Transcript The Elizabethan Religious Settlement, 1558

The Elizabethan Religious
Settlement
Elizabeth’s solution to the religious
instability and division that had wracked
England under Henry VIII, Edward VI
and Mary I
Elizabeth’s dilemna
Putting aside her own beliefs and preferences:
• A Catholic settlement would please the
continental powers, but not the British
protestants.
• A protestant settlement would alienate British
Catholics, France, and Spain.
Reformation Bill (1558)
• Communion –
transubstantiation
• Abuse of the Pope in the litany
• Surplice (priest’s fancy gear)
banned –
• Priests could marry
• Banned images from Church
Reformation Bill Voted Down
- Bishops sit in House of Lords
- Many of the Bishops are Catholics
- Vote against the Reformation Bill
- Elizabeth replied with the Act of Supremacy and
Act of Uniformity
Act of Uniformity (1558)
• Required the population to attend Sunday
service in an Anglican church
• New compromise version of the Book of
Common Prayer
• Removed abuse of the pope from the liturgy
• Wearing of the surplice permitted
• Rituals like the sign of the cross maintained.
Act of Supremacy (1558)
• Reestablished the situation under Henry VIII
• Elizabeth > Supreme Governor
• ‘Governor’ rather than ‘Head’ appeased
conservatives concerned about a woman
claiming the latter title.
• Clergy had to swear an oath of loyalty to
Elizabeth but the laity did not (no desire to
“make a window into men’s souls”).
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Faith (1563)
• Defines Anglicanism in contrast to both
Catholicism and Calvinism
• Devised by a convocation (assembly) of the
Church under Archbishop of Canterbury,
Matthew Parker.
• Salvation through faith (though a role for the
church and the sacraments) are maintained
• A.k.a. The Articles of Religion
The Settlement’s Success
• Elizabeth's settlement thinks Protestant but
looks Catholic. It appealed to the most
cherished traditions of both, the Word for
Protestants and the ritual and structure for
Catholics.
• The longevity of Elizabeth’s reign
• It’s ‘compromise’ component shouldn’t be
overstated – Elizabeth excommunicated by the
Pope in 1570 (Regnans in Excelsis)
Puritanism
• Puritanism - purify the Church of England from all Catholic
remnants
• Label arose as a pejorative term used by opponents – no single
doctrine, rather, defined by a common tendency
• Marian exiles who had returned under Elizabeth to build a new
Israel.
• Adultery and sabbath breaking should be capital offense
• Issues over vestments worn by priests came up, where the
Catholics were bright and colorful, the Puritans desired black only.
They also want no organ, no making the sign of the cross, and no
holy days.
• presbyterian or Congregationalist structure (instead of rule by
bishops)
• persecution of protestants – they fled England