Elizabethan Religious Settlement (ERS)

 Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559

The Act of Supremacy (1/3)

·       Restored royal supremacy of the Church, which had been established under Henry but removed by Mary

·       The queen was the ‘supreme governor’ not the ‘supreme head’. This was a concession to the Catholics so they would find the settlement easier to accept.

·       Clergymen and church officials took an oath accepting supremacy and there were penalties for refusing.

·       The heresy law under Mary was repealed

·       Powers of royal visitation of the church were revived.

·       A new court was established- The Court of High Commission- to prosecute those who weren’t loyal. 

The Act of Uniformity (2/3)

·       Dealt with doctrine issues and specified the use of the Single Book of Common Prayer introduced by Cranmer in 1552,

·       This act tried to find some common ground between Catholics and Protestants. The book wasn’t as strong as Edwards Book of Common Prayer and the wording was deliberately vague to avoid offending Catholics or Puritans.

·       Catholics believed in consubstantiation (the bread…