2. Learning Objectives To understand what the Elizabethan Church Settlement was. To understand how to answer a ‘religion’ question in the exam.

4. Although Elizabeth was a Protestant, she knew that in order to avoid divisions in England there was a need for some balance. Essentially, as long her subjects were loyal to her and outwardly followed the Protestant practices, she was happy. She herself wanted her services conducted in English, but she also liked crucifixes and candles in her private chapels. She also liked priests to wear vestments and for there to be choirs accompanying services. She also did not like her Bishops to be married. BUT, she did approve of transubstantiation or the ‘elevation of the host’.

5. Elizabeth’s religious settlement comprised of three main laws. 1. The Second Act of Supremacy of 1559. This repealed all religious legislation from Mary I’s reign. It also, most importantly, made the Crown the head of the Church as well as the land. Both Catholics and Protestants in Parliament had an issue with a woman being the Head of the Church. Elizabeth compromised by taking the title, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England instead. Penalties for refusing to take the oath of allegiance were, like in Henry VIII’s reign, death. In reality, under Elizabeth, this was only given for the third offence.

6. 2. Act of Uniformity of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacrament, 1559 These were known as the Recusancy Laws. These laws reissued the 1552 English Book of Common Prayer and set the order of prayers in a service. They also made it compulsory for people to attend church at least once a week. The fine for non-attendance was 12 pence. Which was a substantial amount for a poor person. In reality, few people were convicted of doing this. After the passage of this law, fourteen Bishops were dismissed from their posts.

7. 3. Act of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1577 This laid out the practises of the Church of England. It steered a path between various Protestant practises and some that were influenced by Catholic ideas. It was sometimes deliberately ambiguous but was designed to be as inclusive as possible. Puritans as well as Catholics were required to accept these Articles. Any deviation away from it could lead to imprisonment or execution.

8. Catholicism remained strongest in remote areas and distance from London was an advantage. In the North and Northwest, the homes of the wealthy became important centres of Catholicism. Churches appeared to provide an acceptable service whereas in reality Mass was being heard in manor houses. However, it was this very behaviour that left Catholics open to claims of disloyalty – going behind the back of the Queen. Elizabeth faced a test of her authority in 1569 when the Revolt of the Earls took place. Thomas, Earl of Northumberland and Charles, Earl of Westmoreland led this. Both men swore loyalty to Elizabeth but were Catholics. It was initially feared that the whole of the North would rise up in support and Elizabeth made it clear that she did not have full confidence in the President of the North, the Earl of Sussex, to restore the Queen’s authority. In truth, this was no slur on Sussex as the government accepted that many men were willing to join the Earls: “There are not ten gentlemen in all this country that favour her proceedings in the cause of religion.” The revolt actually threatened a lot more than it produced and an instinctive loyalty to the Queen led to its collapse. However, to Elizabeth the revolt was no more than a very painful slap in the face of the toleration she had shown to the Catholics since her accession in 1558. The cause of the rebels was not helped by a Papal Bull that was issued in 1570 that severely criticised Elizabeth as a usurper of the throne; she was referred to as “wicked” and a “heretic” in the Bull. It sanctioned the right of Catholics to “deprive her of her throne”.

9. After the issuing of the Papal Bull, Elizabeth now viewed the Catholics as a major threat. This was compounded when Jesuits started to arrive in England with the sole purpose of expanding Catholicism in the land. The tolerance that Elizabeth had shown in the early years of her reign disappeared. William Cecil, Lord Burghley, advised execution for those who refused to pay allegiance to the Queen. Cecil emphasised that their executions would be based not on their beliefs but solely on their refusal to accept Elizabeth as Queen. The state’s relationship with the Catholics in England became even more difficult with the onset of the Revolt of the Netherlands when their Spanish masters systematically persecuted Protestants in the region. With thousands of Catholic troops literally just a few hours sailing away, England went on the offensive. In 1585, now with the arch-conformist John Whitgift as Archbishop of Canterbury, an Act of Parliament ordered that all Jesuits and Catholics priests should be driven from the kingdom. Reports from spies in Spain about the impending Armada only made a campaign against the Catholics more vigorous. When the Armada came, the vast bulk of the population rallied around Elizabeth. Cecil had a simple equation – Catholicism in England equalled treason. Many agreed with him. Within the space of 30 years, Catholics who had been free to quietly worship in manor houses had become the hunted. In 1558, Elizabeth had no qualms about tolerating someone who practiced their beliefs even if they were different to hers. By the end of 1588, the Queen was unwilling to tolerate a group that threatened her very well being and title. The cause of the Catholics was not helped when Cardinal William Allen likened Elizabeth to Lucifer in his ‘Admonition to the Nobility and People of England’. Allen also referred to Elizabeth’s mother as the “infamous courtesan” and claimed that she herself was an “incestuous bastard”. From the historylearningsite.co.uk

14. Introduction – Give a brief summary of the key changes that happened in the English and Welsh Church during the Tudor period. State that you do or don’t believe that the dissolution of the monasteries was the most important. To what extent was the dissolution of the monasteries the most important of the religious changes in Wales and England in the period 1529-1588?

15. The year 1588 saw the publication of the first Welsh translation of the complete Bible, including the Apocrypha. It was the work of William Morgan, 1545-1604, a native of Penmachno, Conwy and a graduate of St. John's College, Cambridge. This folio volume was printed in black letter by the deputies of Christopher Barker, the Queen's Printer. It was intended for church rather than home use. At the time of the Acts of Union (1536 and 1542), few Welshmen or women could have foreseen the publication of a Welsh Bible before the end of the century. Several factors made this unlikely. Welsh had been denied official status and had been banned from the spheres of law and administration. Furthermore it had been decreed that the English Bible and Book of Common Prayer were to be read in every church in the land. The bardic order, the traditional guardian of the literary language, was also in decline. It was probable that the language would deteriorate into a despised collection of dialects and eventually die. The fact that it did not do so is largely due to the efforts of a group of Welsh scholars imbued with enthusiasm for the humanistic learning of the Renaissance. Most were Protestants driven by a Protestant zeal for making the Scriptures available to all. Men steeped in classical learning, they also dreamt of seeing the vernacular safeguarded and elevated to the status of a learned language. Their dictionaries, grammars, and scriptural translations, of which the 1588 Bible is the supreme example, went far to turn this dream into reality.

16. In 1563 Parliament was prevailed upon to pass an Act ordering that the Bible and Prayer Book be translated into Welsh by Saint David's Day, 1567. Although this did not come to pass, a translation of the New Testament did appear in 1567 as did a translation of the Prayer Book. Both were chiefly the work of William Salesbury, c.1520-1584? Salesbury's translations, in many respects admirable, were, nevertheless, seriously flawed by archaisms and idiosyncratic orthography. The superb complete Bible published in 1588 was the work of William Morgan who appears to have taken it upon himself to undertake the huge task in about 1578. It involved original translation as well as the adaptation of Salesbury's New Testament. Morgan translated from the Hebrew and Greek originals, consulting also the English Bishops' and Geneva versions. His volume brought the Scriptures to his largely monoglot fellow countrymen and women and touched the lives of countless thousands. Revised in 1620, it was, with some changes of orthography, the version in general use until the final years of the twentieth century. No other Welsh book has been as influential for it is also a work of immense linguistic and literary significance. The translator not only produced a version of unfailing accuracy but also skilfully moulded the classical language of the poets into the literary Welsh known to us today. In short, the book is the foundation stone on which modern Welsh literature has been based. From the National Museum of Wales

17. Why did it seem unlikely that it would happen? When was it started and finished? Who translated the initial version? Who translated the final version? What is it’s significance?

18. What were the major religious changes introduced during the reign of Edward VI? Under Somerset – Protestant reforms Cautious move towards a more Protestant position. Act of Six Articles repealed. Heresy laws repealed. Act of Supremacy 1549 – required the first use of the Book of Common Prayer (it was in English but was a direct translation of the Catholic rites and the use of the Eucharist). Protestant refugees welcomed. Priests allowed to marry. Tolerance of publication of Protestant texts. No one executed only for religion. Anti-Catholic reforms Chantries dissolved in 1547. Combined with an attack on the doctrine of purgartory. January 1548 – several traditional religious practises banned (e.g. fasting at Lent). Febraury 1548 – destruction of stained-glass windows and images of saints. No more Elevation of the Host. Under Northumberland By 1550 there were several factors that made more reform possible. E.G. No need to impress Charles V anymore as there was now peace with the French. More reforms were introduced: 1550 altars removed and replaced by Communion tables. 1552 Prayer Book enforced by the Act of Uniformity which included a Zwinglian (after Huldrych Zwingli) declaration about the Eucharist (‘Take this and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee’). 1553 – Cranmer proposed the Forty-Two Articles (although Edward died before they could be adopted). Plus, more planned attacks on the wealth of the Church (e.g. the plan to confiscate church bells and church plate).

19. The Second Act of Supremacy of 1559 Act of Uniformity of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacrament, 1559 Act of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1577