1. AQA A Level History Unit 1C: The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
Elizabeth I at prayer (c.1569)
Click to play Thomas Tallis, Salvator Mundi (1575)
The Elizabethan Church Settlement,

2. The aim of this lesson is to answer these questions:
What factors shaped the Elizabethan Church settlement?
What shape did the Elizabethan Church settlement take in its liturgy and beliefs?

3. Which of the following statements is/are true?
(a) Henry VIII made the English church into a Protestant church (b) Somerset and Northumberland both made radical changes to the Church of England (c) Protestants believed there was no change in the bread and wine during the Mass (d) When Elizabeth succeeded Mary, this made her into the Head of the Church

4. Protestant or Catholic?
(a) Believe in Purgatory (b) Do not believe in Purgatory
(a) Mass/Bible in Latin (b) Services/Bible in English
(a) Against Elevation of the Host (b) Support Elevation of the Host
Support Communion in Both Kinds (b) Against Communion in Both Kinds
(a) Plain churches (b) Ornate churches (including stained glass, statues and altars)
(a) Pope is Head of the church (b) Monarch is Head of the Church
(a) Monks and nuns have an important place (b) Monks and nuns not important
(a) Reject transubstantiation (b) Believe in transubstantiation
(a) Clergy able to get married (b) Celibate clergy
(a) Simple vestments worn by clergy (b) Richly coloured and decorated vestments worn by clergy

5. What does this statement by Elizabeth tell us about her attitude to religion?
“I do not wish to make windows into men’s souls.”

6. Elizabeth’s religious views
Use Ferriby pp to answer the questions: What were Elizabeth’s religious views?

7. Elizabeth’s religious views
Her mother and tutors (e.g. Roger Ascham) were reformers.
She was a moderate Protestant who liked some aspects of Catholicism (e.g. church music, celibacy of priests).
Preventing religious conflict was more important to Elizabeth than imposing her own beliefs on the country.

8. Domestic and foreign influences
Elizabeth’s relationship with her subjects and with foreign powers both had an impact on her religious settlement.
In pairs:
One of you will look at “influences at home” and one will look at “influences abroad” (Ferriby p.157).
Explain to each other how domestic/foreign factors influenced the settlement.
Together, produce two lists: one for domestic and one for foreign influences
(tip: there’s some overlap in the book!)

9. Domestic influences
Widespread religious conservatism (apart from London and s.east).
Catholics in House of Lords refused to pass first settlement bill, objecting to
Woman as Head of Church
Reintroduction of (modified) 1552 Prayer Book
Easter 1559: two Catholic bishops were arrested for treason, giving Elizabeth’s supporters a majority of one in the House of Lords.
Marian exiles – English Protestants returning from Europe, where they’d been influenced by Calvinism and Zwinglianism – wanted a radical settlement.

10. Foreign influences
Auld alliance – Catholic Mary Queen of Scots married to son of Catholic King of France; Scotland ruled by Catholic regent (Mary’s mother, Mary of Guise).
Philip II of Spain – needed as ally against French.
Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis (April 1559) – ended Habsburg-Valois Wars, and England’s war with France.

11. Elizabeth’s choices
The options open to Elizabeth focused on the new church’s beliefs and how church services were to be conducted.
An “Anglo Catholic” church: similar in belief and practice to the Catholic church, but without the Pope as its Head (Henry’s 1539 church).
A moderate Protestant church (similar to Somerset’s 1549 church).
A radical Protestant church (similar to Northumberland’s 1552 church).
Taking into account domestic and foreign considerations, which would you advise Elizabeth to choose?

12. Elizabeth’s religious settlement, 1559: the via media
Act of Supremacy: made Elizabeth Head of the Church (otherwise structure remains same).
Act of Uniformity: re-introduced Protestant Prayer Book and practices.
Injunctions: royal orders, making churches Protestant again.

13. Use Ferriby pp.158-160 to create a mindmap of the Elizabethan Church settlement.
Act of Supremacy, 1559
39 Articles, 1563
Organisation of church
The Elizabethan Church Settlement
Act of Exchange, 1559
Act of Uniformity, 1559
1559 Prayer Book
Royal injunctions, 1559
Extension activity: add any other relevant information from Tillbrook pp

14. Act of Supremacy, 1559
Made Elizabeth Supreme Governor, not Supreme Head – same thing but more acceptable to religious conservatives, radical reformers and misogynists.
Clergy had to take Oath of Supremacy.
Commissioners were sent out to enforce religious conformity.
Court of High Commission was established to prosecute dissenters.

15. Organisation of the Church
Except for the monarch becoming its Hear, the Church hierarchy remained the same.
Not like European Protestant churches, some of which were run by a council of elders (Presbyterianism) instead of bishops, or by local congregations.
Remained Erastian (state has authority over the church).

16. Act of Uniformity, 1559
Set out moderate Protestant rules for Church practice and introduced a new Book of Common Prayer.
Returned the appearance of church and clergy to 1549 (radical Protestants thought the date was a typo!)
Made attendance at Church of England services compulsory – fine of one shilling for non-attendance.
Death penalty for priests who said Mass, heavy fine for anyone who attended.
A blind eye was usually turned to recusancy by the authorities.

17. Royal Injunctions 1559
57 instructions regulating Church practice in accordance with moderate Protestantism, e.g.
All churches to display Bible in English.
Preachers to preach at least one sermon a month or lose licence.
Pilgrimages were outlawed.
‘Things superstitious’ (meaning Catholic) to be removed from churches.
Clergy could marry (but wives had to have certificates of suitability!)

18. 1559 Prayer Book
Modified version of ultra-Protestant 1552 Book of Common Prayer
Used the 1549 and 1552 wording of the Eucharist:
“The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life, and take and eat this, in remembrance that Christ died for thee…”

19. The Black Rubric, 1552 Included in 1552 Prayer Book.
justified kneeling during the Eucharist as necessary to good order.
Removed from the 1559 Prayer Book as too Catholic.

20. Act of Exchange, 1559
Gave Elizabeth the right to confiscate bishops’ property and force them to rent land only from the Crown.
Used mainly to control bishops who criticised the Church settlement.

21. The Thirty Nine Articles, 1563
Definitive statement of Anglican beliefs.
Based on Cranmer’s 42 Articles (1552)
Enforced by Act of Parliament in 1571.

22. Opposition to the settlement
In December 1558, Richard Goodrich (a Protestant lawyer), published his advice to Elizabeth about how to introduce a moderate Protestant settlement.
He warned that Catholics would oppose it, and that radical Protestants would regard it as ‘a cloaked papistry or a mingle mangle’.
Which aspects of the Elizabeth Church settlement were likely to provoke Catholic opposition?
Which aspects would be opposed by radical Protestants for the reasons suggested by Goodrich?

23. Domestic reactions
c.400 clergy, including several bishops, were deprived of their livings for refusing it.
Ignored or ineffectively enforced by priests and JPs in some localities.

24. Foreign reactions
France: became embroiled in Wars of Religion (aka Huguenot Wars, ), taking her out of the game as a European superpower, leaving…
Spain: Philip II persuaded the Pope not to excommunicate Elizabeth – he hoped to marry her, or convert her to Catholicism.
Council of Trent, : Catholic leadership conference for the reconversion of Europe to Catholicism; issued strongly ant-Protestant decrees.