Religion in Tudor England no.2

Beginning of Edward's reign

At the start of Edward's reign the catholic faction was weak. Gardiner had been excluded from council(his bishopric was later taken in 1551)
Edward was a strong protestant
Exiled foreign protestants were arriving
Therefore there was a high expectation for a strong protestant government.

However, the privy council were split; there was an even balance of opinion amongst the bishops, and thereofre the council was undecided about reform.
Furthermore, masses wanted to keep traditional practices; only 1/5 of londoners were protestant.
Also, somerset didn't want to antagonise Charles V
Therefore, initial reforming steps were hesitant.

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Cromwell's 1538 injunctions were reintroduced, with additions; e.g they encouraged iconoclasm
Cramner's homilies were encouraged
catholic legislation, such as the Act of 6 Articles and the Kings book were repealed.
Catholic opponents like Edmund Bonner were deprived of their sees
1547: Chantries Act: 2374 chantries, 90 colleges and 110 hospitals were dissolved
The reasons were doctrinal and financial- the cash yield was arounf £16000
1549: Priests allowed to marry
1549: new prayer book (though slightly ambiguous.)
Act of Uniformity- defined only 5 sacraments, but no change to the eucharist

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Some radicals such as Bucer and Ridley called for more extreme change
As always, the effectiveness of new legislation depended on the willingness of bishops to carry out their new duties, e.g. visitations.
1550: A new ordinal, with a more radical tone
1552: Second edwardina Prayer Book.

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It was clear that she would restore Catholicm
1553: Statute of Repeal; the doctrine of the church was restored to as it had been under the 1547 articles
Mary's advisors encouraged caution in restoring Catholicm.
1554: Second Statute of Repeal;
- this ended royal supremacy and returned england to papal authority.
- parliament would not recognise her plans of a full scale restoration of the monasteries, but she did return monastic lands which totaled £60000/year.

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Heresy laws were restored; Ridley, latimer and Cramner burnt
executions hardened the opposition , which encouraged colonies of exiles in eyurope.
The amount of executions exeeded any in the continent over the same period.
Unpopularity of the Marian regime spread, local authorites tried to avoid engorcement of legislation
Pole tried to instigate an eductaional programme
'Procalmations issued by the Privy Council'- death penalty for anyone with heretical literature.

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