Assess the claim that James and Charles were mainly responsible for religious divisions in the country during the period from 1603-1629

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Assess the claim that James and Charles were mainly responsible for religious divisions in the country during the period from 1603-1629

There were many religious divisions within England before James and Charles even came to power. Mary was a Catholic and hence wanted her country to follow suit, yet when her sister Elizabeth came to power, the church became protestant again, therefore the foundations for religious unsettlement was already there. However, many of the actions James and Charles did whilst in power made this religious gap even larger.

James was a protestant and this pleased the mainly protestant England, as many thought he would be Catholic, much like his mother. However, the Catholics felt that as his mother was a Catholic, he would be sympathetic toward their religion and agree to let them have their services, as Elizabeth had denied whilst in power. At first, James was happy to agree to this as he aimed to appease the Catholics yet soon he was losing money from not fining Catholic services and hence re-installed the injunction against Catholic masses and those who were caught were fined.

This angered the Catholics as they had thought James would