Tudors - Elizabeth I - Religious Developments Dates + Details

Elizabeth I: 1558-1603

Define: 39 Articles

1563

→ set out after discussions amongst leading churchmen setting out the beliefs of the Church of England

Define: Moderate Puritan

→ a Protestant movement

→ accept Church Settlement but wanted further reform

→ believe the Church of England need to remove all remaining ‘superstitious’ Catholic practices

Define: Presbyterian

→ Protestants who wanted to reform Church structure + simply faith and rituals (like Scottish Protestantism)

Define: Separatists

→ Very radical Protestants who broke away from national Church to adopt their own separate Protestant religion

Define: Missionary Priests

→ Catholic priests specially trained in Europe

→ arrive in England mid-1570s to keep Catholicism alive

→ glorified as heroes by Catholics

Define: Jesuits

→ specially trained (in Douai College) priests from the Society of Jesus

→ arrive in England from 1580

Protestant Privy Council Members

Cecil, Leicester, Walsingham

→ thought first religious settlement just a stepping stone (want more radical policies)

→ BUT no changes made after 1563

Archbishop of Canterbury: Matthew Parker

1559-75 → aimed to enforce the settlement

• 1566 issues ‘advertisements’ for clergy requiring uniformity in the church

  • clergy expected to wear vestments

  • some Puritans opposed: ‘Popish’ dress

    • 37 Puritans refused to obey = sacked (insignif. number)

Archbishop of Canterbury: Edmund Grindal

1575-83 → allowed dissent

• Grindal liked ‘prophesying’ (unauthorised preaching), Liz hated

  • so refused to suppress preaching and even lectured Liz on the matter

  • Liz puts him under house arrest at Lambeth Palace for last 7 years of his life

Archbishop of Canterbury: John Whitgift

1583-1604 → aimed to enforce the Settlement

• removed radically Protestant Cartwright as Professor of Divinity at Cambridge

• fought against Presbyterian Movement (wanted to abolish bishops) by issuing the 1583 Three Articles

  • articles 1&3 implemented

  • Cecil and Leicester saw Presbyterians as a useful barrier against Catholicism = protect

Religious Challenges: Vestiarian Controversy

1565-67

→ Puritans wanted to eradicate ‘superstitious’ church practices e.g. by challenging the Act of Uniformity’s ‘Popish’ vestments

→ Challenge as Liz wanted complete obedience of the settlement

→ = Liz dismissed prominent Oxford academic from his post at Christ Church College as refused to wear vestments

Response

• 1566 Archbishop Parker’s Advertisements

  • required clergy to conform to the Act of Uniformity

  • 37 clergy refused = sacked (not many)

Threat 4/10

showed some conflict

BUT not great threat as Liz exerted her power AND no further challenge

YET early on in reign = less established

STILL no rebellion as not widespread discontent

Religious Challenges: Prophesying (Preaching) Movement

1570s

→ prophesying = well organised gatherings of radical clergymen at which inexperienced UNLICENSED preachers could practice their skills and get advice

→ supported by local bishops

Response

• Grindal’s Investigation

  • ordered by Liz to suppress

  • Grindal refused, liked as thought improved preaching, even lecturing Liz

  • put under house arrest at Lambeth Palace for last 7 years of his life

Threat 6/10

threat from an Archbishop = more significant (those with power in Church being disobedient)

PLUS Liz felt threatened her title as Supreme Governor of English Church

BUT preaching confined to academics and South = not widespread threat

+Liz supressed

Religious Challenges: Presbyterian (Structure) Movement

1570s/80s

→ John Field’s Two Admonitions:

• gave detailed description of a Presbyterian church structure

→ 1586, Anthony Cope sent to ToL for several months for introducing a bill to ban the Common Book of Prayer

Response

• Whitgift’s 1583 Three Articles

  • clergy had to follow

  • 1: acknowledge royal supremacy

  • 2: accept prayer book as the will of God (not implemented)

  • 3: accept 1563 Thirty Nine Articles

Threat 7/10

pressure from within the Privy Council (Cecil, Leicester, Walsingham, Dudley and Huntington supported) = 2nd article changed to simple acceptance of the prayer book

pressure from within parliament (Cope’s bill)

BUT hatred for the articles mostly limited to Cambridge University + between Cartwright and Whitgift = not widespread discontent

PLUS John Field died 1588

PLUS Privy Council members only moderately Puritan

Religious Challenges: Separatist Movement

1580s

→ Robert Browne

• leader of significant Puritan congregation in Norwich

• exiled to Netherlands 1582 but returns 1585 (ordered by Cecil)

• called for Puritans to set up own separate church

→ John Penry

• Puritan extremist

• wanted to follow Robert Browne's example and set up his own church

→ Marprelate Tracts 1588-89

• anonymous pamphlet calling for the abolition of Bishops

Response

1593 Act against Seditious Sectaries gave the authorities the power to imprison, banish and even execute suspected separatists

authors of Marprelate Tracts never identified (although John Penry was believed to be involved) = Liz issued new instructions to control the printing presses + Penry tried and executed

Threat 3/10

least support, harshest response:

• most mainstream Puritans disliked separatists + only very few

• Liz’s actions destroyed the whole movement (e.g. in law 1593 Act against Seditious Sectaries + action, execution of Penry)

Religious Challenges: Decline of Puritanism

1580s

→ deaths of Dudley, Mildmay, and Walsingham late 1580s = loss of Puritan supports at court

→ defeat of Spanish Armada 1588 = reduced threat of Catholicism and lessened Puritan attraction

→ disappearance of Presbyterianism = moderate Puritan attitudes more acceptable in traditional church structure

→ 1559 Common Book of Prayer accepted as a basis of worship (Whitgift 2nd article)

overall: threat not overly significant BUT longevity increases significance (25+ years) YET no rebellion

Religious Challenges: Catholicism (1)

early-1560s

→ Catholicism being slowly eroded

→ gradual conformity

→ Pope lenient due to Philip II’s policies towards England

Response

• tolerant

  • those not attending church rarely fined (as laid down in 1559 Act of Supremacy to stop recusants)

  • no priest executed for performing Mass until 1577

  • doesn’t want to ‘make windows into men’s souls’

Threat - Limited

Most Catholics outwardly conformed + Liz took a cautious but lenient approach

Religious Challenges: Catholicism (2)

1567-1580

→ 1567: Pope ordered English Catholics not to attend church services

→ 1568: MQS arrives back to England

→ 1569: Revolt of the Northern Earls (Northern Rebellion)

→ 1570: Pope excommunicated Liz (Papal Bull)

→ 1571: Ridolfi Plot

→ 1572: St Bartholomew’s Day massacre of Protestants in France by Catholics

Response

• 1571 Act = publishing Papal Bulls illegal

• 1581 Act

  • treason to withdraw allegiance to the Queen/Church of England

  • Mass punishable by imprisonment

  • fine for not attending church (recusancy) increases to £20/month

Threat -changing international situation makes more serious

people now encouraged (God’s will through Pope) to disobey Elizabeth

Religious Challenges: Catholicism (3)

1580-1603

→ from early 1580s missionary Catholic priests (inc. Jesuits) arrive in England to ‘keep Catholicism alive’

• partly in response to tightening legislation

→ 1580: Pope calls for Catholics to assassinate Liz

→ 1583: Throckmorton Plot

→ 1586 Babington Plot

→ 1588 Spanish Armada (wants to make England Catholic)

Response

• 1585 Act against Jesuits and Seminary Priests

  • treasonable for priests under the Pope’s authority to enter England

    = easier for courts to rule treason

    • 123 priests convicted + executed under this act

• huge increase in financial penalties for recusancy

  • 1587 law = 2/3 of your estate could be seized by the Exchequer

Threat - from Spain and attempted Catholic Counter-Reformation

not a huge threat due to Jesuits only entering already Catholic areas (for safety and support) + limited largely to academics = not a widespread threat

PLUS Liz wins the Spanish Armada which demonstrates her power and decreases the Catholic threat

PLUS there were divisions in the Jesuit movement = less organised so couldn’t spread message as efficiently

BUT 4 Catholic plots (want Catholic MQS), including it being God’s will (through the Pope) for her to be assassinated after 1580 increases threat (dynastic security)

overall: Liz’s reactions may have continued to escalate Catholic action in return (‘Counter-Reformation’ mentality) BUT if didn’t repress, may have spread further