Elizabethan Settlement Flashcards
Context of Elizabethan Settlement
When Elizabeth inherited the throne, England was bitterly divided between Catholics and Protestants as a result of various religious changes initiated by Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. Henry VIII had broken from the Roman Catholic Church and the authority of the pope, becoming Supreme Head of the Church of England. During Edward’s reign, the Church of England adopted a Reformed theology and liturgy. In Mary’s reign, these religious policies were reversed, England was re-united with the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism was suppressed.
The Elizabethan Settlement was an attempt to end this religious turmoil.
What did it do?
It repealed the eighty eight heresies recorded in canon law, leaving common law with jurisdiction over the prosecution and imprisonment of
“heretics.”
What were the practical consequences of the Elizabethan Settlement?
In practice, this approach gave ecclesiastical courts the responsibility for dealing with religious error by the writ de heretico comburendo, which was itself repealed in 1677, along with the death penalty, after which “heresy” was punishable only by ecclesiastical censures.
How did the Act of Supremacy of 1559 define heresy?
It defined heresy according to the authority of the scriptures, Parliament with the assent of an ecclesiastical convocation, or the first four church councils (Nicaea in 325, Constantinople in 381, Ephesus in 431, and Chalcedon in 451).
Example: Colonel John Lilburne (!), English pamphleteer who fought in the Parliamentary Army during the Civil War. A Puritan, he belonged to a group called the Levellers who believed in liberty of conscience and an extended franchise to all Englishmen and was imprisoned for his agitation.
Beyond John Lilburne, which other martyrs were persecuted by the 1959 Act of Supremacy?
Numerous Protestant martyrs met the flames during Mary’s reign (and several Lollards before that), but Protestant England sought to avoid making martyrs of puritan zealots.
However, the primacy of scriptural authority and individual conscience, which puritanism encouraged, created a religious culture in which “puritan”
heresies grew rapidly.
Though Elizabeth had abolished the burning of heretics when she claimed the throne, the fires were lit once again in the 1560s.
Two Brownists were executed in 1567 for sedition, having compared Queen Elizabeth I to Jezebel.
When was the Elizabethan Settlement implemented?
During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603), particularly between 1559 and 1563.
This period is considered the end of English Reformation, permanently shaping the theology and liturgy of the Church of England and laying the foundations of Anglicanism’s unique identity.
What policy changes did James I adopt in 1612 towards heretical religious practices?
1) suspended burning heretics, though not of their books.
2) he preferred to lock religious radicals up in prisons.
Who were the last two heretics burned at the stake in England?
Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman, both of whom denied the Trinity
How was the Puritan movement suppressed during the reign of Elizabeth?
The primary means of suppressing the puritan movement were legislation and imprisonment.
John Whitgift assumed the archbishopric of Canterbury in 1583, taking a far harder line against the puritans than his predecessor Edmund Grindal.
Examples: The Eleven Articles
What were Whitgift’s Eleven Articles?
They banned private congregations and enforced the use of the Bishop’s Bible over the Geneva translation.
The sixth article concerned ministerial subscription, stating that no man was permitted to administer the sacraments unless he subscribed to three further articles of belief, by acknowledging under oath royal supremacy (that is, acknowledging that the monarch of England was the proper head of the Church of England), the legitimacy of episcopacy and the Book of Common Prayer, and the doctrinal rectitude of the Thirty nine Articles.
Many puritans refused to accept these oaths, exposing themselves to prosecution before ecclesiastical courts. Many puritans were interrogated under the “ex officio” oath, which demanded that those questioned respond to incriminating questions or be prosecuted for refusing to take the oath, rather than for their beliefs.
