Challenges to Religious Settlement

Puritans

Puritans were extreme protestants and wanted a stronger form of Protestantism than Elizabeth was willing to give. They were separated into three groups

• Moderate - wanted clergy to have plain black vestments

• Presbyterian - wanted to get rid of bishops

• Separatists - wanted churches to operate on a more local level

Puritan wants

• plain churches

• plain clothes

• no music

• no drunkenness or gambling

Crucifix Controversy

• Puritans saw crucifixes as idols, and wanted to get rid of them in churches

• Elizabeth, however, wanted to keep them, as she wanted churches to keep their familiar look - it was important to the settlement not to make drastic changes and anger the Catholics

• Elizabeth demanded each church to have a crucifix and puritan bishops, in retaliation threatened to back down from their role

• Because she could not replace those bishops with other protestant clergymen, she backed down

• This was a success for Puritans who did not have to comply with Elizabeth’s rules

Vestment Controversy

• some puritans believed that clergymen should only wear plain clothing, or not have special clothing at all - they believed elaborate vestments suggested they were set apart from ordinary people

• However, in Catholicism priests were seen as very special - they could forgive sins and perform substantiation. Protestants and Puritans did not agree with this.

• Although Elizabeth outlined that clergymen must wear special vestments, it was clear not all clergy were complying

• Matthew Parker, the Archbishop of Canterbury, issued further guidelines for priests and gave an exhibition to show what clergy members should wear

• 100 priests were invited, but 37 refused to attend - Elizabeth took their jobs.

Significance

whilst Elizabeth backed down to the puritan demands in the crucifix controversy, she stood up to them in the vestment controversy which demonstrated her power over them after she had previously shown weakness, and eradicated puritan threat