Part 3 - Troubles at home and abroad - Religious matters

Question 1

What was the religion like building up to Elizabeth?

Answer 1

• reformation of Henry VIII’s reign officially made country protestant - in reality little had changed
• most Catholic practices still followed - during Edward VI’s reign that England became much more protestant country
• edward only 9 when he became king - country governed by groups of men - regency councils
• during Edwards short reign there were drastic changes - introduction of Book of Common Prayer - firmly established more Protestant approach

Question 2

How did Mary I create a problem?

Answer 2

• edward’s death in 1553 brought sister Mary to throne - spent following 5 years returning country to Catholic faith
• made pope head of the church again - brought back the Latin Catholic mass - punished those who refused to return to old religion
• almost 300 protestants were martyred by being burned alive on her orders
• mary desperate to have child who would succeed her and keep England catholic - this did not happen
• when Mary died in 1558 she left a scarred and religiously divided country to her younger sister, Elizabeth

Question 3

What was Elizabeth’s religious settlement?

Answer 3

• elizabeth was protestant - but she was also practical - she set about a compromise to bring aspects of both faiths together in ‘religious settlement’
• she allowed priests to marry - services held in English - brought back the Book of Common Prayer
• declared herself ‘governor’ instead of ‘head’ of church
• importantly - allowed Catholics to worship in their own way in private
• church services designed to allow people of either faith to take part and understand in their own way
• appointed moderate Protestant, Matthew Parker, as Archbishop of Canterbury to oversee English church

Question 4

When did Elizabeth make the religious settlement?

Answer 4

1559

Question 5

What was life like for Catholics under Elizabeth?

Answer 5

• when Elizabeth came to throne - many Catholics feared protestant retribution for the burnings and persecutions of Mary I’s reign
• instead they found Elizabeth wanted to bring country together
• religious settlement combined some Catholic practices with Protestant ones
• england was protestant but Catholics could attend church and see many of the traditions of their faith
• services written to avoid anything that would cause direct conflict for Catholics
• recusancy fines for Catholics who did not attend protestant services were low
• catholics kept their own belief in private -in return government would not seek out disobedience

Question 6

When was the papal bull, and what was it?

Answer 6

• 27th April 1570
• Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth from catholic church - called upon Catholics to end her rule

Question 7

What did the papal bull do for Catholics?

Answer 7

• english Catholics faced with a dilemma: be loyal to Queen, or be loyal to pope Pope
• many chose to ignore papal bull - some saw it as their duty to rise up against Elizabeth, whom Pius had called the “pretended Queen of England”

Question 8

What was the point of the papal bull?

Answer 8

• excommunication designed by Pope to catalyse rebellions
• originally planned to coincide with the Northern Rebellion of 1569 - was issued late.
• inspired other rebellions

Question 9

What happened in the Northern Rebellion?

Answer 9

• elizabeth refused to allow Duke of Norfolk to marry Mary, Queen of Scots
• resulted in two catholic nobles, Westmorland and Northumberland rebelling
• they took over Durham Cathedral - held illegal catholic mass
• began to march south with 4,600 men
• Earl of Sussex raised an army - rebels disbanded. N was captured and executed, Norfolk was imprisoned and W escaped to France

Question 10

What happened in the Ridolfi Plot?

Answer 10

• after being released from Tower of London - Norfolk quickly became involved in another plot
• new plot was led by Italian banker Roberto Ridolfi - after seeing failure of Northern Rebellion he believed foreign aid was needed
• in 1570 the pope had commanded Catholics not to obey Elizabeth - as a banker, Ridolfi could move freely across Europe building support
• plan was for Netherlands to invade England at same time as another northern rebellion - elizabeth would be killed, and Mary would be placed on the throne
• elizabeth’s network of spies proved to be too much for the plotters - norfolk confessed to involvement and was executed on 2 June 1572

Question 11

What happened in the Throckmorton plot?

Answer 11

• plot led by Sir Francis Throckmorton
• elizabeth would be executed and Mary placed on the throne
• there would then be an invasion by French Catholic, Henry, Duke of Guise, and an uprising of English Catholics
• spanish ambassador was also involved
• when plot was discovered - Throckmorton executed and Mary was placed under even closer watch

Question 12

What was Elizabeth’s reaction to plots after the papal bull?

Answer 12

• plots after papal bull showed Elizabeth that she could no loger rely on loyalty of all her catholic subjects
• new approach needed to ensure Catholics did not rebel, and that trouble makers were caught
• new laws introduced to try to disrupt Catholic activites - show that challenges to Queens rule not tolerated
• having allowed private Catholicism for first 23 years of her reign - law was passed in 1581 making it treason to attend a Catholic mass

Question 13

Which anti-Catholic law was introduced in 1571?

Answer 13

• recusancy fines for Catholics who did not take part in Protestant services - could be fined or have property taken from them
• rich could afford to pay - Elizabeth did not enforce the law too harshly; when parliament tried to increase the fines Elizabeth resisted
• became illegal to own any Catholic items such as rosary beads

Question 14

Which anti-Catholic law was introduced in 1581?

Answer 14

• recusancy fines increased to £20 - more than most could afford - law was strictly enforced
• became high treason to convert to Catholicism

Question 15

Which anti-Catholic law was introduced in 1585?

Answer 15

• any Catholic priest ordained after 1559 considered a traitor - both he and anyone protecting him faced death
• became legal to kill anyone trying to assassinate the queen

Question 16

Which anti-Catholic law was introduced in 1593?

Answer 16

the ‘statue of confinement’ - Catholics could not travel more than 5 miles from their home without permission from the authorities

Question 17

What happened at the college at Douai?

Answer 17

in 1568 - English Catholic cardinal, William Allen, established a seminary at Douai in the Spanish Netherlands to train priests
- allen who had the full backing of the Pope, aimed to educate priests who would then travel to England as missionaries to convert the English back to the Catholic faith
- first priests arrived in 1574, just as Elizabeth’s fear of Catholic rebellion was growing

Question 18

Who were the Jesuits?

Answer 18

• Society of Jesus established in 1540 - part of what is known as Counter-Reformation - hoped to bring people back to Catholic faith
• Jesuits, as its members were known, first arrived in England in 1580 - aim was to convert the protestant population to the Catholic faith

Question 19

How were the Jesuits treated?

Answer 19

• jesuit priests seen by Elizabeth as threat to her rule - those who were caught were treated harshly
• 1585 Act against Jesuits and Seminary Priests called for all Jesuits to be driven out of England and many were executed
• those who sheltered them could be arrested

Question 20

Catholic powers in europe?

Answer 20

• although protestant faith now widespread across europe - 2 most powerful countries remained firmly Catholic
• taking their lead from the pope - kings of france and spain began to support challenges to Elizabeth’s rule
• although war was avoided, France and Spain supported Jesuit missionaries - gave financial support to those who wanted to get rid of the Queen
• phillip II helped set up the seminary at Douai in the Spanish Netherlands

Question 21

Why did Elizabeth’s policy change?

Answer 21

• in 1580s - tolerance of Catholics declined sharply - elizabeth and her government felt increasingly under threat at home and abroad
• number of english catholic families who still held a lot of power - particularly in north
• with Catholic church in Europe determined for England to return to Catholicism, Elizabeth felt vulnerable and under threat

Question 22

What was Campion’s mission?

Answer 22

• Jesuits had spent years since 1540 sending missionaries all over Europe - often at risk to their lives - spreading their religious message
• in 1580 they began a mission to england
• men chose to lead the mission were two exiled Englishmen: Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion
• on arrival in England on 24th of June - Campion - disguised as jewel merchant - began preaching to ordinary English people - travelled the country spreading his message
• news of his presence reached the authorities and Campion became a wanted man
• parsons kept much lower profile - authorities certain that Campion’s aim was to encourage a rebellion

Question 23

What happened when Campion was caught?

Answer 23

• campion arrested on 14th of July in Berkshire - taken to tower of london
• under questioning by three members of Elizabeth’s privy council - Campion maintained he had no wish to overthrow queen
• he was held for four months and tortured several times on the rack
• found guilty of treason on 20th of November 1581 - on december first - dragged through London before being hanged, drawn and quartered - Robert Parsons escaped from England - never to return

Question 24

Who were the Puritans?

Answer 24

• puritans were protestants who were unwilling to compromise in how their faith was practised
• they argued for the removal of all Catholic elements from English Church
• elizabeth’s religious settlement huge disappointment to them

Question 25

Who were the Presbyterians?

Answer 25

- by 1568 - most Puritans accepted Elizabeth's changes and reluctantly conformed - small, dedicated group called Presbyterians refused to give in - continued to argue against what they saw as a popish church

Question 26

How much of a threat were puritans?

Answer 26

- in 1570s - meetings known as prophesyings became popular - involved members of the clergy meeting for prayer and discussion - would often include strong criticism of Elizabeth's church - Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal, encouraged these meetings but the queen saw them as very dangerous - grindal suspended as Archbishop by the Queen when he refused to ban prophesyings - more and more Puritans separated themselves from mainstream church - number of attempts to establish new churches - in 1580 - new separist church established in Norwich - leader, Robert browne, arrested but later released - in 1592 - a second new church was set up in London - leaders, Henry Barrow and John Greenwood arrested -were hanged

Question 27

How did Elizabeth and her government deal with puritans?

Answer 27

- with deaths of Dudley and Walsingham in 1588 and 1590 - Puritanism lost powerful supporters at court -Elizabeth took harsher approach toward Puritans - refusal to put up with religious settlement seen as a challenge to her authority - something she was not going to allow. - in 1583 - with queens support - new Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, introduced rules to crack down on Puritanism - among other things - rules banned unlicensed preaching and enforced attendance at church by introducing recusancy fines - new High Comission given power to fine and imprison Puritans who did not conform - hundreds were dismissed or imprisoned - purtitans producing increasingly extreme publications calling for reorginisation of the Church - the persecution of those they saw as having Catholic sympathies - elizabeth had Puritan printers punished, e.g. John Stubbs who had his right hand chopped off for criticising official marriage talks with a French Catholic prince - whitgifts camapaign broke the organisation of the Puritans