Explain the motives behind the Elizabethan religious settlement

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Katie Taylor 12S                                                                                        April 13th, 05 Explain the motives behind the Elizabethan religious settlement                  One of Elizabeth’s first priorities having ascended the throne of England in 1558, was to reach a suitable religious settlement and thus end the religious divisions and confusions that had defined England since the Reformation. It was likely to be a Protestant settlement; both on a personal and political level. Firstly because Elizabeth herself had been raised as a protestant and secondly because she could see immense power and advantage in being head of the Church.  Therefore, though the general direction of the settlement was  easy to define, the exact form it was to take and why it took the form it did was much more complex.                                         Elizabeth had retained her divided Privy Council and this was intentionally maintained throughout the drawing up of the settlement. Cecil and Dudley in common with many of the other Councillors were convinced Protestants, but others were deeply conservative. Elizabeth’s own inclination therefore, as the head of this council was not to push religious conformity to extremes, as Mary and Edward had done before her. Provided the gentry acknowledged the establishment of the Church of England she did not wish to “make windows into men’s souls”. Matters of  religion were at the heart of the state and Elizabeth was well aware that she needed to
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minimise the possibilities of widespread discontent and revolt. She had known from an early age that her position of power was always volatile. She was female, single, regarded by many European Catholic noblemen as the illegitimate offspring of her father’s mistress, Anne Boleyn, and significantly England was still technically at war with France. Furthermore she had inherited a kingdom which was a second-rate power, strongly overshadowed by Spain and France. It was therefore obvious that in order to survive in such a hostile environment she would need to create and maintain a strong and effective government with strong uniform religious ...

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