Chapter 23: Religious changes

• How was William regarded by the Whigs?

  as a Calvinist hero who had saved them from Catholicism and absolutism
• William was sympathetic to dissenters
• What did William do as a result of the development of latitudinarianism with the elites after 1688?


  appointed more latitudinarians as bishops during his reign - i.e. John Tillotson as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1691
• Why were William’s actions not extremely effective?


  Anglicans continued to dominate the Church’s governing body, local parish hierarchy, and among the gentry of the Political Nation
• What was the result of the attempted March 1689 Comprehension Bill?

  • the Anglican Church governing body, the Convocation, rejected the bill
  • Parliament was only willing to pass a limited Toleration Act
• What was the Toleration Act of 1689?


  allowed dissenters to be exempted from the penal laws if they took an oath of allegiance and were willing to make a declaration against transubstantiation.
• What was the result of the Toleration Act of 1689?


  dissenters could worship freely if their meeting house was licensed and they kept their doors open during services
• What was the effect of the Toleration Act?

  in the year it passed, 900 meeting houses received licenses; Catholics received no such concessions
• Why were the Tories fearful after the Toleration Act of 1689 passed?

  • increase in the Quaker movement again
  • William increasingly appointed latitudinarians as his bishops
• Why were Tories fearful of an increase of dissent?

  • many dissenters were of the ‘monied’ class who gained influence while the gentry and traditional Tory Anglicans saw a decline in their influence
  • prejudiced and believed that dissenters would destroy the Church of England
  • growth of dissenter pamphlets after the 1695 expiry of the Licensing Act allowed dissenters greater freedom to publish
• What was the Tories’ response to the growth in dissenter pamphlets?


  promoted the slogan ‘Church in danger’
• Why did the position of Catholics remain a source of tension in 1689?


  the Glorious Revolution had been designed to prevent any toleration of Catholicism
• Why did France affect the position of Catholics during William’s reign?


  Louis XIV was the dominating European power of the time and had the potential to attain universal monarchy (one monarchy having world power)
• What helped quiet anti-Catholic sentiments?

  • William’s wars on the Continent; prevented Catholic Louis XIV from completely dominating western Europe.
  • William’s victory at the Battle of Boyne (July 1690)
• After the Battle of Boyne, Protestant control was imposed on all of Ireland
• What was the Treaty of Limerick (1691)?


  promised concessions for Catholics following William’s victory at the Battle of Boyne
• What did the Irish and English Parliaments do instead of following the Treaty of Limerick?


  established a penal code that restricted opportunities for Catholics in both Ireland and England