Religious changes

• When Henry died in 1547, the church was still largely Catholic. Many Catholic practices were still in place.
• Somerset‘s initial policy was quite cautious and slow which is unsurprising considering he was at best a moderate Protestant.
• The majority of the lower clergy in 1547 were opposed to religious change, as was the bulk of the population.
• Only a few areas such as East Anglia and London had a significant minority of reformers in 1547.
• In July 1547, it was ordered that the Book of Homilies, containing model sermons, should be placed in every church.
• In 1547, clergymen were ordered to conduct services in English, preach every Sunday and ensure there was an English bible in every church. They had to remove superstitious images and statues.
• Somerset’s council was cautious as some argued that, under the terms of Henry VIII’s will, there should be no religious change until Edward is 18.
• The council passed the Chantries Act in 1547. It was claimed to be an attack on superstition, although the dissolution is likely to have been to raise money to fund war against Scotland.
• In 1547, parliament repealed the Treason Act, meaning radicals could discuss and demand more radical reforms.
• Following repealing the Treason Act in 1547, there were iconoclastic attacks on images and alters and pamphlets attacking mass. Having repealed the law, the government struggled to control this and had to issue proclamations from Jan to April 1548 to limit who could preach.
• In September 1548, the council had to ban all public preaching, limiting spread of Protestantism.
• Success in Scotland meant government was in a stronger position when they met in autumn 1548.
• The Act of Uniformity was passed in 1549:

  • sacraments = only communion, baptism, confirmation, marriage and burial
  • clergy could marry
  • singing masses for souls of dead not approved
  • holy communion, matins and evensong in English
  • laity could receive bread and wine at communion
• Some catholic practices remained under the Act of Uniformity:

  • fast days and a number of Holy Days remained
  • belief in purgatory neither condemned nor upheld
  • worship of saints not banned, only discouraged
• The First Book of Common Prayer became law under the Act of Uniformity in 1549 and did not deny transubstantiation.
• Bishops were instructed to carry out visitations to test whether the laity knew the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. Bishop Hooper discovered that in his own diocese of Gloucester, 10 out of the 311 clergy couldn’t recite the Lord’s Prayer and 171 didn’t know the Ten Commandments.
• After Northumberland took power in 1550, further Protestant moves could be made. There was a new Ordinal in Jan which revised the procedure of ordination for priests.
• It took three acts to attempt to remove images:

  • July 1547 Royal Injunctions
  • February 1548 - all images to be removed
  • December 1549 - destruction of remaining images
• After 1551, conservative bishops such as Gardiner were deprived of their sees, resulting in a reformist majority amongst bishops. This allowed parliament to embark on a programme of major reform when they met in January 1552.
• 1552 Treason Act - offence to question Royal Supremacy or any beliefs of the church.
• March 1552 Second Act of Uniformity - condemns absence of people from church and imposes Second Book of Common Prayer.
• In the Second Prayer Book, transubstantiation is denied.
• Overseas theologians such as Martin Bucer influenced change to Protestantism.
• By 1553, England is officially a Protestant nation. Reforms were carried out e.g. alters replaced with communion tables and new service was in use.
• Number of religious changes since break with Rome left many either confused or religiously indifferent.
• The only area where there is evidence of the new religion being welcomed is London and some of the southern counties such as East Anglia.
• The rapid restoration of Catholicism under Mary could suggest traditional religion was still popular.