What was the Edwardian Reformation and how successful was it?

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What was the Edwardian Reformation and how successful was it?

When Edward VI succeeded to the English throne in 1547, it seemed almost inevitable that a sincere Protestant Reformation would follow. The death of Henry VIII had saw the consolidation of power into the hands of those inlcined towards religious reform. The Catholic stronghold had been weakened - both Gardiner and Norfolk were in disgrace and excluded from the regency council. Although the make-up of the Privy Council may have been favourable towards reform, when considering whether the reformation was a success one needs to consider how far it penetrated society. Nicholas Ridley, a reformer, complained that the Edwardian Reformation was never aything more than a political acceptance of the new religion, that had shown only external obedience. This may have been true. One needs to look at the strength of the appartus interacting with the laity, how far geographically the reformation spread and even more interestingly how much of the Edwardian reformation survived into the next reign.

From 1547-1550  Edward’s uncle, Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset whose religious opinions tended towards Protestantism, emerged as the Protectorate of the young king. It was the first time that a Protestant had near monarchial powers. From 1550-1554 the Earl of Warwick became the Lord President of the Privy Concil. He too encouraged the transformation of the Church of England into an unmistakably Protestant body. The first parliament of the reign in October 1547 witnessed the sweeping away of numerous statutes that were opppressive to the reformers. Included was Henry VIII’s harsh treason laws along with the old De Haeretico Comburendo. There was from the onset a relaxation of religious restraining laws. The Act of Six Articles, or the statute for ‘The Advancement of the True Faith’, that had advocated a reversal back to Catholic doctrine was also repealed. All restrictings on preaching, reading and teaching of the scriptures were abandoned. These first few steps alone appeared to point the Protestant towards a ‘Golden Age’, surpassing that of the Cromwellian years. Parliement from the onset seemedto be set towards a reformatio along reformed lines.  

Along with the slacking of the strait-jacket there was an influx of revolutionary statutes, all be them gradually, that were to change the face of the church and redefine the relationship that it had with the laity. Issued by Proclamation on 18 March 1548 the Order of Communion, composed by Cranmer was revolutionary. It proposed for the first time that the sacrament of the altar should be taken in both kinds, (both bread and wine) by communiants. It also made vernacular insertions into the Latin Mass. It certainly appeared that the appartus of the parliament was being used to push through an esstentially Protestant Edwardian Reformation.  The Act of Uniformity (1549) was followed by the First Common Prayer Book (June 1549). Written by Cranmer, it was an attempt to consolidate great diversity in churches. The Edwardian Reformtion’s certainly appeared to give the Archbisop the freedom to pursue reform. The title of the service, however still included ‘commonly called the mass’ the First Prayer Book was a work of compromise. Cranmer stipulated that one of the reasons for this was ‘lest the people, not having yet learned Christ, should be deterred by too extensive innovations from embracing his religion’ His hestitancy demonstrates how little those pushing through reforms knew of how successful they would be. As a result the Catholic structure of the mass was maintained, along with certain rituals. For the ordinary layman the transformations may not have been that considerable, as the structure of the service did not really alter. The only exception being that the services were to be in English. Its success may have been spurred by the threats of fines, confiscation of property and imprisonment that accompied anyone refusing to use it.

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However diversity was also apparent in regards to the religious stance of the Edwardian Reformation. It has been suggested that Cranmer, though not experiencing any true crisis, certainly began to break away from the doctrines of Lutheranism. A hybrid of ideas was circulating: Lutheranism, Zwinglism or Clavinism, to name just a few. An influx of reformed thinkers entered England at the beginning of Edward’s reign and held positions of great prominence. This diversity alone certainly weakened the Edwardian Reformation as a Protestant Reformation. Even the Catholics were known to have scoffed at the lack of unity amongst their opponents, ...

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