ELIZABETH I RELIGION

Question 1

WHO were Anglicans?

Answer 1

The Protestant majority who accepted the Elizabethan religious settlement

Question 2

WHAT was the state of religion in 1563?

Answer 2

Broadly positive, however there were some in the Church who believed it hadn’t been reformed enough (growth of Puritanism), and Catholics found it difficult to practise their faith in public

Question 3

WHAT did Puritans believe in?

Answer 3

The eradication of ‘popish superstitions’ and further reform of the Church

Question 4

WHAT was the Vestiarian Controversy?

Answer 4

An incident where several figures in the Church decided they couldn’t obey the rules on clerical dress from the Act of Uniformity.

Question 5

WHEN was the Vestiarian Controversy?

Answer 5

The early 1560s (after the Act of Uniformity)

Question 6

HOW did Elizabeth respond to the Vestiarian Controversy?

Answer 6

• She sacked key figures from their positions if they refused to wear required vestments
• Archbishop Parker’s ‘Advertisements’ (1566) confirmed uniformity of sacraments and dress

Question 7

WHEN were the ‘Advertisements’ issued?

Answer 7

1566

Question 8

WHAT were the ‘Advertisements’?

Answer 8

Issued by Archbishop Parker, confirming uniformity of sacraments and dress, dealing with the Vestiarian Controversy

Question 9

WHO were Presbytarians?

Answer 9

A group of Puritans who believed that the Church of England should be reformed further. They believed in a non-heirarchical structure for the Church, and the abolition of bishops.

Question 10

WHAT were the ‘Admonitions’?

Answer 10

Presbytarian pamphlets, criticising the Elizabethan Church of England.
* The first attacked the Book of Common Prayer and called for the abolition of bishops
* The other described the Presbytarian system of Church government

Question 11

WHO were two opposing figures during the Presbytarian movement under Elizabeth?

Answer 11

1) Cartwright (Cambridge academic), who believed the 1559 settlement should be modified
2) Whitgift (Vice Chancellor of Cambridge, and later Archbishop of Canterbury), who believed that the Presbytarians were destructive

Question 12

WHAT high-ranking support did the Presbytarians have?

Answer 12

The Earl of Leicester and Burghley both defended Presbytarian clergymen. However, both Presbytarian attempts to make change with Parliament failed.

Question 13

WHAT were Whitgift’s Three Articles?

Answer 13

Attacked Presbytarians, saying everyone must:
1) Acknowledge royal supremacy
2) Accept the Prayer Book as God’s Word (later changed to just acceptance of it)
3) Acceptance of the Thirty Nine Articles

Question 14

WHY did Whitgifts Three Articles have to be changed?

Answer 14

Many in the Church (not just Presbytarians) thought some aspects of the Prayer Book lacked scriptural justification, not believing it was God’s word. The articles were changed from accepting the book as God’s word to just accepting it.

Question 15

HOW MUCH of a threat were the Presbytarians?

Answer 15

• Geographically narrow (only the South East: London, Essex and Cambridge university)
• Declined after the 1580s as most didn’t want to break from the Church
• However, in the 1580s, it did have some high ranking support (e.g. Leicester and Cecil)

Question 16

WHO were the Separatists?

Answer 16

A small, extremist Puritan sect which wanted to separate entirely from the established Church.

Question 17

WHAT did the Separatists critique the Church of England for?

Answer 17

• They believed it was incapable of reforming itself enough to remove all ‘popish’ (Catholic) practices
• They opposed Elizabeth as Supreme Governer

Question 18

WHO were some key Separatists?

Answer 18

• Robert Brown, a leader in Norwich who went into exile in the Netherlands
• Barrow and Greenwood who led small Separatist movements in London

Question 19

WHAT was the Act Against Seditious Sectaries?

Answer 19

A law passed in 1593 to attack religious sects that opposed the government (Separatists, primarily). It led to the execution of key Separatist leaders Barrow and Greenwood.

Question 20

WHEN was the Act Against Seditious Sectaries passed?

Answer 20

1593

Question 21

HOW did the government respond to the Separatist movement?

Answer 21

• Passed the Act Against Seditious Sectaries in 1593
• Had very harsh measures for such a numerically insignificant movement

Question 22

HOW MUCH of a threat was the Separatist movement?

Answer 22

Very small. They had extremely limited numbers, and Elizabeth’s harsh measures ultimately destroyed the movement. However Robert Brown, a key leader, did have some protection as he was a relative of Burghley

Question 23

WHAT was the difference between the Presbytarians and the Separatists?

Answer 23

The Presbytarians wanted to work WITH the established Church of England while the Separatists wanted to separate entirely from it.

Question 24

WHAT influenced the decline of Puritanism?

Answer 24

• The death of political supporters of Puritanism (Leicester, Mildmay and Walsignham)
• Reduced Catholic threat after the defeat of the Spanish Armada
• Decline of Presbytarianism and Separatism meant less radical/institutional forms of Puritanism could be more easily accepted

Question 25

HOW were Catholics treated at the start of Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 25

• Most English Catholics were ‘church papists’ (outwardly conformed)
• Some Catholics went into exile
• Some became private chaplains to Catholic nobles.
• Official law was directed mostly against Catholic images
• Laws against recusancy were rarely enforced

Question 26

WHAT was a ‘church papist’?

Answer 26

A Catholic who outwardly conformed and obeyed the law, attending Anglican services

Question 27

WHEN did Elizabeth’s response to practicing Catholics change?

Answer 27

• After the Northern rebellion (1569)
• And, after the Pope had excommunicated her in 1570, making English Catholics pick between their loyalty to the Queen or their religion

Question 28

WHAT was the Act to Retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in their Due Obedience?

Answer 28

A penal law against Catholics:
* Non-allegiance to the Queen or Church of England was treasonous
* Harsher fines for saying mass or not attending church
* Some higher profile priests were executed, but laity less so

Question 29

WHEN was the Act to Retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in their Due Obedience passed?

Answer 29

1581

Question 30

WHAT was the Act Against Jesuits and Seminary Priests?

Answer 30

A penal law against Catholics which made it treasonable for priests ordained under the pope’s authority to enter England (making courts more able to convict)

Question 31

WHEN was the Act Against Jesuits and Seminary Priests passed?

Answer 31

1585

Question 32

HOW MANY Catholic priests were executed from 1586 to 1603?

Answer 32

123

Question 33

WHAT were the two penal laws against Catholics passed under Elizabeth?

Answer 33

1) The 1581 Act to Retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in their Due Obedience
2) The 1585 Act Against Jesuits and Seminary Priests

Question 34

WHAT was recusancy?

Answer 34

Not attending Church services

Question 35

HOW MUCH was the fine for recusancy?

Answer 35

• £20 per month from 1581
• By 1587, refusal to pay the fine meant that a large portion of their estate was seized by the Exchequer.

Question 36

WHAT was the ‘Bond of Association’?

Answer 36

An oath, drafted by Burghley and Walsingham, where those who took it were required to execute summarily (murder) anyone who attempted to usurp the Crown or make an attempt on Elizabeth’s life

Question 37

WHEN was the ‘Bond of Association’ made?

Answer 37

1584, as a response to the Throckmorton Plot

Question 38

WHAT was a ‘seminary priest’?

Answer 38

A Catholic priest who had been trained in the Spanish Netherlands and sent to England to keep Catholicism alive and convert people.

Question 39

WHO were Jesuits/the Society of Jesus?

Answer 39

A Catholic sect, who were highly intelligent and dedicated to the restoration of Catholicism. They were sent to England from 1580 onwards

Question 40

WHAT were the limits of Catholic resistance under Elizabeth?

Answer 40

• Limited to the gentry and aristocratic elite. Catholicism became more of a ‘country house’ religion.
• Less effot put into conversion
• Divides among priests over leadership
• Focus on the south-east, and not the north where the Catholic population was larger.