Religious Changes

• RELIGIOUS POLICIES UNDER EDWARD

  obvious he had strong protestant tendencies despite coming to the throne young

  • support for Protestantism was not strong at the time
  • meaning changes were slow with 4 distinctive stages:
  • 1547 - attack on Catholicism
  • 1548 - lack of an official doctrine, uncontrolled radical protestant activity
  • 1549-52 - establishment of Protestant worship
  • 1553 - establishment of fully reformed church
• Attack on Catholicism 1547

  • Somerset's policy was slow as country was still catholic and he was a moderate protestant
  • bishops were divided and clergy and population were opposed to change
  • government began by examining condition of church through royal visitation - July 1547 book of homilies were introduced to all churches
• Attack on Catholicism 1547 (2)

  • clergy ordered to conduct services in English, ensure there was a bible present and remove superstitious images
  • chantries were also dissolved as a further attack on superstition as they were places where prayers for the souls of the dead were said
  • parliament removed treason act, allowing radicals to discuss radical reform
• Radical Activity 1548

  • abolition of Treason Act unleashed more radical views and unrest - with attacks on altars and images, alongside pamphlets attacking the mass
  • as a result, government had to issue series of proclamations between January and April 1548 to restore order and limit those who could preach
  • impact of these bans was limited as in September council had to ban all public preaching
  • however success of campaign against Scots meant position of government was strengthened and Protestant measures could be brought in during Autumn of 1548
• establishment of Protestant worship 1549-52

  • act of uniformity was passed in January 1549 and ordered use of Protestant practices like:
  • clergy could marry
  • singing for souls of the dead was ended
  • holy communion and evensong were in English

  
  

  • a new prayer book was brought in but created unrest
  • fall of Somerset led to religious changes increasing in pace, attacks on images were increased
  • new ordinal brought in January 1550, conservative bishops removed and new treason act brought in
  • stone altars replaced by wooden tables
• establishment of fully reformed Church 1553

  • second prayer book and act of uniformity were introduced
  • second act of uniformity was more protestant than first, removing all traces of Catholicism
  • at the time of Edward's death in 1553, England was legally protestant
• SUPPORT AND OPPOSITON FOR THE POLICIES UNDER EDWARD

  • England was officially protestant when Edward died in 1553 but it did not mean people actively supported the changes made by Somerset and Northumberland e.g. England was still Catholic when Henry died in 1547, so not everyone would be Protestant by 1553.
  • Second Uniformity Act and Second Prayer Book that made England a fully protestant country was brought in only during last 2 years of Edward's reign so had little impact and forty-two articles never became law
• despite these problems churchwarden accounts suggest that the reforms had been carried out, however was not easy as shown with legislation to remove things:

  • July 1547 - royal injunctions ordered the removal of superstitious images
  • February 1548 - all images were to be removed
  • December 1548 - proclamation ordered all remaining images to be destroyed

  amount of legislation and time taken shows imposing changes was not easy
• Religious Unrest

  • Rebellion in 1549 at Devon and Cornwall was religiously motivated as most of the demands were religious and the rising began in Devon in June 1549 when the parishioners demanded priests use old Prayer Book to say mass, rebels demanded

  restoration of 6 articles

  mass in Latin

  images to be restored

  prayers for the soul of the dead~

  holy bread and water, palms and ashes all to be restored
• evidence of wills

  • some evidence of wills shows there was little support for changes except in London
  • Kent preambles will shows that only 8% of people were protestant in 1549
  • in York there was only 2 protestant wills before 1550 showing traditional religion was still more appealing - making Mary Tudor's task much easier
• Local Reactions

  • there was little impact from the new Prayer book and some parishes welcomed the changes but was most likely down to the amount of change leaving many confused and many conforming because they were told they had to
• RELIGIOUS POLICIES UNDER MARY

  • Mary at the start her reign issued a proclamation stating she intended to proceed cautiously with religious matters but it was known her goals were to

  undo religious changes made since 1529

  restore papal authority

  restore Catholic practices

  re-establish monasteries

  end clerical marriage

  persecute those who did not agree with her views

  secure long term future of Catholicism

  • she was welcomed with enthusiasm as bells were rung and parliament opened with mass even though it was illegal
• restoration of papal authority

  • Parliament met in October 1553 but refused to repeal the Act of Supremacy
  • However did pass Act of Repeal which undid changes made under Edward and restored the situation to that of 1547 under Act of Six articles
  • Mary used royal prerogative to suspend second act of uniformity and restored mass - did not provoke serious opposition
  • there was some disquiet though shown with Wyatt Rebellion
• Restoration of Catholic Practices

  • in spring of 1554 royal injunctions restored some traditional Catholic practices, like holy days and ceremonies
  • large number of married clergies were deprived and protestant bishops removed
• the heresy laws and second act of repeal

  • initial attempts to secure heresy laws in April 1554 were rejected by parliament - they would not agree unless former monastic land would not be restored (more likely factional conflict as they were passed a few months later)
  • Second Act of Repeal, which repealed all religious legislation passed since 1529 was passed passed in November 1554 - Mary had to compromise by giving landowners the rights of those who bought church land since 1536
• Catholic Reform

  • return of Cardinal Pole to England was followed by the introduction of positive measures to increase appeal of Catholicism

  Bishops were ordered to make regular visitations to check on clerical behaviour

  London Synod ended pluralism

  Pole ordered new publications, including a New Catholic testament and Book of Homilies

  attempt to control Protestant Literature and increase the availability of Catholic Works with sponsoring sermons at Saint Pauls cross
• ATTITUDES TO MARIAN POLICIES AND CATHOLIC RESTORATION

  evidence of popular support for Mary's religious policies

  • Mary's return to London was greeted with joy on the streets, in churches and in parliament, crosses were set up on 23rd August where mass was said
  • large numbers also turned up to Mary's coronation in contrast to Lady Jane Grey's
• opposition in parliament

  • there was opposition to some religious changes but usually not religious concerns, for example, heresy laws and the second act of repeal where due to factional and land concerns e.g. loss of monastic lands, once they had guarantees legislation was passed
• Wyatt's rebellion

  • seen as evidence of unpopularity of Mary's religious policies - but began before any serious changes were implemented - was probably more due to Mary's proposed marriage with Phillip of Spain
• The Marian exiles

  • as religious changes became evident in early months of 1554, some protestants began to leave England
  • in total about 800 committed protestants (mostly gentry, wealthy and clergy) left England and went into exile of the continent for her reign
  • many protestants were willing to wait and see what developments took place, as they were not expecting her to reign long because of her age
• Popular Support

  • was seen in parishes like Devon, parishioners raised considerable sums of money to purchase equipment needed to carry out Catholic services
  • evidence that catholic worship returned rapidly to most parishes
  • churches were in poor condition following the reign of Edward and would take time to restore Catholic equipment but this was not the greatest obstacle to Catholic restoration - it was Mary's inability to produce an heir
• CATHOLIC PERSECUTION

  • reintroduction of heresy laws is reflected in her nickname of Bloody Mary
  • 300 went to the stake, 51 were women with most burnings in south east London
  • some accounts say it lost Mary support
• John Foxe and his impact

  • burnings are largely remembered because of John Foxe's Acts and Monuments (1563)
  • it was this that has influenced understanding of events, suggesting there was widespread opposition to the regime and that it was the fires of Smithfield that turned England protestant
  • argued that those that attended were so impressed by the dedication of those being burnt that they converted themselves - evidence of this is limited as only one person appears to convert
• Impact of the Burnings

  • Thomas Cranmer was burnt in March 1556 as he was the man who ended her mothers marriage to Henry and supported Lady Jane Grey but this was her greatest error - Cranmer had committed treason by supporting Lady Jane Grey but burning him gave him a chance to withdraw previous recantation
  • death of Gardiner in November 1555 removed a restraining influence on Mary as he saw the burning were not working so it was slowed - after his death there was 274 burnings in her last 3 years of reign
  • some cherry pickers in Kent welcomed the burnings as it helped them sell produce
• geography of the burnings

  • most took place in the south east as that's were the protestants were
  • it could also be down to the fact that area is closer to London and authorities were more concerned about the dangers and put more pressure on local authorities to act - supported by number of letters sent to JPs in south urging action
  • some have argued for the need of letters show they were unwilling to support the action, other factors may explain the delay tho:

  war against France in 1557

  JPs always had to be reminded to implement laws

  JPs were unwilling to enforce other law e.g vagrancy