The Elizabethan Religious Settlement Flashcards
When was Elizabeth’s religious settlement?
1559
What were Elizabeth’s intentions with the Religious settlement?
Establishing a form of protestantism that Catholics could accept. It was designed to be accepted by as many of her subjects as possible be they Catholic or Protestant.
What were the three key parts/features of the religious settlement.
The Act of Supremacy
The Act of Uniformity
The Royal injunctions
What was the Act of Supremacy?
It made Elizabeth supreme governor of the Church of England
What was the Act of Uniformity?
It established the appearances of churches and the form of services they held.
What was the royal injunctions?
The Royal Injunctions was a set of instructions,
issued by Sir William Cecil on behalf of the queen to the clergy, on a wide range of issues to reinforce the acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. It included instructions on how people should worship God and the structure of services.
What was also introduced in the Act of Uniformity?
A set form of church service in the Book of Common Prayer to be used in all churches. The clergy had to use the wording of the Prayer Book when conducting services.
What did the Act of Uniformity order everyone to attend?
Church on a sunday and other holy days
What would the consequence of not attending mass be?
Being fined a shilling (for most would total a full week’s pay)
Other key features of the Religious settlemet that the Royal Injunctions were issued to help further establish
• all clergy were to teach the Royal Supremacy
• anyone who refused to attend church was to be reported to the Privy
Council
• each parish was to have a copy of the Bible in English
• no one was allowed to preach without a licence from the government
• pilgrimages and monuments to ‘fake’ miracles were banned
• the clergy were to wear special vestments.
Impact of the religious settlement: The clergy
All members of the Church had to take the oath of supremacy under the Act of Supremacy if they were to keep their posts. Eight thousand priests and less important clergy did so. There were approximately 10,000 parishes in England at this time, so this shows that the religious settlement was largely successful.
When it came to the bishops, however, only one agreed to take the oath. The others all had to step down and Elizabeth appointed 27 new bishops. This gave her the opportunity to put Protestants in place.
Impact of the Religious settlement: The people
The majority of ordinary people accepted Elizabeth’s religious settlement and attended the Church of England services, even though many of them held on to Catholic beliefs. Elizabeth did not want to enforce too strongly even if people were recusants
The Protestants in London did not welcome the settlement and there was destruction of chruch ornaments and statues of saints
The Role of the Church of England
The parish church was a central point of village life, and religion could have a massive impact upon people, stirring up great emotion.
Role of the Church of England : Church courts
Although Church courts mainly focused on Church matters, they did act in a range of minor disputes on moral issues. Examples of moral issues dealt with by the Church included marriage (ensuring both bride and groom were marrying of their own free will).
Role of the Church of England: Enforcing the Settlement
The Church was responsible for helping to enforce the religious settlement. Visitations were inspections of churches and clergy by bishops to ensure that everyone took the oath of supremacy and were following the terms of the religious settlement.
