James I: Religion and religious divisions

Question 1

describe the different religious groups of Britain in the 1600s:

Answer 1

• alongside a minority of Catholics, there were various Protestant groups with differing views on religious practices
• most people who identified with the Church of England were of a broad Protestant faith that had developed from Calvinism

Question 2

what did Puritans believe?

Answer 2

believed the Church of England had not been sufficiently reformed
- wanted to make more radical changes to the English church which might upset the social order
- the ‘hotter sort of Protestantism’

Question 3

what did Arminians believe?

Answer 3

Arminians were anxious to avoid ‘radical’ change and wanted to bring the State Church more in line with traditional Catholic practices

Question 4

what reasons did English Protestants have a general hostility towards Catholics for?

Answer 4

• the Reformation
• the burning of Protestants when England briefly returned to Catholicism under the Catholic queen ‘Bloody’ Mary I (1555-58)
• war against Catholic Spain during Elizabeth’s reign
• they wanted toleration to worship in their own way which would undermine the uniformity of the country
• Catholics owed their allegiance to the Pope first and the monarch second and this meant that they recognised a higher authority than the king/queen in England

Question 5

why were Catholics a threat?

Answer 5

• they wanted toleration to worship in their own way which would undermine the uniformity of the country
• Catholics owed their allegiance to the Pope first and the monarch second and this meant that they recognised a higher authority than the king/queen in England

Question 6

how did Catholics react in this anti-Catholic climate?

Answer 6

Within this anti-Catholic climate, Catholics remained loyal to the English Crown as they had been since the Reformation
- by 1603, they were generally politically passive

Question 7

what was James’ attitude to Catholics?

Answer 7

James was prepared to make a distinction between Catholics who were ‘quiet’ and those who were ;factious’
- although it was counter to popular feelings of anti-Catholicism, it was a pragmatic way to avoid forcing moderate Catholics to challenge him directly

Question 8

outline the Reformation:

Answer 8

• the British Isles divided along confessional lines following the Henrician Reformation in the 1530s
• resulted in religious diversity across the British Isles
  (England, Wales and Scotland = Protestant, Ireland = Catholic)
• the Church of England was governed by the monarchy
  (Anglicanism)

Question 9

who remained powerful after the Reformation?

Answer 9

the great powers of the continent, Spain and France remained Catholic and increasingly sought to combat the growth of Protestantism, known as the Counter-Reformation

Question 10

what had Mary I done to Protestants during her five year reign? (reason to fear Catholics)

Answer 10

1553-58: during her five-year reign, Mary I had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions
- deeply-seated fear of Catholics

Question 11

what happened to Protestants in Paris in August 1572? (reason to fear catholics)

Answer 11

• August 1572: over 5,000 Protestants were killed in Paris in the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre

Question 12

outline the war between England and Spain in July 1588: (reason to fear Catholics)

Answer 12

• July 1588: the Spanish Armada, the most dominant Catholic power, set sail, planning to ferry an invasion force under the Duke of Parma to the coast of southeast England
• a combination of miscalculation, misfortune and an attack of English fire ships defeated the Armada
• aimed to restore Catholicism in England
• Spain remained at war with England until 1604 (Treaty of London)

Question 13

what did English Catholics do in November 1605? (reason to fear Catholics)

Answer 13

1605: Catholic plotters, amongst whom was one Guido Fawkes, were caught during the course of preparations to blow up the Houses of Parliament

Question 14

what were wider reasons to fear Catholics?

Answer 14

• the fear of Catholics during James I’s reign was real, but also disproportionate
• the main European powers were Catholic and were attached to the concept of absolutism
• Louis XIII of France and Phillip III of Spain
• the embryonic emergence of democracy at the start of the Stuart period in Britain meant Protestants became scared of absolutism

Question 15

what was James’ beliefs surrounding the Divine Right of Kings?

Answer 15

As a strong believer in the Divine Right of Kings, James held the authority of the Church in high regard, and in return demanded obedience to himself as King and as the supreme authority in the Church

Question 16

what was James’ own religious beliefs?

Answer 16

James was raised a Presbyterian (Scottish form of Calvinism) and was a loyal defender of Protestantism although he had misgivings about the radical nature of the Scottish Reformation
- Scottish kirk had no rigid hierarchy
- monarch would have less control - James doubted this

Question 17

what was Presbyterianism?

Answer 17

• Presbyterianism was bitterly hostile to Catholicism and less hierarchical than the Church of England
• Whereas the Church of England was led by bishops appointed by the king, the Scottish Church was governed by elders and a democratically elected Synod

Question 18

what was Calvinism?

Answer 18

• named after John Calvin (1509-64)
• the most influential figure of the Protestant Reformation apart from Martin Luther
• central belief in Calvinism was predestination and the need for elders who ran the Church to impose discipline on its members
• Calvinism became the dominant branch of Protestantism within the Church of England

Question 19

why would Calvinism cause a problem for James?

Answer 19

• as the Calvinist Church and state were separate bodies, James may not have been able to use his divine prerogative as a way to exert control over the Church
• limited the scope for his power over the Scottish Kirk and gave more chance for rebellions
• Calvinism’s radical notion that you do not have to be entirely reliant upon the institution of the Church to be a good Christian (done by engaging with scripture) also an issue

Question 20

what were James’ aims for religious policy?

Answer 20

• wanted to establish himself as Rex Pacificus (peacemaker King)
• pursuit of religious unity was guiding principle for religious policy -> paralleled the ‘reunion of Christendom’
• the creation of a middle way would allay extremes and enable moderates of all hues to co-exist peacefully within a broad national Church
• willing to be tolerant of religious diversity as long as they are loyal to the CoE
• ‘Christian union in religion…meet in the middest’

Question 21

how did James attempt to restore religious unity to Christendom?

Answer 21

James regarded the fragmentation of Christianity (a consequence of the 16th century reformation) as a tragedy and he longed to restore religious unity to Christendom through marriage alliances

Question 22

who did James attempt to create a marriage between?

Answer 22

• James spent much of the 1610s and 1620s negotiating a match between Charles and a daughter of the Spanish monarch Phillip III -> regarded as the archetypal Catholic sovereign
• James arranged for his daughter to marry Frederick V, the Elector Palatine, one of the main Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire (1613)

Question 23

what do these marriage alliances suggest about James?

Answer 23

suggests that James doesn’t have an inherent disposition of Catholicism/Presbyterianism
- wants to establish concordance and harmony and doesn’t want a repeat of the Spanish Armada

Question 24

How was James a moderate, but true, Protestant?

Answer 24

• the Puritans in England admired Presbyterianism as a more extreme version of protestantism than the Anglican Church and hoped for further concessions from James
• James, despite being raised in presbyterian Scotland, was not too keen on the radical nature of Presbyterianism

Question 25

how did James continue Elizabeth’s legacy of a ‘middle way’ ?

Answer 25

James was willing to adopt the 1559 Act of Uniformity
- James appreciated the Anglican Church in part because of its hierarchical structure which was more stable than the Scottish Kirk
- James wanted to find harmony and unity across his three nations

Question 26

how did James attempt to bring Catholics and Puritans towards the Church of England?

Answer 26

James sought to convince both Catholics and Puritans of the error of their ways and find a common home in the Church of England

Question 27

why was religion everything in the 17th century?

Answer 27

• religion was a major political issue
• religious convictions were inseparable from politics
• religion bound up with power and politics
• religion remained the most radical and divisive issue of all with backlash against James’ religious reforms being the most significant

Question 28

what example is there of religion being significant in politics?

Answer 28

• e.g. many MPs who objected to Charles I’s attempts to resolve his financial problems in the 1620s and 30s opposed him, but did not take up arms against him in the 1640s. In contrast, those MPs who opposed him on religious grounds did go to war against him

Question 29

why were groups outside the nationally established Church a threat?

Answer 29

• those outside (religious nonconformists) might refuse to accept the authority of the national Church (heresy)
• made them a potential threat to the State and the King (treason)

Question 30

how accepting was James of other Catholics?

Answer 30

James was willing to accept that the vast majority of a political Catholics were actually loyal
- wrote to the Earl of Northumberland and promised that: “I will neither persecute any (Catholics) that will be quiet”
- willing to be relatively tolerant for non-conformist groups outside the Protestant spectrum

Question 31

how many people were Catholic in England?

Answer 31

Only 2-5% of the population in England were Catholic, mostly in remote northern or far west of England

Question 32

how did English protestants have a fear of secret Catholics?

Answer 32

• might have been the case that there were millions of Catholics pretending to be Protestant but secretly waiting for the opportunity to overthrow the Anglican Church and violently restore Catholicism
• these people might destroy England from within
• also might be supported by Spain and or France

Question 33

how did James’ pragmatism force him to fluctuate between toleration and severe treatment of Catholics?

Answer 33

James was forced by events and by pressure from Puritans in Parliament to deviate from his promise in 1603 to show tolerance to Catholics

Question 34

what did James introduce in May 1603 and 1604 as anti-Catholic measures

Answer 34

• In May 1603 James ordered the collection of recusancy fines
• In 1604, Parliament encouraged legislation against Jesuits, a Catholic order of religious men
• In Feb 1604, he brought back recusancy (fines for not attending Church services) persecuting 5,560 Catholics

Question 35

describe the Gunpowder Plot in November 1605:

Answer 35

• Catholics who viewed James’ actions as renewed persecution against their faith led to them conspiring to kill James and destroy the Houses of Parliament (exposed in Nov 1605)
• caused renewed anti-Catholic outcry
• The Plot confirmed the suspicions of most English people that all Catholics were potential traitors.

Question 36

what did James introduce in 1606 as a result of the Gunpowder Plot?

Answer 36

As a result of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, James introduced the 1606 Oath of Allegiance to force Catholic recusants to declare their allegiance to him and not to the Pope

Question 37

did the Gunpowder Plot change James’ objective of a middle way?

Answer 37

• Not even the Gunpowder Plot deflected James from his overarching objective
• In James’ eyes, willingness to take the Oath of Allegiance provided the key test of Catholic moderation
• believed the recusancy laws should be primarily implemented against those Catholic ‘traitors’ who refused to take the oath

Question 38

what did Parliament pass in January 1606 and how did James implement it?

Answer 38

• In January 1606 Parliament posed two severe laws against Catholics, but James did not rigorously enforce them
• James’ lack of administrative drive coincided with his personal inclination towards tolerance and with his desire to not upset Catholic Spain after securing peace in 1604

Question 39

how did James treat Catholics who took the Oath?

Answer 39

James proved lenient towards Catholics who took the Oath of Allegiance and tolerated Catholicism, even at Court
- ultimately didn’t want to alienate a small population of Catholics that could lead to another revolt

Question 40

what did a group of moderate Puritans present in 1603?

Answer 40

In 1603, a group of moderate Puritans presented their Millenary Petition to James I when he was travelling from Edinburgh to London to claim the English throne

Question 41

what was the Millenary Petition?

Answer 41

The petition was a list of requests calling for modifications in church services (e.g. abolition of the sign of the cross), the freedom of ministers to not wear ceremonial robes, education requirements for ministers and reform of ecclesiastical courts
- they also asked for a new, better translation of the Bible into English

Question 42

what was James’ response to the Millenary Petition in 1603?

Answer 42

• James was a firm believer in predestination so was not unsympathetic to some of the Puritan requests
• In July 1603, he announced that all income from impropriated tithes would in future be devoted to paying better salaries to church ministers

Question 43

Outline the Hampton Court Conference of 1604:

Answer 43

• James invited representatives from across the religious spectrum to a theological debate at Hampton Court in response to the Millenary petition
• James thrived in intellectual debate and enjoyed the conference

Question 44

what were the consequences of the Hampton Court Conference of 1604?

Answer 44

• James did not want to make any changes to the Church which would give ministers independence, which he felt would undermine his ability to control the Church
• James made it clear that he classified those who wished to abolish bishops and establish a Presbyterian model along Scottish lines as subversive radicals, a view that he summed up in the maxim, “No bishop, no king!”

Question 45

what was the only permanent achievement of the Hampton Court Conference in 1604?

Answer 45

The only permanent achievement of the Hampton Court Conference was the beginning of a new English translation of the Bible known as the King James Bible, which was completed in 1611

Question 46

when were Bancroft’s Canons passed?

Answer 46

in September 1604

Question 47

what were the 1604 Bancroft’s Canons?

Answer 47

• New Church laws passed by a convocation of Church of England clergymen and were approved by James
• the laws upheld many orthodox practices and liturgies of the Church, as well as practices that had been condemned by Puritans in the Millenary Petition (such as insistence on clerical dress, use of the sign of the cross in baptism, and bowing in the name of Jesus)

Question 48

who established Bancroft’s Canons?

Answer 48

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft, led a drive for conformity
- however, only 1% of ministers (Silenced Brethren) were actually removed from their posts

Question 49

what was the consequences of Bancroft’s Canons?

Answer 49

• the price of these concessions was that the clergy were required to accept the basic framework and institutional structures of the Church of England
• the 1604 Canons obliged them to sign a statement declaring their acceptance of the Royal Supremacy, the Prayer Book and the Thirty-Nine Articles etc

Question 50

what had the Puritan gentry of Northamptonshire forced James to acknowledge in 1604?

Answer 50

• James was forced to publicly acknowledge the Puritan’s loyalty following a Puritan petition from Northamptonshire
• He allowed for moderate reform after 1606