Elizabeth I: religious settlement Flashcards
what was Elizabeth’s vision for the church?
- wanted protestant doctrine, whilst maintaining traditional catholic structure and rituals
- aimed to create a church that appeased both the moderate protestants and catholics
- she accepted that she would never lease radical factions of the protestants and catholics
- wanted middle way to avoid the religious upheaval of her predecessor
Elizabeths personal religious preferences
- educated by humanists and raised protestant
- bread and wine not concentrated on during coronation ceremony
- walked out of mass 1559
- privy council dominated by protestants
But…
- kept crucifixes and candles in her private chapel
- disliked sermons and theological debates
Spain and religion
- catholic
- protestant England was accepted as a deterrent against a French/Scottish alliance
France and religion
- catholic
- would oppose a protestant England
Scotland and religion
- many protestant supporters in Scotland
- catholic Mary of Guise and Mary Stuart may also fear an attempt to take over
Netherlands and religion
- controlled by Catholic Spain
- trading posts in Antwerp were vital for England
- Elizabeth couldn’t become too harsh on catholics
First three government bills presented to parliament on the religious settlement
Bill of supremacy
Bills of uniformity (2)
caused opposition
Bill of Supremacy
aimed to end connection with Rome re-established by Mary and make the monarch supreme
Bills of supremacy
two other bills aimed to establish uniformed patterns of worship
passed by the House of Commons but rejected by the House of Lords
Peace of Chateau-Cambresis
April 1559
signed to remove French threat with new settlement
Act of supremacy
1559
- Elizabeth declared herself Supreme Governor of the Church of England
- Instituted an Oath of Supremacy
- Anyone refusing to take the Oath could be charged with treason
Act of uniformity 1559
was an Act of the Parliament of England, passed in 1559 to regularise prayer, divine worship and the administration of the English church
Royal Injunctions Act
- 1559
- gave clergy a set of instructions including to ban ‘fake’ miracles and to ban and report recusants
- also sent 125 commissioners to tour the country to check the rules were being followed
Vestiarian and crucifix controversies
- dealt with the question of whether clerical vestments and crucifixes were theologically important
- though certain Protestant reformers determinedly destroyed what they regarded as idols, some spared the cross, as a single, acceptable holy image
- In the end, Elizabeth backed down to the Puritans
and removed the crucifix from her church - didn’t want a civil war over religion!!
What did Elizabeth declare herself in the act of supremacy 1559
- the Supreme Governor of the Church of England
- Governor implied she would not be so dictatorial and would be more tolerant
- meant that catholics could technically view the pope as head of church while still ginger Elizabeth some respect with a title
Bishops reaction to the oath
only one agreed to take the oath, all the others stepped down and Elizabeth appointed 27 new bishops
what the settlement effective? YES
- she did well to avoid taking an extreme option to appease the majority
- Elizabeth does well to keep foreign kings happy
- did well to find some stability after inheriting such a contentious issue
- calling herself supreme governor appeased catholics and men
- both of obedience: clever in removing bishops by them refusing stop swear on oath to then appoint new bishops
- book of prayer: mix of moderate 1549 and radical 1552 book = appeased to most because is was ambiguous
- Elizabeth removed disparaging words about the pope from the prayer book = appeased to catholics
- maintaining some form of episcopal hierarchy, appeasing catholics
- true to her personal beliefs
what the settlement effective? NO
punishment for recusants :
- many would argue she needed these to enforce her religion, but many were unhappy east arranging protestant services
- punishment was 12 pence (1 day salary) per month
- many JPs didn’t enforce it
- some felt the settlement was too ambiguous
- puritans (extreme protestants) felt Elizabeth was a ‘sell out’ and didn’t go far enough
- ultimately she couldn’t please everyone!!
specific features of the act of uniformity 1559
- altar replaced by a wooden table but the crucifix and candles kept
- catholic vestments (robes) also allowed to be kept
attendance to protestant services was compulsory with fines of 1 shilling/12 pence (1 day salary)
- prayer book: mix of doctrinal laws between 1549 and 1552 prayer books (moderate + radical) = so the interpretation of the Eucharist was kept ambiguous
- also omitted the “Black Rubric”, an extract that stated kneeling for communion didn’t demonstrate accepting of the presence of the Holy Spirit
overall impact of the settlement:
- despite Elizabeth’s best attempts to appease catholics, they were far from happy
- most people outside London still catholic
- Elizabeth felt that a gradual and gentle switch to protestantism would eventually win over the catholic masses: in reality, Elizabeth needed to appease catholic gentry to enforce government policy in the regions
Papists
- a Roman Catholic
- loyal to Elizabeth
- prepared to accept her as governor of the church
- also conservatives who disliked radical changes to traditional patterns of worship
- believed mass and sacraments were necessary for personal salvation
- majority of English people (in London especially) were church papists
- may have celebrated mass at home but Elizabeth wasn’t going to persecute
Recusants
- Those who refused to attend Church of England services
- Believed in doctrine of the roman catholic church especially latin mass
- Not prepared to compromise
- One third of peerage and gentry were recusants
- 1582: 1929 known recusants
- Withdrew from the life of the official church
Seminary priests
- English catholics trained for priesthood at college of Douai, Flanders
- wanted to re-establish catholicism
- 438 seminary priests returned to England
- 96 put to death 1574
Jesuits
- The Society of Jesus
- a catholic missionary order
- Founded in 1534
- special oath of allegiance to the pope
- far fewer jesuit priests over seminary priests
- Began to arrive 1580 onwards
