E1 - the religious settlement

Question 1

Act of Supremacy

Answer 1

• Elizabeth was supreme governor of the Church of England
• all clergy and royal officials had to swear an oath of allegiance to her as the head of the church
• under this act, an Ecclesiastical High Commission was established with the job of maintaining discipline within the church + enforcing the queen’s religious settlement
• Members of the clergy whose loyalty was in doubt could be punished

Question 2

Act of Uniformity

Answer 2

• established the appearance of churches and the form of services they held
• introduced a set form oh 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 - anyone who refused to use it was punished
• The wording of the service was deliberately unclear so that, for example, Catholics could take it as meaning the bread and wine became body and blood of Christ, while Protestants could take it as simply an act of remembrance.
• It also made clear that priests were to wear special clothing

Question 3

Royal Injunctions

Answer 3

• 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
• included instructions on how people should worship God and the structure of services

Question 4

Impact of the Religious Settlement on the Clergy

Answer 4

• 8000 out of 10,000 priests took the Oath of Supremacy accepting the Religious Settlement.
• However, only 1 Catholic bishop out of 28 took the oath so they had to be replaces

Question 5

Impact of the Religious Settlement on the people

Answer 5

• most ordinary people accepted Elizabeth’s religious Settlement
• The new prayer book helped this as the wording could be interpreted in different ways keeping both Catholics and Protestants happy
• Those who did not attend were called Recusants (dedicated Catholics)
• Some protestants became violent in their enthusiasm for the changes in the Religious Settlement and destroyed catholic statues of saints

Question 6

The role of the Church

Answer 6

• gave guidance to people in times of hardships
• It helped enforce the Religious Settlement
• There was a church court that solved moral issues such as: ensuring couples were not being forced to marry and no underage marriage, sexual offences such as bigamy (being married to two or more people)
• The Church also dealt with wills deciding who received an inheritance

Question 7

Enforcing the Religious Settlement

Answer 7

• Protestant bishops visited churches ensuring Settlement was followed
• First visits resulted in 400 clergy being fired as not following Settlement
• Some of those doing the inspection destroyed the Catholic decorations and statues that were actually allowed under the Settlement
• Elizabeth was clear she did not want people’s beliefs being investigated too closely however as she didn’t want to cause the Catholics to get angry
• The visits check the preaching licenses of the clergy but also professionals

Question 8

Crucifix controversy

Answer 8

• the crucifix is the symbol of the cross that Jesus died on
• puritans did not like the cross as it was an unneeded object
• Catholics would not want them removed
• Elizabeth have into the puritans as the puritan bishops threatened to resign and she couldn’t replace them

Question 9

puritan challenge

Answer 9

• Puritans began disobeying the Religious Settlement as they were unhappy with the Catholic parts
• two biggest challenges were over crucifixes and clothing

Question 10

vestment controversy

Answer 10

• puritans believed priests shouldn’t wear fancy robes (vestments)
• Catholic believed priests should wear special robes
• Elizabeth didn’t back down
• Book of Advertisements set out what priests wear
• An exhibition in London was held to demonstrate what priests must wear
• 37 refused to attend and lost their jobs

Question 12

The papacy

Answer 12

The papacy (the pope) encouraged Catholics to wage war against protestants (known as the COUNTER-REFORMATION) and instructed Catholics not to attend the protestant church services
- Elizabeth didn’t punish harshly those Catholic Recusants who didn’t attend, if she killed those who refused they could become martyrs and get sympathy

Question 13

Problem with France and Spain

Answer 13

• Protestantism was trying to break out in France and Elizabeth agreed to help the French rebels in the hope of gaining their support
• She had successfully used this tactic before in Scotland
• Her hopes failed when the French Protestants and Catholics made peace
  Elizabeth now had to officially accept England had lost Calais (Treaty of Troyes) to avoid a backlash from Catholic France
• Elizabeth had now angered the King of Spain by supporting Protestant rebels