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
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Protestant due to his mother, Jane Seymour, and father, Henry, being Protestant, at least politically. Although Edward was his third child, the Acts of Succession bought him in as the next heir to the throne as he was Henrys only male heir which in its self was an extremely protestant idea. During Edwards reign, his Protestant council of Regency, which was made by Henry VII to rule the country for him due to his young age where he took the throne at the age of 9, made many changes to the country which made it even more towards the protestant side of religion with changes such as Priests being allowed to marry and bringing in a new prayer book but in English with an Act of Uniformity being brought in to enforce this in 1549 which made the Book of Common Prayer the only legal form of Worship in England. After a brief stint of Lady Jane Grey being the queen of England before being removed by the people 9 days after her coronation, Mary I was bought to the throne after the Privy Council (The body of advisers to the monarch of England) removed of Lady Jane Grey as well as the fact that Mary had assembled a force in East Anglia which deposed of Jane as the Queen. As Mary was heavily catholic this shook up the country’s religious view point dramatically, even much so that she earned the name “Bloody Mary” as she was the prime reason why there was mass executions of Protestant “Heretics” in England which caused many protestants to have to flee the country in fear of coming to the same end, one of the reasons she is heavily catholic is because due to Henry bringing in The CofE it meant that he could divorce her Mother, Catherine of Aragon which angered her greatly. As Elizabeth’s reign started in 1558, she faced a multitude of problems, one of the most major being the fact that she was Queen which in a lot of people’s eyes shouldn’t have occurred.
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…
people. The first thing that she did was she followed in her father’s footsteps and didn’t bring England back to religious rule under the Catholic Pope and followed almost the same idea of her father of establishing the Monarch, herself, as the head of the church, in this case instating herself as Supreme Governor of the Church which wasn’t favourable for the Catholics but the Protestants believed this was a good. This was bought in under the Act of Supremacy 1559 which also repealed several of the acts that Mary had reverted. A major reason why she did this was she believed in the fact that if she wasn’t followed by her people religiously, then they won’t follow her politically and so would have a broken country. Other parts of the Act of Supremacy included all judges, Government officials, JP’s (Justice of Peace or Magistrates), Members of Parliament and the Clergy having to take an oath of allegiance to the Governor of the faith.
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
Catholics. After the act of Supremacy came in, an Act of Uniformity 1559 also was made which helped support this Religious settlement in many ways by trying to establish a middle ground for the Countries religion. One of the most important things the act did was make every Bible and service in all churches be written and spoken in English, which is an extremely Protestant idea however many heavily Catholic ideas were also bought in such as the Clergy being made to wear vestments and decorations to be placed around the churches which was against Protestantism heavily as they believe that services should be done in an environment where people can completely concentrate on what the Minister is saying. Elizabeth also had to pursue a religious compromise due to the fact that if she did not have a tight grip on her people, there was potential for rebellions such as the Kett and Wyatt which took place during the reign of Queen Mary I which if were to happen again could have the potential to overthrow her as Queen which could also tie in with the fact that many people, including her parliament believed in the monstrous regiment of women which was a book produced by Knox which argues that women ruling does not agree at all with the bible and are often unable to control their power, making them look weak which is a major reason why she sets up her privy council which included people such as William Cecil and were mainly men and so had a greater voice in the house than the Queen and would more than likely be listened to more. All in all I believe that Elizabeth needed for her country to be united in every way possible, including Religion, so she could keep in control of her country for as long as possible. However she knew that there was no way she could keep every single person happy in her country and so settled for trying to please the majority for making the religion a merger of Protestantism and Catholicism. She also needed to establish herself into a position with even more power than being the Queen of England and so made herself Governor of the Church.
The Factors That Shaped the Elizabethan Religious Settlement When Elizabeth I was proclaimed Queen in 1558 a new era of religious tolerance began. With her religious settlement, Elizabeth had to consider a number of different factors. Without doubt, the most important task following her accession was to resolve the ideological divisions in the country brought about by the religious changes in the past three monarch's reigns. However, when deciding on her own religious settlement, Elizabeth had a number of influencing factors.
These two opposing religions had their differences be known be the other side and would fight for their ideas to be the ones all to follow. Conrad Russel states in his book The Causes of the English Civil War, that England “was a society with several religions, while still remaining a society with a code of values and a political system which were only designed to be workable with one”. Inside the Church of England was essentially two churches, Protestant and Catholic. Both sides were determined that their religion was going to be the one in the church and not the one outside looking in. Both sides wanted to control the authoritative powerhouse of England and would do anything to have the Church of England become the church of their religion. However, religious differences did not just occur between the citizens, it also occurred between King Charles I and Parliament. First off let’s look at King Charles himself. Charles was a very religious monarch who liked his worship to be High Anglican. He also believed the hierarchy of priests and bishops was very important, which alarmed Parliament because they believed that King Charles was leaning towards the idea of Catholicism in England. King Charles’ form of worship was seen by the Puritan faith as a form of popery. This upset them because they wanted a pure worship without icons or bishops. To clarify, popery is the doctrines, practices, and ceremonies associated with the pope or the papal system; Roman Catholicism. Charles also wanted to support William Laud who was the leader of the High Church Anglican Party because they had recently became prominent. Parliament strongly disagreed with the King’s decision because they feared that Laud would promote Roman Catholicism ideas and
Protestant England also did the same and started persecuting Catholic families and fines them for not attending a Protestant Service. The rival persecutions continued throughout the surrounding countries.
Initiated by Pope Paul III to condemn and refute protestant beliefs, it would eventually lay the principles of catholicism for four centuries. They were able to condemn the reformation by approving the Index of Forbidden Books, which would punish anyone who possessed a list of books that supported Protestantism or were critical of the church in Catholic Countries. They defended their religion through scriptures and other traditions. It would eventually acknowledge and curtail the abuses in sale of indulgences, sale of church offices, give bishops more power from clergy, and establish seminaries to train priests. The Council of Trent existed to condemn protestants in order to protect their faith, but in turn would have to decrease some of their
The Protestants who emigrated to America knew from experience of the negative effect the government had on religion when the two were operating together. With the mindset of creating a new perfect holy land, they decided to make sure both church and state worked separately. While Puritans still did everything they could to enforce their beliefs in New England, including exiling those who did not attend church regularly, the core idea of separation of church and state was in the minds of the people. In order to have a country that values the freedom of religion, the church has to be out of any government policy. Any laws that are created around a single church’s faith, even if the majority of the population believes in them, threaten the freedoms of all other denominations. Ame...
As the Roman Catholic Church began its restructuring, Parliament passed a proviso that enabled them to control the public acts of Catholics. According to Bowen the proviso banned Roman Catholics from:
People believed that Queen Elizabeth would restore the protestant faith after her sister, Mary destroyed it by persecuting all protestant people. The queen wished to follow this request, as she had grown up protestant and was raised to stay true to the lord. Although, she was dedicated to reestablishing her own beliefs, Elizabeth decided it was best to let Catholicism die out naturally rather than getting involved with the head of the church. Eventually, she succeeded, the majority of England’s population turned to Protestantism leaving very few Catholics. Despite the fact that Elizabeth wanted all of England to become followers of the protestant religion, she was extremely tolerant of all faiths and thought nobody deserved to be persecuted unless they were disturbing England’s peace. Queen Elizabeth I proclaimed the following, "There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith" she exclaimed later in her reign, "all else is a dispute over trifles." She believed that as long as her fellow citizens followed the laws of the lord, they were allowed to practice whatever belief felt right to them. Elizabeth did not want the church to become a place of violence and disagreement, instead she ensured the church was welcoming to both Catholics and Protestants. People were willing to agree with the queen’s beliefs because she recognized that she was not a perfect protestant; however, Elizabeth prayed everyday hoping she would become a better follower of God. She shared her personal experiences with others, proving to them that she too was a normal person and made mistakes often. Overall, Queen Elizabeth I shaped the face of religion for England by allowing the people to follow the faith of their choosing and reestablishing Protestant
Henry, one of the most well known kings of England, is best remembered for breaking with the Church of Rome, Roman Catholicism. There were many reasons behind the reformation in England, but perhaps the most prominent of these had to do with Katharina, the Spanish princess turned English Queen. Though Katharina of Aragon lived a hard life, from the death of her children, to a public divorce, she cared for the people that she reigned over, and stayed in their hearts long after she was exiled.
Like her father Elizabeth took England into a different direction. She would be attributed for many advancements in the English kingdom. Under Elizabeth Arts flourished, exploration heightened, literature increased, and foreign trade succeeded. Elizabeth like her grandfather won the hearts of her subjects. Perhaps one of the more outstanding accomplishments in Elizabeth’s reign is peace. Although she was raised Protestant, unlike her brother she did not condemn and punish Catholics. She took a more peaceful approached and tried to bridge a barrier amongst Protestant and Catholics that allowed them to live in peace. Elizabeth may have had many intelligent advisors, but she did not allow herself to be dominated and repressed. Equally intelligent, Elizabeth was able to further support the suffering of her kingdom. She failed to supply proper income to fund her wars, but she was able to sustain the wealth within her own kingdom. This alone made Elizabeth the final Tudor, a successful
Elizabeth II was the first child and was born in her grandfather’s house and was baptized at Bingham Palace on May 29. Elizabeth II holds the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England at the denomination of the Episcopalian faith. She is also a member in the Church of Scotland-a Presbyterian denomination, conflicts to a degree. Anglican denomination that goes back to Protestantism that came after the 16th century reformation. Catholicism emerged into two reforms, after the crowning of her mother Queen Elizabeth I Anglicanism finally came together. Anglicanism prominences on reason, Scripture, and simple religious devotion in contrary to Presbyterian that is broken into two parts: a pattern of religious thought and “government”.
After Elizabeth took the throne and became the ruling monarch of England she wanted to relieve the tension between the Protestants and the Catholics. Elizabeth decided on a compromise between the two religions, one that would have characteristics of both, this new religion was called Anglicanism. The factors that caused Elizabeth to make this decision were her personal religious preferences, the views of the Marian Bishops and the opinions given to her by the parliament. However this compromise did have consequences. These include the dissatisfaction from both Protestants and Catholics, The Vestiarian Controversy and the Catholic opposition the settlement.
Elizabeth quickly consolidated power and returned the country to Protestantism, passing the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, although by Reformation standards Catholics fared well under these acts. Wi...
...tism because she had made a stand for it by starting the English Protestant Church, she wished to keep peace in England, and also most likely because she had been greatly influenced by many Protestants in her youth. So once again, even though the English Reformation did not have any great reformers, it still managed to succeed due to the hard work of Thomas Cranmer, and the support of many rulers during the English Reformation.
Protestantism, an equal belief during that time, was persecuted and people were executed as heretics. The belief was originated from the ideas of theologians starting in the 12th century, yet these ideas were a subject to maltreatment by the Roman Catholic Church, and so was kept isolated up to the 16th century. The citizens fled for safety and freedom to Protestant states in Europe. However, all this changed on the death of Mary and the assent to Elizabeth I in 1558. Elizabeth had been educated as a Protestant and she reversed the religious changes of Mary, sweeping aside Roman Catholicism. Elizabeth was devoted to her faith in Protestantism and followed the aspects of it, even at times of dislike until the end of her
This sparked the counter-reformation. The Catholic Leaders wanted to revive religious piety and disallow clergy to marry. These new orders were intended to reconvert Catholics who had become Protestant. With this, they gave greater power to the Inquisition, and ability to ban certain books. This was established in 1557, and not abolished until 1966 with Vatican II. The central doctrines of Protestantism were condemned by The Council of Trent. With this, the schism between Protestant and Catholics remained