Elizabeth and religion

Question 1

What did Elizabeth have to consider when making her religious settlement?

Answer 1

• Foreign relations

• England was at war with France
• -> France was a Catholic country and negotiations for peace may be easier if England did not become radically protestant.
• -> Mary Q of S was catholic and living in France and Henry was happy to promote her as legitimate Queen of England especially if E turned England radically protestant
• ## Spain was also at war with France• Puritans
  Return of the Marian exiles (approx. 700 of them)
  –> many of them brought back radical ideas

• Catholics
Majority of Bishops were catholic as they were appointed by Mary, they were not prepared to compromise

Elizabeth could not get her first settlement through as the Bishops defeated it in the HoL.

Question 2

What religion was E?

- evidence she was protestant

Answer 2

Walked out of mass at Royal Chapel 1558 when host elevated

Embraced English bible prior to coronation

Disliked monks from Westminster Abbey carrying torches and incense

Question 3

What religion was E?

- evidence she liked catholic aspects

Answer 3

Elaborate church music

Silver crosses

Rich vestments

Disliked married clergy

Not so keen on long sermons

Question 4

What happened when Elizabeth initially proposed her religious settlement?

Answer 4

Initially settlement was to have been arguably more Protestant

– Elizabeth was to have been Supreme Head of Church (not all documentation from first bill remains, so extent of Protestantism unclear)

–> But legislation rejected by Catholic bishops and some nobility in House of Lords

Question 5

Which 2 Acts of Parliament made up the Elizabeths Religious Settlement.

Answer 5

1559
The Act of Supremacy
The Act of Uniformity

Question 6

The Act of Supremacy

Answer 6

• Elizabeth was made Supreme Governor of the Church.
• The heresy laws were repealed
• Communions in both kind (bread and wine) were authorised

Question 7

The Act of Uniformity

Answer 7

All were required to attend church on Sundays or pay 1 shilling.

The 1552 Book of Common Prayer was to be used in all churches

The ornaments of the church and dress of the clergy were to revert back to how they were in 1548.

Question 8

Other religious change under Elizabeth

Answer 8

Taxes paid by the Church were to be paid to Elizabeth.

The monasteries restored by Mary were dissolved.

The clergy was allowed to marry but their prospective wives had to be approved by a bishop.

Question 9

What were the Royal Injunctions

Answer 9

1559

The Royal Injunctions required the clergy to wear distinctive dress.

Music was encouraged at Sunday services.

Question 10

What have historians described the settlement as?

Answer 10

Historians have described the settlement as the middle way between Catholicism and Protestantism.

Question 11

Why did some protestants disagree with the settlement?

Answer 11

They wanted to eradicate all aspects of Catholicism within the church and they were opposed to the amount of power held by Bishops as their role was not a biblical one.

Question 12

What was the Vestiarian Controversy?

Answer 12

The Vestment Controversy was led by Puritans which showed their opposition to the Catholic Vestments.

In May 1565, Thomas Sampson, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, was deprived of his position as he would not wear the surplice required as he did not want to be distinguished from the laity.

The puritans aim was to stop having the vestments worn by all since there was no mention of surplices in any of the scriptures. Some clergy refused to conform, and in 1566, 37 London preachers lost their jobs as a result

Question 13

To what extent was the Vestiarian Controversy a threat?

Answer 13

Puritans were easily defeated on the issue, but the vestment controversy threatened Elizabeth’s religious settlement, which in turn threatened her power.

Question 14

Threat Puritans posed in parliament

- Walter Strickland

Answer 14

. In April 1571 a gentleman MP names Walter Strickland set out a bill to reform the Book of Common Prayer by abolishing the use of surplices, the ring in marriage, kneeling at communion as well as other practises he deemed superstitious.

Strickland got little support for his Bill and was called by the Privy Council to answer accusations that he had infringed on the queen’s prerogative as Supreme Governor to order the Church; thus he was barred from the house for a time, and his bill was never heard of again.

Question 15

Threat Puritans posed in parliament

- Anthony Cope

Answer 15

In 1586, Anthony Cope, an MP sympathetic to Presbyterianism proposed a new bill.

Copes new bill was nothing less than overturning the government and practise of the Church.

It meant that the Genevan Prayer Book would replace the Book of Common Prayer and the authority of bishops would be at an end.

The bill won some support and was passionately defended by another MP, Job Throckmorton. However, Cope and four others ended up being sent to the tower.

Question 16

To what extent did puritans puritans pose a real threat to E in parliament?

Answer 16

The fact that Anthony Cope was sent to the tower shows us that Elizabeth did feel threatened as she would not have imprisoned them if there was no need to.

Cope and Strickland’s proposals were the equivalent to attempt to undermine her divinely given authority since they wanted things such as getting rid of Bishops, which would endanger the hierarchy within the Church, which is where Monarchs got their powers from.

Question 17

Who were the Presbyterian and what threat did they pose?

Answer 17

Presbyterians posed a significant threat to Elizabeth.

Presbyterians wanted to replace the system of government in the English Church which focused on Bishops, to a model based off the Calvinist system; which believed that the church is a community or body in which Christ is the only head, and all members under him are equal.

This was unacceptable to a monarch who gained that power from her divinely given authority from God, which Presbyterians would not have believed in. To challenge this belief would ruin Elizabeth challenge the whole way of life.

Question 18

Overall, how much of a threat were puritans?

Answer 18

Puritanism posed little threat to Elizabeth in the long-term.

By the late 1580s the Puritan threat was much diminished and what remained was localised and isolated.

All of the changes in parliament proposed by Puritans never went through, various oppositions, such as the Vestment Controversy were defeated.

Finally, although the Presbyterian cause had support in high quarters (Francis Walsingham and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester), the attempts made by Anthony Cope and other radicals to introduce Presbyterianism through Parliamentary legislation failed miserably.

Question 19

Criticism from puritans in academic circles:

Answer 19

Thomas Cartwright was a professor at Cambridge who introduced Presbyterian teaching into England.

He said that the role of the Bishops was not a biblical one and so they should be removed.
–> Would seriously threaten Elizabeth’s power as it would undermine the hierarchy of the church.

Cartwright had his academic freedom of speech radically removed.

Question 20

What help did Elizabeth receive in enforcing her settlement from her Archbishops of Cantebury?

• Matthew Parker

Answer 20

Matthew Parker:

· Parker’s career began in 1527 before the Reformation

· He attended Cambridge University and had been chaplain to Anne Boleyn

· During Mary’s reign, he remained in England and therefore had not experienced ideas of Geneva

· For these reasons he appealed to Elizabeth

· His achievements included the following:

o The passage of the Thirty-Nine Articles, resisting calls for them to be more protestant

o Reaching a compromise over vestments and issuing his Advertisements, which told the clergy to accept some uniformity

· His compromise initially disappointed Elizabeth, but it also helped maintain her popularity

o He provided the settlement with a firm basis

Question 21

What help did Elizabeth receive in enforcing her settlement from her Archbishops of Canterbury?

• Edmund Grindal

Answer 21

· Like Parker, Grindal was educated at Cambridge

· During Mary’s reign he went into exile

· He did not want this role and disagreed with Elizabeth over prophesyings, which he though could be used to improve clerical standard sand preaching

· Elizabeth disagreed as she disliked the lack of control the government had over these events

· In 1576 he refused to suppress them or send out orders for them to end

· Elizabeth was unwilling to accept disobedience and Grindal was punished

Question 22

What help did Elizabeth receive in enforcing her settlement from her Archbishops of Canterbury?

• John Whitgift

Answer 22

· Whitgift was educated at Cambridge

· He stayed in England during Mary’s reign

· He was a distinguished academic

· In 1570 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University

· When Cartwright attacked the Church, it was Whitgift who ensured he lost his professorship

· In 1583 he became Archbishop of Canterbury

· During his time in office he did much to strengthen the church:

o He used the new Court of High Commission to ensure uniformity

o He introduced Three Articles

· Elizabeth supported Whitgift and his actions, and this was made clear by his appointment as a Privy Councillor

Question 23

Why was Elizabeth hostile towards puritans?

Answer 23

• They threatened her power
• -> did not believe in Bishops
• They threatened the stability of the country
• -> vestiarian controversy
• -> this threatened her religious settlement, thereby threatening peace and stability.

They threatened her royal prerogative
–> changes proposed in parliament

Question 24

Why might Elizabeth have felt particularly threatened by Presbyterians in 1560?

Answer 24

The introduction of Presbyterians in the 1560s in Scotland had been accompanied by the overthrow of Mary Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth feared the same might happen to her.

Question 25

What threats did the Catholics pose to Elizabeth?

Answer 25

• Catholic plots to replace E with Mary Queen of Scots
• Threat from seminary priests and Jesuits
• International threat from Spain

Question 26

What threats did the Catholics pose to Elizabeth?

- Catholic plots

Answer 26

In 1570 Pope Pius V issued the papal bull excommunicating and deposing Elizabeth.

This meant that Catholics were absolved from any obligation to recognise Elizabeth as queen or to obey her, they could also assassinate her without fear of going to hell.

This raised the Catholic threat against Elizabeth because people could now try to get rid of her without fear.

As a result, Catholic plots against Elizabeth started to increase. The three main plots against Elizabeth where the Throckmorton plot, the Babington plot and the Ridolfi plot. What these plots all had in common was that they wanted to replace Elizabeth with Mary.

However, after Mary was implicated in the Babington plot her execution became a necessity. Marys removal was the only way to stop conspiracies against Elizabeth because Mary was a figurehead to Catholics across England as she had a claim to the English throne and power.

In 1584 Parliament set up a Bond of Association under which anyone with links to plots against Elizabeth could be executed and 2 years later Mary was caught in the Babington plot, sealing her fate. Mary was executed in 1587 and plots against Elizabeth disappeared once Mary was gone.

Question 27

What threats did the Catholics pose to Elizabeth?
- Seminary Priests

Who was William Allen?
What did he do?
What did he want to ensure?
Who was Cuthbert Mayne?
What happened to him in 1577?

Answer 27

Elizabeth also faced a serious threat from the seminary priests and the Jesuits.

Elizabeth hoped that Catholicism would die out over time, however, thanks to the determination of some devout Catholics, such as, William Allen, this took longer than Elizabeth had expected.

Alan was a Catholic who had established a seminary to train priests to work in England and maintain Catholicism.

Allen set up the seminary in Douai, the training of priests was essential if Catholicism was to survive.

The training they received was long and hard to ensure that they were the best examples of Catholic priests and well prepared to out-argue protestants.

In 1577 Cuthbert Mayne was the first of the priests to be executed for treason, he was condemned under the Act passed in 1571 making the possession on the papal bull treasonable.

Such extreme measures show that the government recognised the potential threat that the priests posed.

Question 28

What threats did the Catholics pose to Elizabeth?

- Jesuits

Answer 28

Jesuits emerged in 1580 as the body most likely to restore Catholicism to England and so the government passed an act in 1581 to try to control the people.

Under the act recusancy fines increased to £20 per month and it was made treasonable to recognise the authority of Rome or to convert others to such a recognition.

Another act was passed in 1585 against Jesuit and seminary priests which made it treasonable to be an ordained Catholic priest in England after the expiry of a 40-day grace period.

In all about 650 seminary priests and Jesuits came to England and around 130 were executed as traitors, the measures which Elizabeth’s government took to try to stop both the Jesuits and seminary priests show that they took the threat seriously and were worried about them.

Question 29

What threats did the Catholics pose to Elizabeth?

- International threat

Answer 29

Elizabeth also faced international threat, especially from the Spanish.

Spain was one of the most powerful countries and it was Catholic.

Philip, King of Spain wanted to invade England and also felt as though he had a claim to the throne because he had been previously married to Mary, this was hugely threatening to Elizabeth.

During this time there was also conflict between Spain and the Netherlands. If Elizabeth’s was to get involved in the conflict it would leave her vulnerable if she were to use her own resources helping the Netherlands.

Furthermore, the Netherlands is extremely close to England so if Spanish troops were in the Netherlands they would have easy access to England.

If Spain was able to put down the protestants in the Netherlands, it would pose a real threat to England because it could mean that they would be next.

The Spanish armada posed another threat to England, it was one of the greatest navies ever created, with 130 warships headed straight for England, however, the armada was defeated.

The conflict with the Spanish Armada represented the height of the long struggle between Protestant England and Catholic Spain.

Question 30

To what extent did catholicism pose a threat to Elizabeth?

- conclusion

Answer 30

Catholicism posed a threat to Elizabeth in many different ways.

The Jesuit and seminary priests in reality posed little threat to Elizabeth, but this could be because parliament took the necessary precautions.

The Spanish did pose a big threat to Elizabeth however, they were quickly defeated.

The threat from Mary Queen of Scots was perhaps the biggest because Mary had a real claim to Elizabeth’s throne. Mary had power and was used as a figurehead to Catholics not only in England but across Europe. Elizabeth could never be truly safe while Mary was still alive. As long as Mary was alive Elizabeth’s place as Queen of England was threatened. The issuing of the papal bull in 1570 only heightened the threat Mary posed.