EI-D-'Puritan attempts to change the Church settlement of 1558-59 were utterly unsuccessful during the following three decades.' How far do you agree with this judgement?
EI-D-'Puritan attempts to change the Church settlement of 1558-59 were utterly unsuccessful during the following three decades.' How far do you agree with this judgement?
To some extent this statement is correct, the Puritans hardly had any influential effect on the religious settlement, either because of lack of support or because they're efforts were crushed by the Queen. However scratch beneath the surface and we can see that perhaps they were not the most powerful faction in government but in the localities the puritans had a tremendous influence on the laity, which as will be explained later, helps to create a receptive audience to the increasingly Protestant changes in the next three decades.
The statement is supported by the attempts from Puritans to pass legislation through parliament. For example when William Strickland amended the Alphabet Bills in 1571 to condemn kneeling at communion and the surplice. His attempts were vetoed by Elizabeth immediately. This is very typical of Puritan efforts to pass puritan ideas through parliament. They had neither the significant numbers nor powerful positions in parliament to make significant legislation be passed. Most importantly Elizabeth had the power to stop any legislation that she did not like or thought unsuitable.
The Puritan attempts to pass legislation to change the Church settlement were unsuccessful mainly because of Elizabeth's powers to stop bills that did not fit in with her view of the religious settlement. This meant that she could, with in given boundaries, pick and choose what settlement she wanted. Her powers included, firstly Elizabeth could tell parliament that she does not like what they are discussing by sending officials like Hatton to tell them. This would normally cause the lords and MPs to ignore that topic. Secondly Elizabeth could use her veto to stop bills being passed, for example the Alphabet Bills. Thirdly and most extremely Elizabeth could use imprisonment to stop extreme members of parliament, this can be shown by Anthony Cope's actions to replace the common book of prayer with a Genevan style prayer book. Cope and his supporters were subsequently sent to the tower. These powers held by Elizabeth prevented Puritans, the main example being John Field, from changing the Church settlement to their beliefs. Therefore agreeing with the statement that the puritans were unsuccessful in changing the church settlement because they were always prevented from passing the legislation they needed. This is typified by the attempts from John Field, who in 1584 onwards tried to gain more Puritan political power in parliament to change the Church settlement. His attempts included trying to get more puritan MPs elected, and a national Presbyterianism system instead of the episcopate system. However the idea had neither the political backing nor the support from the Queen, so had very little hope. This lack of influence on the Queen in parliament meant that the puritans could never pass legislation that they needed. They needed to find another way.
To some extent this statement is correct, the Puritans hardly had any influential effect on the religious settlement, either because of lack of support or because they're efforts were crushed by the Queen. However scratch beneath the surface and we can see that perhaps they were not the most powerful faction in government but in the localities the puritans had a tremendous influence on the laity, which as will be explained later, helps to create a receptive audience to the increasingly Protestant changes in the next three decades.
The statement is supported by the attempts from Puritans to pass legislation through parliament. For example when William Strickland amended the Alphabet Bills in 1571 to condemn kneeling at communion and the surplice. His attempts were vetoed by Elizabeth immediately. This is very typical of Puritan efforts to pass puritan ideas through parliament. They had neither the significant numbers nor powerful positions in parliament to make significant legislation be passed. Most importantly Elizabeth had the power to stop any legislation that she did not like or thought unsuitable.
The Puritan attempts to pass legislation to change the Church settlement were unsuccessful mainly because of Elizabeth's powers to stop bills that did not fit in with her view of the religious settlement. This meant that she could, with in given boundaries, pick and choose what settlement she wanted. Her powers included, firstly Elizabeth could tell parliament that she does not like what they are discussing by sending officials like Hatton to tell them. This would normally cause the lords and MPs to ignore that topic. Secondly Elizabeth could use her veto to stop bills being passed, for example the Alphabet Bills. Thirdly and most extremely Elizabeth could use imprisonment to stop extreme members of parliament, this can be shown by Anthony Cope's actions to replace the common book of prayer with a Genevan style prayer book. Cope and his supporters were subsequently sent to the tower. These powers held by Elizabeth prevented Puritans, the main example being John Field, from changing the Church settlement to their beliefs. Therefore agreeing with the statement that the puritans were unsuccessful in changing the church settlement because they were always prevented from passing the legislation they needed. This is typified by the attempts from John Field, who in 1584 onwards tried to gain more Puritan political power in parliament to change the Church settlement. His attempts included trying to get more puritan MPs elected, and a national Presbyterianism system instead of the episcopate system. However the idea had neither the political backing nor the support from the Queen, so had very little hope. This lack of influence on the Queen in parliament meant that the puritans could never pass legislation that they needed. They needed to find another way.
