Religious Developments and the 'Golden Age' of Elizabethan Culture Flashcards
What was the majority of the populations view on religious change?
The majority supported the royal supremacy and after the legislation enacting the Elizabethan religious settlement of 1559, there was broad acceptance of ‘via media’
Most worshipers accepted the changes which occurred in their parishes as churches lost some of their statuary and plate, and plain Communion tables were erected
Despite it being hard to gauge how ordinary people felt about the change what was known?
The more rural the community, the more conservative it was likely to be (averse to change)
There were some who had strong religious beliefs and actively worked against the settlement including recusants and Puritans
Who were recusants and Puritans?
Recusants = Catholics who paid fines rather than attend Anglican services Puritans = a new group, opposed to all catholic practices (which emerged in the 1560's when the Convocation of Canterbury in 1563 failed to go further in its reform of the church) and believed the Church of England needed to be purged of any remaining 'superstitious practices, i.e. Catholic practices
What happened from 1570?
When the Pope excommunicated Elizabeth and called on loyal Catholics to depose her placing English Catholics in an impossible position , the English Church became more Protestant and those who failed to conform could be punished
As the Puritan faction continued to grow who did it contain?
Presbyterians (whose ideas derived from Calvinism and who wanted to remove the bishops)
Separatists (who were dissatisfied with the pace of Protestant reform and wanted to go further)
How did the Catholic faction also become more active?
It linked up with movements on the continent for counter-reformation in the 1570’s and 80’s
It supported the activities of English priests trained abroad and Jesuits who come to England to convert it (who were harshly treated by the authorities)
What happened which helped puritans reconcile themselves to the Elizabethan settlement in the later years of her reign?
Harsh penal laws against Catholics and the 1558 defeat to the Spanish Armada, which reduced the perceived threat of Catholicism
What was the religious situation by the time of the Queens death?
By 1603 religion was no longer a serious political issue and the ‘godly’ puritans had been accepted within the Church
What was the situation for Anglicans, Puritans and Catholics surrounding religion in the 1560’s?
Anglicans = Accepted religious settlement Puritans= Wanted further reform to remove remaining 'Catholic' practices (Presbyterians, wanted greater reliance on the Scriptures for church authority and an end to the office of bishop) (Separatists, extreme sect, wanted to separate entirely from the established church) Catholics = Tolerated until 1570, were increasingly persecuted after 1570 and practiced in secret
When did Puritanism arise?
After the 1563 Convocation of Canterbury failed to go further in its reform of the church
What happened in 1566 with puritanism?
The Vestiarian controversy occurred when several figures within the church decided they could not obey the rules on clerical dress laid down by in the Act of Uniformity and royal injunctions as it specified the wearing of Catholic and therefor ‘superstitious’ dress - the queen forced the issue by dismissing prominent Oxford academic Thomas Sampson from his post at Christ College Church for his refusal to wear the required vestments
Archbishop Parker and his five bishops issued his Advertisements in March 1566 making certain vestments compulsory and requiring clergy to follow uniformity - this angered some Protestants (Puritans), particularly in London where 37 refused to signify their support so were deprived of their posts - showed the queen’s desire to enforce the settlement but reforming bishops were caught between conflicting pressures
What happened in 1583 with the Puritans?
Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, issued three articles. These demanded acceptance from the clergy of the royal supremacy, accept the prayer book as containing nothing but the word of God and the 39 articles
Second article created a crisis of conscience for many clergy, not just Presbyterians who thought that some parts of the prayer book lacked scriptural justification. Whitgift forced to back down under pressure from councillors such as Walsingham and Leicester and he reduced the second article to just acceptance of the Prayer book and must clergy were able to justify accepting this as arguing their preaching ensured godliness in the church
Few Puritan clergy were prepared to break with the church by refusing the articles
What happened in 1595 with the Puritans?
The Lambeth Articles - approved by Whitgift, reaffirmed the fundamentally Calvinist beliefs of the Church of England and proved acceptance to both Puritans and their opponents such as Whitgift
What was Presbyterianism?
A sub-set of Puritanism which developed after the Vestiarian Controversy - it attracted some important supporters including the Earl of Huntingdon and the Earl of Leicester and even Lord Burghley saw the advantages as a tool against the influence of Catholicism - but was generally a fringe movement in London, the south-east and parts of the East Midlands - geographically limited
They believed the church (already Calvinist in its doctrine) should be further reformed in its structure an its forms of worship
What happened in 1573 with Presbyterianism?
The 2 Admonition of Parliament by John Field and Thomas Wilcox (London Clergymen) (one attacking book of common prayer and calling for abolition of bishops and the second providing a detailed description of the Presbyterian system of church government) demanded greater reliance on the authority of the Scriptures and church government by ministers and elders rather than bishops - its authors were imprisoned and questioned the scriptural basis for the authority of bishops and other aspects of the church
What happened in 1583 with Presbyterianism?
Some Presbyterians stood out against the Three Articles
What happened in 1584 and 1587 with Presbyterianism?
Peter Turner and Anthony Cope respectively, introduced bills in parliament to replace the book of common prayer with a new prayer book stripped of ‘popish’ elements. Neither bill was passed
While Cope was imprisoned briefly he was knighted by E 5 years later suggesting he quickly recovered his position
What happened in the late 1580’s with Presbyterianism?
Presbyterianism declined as Parliament’s rejection of Cope’s proposed prayer book suggested further reform was unlikely and few clergy prepared to break with Church by refusing the three articles
Further weakened by the death of it’s key organiser - John Field in 1589
No synod help after 1589 and the reputation of the movement suffered on the account of the satire-filled Marprelate tracts (set of attacks written in late 1580’s about some of the bishops of the time)
What was separatism?
The most extreme from of Puritanism - It’s adherents wanted to separate from the Church of England altogether and create independent church congregations without the Queen as Supreme Governor as it regarded the Church of England as incapable of reforming itself sufficiently
When did the Separatist movement emerge?
In the 1580’s but it only has small followings, e.g. in Norwich and London
Robert Browne became the leader of a significant congregation in Norwich but he went into exile in the Netherlands with some of his congregation in 1582 - he later returned to England, making peace with the authorities in 1585 aided by the good offices of his relative, Lord Burghley
What happened in 1593 with the separatists?
Henry Barrow and John Greenwood led the Separatist movement in London and while numbers were small it alarmed the authorities enough to lead to the Act against Seditious Sectaries (members of sects which had separated from the Church of England) brought arrests of Separatists. The leaders of the London movement were tried and executed for circulating ‘seditious’ books - why authorities were so harsh on numerically insignificant movement isn’t clear perhaps the vindictiveness of Whitgift
After this - Elizabethan Separatism was destroyed
What was the initial situation with Catholics?
Initially they were tolerated but;
They had to pay recusancy fines if they failed to attend Anglican services due to the act of supremacy but they were rarely demanded (many outwardly conformed surviving as ‘church papists, despite their inner belief)
Much time was spent removing Catholic imagery from parish churches
All (except one) Catholic bishops refused to conform to the 1559 Oath of Supremacy and some followed this
Many Catholic intellectuals went into exile rather than conform; some priests survived as private chaplains to Catholic nobles who protected them or conducted secret Catholic services (such Catholics known as recusants)
What happened in 1571 with Catholics?
Following Elizabeth’s excommunication (1570), the publication of papal bulls in England became treasonable (in addition to the Northern rebellion of 1569 - led to a punitive attitude towards Catholics)
What happened 1575-85 with Catholics?
Catholic priests trained abroad, came to England to uphold and spread Catholicism. They operated in secret from the country houses of Catholic gentry and aristocracy. Some were trained at a new college in Douai (Spanish Netherlands), from 1568
By 1575 - 11 of these ‘seminary priests’ had arrived, by 1580 there were 100 and 179 arrived 1580-85
Dangerous as merely being a Catholic priests from 1585 was sufficient to incur the death penalty
What happened in 1580 with the Catholics?
The Society of Jesus begun sending Jesuit Priests to England, they combined high intelligence, organisational skills and a dedication to the cause of the restoration of Catholicism in England
Led by Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion who were the first Jesuits to become involved in trying to re-Catholics England (the latter was captured and executed in 1581)
What happened in 1581 with the Catholics?
Act to Retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in their Due Obedience made:
Non-allegiance to the queen or Church of England treasonable
Saying Mass punishable to a heavy fine and imprisonment
The fine for non-attendance at church £20 per month (although the laity were not too harshly treated 4 catholic priests executed in 1581 and 11 in 1582)
How did the Catholic missions have limited success
While the Catholic gentry were enabled to retain their faith, humbler Catholics were often ignored
15 Catholic Priests were executed 1581-82 and a further Act in 1585 made it treasonable for Catholic priests to enter England
As educated priests associated more with their protectors than the ‘ordinary people’, Catholicism became more a ‘country-house religion’ than the popular faith it had been in the 1560’s
Priests themselves became divided as a result of a bitter dispute over leadership of the missionary movement, thereby weakening the Catholic mission
What did Elizabeth want in terms of religion?
Compliance - outwards acceptance
E penalised Catholics because of their outwards practice not their heart-felt beliefs ‘- didn’t want to ‘make windows into men’s souls’
