Subject: History

Year: 10—Lesson 2

How successful was Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement?

There was broad support for the new Settlement and very few refused to take the oath of loyalty to the queen. Elizabeth’s tolerant approach seemed to have worked on the whole. It was not enforced too rigidly. In the early years of the reign there was very little persecution of those who refused to convert to the Protestant faith. Even though the bishops appointed by Mary I except one resigned rather than conform to the new settlement; this allowed Elizabeth to bring in a new bench of Protestant Bishops led by Matthew Parker who was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Many priests from Mary’s reign conformed to the Settlement (only some 200 were officially dismissed). Across most of the country the settlement was accepted and faced little resistance.

There was however resistance to the new reforms by more extreme Protestants called Puritans who believed the religious changes did not go far enough and were still too Catholic in nature. Meanwhile, strict Catholics felt the changes were too extreme and attacked their faith that they had practiced under the reign of Mary I.

Early Catholic Opposition

Those in the nobility who were Catholic had to make one of two choices. Either accept the religious settlement and continue to practice their faith in secret or leave the country. Several noble families chose exile and left the country to live aboard. Those Catholic families in the nobility who stayed became recusants—refusing to attend churches services. In 1566 the Pope issued instructions that Catholics should not attend Church of England services thereby encouraging this behaviour.

Elizabeth passed various laws to prevent this behaviour (see below)

Although Elizabeth had the power to severely punish recusants she was careful not to do so too readily. She was aware that doing so could create martyrs and lead to more resistance to her religious acts. It could also provoke an attack from foreign Catholic countries like Spain and France.

Task 1: Write down 3 ways that Elizabeth enforced her religious settlement.

Task 2: Find 3 pieces of evidence that suggest Elizabeth’s religious settlement was successful.

Task 3: What is a recusant?

Task 4: How did Elizabeth punish recusants?

Task 5: Look at the interpretation by B. Mervyn. What does it suggest about the settlement?

Act What it was

1559 - Act of Uniformity Those who refused to attend Church of England services (recusants) were forced to pay a fine of a shilling a week for not attending church on Sundays or holy days.

1581 - Act to retain the Queen’s subjects in their due obedience

Catholics who were still refusing to attend services in the Protestant Church were forced to pay an even bigger fine of £20 per month, the equivalent of thousands of pounds in today’s money. In addition, anyone found to have persuaded someone to convert to Catholicism was guilty of treason and could be put to death.

Catholic Opposition after 1570

In 1570 the Pope issued a Papal Bull of Excommunication against Elizabeth and actively encouraged Catholics to go against her. This led to a series of plots against Elizabeth where the objective was to replace Elizabeth with her Catholic cousin—Mary Queen of Scots. These plots were supported by Catholic nobles mostly in the north of England who were angered by Elizabeth’s favoritism of Protestant nobility/gentry in the south. None of these plots were successful but they showed how Catholic opposition remained a threat to the queens throne.

Puritan Opposition

Puritans were strict Protestants who wanted to ‘purify’ the Church and get rid of all traces of the Catholic faith.

Many had fled abroad when Mary I, a Catholic, was queen, but had started to return when Elizabeth, a

Protestant, came to the throne. Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement meant that the country was now officially

Protestant, but allowed some traditions of Catholic worship. At first many Puritans seemed to accept the

Settlement, but they soon started organising campaigns to make it more Protestant.

How did they oppose the Religious Settlement?

They raised their points in Parliament, but did not on the whole get involved in plots to overthrow Elizabeth or

destabilise the country and were therefore seen as less of a threat than the Catholics.

Some of Elizabeth's most trusted Privy Councillors and Members of Parliament, notably Robert Dudley, Earl of

Leicester and Sir Francis Walsingham, were Puritans and tried to pressure her into taking harsher steps against

Catholics.

Even if they weren't a great threat, Elizabeth still did not welcome the Puritans' challenge to her authority. The

two main forms of opposition they showed were focused on the use of the crucifix and vestments in churches.

Vestments are the clothing that Priests wear in the Protestant and Catholic Churches when celebrating the

church service. Part of the vestment is the surplice, which is a white robe worn over the top of a cassock.

Puritan priests rejected the surplice as it was used by Catholics. This became a problem as the Act of Uniformity had made it the law for priests to wear one.

At first Elizabeth had ignored this fact that Puritan priests were ignoring the law,

however, this changed in 1565. Elizabeth ordered the Archbishop of Canterbury to

make sure that surplices were being worn properly. Any refusal meant the loss of

jobs or being arrested.

To Elizabethan Puritans, crucifixes represented idols. Elizabeth, however, liked them and wanted churches to keep their familiar look and feel. This was an important part of her religious settlement because she didn’t want to anger her Catholic subjects by changing too much too fast. She therefore demanded that each church should display a crucifix. Some Puritan bishops threatened to resign.

Elizabeth backed down, she was unable to enforce her will in this instance as she could not afford to ignore their concerns as there were not enough able Protestant clergymen to take the place of any bishop who were dismissed.

Task 6: What was a puritan?

Task 7: How did Puritans oppose the religious settlement?

Task 8: Which threat was the most dangerous, the Catholics or Protestants. Explain why.

Task 9: Make a list of the ways in which Elizabeth dealt with opposition to her religious reforms.

Task 10: Look at the statements below and identify if they are true or false.

i. Puritans were happy with the religious settlement

ii. It was mostly the priests who rebelled against it

iii. Puritans didn’t want music to be played in Church

iv. The crucifix is an image of the cross

v. Elizabeth didn’t back down over the crucifix challenge.

vi. Most priests gave in over vestments.

Exam Practice: Describe two features of Puritan Opposition to Elizabeth’s religious settlement (4)

Paragraph 1: One feature was…(develop your description with some supporting detail)

Paragraph 2: Another feature was…(develop your description with some supporting detail)

Video Links :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xcmgz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tD3KvqCc8g

Web links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_Religious_Settlement