1. An Protestant Nation? - An Introduction
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 04-05-19 11:06
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- 1. An Protestant Nation? - An Introduction
- 1. 1558-1640: key events and change over time
- a. Elizabeth
- Managing the legacy of Catholicism
- 1530s Reformation within living memory
- International threats/domestic plots against Elizabeth
- b. James I & VI
- start of Stuart dynasty
- a Scottish, Protestant king (union of England and Scotland)
- balancing puritans & Catholics
- Growth of popular politics
- c. Charles I
- smooth succession
- Anti-puritanism
- re-evaluating English Protestantism
- Laudianism
- a. Elizabeth
- 2. Historical approaches to period
- Periodization (1558-1640) used to evaluate Protestantism
- Impact of Protestantism in key areas
- Politics
- Religious beliefs and practices
- Local society
- Culture
- 3. More recent emphases in scholarship
- Challenging the inevitability of Protestantism and its transformation into the Anglicanism of the 19th Century
- Cultural approaches
- More study of popular politics and culture
- More complex understanding of religious toleration and persecution
- Challenging the inevitability of Protestantism and its transformation into the Anglicanism of the 19th Century
- 4. Historical context
- a. Henrician Reformation
- A political process
- But reforms develops a life of its own
- Key elements:
- Rejection of papal authority
- Dissolution of monasteries
- Henry's reign ends with conservative backlash.
- Not straightforward Protestantization
- b. Edwardian Reformation
- 1547-53: see MacCulloch and Marshall
- More emphatically Protestant
- Changes to church interiors
- New Book of Common Prayer (prayer and forms of church services)
- Result:
- Compliance; Catholic practices abolished, e.g. Prayers for dead
- 1547-53: see MacCulloch and Marshall
- c. Mary, 1553-1558
- Reintroduction of Catholicism
- Politics polarized by religion
- Difficult to overturn Henrician changes (e.g. papal supremacy; return of church lands)
- Popular support for many Catholic practices
- Mary tried to revive old religious practices
- Reign has divisive edge - first government to remodel local government on religious grounds
- Attempts to purge local government
- Mary not able to turn clock back
- Due to fact some of the things Henry did are impossible to reverse, like dissolution of Monasteries
- a. Henrician Reformation
- 5. Accession of Elizabeth
- How to configure royal authority over the church?
- Elizabethan settlement: ambiguous, surprisingly moderate
- Constraints on the settlement:
- International situation
- conservative religion of many, esp. aristocracy
- need to use parliament to establish authority (cf. Henry VIII)
- Elizabeth herself
- Pragmatist
- Unclear what her private religious beliefs were
- In her Chapel, she has a Crucifix (Catholic remnant) - may just be down to personal taste
- Under Protestantism, Clergy don't have to be celibate but Elizabeth prefers unmarried bishops
- Elizabeth could be very anti-Catholic
- Elizabeth follows Edward and Mary in terms of authority over Church
- Elizabethan government hindered by constraints so cannot impose some of the rigorous Protestants reforms it wants to desire
- Wished to maintain alliance with Spain so religious change would affect this
- People conservative in religion - Mary had put many people in positions of authority who were Catholics, e.g. bishops
- Aristocracy extremely Catholic
- Needs Parliament to exact some changes
- Faces opposition in House of Lords
- Key elements of Elizabeth settlement
- Act of Supremacy (royal authority)
- Act of Uniformity (church attendance)
- Religious Practices and Ideas
- Catholic church structure (episcopacy - rule by bishops)
- 39 Articles (1563), Calvinist in nature
- Book of Common Prayer (1559), retains many older ceremonies
- Rhetoric of royal authority
- Loyalty to monarch as a religious leader, facilitating access to bible and preserving 'true' religion
- Background
- Well educated, charismatic
- Had survived period of persecution
- Rode in on wave of popularity
- Some of things Mary did, like executions, didn't sit well with everyone
- Elizabeth was hoped by some bring stability
- How to configure royal authority over the church?
- Elizabethan settlement: ambiguous, surprisingly moderate
- 6. The Bible and other historical artifacts
- Henry VIII and the bible
- The title page of the 1539 'Great Bible' shows flow of authority from God, to Henry and to the English clergy and nobility
- Elizabeth and the Bible
- The 1569 Bishops' Bible
- Monarch still on front covers of expensive Bibles
- The 1569 Bishops' Bible
- A rare, surviving image for the chancel painted in the reign of Mary I
- Henry VIII and the bible
- 7. Replacing religious imagery
- Elizabethan settlement: the limits of royal authority
- 1. 1558-1640: key events and change over time
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