Religion And Religious Divisions Flashcards
How important was the church in early modern Britain?
- religion was a key issue in the 17th century
- since Henry VIII’s reformation, England had moved from a Catholic country to a predominantly Protestant one
What did Calvinists believe?
- named after John Calvin
- most influential figure of the Protestant reformation apart from Martin Luther
- central belief to Calvinism was predestination and the need for the elders who ran the church to impose disciple on his members
- became a dominant branch of Protestantism within the Church of England
What was the 1605 Gunpowder plot?
- an attempt by some radical catholics to blow up James I and both Houses of Parliament
What did James order the collection of in May 1603?
- recusancy fines
What was the 1606 oath of allegiance?
- introduced as a result of the gunpowder plot
-forced catholic recusants to declare their allegiance to him and not the pope
How big of a threat were catholics to James?
- not that big
- after the 1605 gunpowder plot, catholics became quite politically passive
- harsh lines did not need to be taken, in James’ perspective
What did parliament try to pass in January 1606?
- harsh laws towards catholics
- due to James’ idea of tolerance, he did not enforce these laws + also did not want to upset catholic Spain after establishing peace with them
What was the 1603 Millenary Petition?
- brought to James by a group of moderate Protestants when he was travelling to London to claim the English throne
- received around 1000 signatures
-made a number of requests: - modifications in church services ; eg the abolition of the sign of the cross, freedom of ministers o not wear ceremonial robes
- James was not unsympathetic to some Puritan requests because he was a firm believer in predestination
What was the 1604 Hampton court conference?
- to establish how he wanted the church settled + in response to the Millenary petition
- the only serious clash of the conference was “no bishop no king” - James mistakenly thought that Dr Reynolds, one of the puritan, advocated for the abolition of episcopacy, not a modified reform
- the only permanent achievement from the conference was the beginning of the new English translation of the bible, known as the King James Bible, which was completed in 1611
What was the King James Bible?
- completed in 1611
- was the work of 47 scholars based in London, Cambridge and oxford, who were all members of the church hierarchy
- the English translation was designed to shape the vocabulary of contemporary political and ecclesiastical discourse
What was used before the King James Bible?
- the Geneva bible
- this included marginalia that undermined certain scriptural evidence on which James relied to define kingship
- by removing this marginalia, the King James Bible became a significant political vertical, reinforcing the king’s authority rather than the pope’s
- some puritans continued to use the Geneva bible
What were the September 1604 Bancroft canons ?
- <3
-passed by a convocation of Church of England clergymen
-these church laws upheld many orthodox doctrines and liturgies of the church as well as practices that had been condemned by the puritans in the Millenary petition (such as insistence on clerical dress)
Who became Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1604?
- Richard Bancroft
What did Bancroft’s canons mean in practice?
-Richard Bancroft became Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1604- the time James intended to initiate a drive for conformity with the canons
- in practice, this mean persecuting puritans
- Bancroft ordered that all clergy who refused to conform to the canons should be expelled from their position
- this led to a wave of petitions,but only a few ministers were actually removed for not conforming to the canons
- the 1604-5 dive for conformity appears to be a temporary departure from James’ overarching views
When did religious tension begin to rise over Arminianism?
- end of James’ reign
Why did James aim to maintain a broad Church of England?
- because he was following the example of Elizabeth i
- “jacobethan balance”
What factors heightened the concern that Jams began to favour Arminianism?
-the attempted Spanish match in 1621-24
- fact that puritans had persistently annoyed James with their demand for reform
- in his final years, James was also exasperated by their calls to support the Protestant cause in Europe during the thirty years war
- by contrast, arminians supported his diplomatic negotiations and did not attempt to override them
Who did James allow to gain more prominence in theological debates at court?
- William laud
What did James fail to censor in 1624 that proved to be problematic?
- Richard Montagu’s “A new Gag for an old goose”
- problematic because it was an Arminian tract
What was a consequence of Charles’ isolated court?
- a conspiracy mentality developed outside of court, where people believed that catholics (or arminians) were in control or subverting the king
- in return however, Charles believed that his difficulties with parliament between 1625-29 were an attempt by puritans to attack the powers of the crown
What increased the fear of Arminian influences under Charles?
- his marriage to a catholic french princess,Henrietta Maria
- his foreign policy between 1625-29
When did charles get married to Henrietta Maria?
- 1625
Why was Charles’ marriage to Henrietta problematic?
- her Catholic faith
- her french nationality
- her extravagant spending
- the fear that she was influencing him to pursue absolutism
- this marriage alienated a lot of the Protestant population
What did Charles support in 1625 that further exacerbated tensions?
- Richard montagu’s 1625 book, which essentially repeated his arguments from a new gag for an old goose
- this book put forward anti Calvinist arguments - which heavily angered both puritans and Protestants
- Charles only intensified this by appointing montagu as royal chaplain, which signified that he approved anti-Calvinism
