Elizibethan Religious Settlement Essay - 1952 Words

Elizabethan Religious Settlement The Elizabethan Religious Settlement was Elizabeth I’s response to the religious divisions created over the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. This response, described as The Revolution of 1559,[1] was set out in two Acts of the Parliament of England. The Act of Supremacy of 1559 re-established the Church of England’s independence from Rome, with Parliament conferring on Elizabeth the title Supreme Governor of the Church of England, while the Act of Uniformity of 1559 set out the form the English church would now take, including the establishment of the Book of Common Prayer. When Mary died in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne. One of the most important concerns during Elizabeth’s early†¦show more content†¦The queen also appointed a new Privy Council, removing many Roman Catholic counsellors by doing so. Queen Elizabeth I of England reached a moderate religious settlement which became controversial after her death. Act of Uniformity The Act of Uniformity 1558, which required the population to attend Sunday service in an Anglican church, at which a new version of the Book of Common Prayer was to be used, passed by only three votes.[5] The Bill of Uniformity was more cautious than the initial Reformation Bill. It revoked the harsh laws proposed against Roman Catholics, it removed the abuse of the Pope from the litany and kept the wording that allowed for both a subjective and objective belief in the Real Presence in the Communion. After Parliament was dismissed, Elizabeth, along with Cecil, drafted what are known as the Royal Injunctions, 1559. These were additions to the settlement and largely stressed some continuity with the Catholic past: ministers were ordered to wear the surplice; wafers, as opposed to ordinary bakers bread, were to be used as the bread at Communion. There had been opposition to the settlement in the shires, which for the most part were largely Roman Catholic, so the changes are often said t o have been made in order to allow for acceptance of the