Second Book of Common Prayer/ 42 Articles/ Reformatio

Question 1

What did Cranmer achieve with the (highly Protestant) second BofCP?

Answer 1

• removed all vestiges of Catholicism

- provided a fully reformed liturgy and doctrine

Question 2

What beliefs were changed by the second BofCP?

Answer 2

• service of the Eucharist removed any possibility of transubstantiation and confirmed that the ceremony was one in which Christ’s sacrifice was remembered
• laity receive bread and wine
• suggest Christ is present but not ‘in’ the host and chalice (Calvinist)
• wearing of vestments removed
• altars replaced by communion tables

Question 3

Who intervened so that the laity could continue to kneel to receive communion? and why? What was the issue? What did this show?

Answer 3

• Edward (the Black Rubric proclamation - still opposed by some reformers)
• he possibly believed that there would be too much opposition/ rebellion if even kneeling was removed
• most Protestant churches didn’t kneel because kneeling suggests a worshipping of the presence which is viewed as idolatry
• Ed’s intervention shows his influence over affairs

Question 4

How were parish churches expected to spend money on?

Answer 4

• prayer books
• Bibles
• communion tables

Question 5

What did Cranmer achieve in the 42 articles?

Answer 5

• provided a doctrine for the Church of England

Question 6

What beliefs were emphasised in the 42 articles?

Answer 6

• justification by faith was emphasised

- concept of predestination prefigured (very Calvinist concept of double predestination emphasised)

Question 7

What happened to the articles?

Answer 7

• they were not formally ratified by Parliament by the time Ed died

Question 8

What is perhaps the most significant reform that was not introduced?

Answer 8

• the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum

Question 9

What was the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum and what did it show?

Answer 9

• new code of Church law
• showed how extreme the Protestant Church would be in terms of policing private morals eg. the threat of exclusion from communion for adulterers
• wanted a full Calvinist Church, no Church hierarchies

Question 10

Why was the Reformatio defeated by Parliament by the House of Lords in 1552?

Answer 10

• it suggested that the reformed Church under Cranmer was threatening the power of the state

Question 11

What does Morebath show? What is detailed?

Answer 11

• shows the extent to which reforms of the Edwardian Church were introduced
• removal of images
• break up of guilds to provide candles for statues
• financial pressure on parishes to sell their plate

Question 12

Who contributed to the creation of the Reformatio?

Answer 12

• sub-committee of bishops, divines, canonists and secular doctors of the law

Question 13

Regarding excommunication, what very radical measure would have been introduced by the Reformatio?

Answer 13

• given bishops and ordinaries the power to excommunicate

Question 14

Why does the historian ‘Bray’ believe that Northumberland opposed it? (The Reformatio)

Answer 14

• disliked the control it would give over the laity’s morals
• would mean the Church would be able to make and change canon law without reference to Parliament which was undermining Parliament’s control and they would be too separate

Question 15

What does Bray comment that is surprising about the Reformatio?

Answer 15

• document was actually very conservative but the titles were reformist
• appears the drafters were more concerned about the elegant Latin than reform
• Latin is the language of the law but it is surprising considering that reform is about having texts in English