Church of England : its role in society

• Church of England


  Its role in society
• Church of England's role in national government and town/village life

  • Preached the government's message
  • Priests needed a government's licence to preach
  • Provided guidance for people in times of hardship and uncertainty
  • Enforced Elizabeth's religious settlements of 1559
  • Legitimised Elizabeth's rule - encouraged people to remain loyal to their monarch
• Parish clergy


  • Major figure in the village community
  • Conducted church services including baptisms, weddings and funerals
  • Offered spiritual and practical advice and guidance to people
  • Funded by taxes, tithes, or other sources of income
• A tithe is a tax worth 10% of people's income or goods produced
• Role of Church of England courts

  • Dealt with marriage, moral offences, slander, wills and inheritance
• Church visitations


  • Inspections of churches and clergy to ensure they obeyed the religious settlement
  • Took place every 3-4 years
  • Also involved checking licences of physicians, midwives and surgeons
• Role of parish clergy in town life

  • Parishes contained a wider collection of people including merchants, craftsmen, labourers and vagrants
  • Wider range of religious beliefs, especially in London
  • Clergy had a wider range of issues to deal with including poverty, vagrancy and diseases
• Parish churches in towns contained a much wider collection of people, including merchants, craftsmen, labourers and vagrants
• There was often a wider range of religious beliefs in town parishes, especially in London, which contained mainstream Protestants, Puritans and Catholics
• Due to overcrowding, parish clergy in towns had a wider range of issues to deal with than was the case in rural parishes, including poverty, vagrancy and diseases such as smallpox and plague