Chapter 2: Religion (The Quest for political stability)

Question 1

What did Charles inherit from James in accordance with Religion

Answer 1

• there was anti-Catholic resentment because James I marrying Anne of Denmark who was a catholic convert
• The presence of crypto-Catholics at court, notably the Howard faction, also helped to fuel resentment

Question 2

why was Charles’s marriage to Henrietta Maria opposed

Answer 2

• she was a catholic princess
• Charles promised to relax anti-Catholic laws in England, which received much opposition from the MPs

Question 3

why did tensions between Aminians, Puritans and Catholics increase

Answer 3

because of the events abroad which sharpened religious differences and provoked confrontation rather than comprise

Question 4

what clergy were frustrated with the James I’s reluctance to promote them

Answer 4

Puritan and Arminian clergy

Question 5

who did Charles pick as Archbishop of Canterbury

Answer 5

William Laud

Question 6

what did Laud believe in and who was he similar to

Answer 6

• Laud was authoritarian
• believed strongly in the divine rights of Kings, much like Charles

Question 7

what did Laud encourage Charles’s in

Answer 7

encouraged Charles towards religious uniformity

Question 8

what project did Laud oversee

Answer 8

oversaw the project of the ‘beauty of holiness’

Question 9

what did the project of the ‘beauty of holiness’ consist off

Answer 9

• returning organs to churches
• putting in stained glass windows
• placing statutes in churches
• ensured that hymns were to be sung
• Book of Common Prayer was to be enforced

Question 10

what were the public reactions to these reforms

Answer 10

mixed but many happily accepted the reforms and even encouraged them, but Lauds reforms did also cause resentment and opposition

Question 11

what happened in Norwich 1642

Answer 11

a crowd of people gathered to prevent the parliament from destroying an organ from the church

Question 12

why was there resentment and opposition against Lauds reforms

Answer 12

• Church taxes were levied for the new additions to churches
• outspoken puritans caused trouble for Charles and Laud

Question 13

example of outspoken puritans causing trouble for Charles and Laud

Answer 13

1637, three puritans who had spoken out against the regime were punished in the star chamber, as Laud acting as Chief Judge

Question 14

what happened to William Prynne

Answer 14

William Prynne was mutilated and imprisoned for life for writing a book which claimed stage plays and theatre to be ungodly

Question 15

what happened to the victims (the three puritans and Prynne)

Answer 15

soon released when the long parliament met

Question 16

what was the essence of thorough

Answer 16

• was accountability, a government that would look at the actions of officials and held them responsible for their oversights and mistakes
• thought that Charles’s problems sprang from the fact he wasn’t well served
• if the existing structures of church and government could be made to do their jobs properly, the result would be the King in harmony with his subjects

Question 17

how was using the church’s authority to reinforce the Divine Right of Kings an attempt at religious conformity

Answer 17

• laud encouraged the clergy to preach sermons supporting the divine nature of royal authority
• bishops were given prominent places in Charles’s government

Question 18

how was destroying puritanism an attempt at religious conformity

Answer 18

• laud used there courts of high commission and star chamber to persecute puritan critics of the church (e.g. Prynne, Bastwick and Burton)
• Hostile books and pamphlets were censored
• Puritan lecturers who gave street sermons were arrested

Question 19

how was imposing authority an attempt at religious conformity

Answer 19

• priests had to wear vestments and bow at the name of Jesus and those who refused were disciplined, suspended or deprived of their livings
• alter rails were to separate the altar from the rest of the church, creating a sacred area in which the priest was only allowed in
• strict adherence to the book of common prayer and 39 articles were required
• ‘Metropolitical visitations’ were introduced, Laud or his commissioners would visit dioceses to see if Bishops were conforming