Impact of Elizabethan Religious Settlement 1559

How did Elizabeth I try to win over the English Catholics?

Compromise in her Church - moved carefully with Catholics

• fines imposed for not attending services

• priests conducting a Catholic service would be arrested

Penalties were deliberately severe but not as harsh as Elizabeth had no intention of creating martyrs

Was Elizabeth I successful in winning over the Catholics?

Catholicism had little support after Elizabeth’s accessions

• many of Mary’s Bishops refused to accept religious changes and deprived of their positions

• a few parish priests refused the Oath of supremacy

• regional surveys show that some areas such as Lancashire there were supportive of Catholicism

Did Elizabeth I successfully punish Catholics who went against her religious reformations?

Not many fines were collected for non-attendance - due to failure to collect

• Clergy in the 1560s led worship that contained traces of Catholicism e.g. using Latin

How did Elizabeth I view her religious settlement?

Settlement was merely an act to define the relationship between Crown and Church

Why would Elizabeth develop a change of policy towards the Catholics from 1567?

Due to events at home and abroad

• 1567 - Pope showed his hostility to the Religious Settlement by instructing English Catholics to not attend Church services

• 1567 - Dutch Rebellion sparked fears of Catholicism uprising

• 1568 - Mary, Queen of Scots arrives in England

What did the Pope do in 1567 which challenged Elizabeth I’s religious settlement?

1567 - Pope showed his hostility to the Religious Settlement by instructing English Catholics to not attend Church services

What did Elizabeth I’s Religious Reforms reinforce about Vestments?

Vestments were the special clothes worn by the Clergy during services

• drive to push towards uniformity

• wrote a letter to Archbishop Parker (1565) reminding him of the need to ensure that all clergy were following the religious practices set up in the Injunctions 1559

What did Archbishop Parker issue in 1566?

Book of Advertisements - set out what was expected

• dress code - insisted on the surplice and cope as standard

• London - 37 clergymen refused to follow the instruction and were suspended

Vestments chosen by Parker were very similar to Catholic Clothing - offended Protestant preachers who were forced to wear them

• their refusal raised the question of Elizabeth and her authority as Supreme Governor

• Controversy rumbled on with the Queen having no wish to make enemies

How did Puritans respond to Elizabeth I’s Religious Settlement?

Offended some Protestants as the Church had been created that drew on two traditions

• Puritans wanted to ‘purify’ the Church and its Papal elements

• Hoped that Elizabeth would provide a stepping stone towards further Protestant reforms

Why did the Puritans particularly oppose the survival of Bishops within the new Church?

Argued that they were the invention of the Pope to maintain power

• examined in the Bible for other evidence that the shape of the English Church was not ordinated by God!

• Making the sign of the cross during baptism and the wearing of clerical vestments had no authority

By 1559 what was the shared opinion of Puritans on Elizabeth I’s Religious Settlement?

Incomplete

• threatened the stability of the settlement as much as the Catholics!

Need change! - will begin to go against Elizabeth

• cannot be harsh - some parts of her gov are Puritans e.g. Robert Dudley & William Cecil

• laws against Puritans would effect her friends