Elizabeth’s religious settlement

• Elizabeth's religious settlement (1559)

  Aimed to establish a form of religion that would be acceptable to both Protestants and Catholics
• Elizabeth's religious settlement of 1559


  • The Act of Uniformity dictated the appearance of churches and how religious services were to be held
  • The Act of Supremacy made Elizabeth the Supreme Governor head of the Church of England
  • An Ecclesiastical High Commission was established to keep discipline within the Church and enforce Elizabeth's authority
  • The Royal Injunctions were a set of instructions to the clergy that reinforced the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity
• The Book of Common Prayer (1559)

  Introduced a set church service to be used in all churches, the clergy had to follow the Prayer Book or be punished
• Ecclesiastical


  Anything to do with the Church
• The aims of Elizabeth's religious settlement were to be inclusive and designed to be accepted by as many of her subjects as possible
• The wording of the new Prayer Book could be understood to mean different things by Catholics and Protestants
• The Communion Sacrament could be interpreted as the body and blood of Jesus (transubstantiation) by Catholics, while Protestants could view it as an act of remembrance
• Protestants would have approved of the ban on pilgrimages to 'fake' miracles, while Catholics would have approved of the possibility of 'real' miracles
• Catholics would also have approved of the use of candles, crosses and vestments in church services
• 8000 clergy out of about 10000 accepted the religious settlement
• Many Marian Bishops (Catholic Bishops appointed by Mary Tudor) opposed the settlement and had to be replaced
• The majority of ordinary people accepted Elizabeth's religious settlement and attended the church services, even though many of them held on to Catholic beliefs
• The Royal Injunctions stated that all clergy were required to:


  • Teach the Royal Supremacy
  • Report those refusing to attend church to the Privy Council- absentees were fined a week's wages
  • Keep a copy of the Bible in English
  • Have a government licence to preach
  • Prevent pilgrimages, religious shrines and monuments to 'fake' miracles
  • Wear special clothes (vestments)