Elizabethan Religious Settlement

• Religion became a very divisive factor in people's lives in England when Protestant ideas challenged the dominance of the Catholic Church of Rome
• Elizabeth offered a 'middle way' compromise
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement


  Elizabeth's approach to avoid the kind of traumatic extremism of the reigns of her brother Edward VI (Protestant) and her sister Mary I (Catholic)
• The established religion under Elizabeth was Protestant, so the English did not acknowledge the authority of the Pope in Rome
• The English monarch was to be the overall leader of the Church of England, but not a spiritual authority
• Some actual religious practices were very similar to the Catholic Church, including the celebration of the mass (also known as Holy Communion) and the priests' wearing of vestments
• The Religious Settlement


  Elizabeth's approach to bring together different groups and ease religious tensions
• The Religious Settlement


  1. Act of Supremacy

  2. Act of Uniformity
• The Act of Supremacy made Elizabeth the Supreme Governor of the Church, with a strict prohibition of foreign leadership in the English church
• The Act of Uniformity made Protestantism England's official faith and also set out rules of religious practice and worship in a revised prayer book, retaining some Catholic traditions
• There was broad support for the new Settlement and very few refused to take the oath of loyalty to the queen
• Elizabeth's tolerant approach seemed to have worked on the whole, but it did not keep everyone happy and she faced numerous threats
• Opposition came not only from Catholics, but also from more extreme Protestants, known as Puritans, who objected to any compromise with Catholic ideas