Elizabeth I - Religion and Religious Ideas

Catholic Threat

• first decade - wanted to win over the English Catholics to her comprimise Church in which public Mass was forbiddon but private worship wasn`t; recusancy laws were passed to force attendance at Church however many traditional ceremonies remained
• government moved carefully against Catholics - penalities for disobedience were intentionally harsh (imprisonment, fine and loss of land), but not so severe as to create martyrs
• seemed intitially that there was litte catholic support (few priests refused the Oath of Supremacy) but regional surveys showed large Catholic support in areas such as Lancashire
• not many non-attendance finces collected and many clergy in the 1560s led worship containing traces of catholicism (i.e. using latin rather than english)
• cautious policy came from the Queen herself and she often had to silence more radical Protestants who spoke out against Catholicism
• 1563 parliament passed more strict laws agaisnt office holders such as lawyers and MPs who refused the Oath of Supremacy, with the death penalty in place if they refused a second time. also any priest caught saying the Mass would be sentenced to death - however, these laws were not fully implemented and no Catholic was executed regarding the Mass until 1577

Change in policy towards Catholics 1567-72:

• Elizabeth found it harder to sustain tolerance - a number of events at home and abroad changed the image she had of English Catholics into a threat to her survival
• 1567 - Pope ordered English Catholics to not attend Anglican Church services
• 1568 - Mary Queen of Scots arrived seeking sanctury - she represented worst scenarios of English foriegn policy including Catholic a replacement if she had no heir
• 1569 - Northern rebellion led by Earls of…