religion

• recusants and Puritans were against the 1559 settlement
• recusants = Catholics paid fines instead of attending Anglican services
• 1570 Pope excommunication of Elizabeth
• impact of excommunication 1570

  • Church became more Protestant
  • Puritan faction grew
  • punished dissenters
• Catholic faction

  • supported Douai 1568 -activities of English priests being trained abroad
  • supported Jesuits
• 1567-72 more difficult to tolerate Catholics because of...

  • 1567 Spanish Duke of Alba suppress anti-Catholic rebellion in Netherlands - Elizabeth feared Spain may force Catholicism
  • 1569 Northern Rebellion - aimed to restore Catholicism
  • 1570 Pope excommunicate Elizabeth - exonerated Catholic loyalty to Elizabeth
  • 1571 Ridolfi Plot - replace Elizabeth with Mary QoS
• 1571 Treason Act

  denial of Elizabeth's supremacy was punishable by death
• Jesuits

  seen as fanatics and dangerous
• religions and beliefs

  A) Anglicans

  B) accepted

  C) Puritans

  D) Tolerated

  E) persecuted

  F) 1570

  G) Presbyterians

  H) extreme

  I) reliance

  J) Scriptures

  
• harsh penal laws against Catholics and 1588 Spanish Armada defeat reduced threat of Catholicism
• Separatism

  extreme form of Protestantism to separate from Church of England and create independent church congregations without queen as Supreme Governor; 1580s
• what act was against Separatists?

  1593 Act against Seditious Sectaries - arrested separatists
• what acts were against Puritans?


  1566 Book of Advertisements/Vestiarian Controversy - long cloak as standard clergymen dress code

  1583 Three Articles - royal supremacy, prayer book and Thirty-Nine Articles; Puritans were against it

  1595 Lambeth Articles - reaffirmed Calvinist beliefs of Church of England
• acts against Catholics

  Recusancy Laws - fined for absence at Anglican services

  1559 Oath of Supremacy - all but one bishop refused conform

  1571 treasonable to publish papal bulls

  1581 Act to Retain the Queen's Majesty's Subjects in their Due Obedience - treasonable for non-allegiance to queen or Church, fined and imprisoned for saying Mass, £20 fine for Church non-attendance
• acts against presbyterianism

  • 1583 Three Articles - they wanted reliance on Scriptures for church authority
• Elizabeth's foreign policy also affected her religious policy as she tried to maintain peace with Catholic Spain by not persecuting Catholics too much. However this meant that many Catholics remained loyal to Mary Queen of Scots and plotted against Elizabeth. She also didn't want to offend Philip II by executing Mary QS so she kept her alive until he invaded England in 1588. After his defeat she executed Mary QS to prevent further plots against her.
• The Act of Uniformity (1559) set out what form of worship was acceptable in Church of England churches. The Book of Common Prayer contained prayers and hymns that people had to say during services. Everyone had to follow these rules otherwise they faced punishment.
• the defeat of the Spanish Armada encouraged Protestantism throughout Europe as it demonstrated that Protestants were capable of defeating Catholics. This may have inspired other Protestant rulers to become more assertive towards their own Catholic populations.
• Vestiarian Controversy


  Rules on clerical dress - Elizabeth wanted conformity and obedience

  Disobedience of the rules: wearing of Catholic attire.

  Puritans saw it as superstitious dress and believed in the eradication of superstitious practices
• Book of Advertisement 1566


  Archbishop Parker issued it for clergy to follow one uniformity of rites and manners.

  37 London clergymen refused and were deprived of their posts
• significance of Vestiarian Controversy and Book of Advertisements


  Showed extent of Elizabeth's determination to enforce settlement.

  Reforming bishops had to choose between obeying royal supremacy and removing Catholic practices within the Church.
• Presbyterianism

  all were Puritan.

  they believed in a Calvinist form of Church government: all ministers of equal status.

  questioned the need for a bishop and criticised the meetings during the prophesyings.
• John Field


  author of the Two Admonitions that criticised aspects of the Church.

  was banned from preaching in 1580.
• Admonitions


  1st criticised Book of Common Prayers and called for abolition of bishops.

  2nd described a Presbyterian system of Church government.
• Thomas Cartwright believed...


  Church was spiritually flawed because it was founded on superstitious and popish principles.

  the 1559 settlement had to be modified
• John Whitgift believed...


  Presbyterianism was destructive and would split the Church
• Whitgift's Articles 1583


  three articles destroying Presbyterianism

  1. acknowledge royal supremacy
  2. accept prayer book as containing nothing contrary to the word of God
  3. accept the Thirty-Nine Articles conforms to the word of God
• impact of Whitgift's Articles


  Second article was reduced to 'accepting prayer book' due to pressure from Leicester and Walsingham.

  Cartwright was refused a licence to preach and Burghley's protege was forced out of his post; had complete support from Queen.

  However, Elizabeth's ministers regarded his policies as suspicious
• Presbyterianism declined by late 1580s...


  few Puritan clergy were willing to break with the Church and accept the Three Articles.

  John Field died in 1589 - key organiser
• Separatists

  radical Puritans - regarded with abhorrence by mainstream Puritans.

  Led by Robert Browne who fled/exiled to Netherlands.

  Barrow, Greenwood, John Penry were executed for circulating seditious books.
• Robert Browne

  exiled/fled to Netherlands and returned to England.

  1585 made peace with authorities
• 1585 Act against Jesuits and Seminary Priests


  treasonable for priests under Pope's authority to enter England - 123 priests executed from 1586-1603
• Catholic Missions


  1568 college founded at Douai, Spanish Netherlands - to keep Catholicism alive and win new converts.

  They had to operate secretly - dangerous work.

  1580 Society of Jesus sent Jesuit priests to England - to restore Catholicism