In 1571, a year after Elizabeth’s excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, the ‘alphabet’ bills, shows how the Puritan ideology had become popular in the commons, and many members of the house were sympathetic to their ore religious beliefs. These ‘alphabet’ bills were then amended by William Strickland to the purpose of making them far more puritan than they originally were, but were vetoed by the Queen. As well as this, MP John Field set up sympathetic groups around the country, in a bid to progress reform and stir up support among the peasantry, but yet were sought out by the Justices of Peace and heralded as traitors. Cartwright’s Presbyterian lectures at Cambridge University were also of a concern, so much so that he was removed of his position at the University. We can see here the close connection between the Queens determination to defend the Church settlement and the failure of Elizabethan Puritans in their attempt at passing legislation to secure a more significant reform.
Then in 1572, the Admonition of Parliament, a Puritan manifesto, written by John Field and Thomas Wilcox, demanded that the Queen restore the ‘purity’ of the new testament worship in the Church of England and eliminate the remaining Catholic elements and practises from the Church of England. They too were deprived of their posts and the Queen and the Privy Council saw to it that they were imprisoned.
In 1575, Edmund Grindal was appointed the archbishop of Canterbury. This was a clear indication that Elizabeth was a protestant, but when the issue of Prophesyings arose she demanded that this body of critics of her established church were a threat to her royal control of the church. She wanted Grindal immediately relived of his duty, but due to the Privy Council she was satisfied with just a suspension until he submitted, he never did submit. This particular threat to Prophesyings were not even whole heartedly puritan, they were made of zealous laymen but it was the sheer disruptiveness and attacks on the royal control of the church that she found most disturbing. This shows the ferocity of her repression against anyone who did not obey her will, and much like the Catholics in the 1580s, Puritans in the 1570s were equally suppressed. The suspension of Grindal was the turning point and significant deterioration between puritans and the English church. Many of the influential’s, most notably Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, realised that passing puritan legislation was not going to happen and would always be met by impossible circumstance imposed by Parliament, Commons and Lords, her Privy Council, and the Queen.
When in 1578, Elizabeth did have a potential marriage, a pamphlet called Agitation against the Alencon marriage was circulated denouncing the marriage due to the Duke being Catholic. The author and publisher had their right hands chopped off, showing us how serious Elizabeth viewed the puritan threat. Though she was faced with surprise when the crowds did not cheer that their hands had been chopped off, a very significant sign that the public were sympathetic to their cause. So it can be argued that Elizabeth’s determination to defend her settlement was met with a certain amount of content among particular quarters.
It was the appointment of John Whitgift as Archbishop of Canterbury when Grindal died that was to be the point where Puritanism in England had it’s sharpest decline. After the three articles re-established the stance of the Church of England, subscribing every minister to the royal supremacy, the Book of Common Prayer, and the thirty-nine articles, licensing ministers it brought down the level of puritan ministers significantly. This ‘licensing’ brought in by the Queen is yet another example of how the Queen defended her settlement. It meant that every minister had to have a Masters Degree, and have their background checked, to check they were loyal to the Queen and her settlement.
However, the clearest indication of what was trying to be achieved by the Presbyterian Puritans was shown by Sir Anthony Cope and his ‘Bill and Book’. If it was passed it would have completely transformed the Elizabethan settlement. The first cause was to introduce the Genevan prayer book, and enforce a Presbyterian form of Church government. The second was to declare null and void all existing legislation relating to the Church of England. Elizabeth immediately reacted and had them imprisoned in the tower, showing she made no concessions and concluded the full authority of the church rested with the Imperial Crown. The conformists were of no significant threat, they like their title suggest, conformed to the Elizabethan settlement, the separatists were also of no significant threat, they’re ideal rested on being individual and so a unified church would be implausible. Unite and conquer was no more true in the struggle against Elizabeth’s settlement, however, there just was not enough leadership or numbers for them to unite to be able to conquer. The only real threat came from Presbyterian Puritans, and even then the threat was somewhat thwarted by Elizabeth’s determination to defend the Church settlement.
So what made the Puritan’s fail? To be realistic legislation was not the sole reason they failed. England was moving towards war with Spain during Elizabeth’s reign. By the 1580s England was at war with Spain so many Puritans rallied to defend Protestantism in England concentrating on what they agreed with the church rather than challenging it. Was it Queen Elizabeth’s determination that saw the Puritan ideology come crashing down, or the combination of her councillors determination, high ranking conservative influentials, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift and Cecil. Certainly Puritan numbers in parliament despite Neale’s arguments were only ever small and there was little support in parliament for changing the structure of the church. Failure also rested on those who had authority or influence in certain sections of society. For example, the death of Puritan supporters in government, like the Earl of Leicester. Nonetheless, Yet for the majority of Puritans there was no alternative to Elizabeth as she was all that kept them from the Catholic ‘anti-Christ’, so it was better to conform to the Elizabethan Church, despite its shortcomings, than allow divisions to rise and to give opportunities to Catholic forces. Elizabeth’s legislation played a major part in their demise as she was determined to protect the settlement. The imprisonment of Cope and Wentworth for discussing the Bill and Book in 1587, house arrest of Grindal and laws against Puritans were obvious signs of her efforts.