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The 1604Book of Common Prayer,[note 1] often called theJacobean prayer book or theHampton Court Book,[2] is the fourth version of theBook of Common Prayer as used by theChurch of England. It was introduced during the early English reign ofJames I as a product of theHampton Court Conference, a summit betweenepiscopalian,Puritan, andPresbyterian factions. A modest revision of the1559 prayer book,[3] the Jacobean prayer book became the basis of the1662Book of Common Prayer, a still-authorizedliturgical book within the Church of England and globalAnglicanism.
TheBook of Common Prayer had been introduced as the primaryliturgical book of theChurch of England post-English Reformation, replacing multiple medievalCatholic texts with vernacular and reformed rites. The1549 and1552 prayer books–the latter more reformed than the former–were both largely the work ofThomas Cranmer, theArchbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer, at the behest ofEdward VI, had produced theEdwardine Ordinals which were increasingly associated with the prayer book and often bound in with the text.[4]
Following the death ofMary I, who had briefly reintroduced Catholic practices and service books in the Church of England,Elizabeth I assumed the throne and restored the reformed liturgy according to the 1552 model with the1559 prayer book. Elizabeth I was contending with pressures from Protestantnonconformists, Catholicrecusants, and debates such as theVestarian Controversy within her church. These strains resulted in theElizabethan Religious Settlement and the Church of England seeking to strike avia media between Protestant and Catholic influences.[5]
The Calvinistic worship in Scotland whenJames VI sat on the Scottish throne was theBook of Common Order, in conformity toJohn Knox'sGenevan Form of Prayers. According to a rumour in Scotland,Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine had unsuccessfully attempted to convinceMary, Queen of Scots–James's Catholic mother and thecardinal's niece–to adopt the Elizabethan English prayer book. This was poorly received by the staunchScottish Reformers, who viewed it as little better than Catholic practice. The young King James VI was gifted an English prayer book byAdam Bothwell and copies were sold in JacobeanEdinburgh. However, James opposed the "evilmass said in English" and some Puritans were trying remove even the CalvinistBook of Common Order from public worship. In hisBasilikon Doron, James implicitly supported thevia media approach.[6]: 19–21, 27–30
The "godly" Puritans of England, sensing an opportunity for an ally when James VI succeeded Elizabeth on the English throne in 1603 as James I, sought for the new Scottish-born king to bring this pattern of worship with him. Some of this party delivered theMillenary Petition to him while he was travelling from Edinburgh to London. In response, James calleda conference atHampton Court.[7]
Among the personal statements given by the king were his thoughts onbaptism. James stated he "utterly disliked"lay baptisms, a practice not unheard of in the decades since the English Reformation. Among those who were recorded as administering lay private baptisms weremidwives who feared that a child might die prior to a parish baptism. When the subject of women performing baptisms was raised, James asserted that an ape was a just as able to baptize as women. As such, within the Jacobean prayer book the act of private baptism was regulated, mandating that only a parish minister or "other lawful Minister" could legally perform them, thereby prohibiting all lay baptisms, including those by women.[8]
At the conference, the king announced he "would have one Doctrine and one discipline, one Religion in substance, and in ceremony" and threatened those who would not accept the prayer book that was to be produced as result of the conference.[9] The new prayer book was the 1559 prayer book with the minor changes discussed at the conference and authorized by the king.[10] While James was particularly insistent on conformity to the rubrical and vestry requirements of the new prayer book, the degree of enforcement was largely based on demanding ministers promise to consider these mandates.[7] However, the enforcement of this new prayer book did result in the deprivation of 80 ministers of theirbenefices.[10]
The extended catechism in the new prayer book negated further provisions for additional instructional document. Further, private devotions likeprimers no longer required royal initiative. However, a new set ofcanon law was reviewed. Enacted in March 1604, these canons consolidated earlier Elizabethan directives and were applied to use of the newly approved prayer book.[11]
The reaction to the 1604 prayer book from the Puritan party was sharply critical of the newly authorized liturgy, rejecting bothbaptismal regeneration and kneeling to receive Communion. These dissenters would distribute pamphlets detailing their disapproval of the prayer book.[7] The ministers in theDiocese of Lincoln issued a petition in 1605 that extensively quotedReformed divines in opposition to the new prayer book. In 1606, the anonymousSurvey of the Book of Common Prayer addressed inconsistencies within the various editions of the prayer book and advocated for the adoption of Scotland'sBook of Common Order to unify James's kingdom.[12]
In Scotland, some accepted the prayer book as an element of union with the English under a shared monarch; Scottishordinations were according the prayer book and, from 1617, it was used daily in theChapel Royal atStirling Castle.[6]: 40
William Laud and proponents of hisLaudianism school ofritualism andArminianism were ascendant through the 1620s and 1630s. However, Laud's efforts to introduce his 1637 revised prayer book amplified opposition to Anglican liturgy in Scotland; the Church of Scotlandsynod abolished both the episcopacy and the prayer book in 1638. Laud's policies in England were also drawing growing Puritan opposition with theLong Parliament spending 1640 and 1641 directly criticizing Laudian practice.[10]
On 13 March 1645, the Puritan Parliament passed legislation that made using the prayer book a penal offence.[13] A single English-language printing of the 1604 prayer book would occur that year, alongside the first Dutch printing. The 1604 prayer book would not be printed again until 1659.[13] During this period, Parliament replaced the prayer book with theDirectory of Public Worship.[14]
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The 1604 prayer book was only a subtle revision relative to other editions of theBook of Common Prayer. Within the offices and liturgies, some minor changes were made. The Prayer for the Royal Family was inserted at the end of thelitany, extending the already-long Divine Service, as were six prayers of thanksgiving.[15] The lessons from theApocrypha were removed. A subtitle of "or Remission of sins" was added to the title of the Absolution; similarly, "Or laying on of hands" was added to the title ofConfirmation.[16] As authorized at Hampton Court, the requirement that baptisms be performed by lawful ministers was included.[8] The new final section of the catechism was penned byJohn Overall, then theDean of St Paul's.[15]
The 1604 prayer book is typically assessed as a "minor" revision of the 1559 prayer book, born primarily in reaction to Puritanism. This view is shared by Anglican liturgical historiansGeoffrey Cuming andBrian Cummings.[17] The doctrinal tensions that spurred the 1604 prayer book's creation have been identified as themes inplays byWilliam Shakespeare, particularlyMacbeth.[18]
The 1604 prayer book would be the first edition of theBook of Common Prayer translated intoManx (1610), Spanish (1623), andAncient Greek (1638). A French printing was published in London in 1616 for use on theChannel Islands.[19] The first printing of the 1604 prayer book following the Puritan prohibition in 1645 was withinHamon L'Estrange's 1659The alliance of divine offices, a comparative volume.[20]
With theStuart Restoration, the prayer book was restored as the Church of England's liturgy. The new administration broadly supported simply reprinting the 1604 prayer book, but both Laudians and Presbyterians successfully lobbied for revision.[21] A 1619 printing of the Jacobean prayer book would be annotated with amendments byJohn Cosin, creating what is known as the Durham Book.William Sancroft added these changes to a 1634 copy of the 1604 prayer book, creating what is known as the Fair Copy. TheConvocation, encouraged by the 1661Savoy Conference to adopt a revised prayer book, accepted these changes with a modified 1636 copy, known as the Convocation Book.[22][23][24] The adopted version of what became the1662Book of Common Prayer notably reintroduced the "Black Rubric".
