Why Did Elizabeth Pursue A Compromise In Religion Research Paper

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Why did Elizabeth pursue a compromise in religious settlement? There were many reasons why Elizabeth had to have a compromise in religion for her country, one of the main reasons was the fact that her predecessors, her Father Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, Bloody Mary, had in each way changed religions for England as each came to the throne, with each having their own effects. With Henry starting with a heavily Catholic country however making drastic changes which caused England to be heavily Protestant with acts such as the Act for the dissolution of lesser monasteries in 1536 which was one of the reasons he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1538 by the Pope at the time. Henry’s next heir was then Edward VI whom was also …show more content…

This was a problem as although due to the Act of Succession she was the legitimate Queen, Mary Queen of Scots (Whom was married to the Dauphin of France at the time, whom was next in like to rule the extremely powerful Catholic Country) also believed that she was the legitimate heir with many Catholics believing her too due to the fact that that Elizabeth was seen as illegitimate and the next in line should have been Henry VIII’s younger sister, Margaret’s, descendants which were excluded from the succession. So in order to actually keep the throne, she needs to have a religion for England that leans more towards the Protestant side of Christianity however due to the fact that Mary either killed or made many of the Protestants of England flee, Elizabeth had to make a religious compromise in order to appease her …show more content…

Although at the start of this act being bought in this was non-enforceable, by 1562 it was made an offence that was classed as treason. This is believed to have been to allow peoples to change their religions before having to incarcerate people for not following it. Also this kept the Hierarchy of the Church exactly the same with Bishops helping to run the country which was good for the Catholics and so helped in creating this religious settlement between Protestants and

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