Elizabethan Religion

• act of supremacy (1559)


  made elizabeth supreme governor of the church of england, and said that all clergy had to swear an oath of loyalty to her
• act of uniformity (1559)


  - made the 1552 book of common prayer the standard (however it was made to be more moderate, having ambiguous wording that allowed for both views of communion, and the black rubric was omitted.)

  - made church attendance mandatory, with a 1 shilling fine as punishment

  - allowed vestments for the clergy

  this act was pretty hotly debated, and passed with only a 3 vote lead.
• injunctions


  - taxes to the church (e.g first fruits and tenths) were paid directly to elizabeth

  - monasteries restored under mary were dissolved and their land was given back to the nobility

  - the clergy could marry, but only if their spouse was approved by a bishop

  - did other things elizabeth wanted, e.g: allowing music in church, allowing bowing and unleavened bread at communion, allowing imagery in church
• factors effecting the religious settlement

  - personal beliefs: elizabeth was a moderate protestant and didn't mind keeping some catholic elements like vestments and removing some protestant elements like long sermons

  - foreign situation: elizabeth didn't want to provoke spain, france or scotland by persecuting catholicism too harshly. (especially scotland as mary q. had a claim to the english throne.)

  - domestic situation: fair mix of catholic and protestant so there would be annoyance no matter what elizabeth did. the 800 protestants from earlier returned, with many being more radicalised due to the more extreme protestant scene in europe (e.g geneva).

  - advice: the 'points of religion contrary to the church of rome' advised elizabeth to enact slow reforms. 'the device for alteration of religion' wanted a new book of common prayer.
• religious situation in 1558 (the beginning of elizabeth's reign)


  protestantism: more protestants had radical ideas due to people fleeing to places like geneva or frankfurt and bringing back new ideas. elizabeth typically preferred priests who stayed as they were more moderate, like her.

  catholicism: most of the bishops put in place by mary t. were staunch catholics and didn't like elizabeth's attempts to compromise. since many were in the house of lords, they were able to defeat or delay some proposals, e.g act of uniformity 1559.
• what was the 'black rubric'?

  a rubric (which is a rule as to how things happen during church services) that denied the physical presence of christ in communion substances.
• what happened with the vestiarian controversy (1565-66)?

  - purtian members of the clergy began refusing to wear vestments, with 37 london preachers losing their jobs in 1566 as a result of this.

  - they got support from the archbishop of canterbury, who said that robes should only be worn for communion.

  - the protestant leader, henry bullinger, told them to stop fighting about it as he believed that puritan infighting would give the catholics more reason to stop them. vestments were permitted in the act of uniformity (1559)
• what were the thirty-nine articles (1571)?

  - a definition of the beliefs of the english church, which was accepted by the convocation in 1563.

  - in 1571, clergy were allowed to only follow the articles to do with doctrine, meaning puritans in the church would continue their lifestyle without breaking church laws.
• what was strickland's proposal (1571)?

  - a bill to reform the book of common prayer by abolishing surplices, marriage rings, kneeling for communion and other superstitions.

  - it gained some support in the house but not from any other powers.

  - the privy council accused him of infringing on the queen's prerogative to control the church, and he was barred from the house.
• what was cope's proposal (1586)?

  - cope's 'bill and book' proposed to replace the book of common prayer with the genevan prayer book, and remove the authority of bishops.

  - it had a little support in the house, for example the MP job throckmorten defended it. however people like sir christopher hatton attacked it, as it would mean that former monastic land had to be given up by nobles (again). this argument lost the bill most of its support.

  - cope and four others were sent to the tower after elizabeth found out about the 'bill and book'.
• other puritan attacks


  - 1570, thomas cartwright gave lectures comparing elizabeth's church to the one from the new testament (unfavourably). he disliked the amount of power held by church officials such as bishops. eventually cartwright had his academic freedom of speech removed, along with his professorship.

  - 1572, 'the admonition to the parliament' was published by ministers field and wilcox. it wanted the removal of superstitious practices, and the replacement of the current church hierarchy with the genevan system. field and wilcox were arrested and spent a year in newgate. the document did succeed in starting a pamphlet war on the subject, which brought puritan ideas some attention.
• when was matthew parker archbishop?

  1559-1575
• when was edmund grindal archbishop?

  1575-1583
• when was john whitgift archbishop?

  1583-1604
• parker's successes/failures

  successes:

  - was able to appease the puritans with the thirty-nine articles without giving in to radical demands

  - issued the 'advertisements' to help end the vestiarian controversy without harming elizabeth's reputation

  failures:

  - annoyed the puritans, who pushed to add extra stuff to the thirty-nine articles like ending holy days and the sign of the cross during baptism. their motion was only defeated by one vote but didn't resurface.
• grindal's successes/failures

  successes:

  - had previously helped with the 'book of martyrs', and wanted to maintain order within the church

  failures:

  - got sent to prison for 6 months in 1576 for refusing to obey elizabeth's orders on prophesying, disagreed with elizabeth as he was a presbyterian

  - didn't really get to do anything after that as elizabeth didn't like him; made the church seem weak
• whitgift successes/failures

  successes:

  - defended elizabeth by removing cartwright's professorship

  - wrote a response to 'admonition to the parliament' to defend the current english church (possibly made bishop of worcester as a reward for this)

  - worked in the court of high commission and used 'ex-officio' oath to stop non-conformists.

  - became a member of the privy council in 1586

  failures:

  - angered members of the gentry with his intrusive investigations
• what did the 1570 'regnans in excelsis' (papal bull) do?


  excommunicated elizabeth
• why was mary queen of scots a threat to elizabeth?

  - people who believed elizabeth was illegitimate saw her as the proper ruler.

  - catholics supported her over elizabeth, who was protestant.

  - she was married to the dauphin, so could gain power from france.
• what was the throckmorten plot (1583)?


  - phillip II and the pope would pay for the french army to invade england and replace elizabeth with mary.

  - organised by francis throckmorten and supported by spain, the ambassador bernardino de mendoza was on board.

  - throckmorten was executed, and mary was put under house arrest in tutbury castle.
• when was the throckmorten plot?

  1583
• what happened with the rising in the north (1569)?


  - the earls of west morland and northumberland planned to break mary out of prison and out her on the throne.

  - they raised 6000 soldiers but couldn't match elizabeth's army

  - 800 of the rebels were executed; the earls fled to scotland
• what happened with the ridolfi plot (1571)?


  - catholic plot to assassinate elizabeth and replace her with mary, lead by roberto ridolfi.

  - had the support of spain, with the ambassador don guerman de spes being on board. phillip II and mary herself also gave support.

  - ridolfi and de spes were arrested and banished.
• when was the ridolfi plot?

  1571
• what happened with the babington plot (1586)?


  - anthony babington planned to break mary out of prison, kill elizabeth and make mary queen.

  - letters from this plot were used as evidence against mary, and she was executed alsongside babington and 6 other plotters.
• when was the babington plot?

  1586
• when was mary q. executed?

  1587
• when and why was cuthbert mayne executed (h,g+t)?

  1577, for owning a papal bull, which was treason.
• what did the treason act [to retain the queen's subjects in due obedience] 1581 do?


  made it treason to recognise papal authority. also increased recusancy fines to £20 per month. [*being an open catholic and not attending CofE service]
• what were the 'bloody questions'?

  a method of discovering catholics by asking them if they would support the pope if he invaded england. (a catholic would have to answer 'yes' due to their belief in papal supremacy)
• when was it made treason to be a catholic preist?

  1585, there was a 40-day period before implementation to allow people to convert.
• how many priests took the oath of supremacy?

  8000
• how many bishops took the oath of supremacy?

  1. so elizabeth appointed 27 new ones.
• what happened to the clergy in 1559?

  400 were dismissed after visitations found they weren't obeying the settlement.
• how much of the english nobility were recusant?

  1/3
• what was made treason in 1571?

  owning a papal bull
• what did the pope say in 1552?

  that english catholics did not have to attend protestant church services.
• who were the brownists?

  group of separatists who broke off from the church of england in the 1580s
• examples of the brownists being a threat

  in 1583 two men were hung for circulating his works
• what were the martin marprelate tracts?

  pamphlets published against bishops and the church of england by the separatists