ instead focus on finding solutions to problems of the day, act of Supremacy presented to commons aiming to make Elizabeth its Head and the act of uniformity also presented, proposed settlement passed through commons but rejected by lords, debate between team of catholics and protestants at easter with privy council as judge and bacon as chairman descended into name calling and two catholics sent to Tower for contempt, propositions had attacked the authority of the pope and spiritual value of the mass and use of latin in outlive worship, catholic numbers therefore reduced in lords making it easier to push protestant measures
What was the revised Act of Supremacy?
Revised when parliament reconvened in April but still abolished papal supremacy, named Elizabeth as supreme governor not supreme head, passed fairly easily as it placated those who thought a woman couldn’t be head of church, demanded that clergy and royal officials swear an oath that they accepted queens title and sought to repeal Marian laws on heresy and set up a Commission for Ecclesiastical Causes (high commission) which could judge on orthodox doctrine
What was the Act of Uniformity?
1559 restored Edwards 1552 Prayer Book in all churches but kept many familiar old practices and allowed for a catholic or protestant interpretation of communion because priests required to say words of 1549 and 1552 prayer books when offering bread and wine, removed insulting references to pope which appeared in 1552 book, passed by 3 votes after much debate, obligation to attend church on Sunday and holy days under pain of fine of one shilling for every absence, act stipulated that ministers wear garments worn in second year of Edwards reign
What followed Elizabeth’s 1559 settlement?
injunctions 1559 enforced settlement, 39 articles passed 1563 based on Edwards 42 articles but removed black rubric proclamation and supported calvinist doctrine of predestination, religion now under state control so resistance to religion deemed resistance to state and Elizabeth, finally gives certainty to church but doesn’t entirely placate any group
Who was Matthew Parker?
1535 became chaplain to Anne Boleyn Elizabeth’s mother, 1544 Master of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, 1552 Dean of Lincoln, 1554 deprived of positions by Mary and went into hiding, Elizabeth selected him as her first Archbishop of Canterbury
What did Elizabeth do on Christmas Day 1558?
Forbade elevation of the host at Mass in Royal Chapel, officiating priest refused so queen walked out. Jan 1559 she snubbed the monks of Mary’s restored abbey of Westminster when they approached her with ceremonial candles, she told Spanish ambassador she intended to restore form of religion as practiced in final years of henrys reign
What were the three government bills presented to parliament on the religious settlement?
First bill was bill of Supremacy aiming to sever connections with Rome and endow the monarch title of Supreme Head, other two bills aimed to establish a uniform pattern of worship ad likely wanted re adoption of Edwards second prayer book, bills of uniformity passed in commons but rejected in lords due to Marian bishops there, speech to House of Lords 1559 by Bishop Scot of Chester said parliament had no right to meddle in matters of doctrine
What was the peace of Cateau-Cambresis?
Ended long struggle between Spain and France for possession of Italy, signed in April, removed French threat
What was Neale’s interpretation of Elizabeth’s religious settlement and how has this been disproved?
Stressed role of Commons and argued that Queen had been forced by influential nucleus of Puritans who used the Commons to force her into further reform of a church of England, he has been accused of distorting evidence by allegedly identifying some form of ‘progress’ which suits a historians standpoint (identified increase sin power of commons and then read back through history to trace a line of development), Norman Jones demonstrated there was no puritan faction as no more than 25 MPs could b considered puritans out of 400 commons and this included only 4 exiles. Now historians believe the settlement reflected wishes of queen and that major opposition in 1559 to such wishes came from catholic bishops and nobles in lords
Who did Elizabeth allow to retain the function of organisation/administration/supervision of church and clergy?
Episcopate (bishops) rather than the Consistory (ministers and lay elders) who carried it out in Calvin’s Genevan Church because it was suitable for reasons of foreign policy to minimise the differences between Church of England and continental catholic church and also Elizabeth attached importance to tradition (her father never discarded bishops)
How did Elizabeth decide which bishops to retain?
First step was encourage Marian bishops to remain in office but their unanimous refusal to take the oath accepting Act of Supremacy made this impossible, duly deprived of their offices and Queen turned to clergy of protestant persuasion (men who’d been exiles during Marys reign), influence of Queens secretary William Cecil lay behind their appointments and they included Grindal (made bishop of London), Cox (Ely), Jewel (Salisbury), Sandys (Worcestor) and Young (Archbishop of York). These exiles were second choices because their recent service had been as refugees not crown servants, some were reluctant to accept a bishopric
What was the Act of Exchange?
1559 gave Queen right to exchange church property in her possession for temporal (non spiritual) property in church’s possession so things of limited value like rights to tithe and church buildings were exchanged for castles and manors of considerable wealth, church lost considerable wealth as a result, Act prevented a bishop renting out land on leases of more than 21 years except to the crown, if the queen did not care to use her ow money/crown lands to reward nobility/gentry then bishops might be persuaded to grant favourable leases to such laymen
What were the 1559 Injunctions?
Under this set of instructions clergy were to observe and teach the royal supremacy and speak against pope’s usurpation of right of the monarch to govern church, processions associated with Catholic Church almost entirely banned, monuments to fake miracles destroyed but images were allowed in churches, pilgrimages forbidden, recusants (someone who refused to attend services of Church of England) to be denounced to privy council or JPs, each church contained English bible and Erasmus’ Paraphrases of the Gospels, congregation still had to bow to name of Jesus and kneel at prayer, priests to wear white linen gown as specified in 1552, marriage of priests encouraged but only with special permission of their bishop and two JPs
What restrictions did the Injunctions place on preaching?
No preaching to take place without royal permission meaning a license had to be obtained from authorities, preaching restricted to clergymen with master arts degree (even in Oxford considerably less than half the clergy had this degree), ordinary clergy restricted to reading books of prepared pastoral advice, perhaps Elizabeth saw unlicensed and possibly unlearned preaching as disruptive of good religious and civil order, her use of bishops as instruments of her personal authority over the church would be jeopardised by widespread and unlicensed preaching
Describe visitations
A number of visitors were aggressively protestant so catholic vestments, images and relics were destroyed, visitors were empowered to examine the beliefs of the clergy and punish those who refused to swear the oath for the act of supremacy or uphold the injunctions and book of common prayer, some 150 clergy deprived of positions 1559-64 and at least half of the departing clergy were openly catholic
What happened with crucifixes?
1559 Elizabeth demanded every church have a crucifix which Brough bishops like jews and Sandys to point of resignation, queen uncharacteristically backed down but insisted that the crucifix remain in the chapel Royal where it would be seen by foreign ambassadors
What were Parker’s Advertisements?
1566 attempted to make a clear statement of exactly what was expected of clergy in terms of doctrine/administration of prayer and sacraments/clerical dress, clergy reminded that communicants were to receive bread and wine kneeling, time honoured font to be used for baptism not protestant basin, Parker decided he would settle for imposing the surplice in only parish church services but dignitaries in cathedral and collegiate churches required to wear more elaborate vestments in addition, for outside west Parker insisted clergy wear the traditional looking square cap, march 1566 fashion parade held at Parker’s palace at Lambeth where audience were clergy of London and on view were appropriate vestments and outdoor wear, of 110 clergy present 37 refused to accept clothing they judged to be papistical and were duly suspended from their offices, Parker encouraged Elizabeth to endorse Advertisements officially but she refused
What was jewel’s ‘An Apology or Answer in the Defence of the Church of England’?
Propaganda written in response to catholic taunts that Church of England was a mere parliamentary religion whose held was quite wrongly able to decide on spiritual matters, he cited Old Testament examples of monarchs who served god by watching over and protecting faith and used passages from book of Isaiah which referred to queens as ‘nursing mothers’ of the faithful and assumed that queens title did not permit her to interfere in purely doctrinal matters where were clergy responsibility
