To what extent was the Elizabethan Church Settlement of 1559 - 66 motivated more by political considerations rather than religious?

To what extent was the Elizabethan Church Settlement of 1559 – 66 motivated more by political considerations rather than religious?

Upon her accession in 1558, Elizabeth inherited a nation that had suffered religious instability between Protestantism and Catholicism for many years. Wanting to get rid of the uncertainty of the three previous reigns, under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, she introduced a religious settlement in 1559 which formed the foundations of the Church of England, passing four Acts relating to religion. However, it was unclear what Elizabeth really wanted or what her motives were in establishing this settlement. Was Elizabeth intending to sort this out by political means, or was religion the major focus in her mind? In this essay, I will be approaching a conclusion too see the principles of this Church Settlement between 1559 - 66 and whether it was owing to political or religious factors.

One undeniable factor that made the Church Settlement motivated by political considerations was that it had to be enacted through Parliament. Parliament consisted of two bodies, the House of Commons and Lords; their profession was to pass laws which placed the Religious Settlement into practice and made sure it was done through their call. Elizabeth found it difficult to pass her first settlement through Parliament, in which the Bill of Supremacy confirmed her as Supreme Head of the Church and two Bills of Uniformity which re-adopted Edward VI’s radical prayer book of 1552. Although it was easily accepted through the Commons, both bills were rejected by the House of Lords; they opposed the book which contained Zwingli’s ideas such as the bread held in transubstantiation was just bread and there was nothing special about its presence, referring to the body of Christ. They prevented the title of ‘Head’ of the Church as they believed it to be of the Popes domain and that it was wrong for a woman to be given such authority over the kingdom. The House of Lord was seriously dominated by the Catholic view due to the higher nobility and Bishops of the Marian Church, so Elizabeth had to establish the settlement and work her way around it politically.

Following that, she was motivated by the political control over the Church Settlement. Eventually accepted by the Lords was the Act of Supremacy which confirmed her as Supreme Governor; an oath had to be taken by clergy’s and royal officials accepting the Governor and making sure that no foreign power, such as the prelate, ought to have authority as her Majesty. Though it showed signs of weakness, this control helped Elizabeth show who was boss and that she could impose Acts. Financial aspects of the settlement helped her control the Crown after the deep economic crisis Mary I had left for England. The First Fruits and Tenths Act of 1559 allowed Elizabeth much needed revenue without increasing taxes on the laity. The Act of Exchange also passed in 1559 gave Elizabeth the right to take over the property once held by bishops. It also stopped them from renting out land lasting more than twenty one years. This Act helped take away considerable wealth from the Church and ensured that the bishops followed Elizabeth’s wishes in religion. So this shows how she tried to establish the state off the country by political control.

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It was essential to keep the peace in England with this control, and this was another factor motivated by politics. Elizabeth was aware of the instability of England and that the quarrels over religion would lead to political division making Catholic threat from home and abroad easier and expected. So in order to keep the balance between Protestantism and Catholicism, Elizabeth introduced the Act of Uniformity; the Book of Common Prayer of 1552 was brought back with modification to the communion service. This was a deliberate fudge to allow and satisfy both Protestant and Catholic beliefs, although it infuriated the extremes of both sides. There was also an order that Church ornamentation be as laid down in the 1549 Prayer Book which pleased the majority of Catholics and made it look like that Elizabeth chose their faith as equally compared to Protestantism. The Black Rubric was completely removed in the Royal Junctions of 1559 which forbade kneeling at communion service. The arguments rose about ideas of transubstantiation and that it was just simple respect – altogether it was out of the settlement to provide stability in Elizabeth’s realm. Peace abroad was a consideration as Elizabeth would end up upsetting ally Catholic Spain and the Papacy. She retained the Catholic hierarchal system in which the Church would be governed by bishops. However, her attempts to place the Marian Bishops back in their office proved rather difficult after their refusal to the oath from the Act of Supremacy. She would eventually turn into Protestant persuasion but this shows that they were second choice and that her first choice reveals that she was more interested in presenting religious continuity than full blown Protestantism. This was a compromise which would clearly aim towards Protestantism, but in order for Elizabeth to keep the peace at home and abroad she would have to make it seem as though it was Catholic and then slowly draw them into Protestantism.

However, there is the argument that the Church Settlement was motivated by religion as well. Perhaps the most important consideration to Elizabeth in creating the settlement was that it conformed to her personal, religious views. Sources shows that in March 1559, Elizabeth told her Spanish Ambassador, Feria that she would ‘resolve to restore religion as her father had left it’. But this proves to intervene with Elizabeth’s upbringing as a Protestant and being governed and tutored by Protestants such as Roger Ascham. Contemporaries such as John Foxe believed that she pushed through a more Protestant religious settlement against the opposition of the Catholics; she allegedly stormed out of her chapel following Bishop Oglethorpe’s Elevation of the Host on Christmas Day 1558, preferred to have the Bible translated into English and was regarded as an example of piety during Edward VI’s reign rather than a heretic as was the case during Mary’s reign. The Protestant nature of this settlement on the other hand proved to be suspect still as Elizabeth kept a crosses and candles in her chapel which was allowed due to the Act of Uniformity, retained services of Thomas Tallis as a chapel organist, disliked long sermons and especially clerical marriage which was a Protestant belief. R.E. Foster stated the Queen’s religion had ranged from her being a crypto-Catholic on the one hand to a convinced Protestant on the other. But many historians conclude that a Protestant settlement was inevitable as Stephen Alford suggests that she was a mild Protestant but not to radical to risk the (religious) peace of the country. But the fudge between the faiths showed that Elizabeth wanted to come down to a conclusion, therefore the settlement can be regarded as a religious factor.

Following on her religious beliefs are the fact that her closest advisors were Protestants. Among these were Grindal (Bishop of London), Cox (Ely), Jewel (Salisbury), Sandys (Worcester) and Young (Archbishop of York). Above all of importance was Sir William Cecil who is described as a more moderate and devout Protestant. According to Feria, Cecil was the key figure, ‘the man who does everything’ and proved to be important and trustworthy to Elizabeth. All stages of the bills for supremacy and uniformity were managed by Cecil as well as drawing up the Injunctions of 1559 which established a Protestant settlement with elements of continuity with the Catholic beliefs. Although there is no hard evidence on what role the council played in the settlement, you could argue that Protestant calling was persuaded on the Queen, perhaps by Cecil and the rest of the Council. Perhaps what was more significant and attacked Catholic beliefs was The Thirty Nine Articles of 1563, based on (the Protestant) Cranmer’s Forty Two Articles of 1552. This was a more clear order of Protestant beliefs which forbid the signs of the cross, marriage rings and the kneeling at communion. Perhaps Elizabeth was secure by 1563 in enforcing the Articles and deleted all fudges completely from the previous Acts. Importantly, it would have been backed up by the majority of the Protestant population, especially the Privy Council.

After going through the major principles of the Church Settlement, I conclude that it was motivated more by politics than religion. Even though Elizabeth had mild Protestant beliefs and upbringing, the political factors of gaining control of her kingdom and beliefs as well as securing her position on the throne was much important to her. The settlement could be regarded as ‘Erastian’, with the state controlling both political and religious life. She was England’s Supreme Governor without the interference of the Pope. Establishing the Acts of religious beliefs needed Parliaments permission as Elizabeth found out by struggling to enforce her first settlement. She used politics as a way to guarantee peace for a while between Protestants and Catholics, the term known as the Via Media, or the Middle Way in which Elizabeth tried to make some sort of compromise in the Settlement. However, this was impossible to carry out, as it confused and created chaos among the people. William Cecil had assured that ‘the state could never be in safety, where there was toleration of the two religions’. This could have made both sides, especially the radicals, do what they wished was right and Elizabeth couldn’t bear without the drive for Uniformity. Even though politics is important, you couldn’t ignore the religious factors of the Church Settlement. Due to Elizabeth’s character she was unable to completely ignore the past Catholic beliefs and therefore retained the hierarchal system. But the doctrine of the Church was aimed to a more Protestant direction, especially by the end of 1563. Stephen Alford argues that Elizabeth could have made life easier on her accession if she continued the Catholic policies of Mary I. There would be no fear of Catholic threat from ally Spain and the Pope. Also, the majority of England was Catholic at the time in 1558 so it would have pleased them and made Elizabeth more welcome to the throne. But due to her Protestant beliefs, as already mentioned, she chose to go through this path and slowly enforce it on her people with some Catholic traditions, which proved to be fudge. Revisionists such as Christopher Haigh argue altogether that the Church Settlement made no coherent sense and had very little settled anything. I agree with this statement as the settlements purpose supposedly was to establish religious beliefs, but this was overcome with Elizabeth’s own political needs at the forefront of her mind. The Act of Supremacy and Uniformity didn’t create a balance or unity of religious beliefs, as Elizabeth may have though it would; instead it created disorder and confusion. The Thirty Nine Articles then orders Protestant beliefs, so the purpose of the previous Acts was of no use. Perhaps Elizabeth secretly intended to follow the flow and slowly enforce Protestantism when she was more secure on the throne. Or maybe this was pushed upon her due to the difficult circumstances. The answers are anonymous and I believe that politics is the major factor in establishing the Church Settlement.

(1871 words)