How Significant were the problems that Elizabeth bequeathed to James I

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Matthew Bradshaw

 How Significant were the problems that Elizabeth bequeathed to James I?

During Elizabeth I’s reign as queen, she revolved England in many different ways. She converted England into a protestant country from being a catholic country. The level of tolerance that she held was explicable. The citizens of England had no choice in what religion they were allowed to follow. They were either protestant or dead. Elizabeth was very true to the Anglican Church / Church of England.

Elizabeth changed everything to do with religion into the significance that she wanted. She changed the language of the services from Latin into English. In 1559, church services were taught in Latin until she changed to English. As matter of fact, she converted everything into English. Education in schools was now English. This was a masterstroke for Elizabeth because:-

  1. English was an easier language to understand for the English people as they all spoke English and Latin was a very difficult and discipline subject to understand.
  2. It also took power away from the Catholic hierarchy of the church.

Also, the dress code for the congregation and the priest had to be very formal and elegant. The churches at this point had to follow a certain church system; they would only be allowed to preach certain readings in English. Also, only certain hymns would be sung. In the parish churches, a priest would have to become a vicar. This was established in 1559. They would live in the second biggest estate, which would be right next to the manor house, which was owned by the richest land owner. The vicars had patronage. They got finance aid off the collection on Sundays in church; also they were sponsored by wealthy people in the district. Sometimes, if the vicar lived in a poor area were the people were very poor and could not give much as a donation on a Sunday in collection, the vicar would take up pluralism (a second job), such as preaching in other parishes or they would become a teacher in the local school or even become a tutor for the wealthy families.

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This was all a problem for James I even though he was a protestant himself. This was a problem because he was coming into a new country and he would only be used to the Scottish system of the church, he had to come in a learn a whole new system and also he had to make sure that he made a withdrawal of all the respect of the country as he was coming in as a foreigner.

Another problem that Elizabeth had bequeathed James I was Succession. This was a problem because since Elizabeth had never married and had ...

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