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TheEnglish Reformation began in16th-century England when theChurch of England broke away first from the authority of thepope and bishopsover the King and then from some doctrines and practices of theCatholic Church. These events were part of the wider EuropeanReformation: various religious and political movements that affected both the practice ofChristianity inWestern andCentral Europe and relations between church and state.
The English Reformation began as more of a political affair than a theological dispute.[note 1] In 1527Henry VIII sought an annulment of his marriage, butPope Clement VII refused. In response, theReformation Parliament (1529–1536) passed laws abolishing papal authority in England and declared Henry to behead of the Church of England. Final authority in doctrinal disputes now rested with the monarch. Though a religious traditionalist himself, Henry relied on Protestants to support and implement his religious agenda.
Ideologically, the groundwork for the subsequent Reformation was laid byRenaissance humanists who believed that theScriptures were the best source of Christiantheology and criticised religious practices that they saw as superstitious. By 1520Martin Luther's new ideas were known and debated in England, butProtestants were a religious minority andheretics under the law. However, historians have noted that activities such as thedissolution of the monasteries enriched the "Tudor kleptocracy".[1]
Thetheology andliturgy of the Church of England became markedly Protestant during the reign of Henry's sonEdward VI (r. 1547–1553) largely along lines laid down by ArchbishopThomas Cranmer. UnderMary I (r. 1553–1558),Roman Catholicism was briefly restored. TheElizabethan Religious Settlement re-established theChurch of England. Nevertheless, disputes over the structure, theology and worship of the Church of England continued for generations.
The English Reformation concluded largely during the reign ofElizabeth I (r. 1558–1603) but some scholars refer to aLong Reformation stretching into the 17th and 18th centuries. This period includes the violent disputes over religion during theStuart period, most famously theEnglish Civil War, which resulted in the rule ofOliver Cromwell, aPuritan. After theStuart Restoration and theGlorious Revolution, the Church of England remained theestablished church, but a number ofnonconformist churches now existed whose members suffered variouscivil disabilities until these were removed many years later. A substantial but dwindling minority of people from the late-16th to early-19th centuries remainedCatholics in England—their church organisation remained illegal until theRoman Catholic Relief Act 1829.
The Medieval English church was part of the largerCatholic Church led by thepope inRome. The dominant view ofsalvation in the late medieval church taught thatcontrite persons should cooperate withGod's grace towards their salvation (seesynergism) by performingcharitable acts, which wouldmerit reward in Heaven.[2] God'sgrace was ordinarily given through the sevensacraments—Baptism,Confirmation,Marriage,Holy Orders,Anointing of the Sick,Penance and theEucharist.[3] The Eucharist was celebrated during theMass, the central act of Catholic worship. In this service, apriest consecrated bread and wine to become thebody andblood of Christ throughtransubstantiation. The church taught that, in the name of the congregation, the priest offered to God the samesacrifice of Christ on the cross that providedatonement for thesins of humanity.[4][5]
The Mass was also an offering of prayer by which the living could helpsouls inpurgatory.[6] While genuine penance removed the guilt attached to sin, Catholicism taught that a penalty could remain in the case ofimperfect contrition. It was believed that most people would end their lives with these penalties unsatisfied and would have to spend "time" in purgatory. Time in purgatory could be lessened throughindulgences andprayers for the dead, which were made possible by thecommunion of saints.[7] Religiousguilds sponsored intercessory Masses for their members throughchantries.[8] Themonks andnuns who lived inmonasteries prayed for souls as well. By popular demand, "prayer for the dead dominated Catholic devotion in much of northern Europe."[9]
English Catholicism was strong and popular in the early 1500s.[10] One measure of popular engagement is financial contribution. Besides paying obligatorytithes, English people voluntarily donated large amounts of money to theirparish churches.[11]
Lollardy anticipated some Protestant teachings. Thisanticlerical movement originated from the teachings of the English theologianJohn Wycliffe (c. 1331—1384), and the Catholic Church considered itheretical. Lollards believed in theprimacy of scripture and that the Bible should be available in thevernacular languages for the benefit of thelaity. They prioritisedpreaching scripture over the sacraments and did not believe intransubstantiation. In addition, they condemned prayers for the dead and denied that confession to a priest was necessary for salvation. Lollards believed the Catholic Church was a false church, but they outwardly conformed to Catholicism to evade persecution. When Lollards gathered together, they read theWycliffite Bible, an English translation of the LatinVulgate.[12][13]
In 1401 theParliament of England passed theSuppression of Heresy Act, the first English law authorising theburning of unrepentant or reoffending heretics.[14] In reaction to Lollardy, the 1409Constitutions of Oxford prohibited vernacular Bible translations unless authorised by the bishops. This effectively became a total ban as the bishops never did authorise an official English translation. At the same time, the Bible was available in most otherEuropean languages. As literacy rates increased, a growing number of orthodox laity who could read English but not Latin resorted to reading theWycliffite Bible.[15][16][17]
Lollards were forced underground and survived as a tiny movement of peasants and artisans.[18] It "helped to create popular reception-areas for the newly importedLutheranism".[19]
SomeRenaissance humanists, such asErasmus (who lived in England for a time),John Colet andThomas More, called for a returnad fontes ("back to the sources") of Christian faith—the scriptures as understood through textual, linguistic, classical and patristic scholarship[20]—and wanted to make the Bible available in the vernacular. Humanists criticised so-calledsuperstitious practices and clerical corruption, while emphasising inward piety over religious ritual. Some of the early Protestant leaders went through a humanist phase before embracing the new movement.[21] A notable early use of the English wordreformation came in 1512, when the English bishops were called together by Henry, notionally to discuss the extirpation of the rump Lollard heresy. John Colet (then working with Erasmus on the establishment of his school) gave anotoriously confrontational sermon onRomans 12:2 ("Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in the newness of your minds") saying that the first to reform must be the bishops themselves, then the clergy, and only then the laity.[22]: 250
TheProtestant Reformation was initiated byMartin Luther, a Germanfriar. By the early 1520s, Luther's views were known and disputed in England.[23] The main plank ofLuther's theology wasjustification by faith alone rather than by faith with good works. In other words, justification is a gift from God received throughfaith.[24]
If Luther was correct, then the Mass, the sacraments, charitable acts,prayers to saints, prayers for the dead,pilgrimage, and the veneration ofrelics do not mediate divine favour. To believe otherwise would be superstition at best andidolatry at worst.[25][26] Early Protestants portrayed Catholic practices such as confession to priests,clerical celibacy, and requirements tofast and keepvows as burdensome and spiritually oppressive. Not only did purgatory lack any biblical basis according to Protestants, but the clergy were also accused of leveraging the fear of purgatory to make money from prayers and masses. The Catholics countered that justification by faith alone was a "licence to sin".[27]
The publication ofWilliam Tyndale's EnglishNew Testament in 1526 helped to spread Protestant ideas. Printed abroad and smuggled into the country, theTyndale Bible was the first English Bible to be mass-produced; there were probably 16,000 copies in England by 1536. Tyndale's translation was highly influential, forming the basis of all subsequent English translations until the 20th century.[28] An attack on traditional religion, Tyndale's translation included an epilogue explaining Luther's theology of justification by faith, and many translation choices were designed to undermine traditional Catholic teachings. Tyndale translated the Greek wordcharis asfavour rather thangrace to de-emphasise the role of grace-giving sacraments. His choice oflove rather thancharity to translateagape de-emphasised good works. When rendering the Greek verbmetanoeite into English, Tyndale usedrepent rather thando penance. The former word indicated an internal turning to God, while the latter translation supported the sacrament of confession.[29]
The Protestant ideas were popular among some parts of the English population, especially among academics and merchants with connections to continental Europe.[30] Protestant thought was better received at theUniversity of Cambridge than at theUniversity of Oxford.[21] A group of reform-minded Cambridge students (known by the moniker "Little Germany") met at the White Horse tavern from the mid-1520s. Its members includedRobert Barnes,Hugh Latimer,John Frith,Thomas Bilney,George Joye, andThomas Arthur.[31]
Those who held Protestant sympathies remained a religious minority until political events intervened.[32] As heretics in the eyes of church and state, early Protestants were persecuted. Between 1530 and 1533,Thomas Hitton (England's first Protestantmartyr), Thomas Bilney,Richard Bayfield,John Tewkesbury,James Bainham,Thomas Benet,Thomas Harding, John Frith, and Andrew Hewet were burned to death.[33]William Tracy was posthumously convicted of heresy for denying purgatory and affirming justification by faith, and his corpse was disinterred and burned.[34]
Henry VIII acceded to the English throne in 1509 at the age of 17. He made a dynastic marriage withCatherine of Aragon, the widow of his brotherArthur, in June 1509, just beforehis coronation onMidsummer's Day. Unlike his father, who was secretive and conservative, young Henry appeared the epitome of chivalry and sociability. An observant Catholic, he heard up to five masses a day (except during the hunting-season).[citation needed]
As with many of his contemporary monarchs, Henry felt his prerogatives were not recognised or were threatened by the Popes, andvice versa. In the period 1513 to 1519, he contended with PopeLeo X to remove the bishop ofTournai, the region of modern-day Belgium which Henry had then personally conquered, and developed increasinglyimperialist andabsolutist justifications.[note 2]
Henry was regarded as having a "powerful but unoriginal mind"; he let himself be influenced by his advisors, from whom he was never apart, by night or day. He was thus susceptible to whoever had his ear.[note 3]
This contributed to a state of hostility between his young contemporaries and theLord Chancellor, CardinalThomas Wolsey. As long as Wolsey had his ear, Henry's Catholicism was secure: in 1521, he had defended the Catholic Church from Martin Luther's accusations of heresy in a book he wrote—probably with considerable help from the conservativeBishop of RochesterJohn Fisher[36]—entitledTheDefence of the Seven Sacraments, for which he was awarded the title "Defender of the Faith" (Fidei Defensor) byPope Leo X.[37] (Successive English and British monarchs have retained this title to the present, even after the Anglican Church broke away from Catholicism, in part because the title was re-conferred by Parliament in 1544, after the split.) Wolsey's enemies at court included those who had been influenced byLutheran ideas,[38] among whom was attractive, charismaticAnne Boleyn.[citation needed]
Anne arrived at court in 1522 asmaid of honour to Queen Catherine, having spent some years in France being educated byQueen Claude. She was a woman of "charm, style and wit, with will and savagery which made her a match for Henry".[note 4] Anne was a distinguished French conversationalist, singer, and dancer. She was cultured and is the disputed author of several songs and poems.[39] By 1527, Henry wanted his marriage to Catherineannulled.[note 5] She had not produced a male heir who survived longer than two months, and Henry wanted a son to secure theTudor dynasty. Before Henry's father (Henry VII) acceded to the throne, England had been beset bycivil warfare over rival claims to the English crown. Henry wanted to avoid a similar uncertainty over the succession.[40] Catherine of Aragon's only surviving child wasPrincess Mary.[citation needed]
Henry claimed that this lack of a male heir was because his marriage was "blighted in the eyes of God".[41] Catherine had been hislate brother's wife, and it was thereforeagainst biblical teachings for Henry to have married her (Leviticus 20:21); a specialdispensation fromPope Julius II had been needed to allow the wedding in the first place.[42] Henry argued the marriage was never valid because the biblical prohibition was part of unbreakable divine law, and even popes could not dispense with it.[note 6] In 1527, Henry askedPope Clement VII to annul the marriage, but the Pope refused. According tocanon law, the Pope could not annul a marriage on the basis of acanonical impediment previously dispensed. Clement also feared the wrath of Catherine's nephew,Holy Roman EmperorCharles V,whose troops earlier that year had sacked Rome and briefly taken the Pope prisoner.[43]
The combination of Henry's "scruple of conscience" and his captivation by Anne Boleyn made his desire to rid himself of his queen compelling.[44] The indictment of his chancellor Cardinal Wolsey in 1529 forpraemunire (taking the authority of the papacy above the Crown) and Wolsey's subsequent death in November 1530 on his way to London to answer a charge of high treason left Henry open to both the influences of the supporters of the queen and the opposing influences of those who sanctioned the abandonment of the Roman allegiance, for whom an annulment was but an opportunity.[45]
In 1529 Henry summoned theParliament of England to deal with the annulment and other grievances against the church. The Catholic Church was a powerful institution in England with a number of privileges. The King could not tax or sue clergy in civil courts. The church could also grant fugitivessanctuary, and many areas of the law—such as family law—were controlled by the church. For centuries, kings had attempted to reduce the church's power, and the English Reformation was a continuation of this power struggle.[46]
TheReformation Parliament sat from 1529 to 1536 and brought together those who wanted reform but who disagreed what form it should take. There were common lawyers who resented the privileges of the clergy to summonlaity to theirecclesiastical courts,[47] and there were those who had been influenced by Lutheranism and were hostile to the theology of Rome. Henry's chancellor,Thomas More, successor to Wolsey, also wanted reform: he wanted new laws against heresy.[48] The lawyer and member of ParliamentThomas Cromwell saw how Parliament could be used to advance royal supremacy over the church and further Protestant beliefs.[49]
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Initially, Parliament passed minor legislation to control ecclesiastical fees,clerical pluralism, and sanctuary.[50] In the matter of the annulment, no progress seemed possible. The Pope seemed more afraid of Emperor Charles V than of Henry. Anne, Cromwell and their allies wished simply to ignore the Pope, but in October 1530 a meeting of clergy and lawyers advised that Parliament could not empower theArchbishop of Canterbury to act against the Pope's prohibition. Henry thus resolved to bully thepriests.[51]
Having first charged eight bishops and seven other clerics withpraemunire, the King decided in 1530 to proceed against the whole clergy for violating the 1392Statute of Praemunire, which forbade obedience to the Pope or any foreign ruler.[52] Henry wanted the clergy ofCanterbury province to pay £100,000 for their pardon; this was a sum equal to the Crown's annual income.[53] This was agreed by theConvocation of Canterbury on 24 January 1531. It wanted the payment spread over five years, but Henry refused. The convocation responded by withdrawing their payment altogether and demanded that Henry should fulfil certain guarantees before they would give him the money. Henry refused these conditions, agreeing only to the five-year period of payment.[54] On 7 February, Convocation was asked to agree to five articles that specified that:
In Parliament, Bishop Fisher championed Catherine and the clergy, inserting into the first article the phrase "as far as the word of God allows".[56][57][page needed] On 11 February,William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, presented the revised wording to Convocation. The clergy were to acknowledge the King to be "singular protector, supreme lord and even, so far as the law of Christ allows, supreme head of the English Church and clergy". When Warham requested a discussion, there was silence. Warham then said, "He who is silent seems to consent", to which a bishop responded, "Then we are all silent."[58] The Convocation granted consent to the King's five articles and the payment on 8 March 1531.[citation needed] Later, theConvocation of York agreed to the same on behalf of the clergy ofYork province.[58] That same year, Parliament passed the Pardon to Clergy Act 1531.[citation needed]
By 1532, Cromwell was responsible for managing government business in the House of Commons. He authored and presented to the Commons theSupplication against the Ordinaries, which was a list of grievances against the bishops, including abuses of power and Convocation's independent legislative authority. After passing the Commons, theSupplication was presented to the King as a petition for reform on 18 March.[59] On 26 March, theAct in Conditional Restraint of Annates mandated the clergy pay no more than five percent of their first year's revenue (annates) to Rome.[60]
On 10 May, the King demanded of Convocation that the church renounce all authority to make laws.[61] On 15 May, Convocation renounced its authority to make canon law without royal assent—the so calledSubmission of the Clergy. (Parliament subsequently gave this statutory force with theSubmission of the Clergy Act.) The next day, More resigned as lord chancellor.[62] This left Cromwell as Henry's chief minister. (Cromwell never became chancellor. His power came—and was lost—through his informal relations with Henry.)[citation needed]
Archbishop Warham died in August 1532. Henry wantedThomas Cranmer—a Protestant who could be relied on to oppose the papacy—to replace him.[63] The Pope reluctantly approved Cranmer's appointment, and he was consecrated on 30 March 1533. By this time, Henry was secretly married to Anne, who was pregnant. The impending birth of an heir gave new urgency to annulling his marriage to Catherine. Nevertheless, a decision continued to be delayed because Rome was the final authority in all ecclesiastical matters.[60] To address this issue, Parliament passed theAct in Restraint of Appeals, which outlawed appeals to Rome on ecclesiastical matters and declared that
This realm of England is an Empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one Supreme Head and King having the dignity and royal estate of the Imperial Crown of the same, unto whom a body politic compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of Spirituality and Temporality, be bounden and owe to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience.[64]
This declared England an independent country in every respect. English historianGeoffrey Elton called this act an "essential ingredient" of the "Tudor revolution" in that it expounded a theory ofnational sovereignty.[65] Cranmer was now able to grant an annulment of the marriage to Catherine as Henry required, pronouncing on 23 May the judgment that Henry's marriage with Catherine was against the law of God.[66] The Pope responded byexcommunicating Henry on 11 July 1533. Anne gave birth to a daughter,Princess Elizabeth, on 7 September 1533.[67]
In 1534, Parliament took further action to limit papal authority in England. A new Heresy Act ensured that no one could be punished for speaking against the Pope and also made it more difficult to convict someone of heresy; however,sacramentarians andAnabaptists continued to be vigorously persecuted.[68] TheAct in Absolute Restraint of Annates outlawed all annates to Rome and also ordered that ifcathedrals refused the King's nomination for bishop, they would be liable to punishment by praemunire.[69] The Act of First Fruits and Tenths transferred the taxes on ecclesiastical income from the Pope to the Crown. TheAct Concerning Peter's Pence and Dispensations outlawed the annual payment by landowners ofPeter's Pence to the Pope, and transferred the power to grant dispensations and licences from the Pope to the Archbishop of Canterbury. This Act also reiterated that England had "no superior under God, but only your Grace" and that Henry's "imperial crown" had been diminished by "the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations and exactions" of the Pope.[70][page needed][67]
TheFirst Act of Supremacy made HenrySupreme Head of the Church of England and disregarded any "usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority [or] prescription".[69] In case this should be resisted, Parliament passed theTreasons Act 1534, which made it high treason punishable by death to deny royal supremacy. The following year, Thomas More and John Fisher were executed under this legislation.[71] Finally, in 1536, Parliament passed theAct against the Pope's Authority, which removed the last part of papal authority still legal. This was Rome's power in England to decide disputes concerningScripture.[citation needed]
The break with Rome gave Henry the power to administer the English Church, tax it, appoint its officials, and control its laws. It also gave him control over the church's doctrine and ritual.[72] While Henry remained a traditional Catholic, his most important supporters in breaking with Rome were the Protestants. Yet, not all of his supporters were Protestants. Some were traditionalists, such asStephen Gardiner, opposed to the new theology but feltpapal supremacy was not essential to the Church of England's identity.[73] The King relied on Protestants, such as Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer, to carry out his religious programme and embraced the language of the continental Reformation, while maintaining a middle way between religious extremes.[74] What followed was a period of doctrinal confusion as both conservatives and reformers attempted to shape the church's future direction.[75]
The reformers were aided by Cromwell, who in January 1535 was madevicegerent in spirituals. Effectively the King'svicar general, Cromwell's authority was greater than that of bishops, even the Archbishop of Canterbury.[76] Largely due to Anne Boleyn's influence, a number of Protestants were appointed bishops between 1534 and 1536. These included Latimer,Thomas Goodrich,John Salcot,Nicholas Shaxton,William Barlow,John Hilsey, andEdward Foxe.[77] During the same period, the most influential conservative bishop, Stephen Gardiner, was sent to France on a diplomatic mission and thus removed from an active role in English politics for three years.[78]
Cromwell's programme, assisted by Anne Boleyn's influence over episcopal appointments, was not merely against the clergy and the power of Rome. He persuaded Henry that safety from political alliances that Rome might attempt to bring together lay in negotiations with the German Lutheran princes of theSchmalkaldic League.[note 7] There also seemed to be a possibility that Emperor Charles V might act to avenge his rejected aunt (Queen Catherine) and enforce the Pope's excommunication. The negotiations did not lead to an alliance but did bring Lutheran ideas to England.[79]
In 1536, Convocation adopted the first doctrinal statement for the Church of England, theTen Articles. This was followed by theBishops' Book in 1537. These established a semi-Lutheran doctrine for the church. Justification by faith, qualified by an emphasis on good works following justification, was a core teaching. The traditional seven sacraments were reduced to three only—baptism, Eucharist and penance. Catholic teaching on praying to saints, purgatory and the use ofimages in worship was undermined.[80]
In August 1536, the same month the Ten Articles were published, Cromwell issued a set of Royal Injunctions to the clergy. Minorfeast days were changed into normal work days, including those celebrating achurch's patron saint and most feasts during harvest time (July through September). The rationale was partly economic as too many holidays led to a loss of productivity and were "the occasion of vice and idleness".[81] In addition, Protestants considered feast days to be examples of superstition.[82] Clergy were to discouragepilgrimages and instruct the people to give to the poor rather than make offerings to images. The clergy were also ordered to place Bibles in both English and Latin in every church for the people to read.[83] This last requirement was largely ignored by the bishops for a year or more due to the lack of any authorised English translation. The only complete vernacular version was theCoverdale Bible finished in 1535 and based on Tyndale's earlier work. It lacked royal approval, however.[84]
The historianDiarmaid MacCulloch in his study ofThe Later Reformation in England, 1547–1603 argues that after 1537, "England's Reformation was characterized by its hatred of images, asMargaret Aston's work on iconoclasm andiconophobia has repeatedly and eloquently demonstrated."[85] In February 1538, the famousRood of Grace was condemned as a mechanical fraud and destroyed atSt Paul's Cross. In July, the statues ofOur Lady of Walsingham,Our Lady of Ipswich, and other Marian images were burned at Chelsea on Cromwell's orders. In September, Cromwell issued a second set of royal injunctions ordering the destruction of images to which pilgrimage offerings were made, the prohibition of lightingvotive candles before images of saints, and the preaching of sermons against the veneration of images and relics.[86] Afterwards, the shrine and bones ofThomas Becket, considered by many to have been martyred in defence of the church's liberties, were destroyed at Canterbury Cathedral.[87]
For Cromwell and Cranmer, a step in the Protestant agenda was attackingmonasticism, which was associated with the doctrine of purgatory.[88] One of the primary functions of monasteries was to pray for the souls of their benefactors and for the souls of all Christians.[9] While the King was not opposed toreligious houses on theological grounds, there was concern over the loyalty of the monastic orders, which were international in character and resistant to the Royal Supremacy.[89] TheFranciscan Observant houses were closed in August 1534 after that order refused to repudiate papal authority. Between 1535 and 1537, 18Carthusians were killed for doing the same.[90]
The Crown was also experiencing financial difficulties, and the wealth of the church, in contrast to its political weakness, made confiscation of church property both tempting and feasible.[91] Seizure of monastic wealth was not unprecedented; it had happened before in 1295, 1337, and 1369.[88] The church owned between one-fifth and one-third of the land in all England; Cromwell realised that he could bind thegentry and nobility to Royal Supremacy by selling to them the huge amount of church lands, and that any reversion to pre-Royal Supremacy would entail upsetting many of the powerful people in the realm.[92]
In 1534, Cromwell initiated avisitation of the monasteries ostensibly to examine their character, but in fact, to value their assets with a view to expropriation.[91] The visiting commissioners claimed to have uncovered sexual immorality and financial impropriety amongst themonks andnuns, which became the ostensible justification for their suppression.[92] There were also reports of the possession and display of false relics, such asHailes Abbey's vial of theHoly Blood, upon investigation announced to be "honey clarified and coloured with saffron".[93] TheCompendium Competorum compiled by the visitors documented ten pieces of theTrue Cross, seven portions of theVirgin Mary's milk and numerous saints' girdles.[94]
Leading reformers, led by Anne Boleyn, wanted to convert monasteries into "places of study and good letters, and to the continual relief of the poor", but this was not done.[95] In 1536, theDissolution of the Lesser Monasteries Act closed smaller houses valued at less than £200 a year.[83] Henry used the revenue to help build coastal defences (seeDevice Forts) against expected invasion, and all the land was given to the Crown or sold to the aristocracy.[additional citation(s) needed] Thirty-four houses were saved by paying for exemptions. Monks and nuns affected by closures were transferred to larger houses, and monks had the option of becomingsecular clergy.[96]
The Royal Supremacy and the abolition of papal authority had not caused widespread unrest, but the attacks on monasteries and the abolition of saints' days and pilgrimages provoked violence. Mobs attacked those sent to break up monastic buildings. Suppression commissioners were attacked by local people in several places.[97] In Northern England, there were a series of uprisings against the dissolutions in late 1536 and early 1537. TheLincolnshire Rising occurred in October 1536 and culminated in a force of 40,000 rebels assembling at Lincoln. They demanded an end to taxation during peacetime, the repeal of thestatute of uses, an end to the suppression of monasteries, and that heresy be purged and heretics punished. Henry refused to negotiate, and the revolt collapsed as the nervous gentry convinced the common people to disperse.[98]
ThePilgrimage of Grace was a more serious matter. The pro-Catholic, anti-land-tax revolt began in October at Yorkshire and spread to the other northern counties. Around 50,000 strong, the rebels underRobert Aske's leadership restored 16 of the 26 northern monasteries that had been dissolved. Due to the size of the rebellion, the King was persuaded to negotiate. In December,Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, offered the rebels a pardon and a parliament to consider their grievances. Aske then sent the rebels home. The promises made to them, however, were ignored by the King, and Norfolk was instructed to put the rebellion down. Forty-seven of the Lincolnshire rebels were executed, and 132 from the Pilgrimage of Grace. In Southern England, smaller disturbances took place in Cornwall and Walsingham in 1537.[99]
The failure of the Pilgrimage of Grace only sped up the process of dissolution and may have convinced Henry VIII that all religious houses needed to be closed. In 1540, the last monasteries were dissolved, wiping out an important element of traditional religion.[100] Former monks were given modest pensions from theCourt of Augmentations, and those that could sought work as parish priests. Former nuns received smaller pensions and, as they were still bound by vows of chastity, forbidden to marry.[101] Henry personally devised a plan to form at least thirteen new dioceses so that most counties had one based on a former monastery (or more than one), though this scheme was only partly carried out. New dioceses were established at Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford, Peterborough,Westminster and Chester, but not, for instance, at Shrewsbury, Leicester orWaltham.[102]
According to the political historian Gregory Slysz, "The dissolution of the monasteries [...] brought social catastrophe to England" for the next 50 or so years, due to the closure of the numerous associated urban almshouses for poor relief and hospitals, worsened by spiraling inflation and a doubling of the population.[103]
According to the historianPeter Marshall, Henry's religious reforms were based on the principles of "unity, obedience and the refurbishment of ancient truth".[104] Yet, the outcome was disunity and disobedience. Impatient Protestants took it upon themselves to further reform. Priests said Mass in English rather than Latin and were marrying in violation ofclerical celibacy. Not only were there divisions between traditionalists and reformers, but Protestants themselves were divided between establishment reformers who held Lutheran beliefs and radicals who held Anabaptist and Sacramentarian views.[105] Reports of dissension from every part of England reached Cromwell daily—developments he tried to hide from the King.[106]
In September 1538 Stephen Gardiner returned to England, and the official religious policy began to drift in a conservative direction.[107] This was due in part to the eagerness of establishment Protestants to disassociate themselves from religious radicals. In September, two Lutheran princes, theElector of Saxony andLandgrave of Hesse, sent warnings of Anabaptist activity in England. A commission was swiftly created to seek out Anabaptists.[108] Henry personally presided at the trial ofJohn Lambert in November 1538 for denying thereal presence of Christ in the Eucharist. At the same time, he shared in the drafting of a proclamation ordering Anabaptists and Sacramentaries to get out of the country or face death. Discussion of the real presence (except by those educated in the universities) was forbidden, and priests who married were to be dismissed.[106][109]
It was becoming clear that the King's views on religion differed from those of Cromwell and Cranmer. Henry made his traditional preferences known during theEaster Triduum of 1539, where he crept to the cross onGood Friday.[110] Later that year, Parliament passed theSix Articles reaffirming the Catholic beliefs and practices such astransubstantiation, clerical celibacy,confession to a priest,votive masses, and withholdingcommunion wine from the laity.[111]
On 28 June 1540 Cromwell, Henry's longtime advisor and loyal servant, was then executed. Different reasons were advanced: that Cromwell would not enforce the Act of Six Articles; that he had supported Robert Barnes, Hugh Latimer and other heretics; and that he was responsible for Henry's marriage toAnne of Cleves, his fourth wife. Many other arrests under the Act followed.[112] On the 30 July, the reformers Barnes,William Jerome andThomas Gerrard were burned at the stake. In a display of religious impartiality,Thomas Abell,Richard Featherstone andEdward Powell—all Catholics—werehanged and quartered while the Protestants burned.[113] European observers were very shocked and bewildered. French diplomatCharles de Marillac wrote that Henry's religious policy was a "climax of evils" and that:
[I]t is difficult to have a people entirely opposed to new errors which does not hold with the ancient authority of the Church and of the Holy See, or, on the other hand, hating the Pope, which does not share some opinions with the Germans. Yet the government will not have either the one or the other, but insists on their keeping what is commanded, which is so often altered that it is difficult to understand what it is.[114]
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Despite some setbacks, Protestants managed to win some victories. In May 1541 the King ordered copies of theGreat Bible to be placed in all churches; any failure to comply would result in a £2 fine. The Protestants could celebrate the growing access to vernacular scripture as most churches had Bibles by 1545.[115][116] The iconoclastic policies of 1538 were continued in the autumn when the Archbishops of Canterbury and York were ordered to destroy all the remaining shrines in England.[117] Furthermore, Cranmer survived formal charges of heresy in thePrebendaries' Plot of 1543.[118]
Traditionalists, nevertheless, seemed to have the upper hand. By the spring of 1543, Protestant innovations had been reversed, and only the break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries remained unchanged.[119] In May 1543, a new formulary was published to replace theBishops' Book. ThisKing's Book rejected justification by faith alone and defended traditional ceremonies and the use of images.[120] This was followed days later by passage of theAct for the Advancement of True Religion, which restricted the Bible reading to men and women of noble birth. Henry expressed his fears to Parliament in 1545 that "the Word of God, is disputed, rhymed, sung and jangled in every ale house and tavern, contrary to the true meaning and doctrine of the same."[121]
By the spring of 1544, the conservatives appeared to be losing influence once again. In March, Parliament made it more difficult to prosecute people for violating the Six Articles. Cranmer'sExhortation and Litany, the first officialvernacular service, was published in June 1544, and theKing's Primer became the only authorised Englishprayer book in May 1545. Both texts had a reformed emphasis.[note 8] After the death of the conservativeEdward Lee in September 1544, the ProtestantRobert Holgate replaced him as Archbishop of York.[122] In December 1545, the King was empowered to seize the property ofchantries (trust funds endowed to pay for priests to saymasses for the dead). While Henry's motives were largely financial (England was at war with France and desperately in need of funds), the passage of the Chantries Act was "an indication of how deeply the doctrine of purgatory had been eroded and discredited".[123]
In 1546 the conservatives were once again in the ascendant. A series of controversial sermons preached by the ProtestantEdward Crome set off a persecution of Protestants that the traditionalists used to effectively target their rivals. It was during this time thatAnne Askew was tortured in theTower of London and burnt at the stake. Even Henry's last wife,Katherine Parr, was suspected of heresy, but saved herself by appealing to his mercy. With the Protestants on the defensive, traditionalists pressed their advantage by banning Protestant books.[124]
The conservative persecution of Queen Katherine, however, backfired.[125] By November 1546, there were already signs that religious policy was once again tilting towards Protestantism.[note 9] The King's will provided for aregency council to rule after his death, which would have been dominated by traditionalists, such asThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk,Thomas Wriothesly, 1st Earl of Southampton (theLord Chancellor), Bishop Gardiner and BishopCuthbert Tunstall.[126] After a dispute with the King, Bishop Gardiner, the leading conservative churchman, was disgraced and removed as a councilor. Later, the Duke of Norfolk, the most powerful conservative nobleman, was arrested.[127] By the time Henry died in 1547, the ProtestantEdward Seymour, brother ofJane Seymour, Henry's third wife (and therefore uncle to the future Edward VI), managed—by a number of alliances such as withLord Lisle[clarification needed]—to gain control over thePrivy Council.[128]
When Henry died in 1547, his nine-year-old son,Edward VI, acceded to the throne. During the seven years of Edward's reign, a Protestant establishment would gradually implement religious changes that were "designed to destroy one Church and build another, in a religious revolution of ruthless thoroughness".[129]
The second year of Edward's reign was a turning point for the English Reformation; many people identified the year 1548, rather than the 1530s, as the beginning of the English Church'sschism from the Catholic Church.[130] On 8 March, a royal proclamation announced the first major reform of the Mass and of the Church of England's officialeucharistic theology.[131] TheOrder of the Communion was a series of English exhortations and prayers that reflected Protestant theology and were inserted into the Latin Mass.[132][133] A significant departure from tradition was that individual confession to a priest—long a requirement before receiving the Eucharist—was made optional and replaced with ageneral confession said by the congregation as a whole.[citation needed]
A new prayer book and liturgy, theBook of Common Prayer, was authorised by theAct of Uniformity 1549. It provided Protestants with a service free from what they considered superstition, while maintaining the traditional structure of the mass[134] but provoked a rebellion—later known as thePrayer Book Rebellion—in theWest Country, theWest Midlands andYorkshire, with considerable loss of life.[citation needed]
In March 1551 the Privy Council ordered the confiscation of remaining church plate and vestments "for as much as the King's Majestie had neede [sic] presently of a mass of money".[135]
King Edward became seriously ill in February and died in July 1553. Before his death, Edward was concerned that Mary, his devoutly Catholic sister, would overturn his religious reforms. A new plan of succession was created in which both of Edward's sisters Mary and Elizabeth were bypassed on account ofillegitimacy in favour of the ProtestantJane Grey, the granddaughter of Edward's auntMary Tudor and daughter-in-law of the Duke of Northumberland: her disputed reign lasted nine days. However, on 19 July, the Privy Council proclaimed Mary queen to the acclamation of the crowds in London.[136]
Both Protestants and Catholics understood that the accession ofMary I to the throne meant a restoration of traditional religion.[137] Before any official sanction, Latin Masses began reappearing throughout England, despite the1552 Book of Common Prayer remaining the only legal liturgy.[138] Mary began her reign cautiously by emphasising the need for tolerance in matters of religion and proclaiming that, for the time being, she would not compel religious conformity. This was in part Mary's attempt to avoid provoking Protestant opposition before she could consolidate her power.[139] While Protestants were not a majority of the population, their numbers had grown through Edward's reign. Historian Eamon Duffy writes that "Protestantism was a force to be reckoned with in London and in towns like Bristol, Rye, and Colchester, and it was becoming so in some northern towns such as Hessle, Hull, and Halifax."[140]
Following Mary's accession, the Duke of Norfolk along with the conservative bishops Bonner, Gardiner, Tunstall, Day and Heath were released from prison and restored to their former dioceses. By September 1553, Hooper and Cranmer were imprisoned. Northumberland himself was executed but not before his conversion to Catholicism.[141]
The break with Rome and the religious reforms of Henry VIII and Edward VI were achieved through parliamentary legislation and could only be reversed through Parliament. When Parliament met in October, Bishop Gardiner, now Lord Chancellor, initially proposed the repeal of all religious legislation since 1529. The House of Commons refused to pass this bill, and after heated debate,[142] Parliament repealed all Edwardian religious laws, including clerical marriage and the prayer book, in theFirst Statute of Repeal.[143] By 20 December, the Mass was reinstated by law.[144] There were disappointments for Mary: Parliament refused to penalise non-attendance at Mass, would not restore confiscated church property, and left open the question ofpapal supremacy.[145]
If Mary was to secure England for Catholicism, she needed an heir and her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth had to be prevented from inheriting the Crown. On the advice of her cousinCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor, she married his son,Philip II of Spain, in 1554. There was opposition, and even a rebellion in Kent (led bySir Thomas Wyatt); even though it was provided that Philip would never inherit the kingdom if there was no heir, received no estates and had no coronation.[146]
By the end of 1554, Henry VIII's religious settlement had been repealed, but England was still not reunited with Rome. Before reunion could occur, church property disputes had to be settled—which, in practice, meant letting the nobility and gentry who had bought confiscated church lands keep them. CardinalReginald Pole, the Queen's cousin, arrived in November 1554 aspapal legate to end England's schism with the Catholic Church.[146] On 28 November, Pole addressed Parliament to ask it to end the schism, declaring "I come not to destroy, but to build. I come to reconcile, not to condemn. I come not to compel, but to call again."[147] In response, Parliament submitted a petition to the Queen the next day asking that "this realm and dominions might be again united to the Church of Rome by the means of the Lord Cardinal Pole".[147]
On 30 November, Pole spoke to both houses of Parliament,absolving the members of Parliament "with the whole realm and dominions thereof, from all heresy and schism".[148] Afterwards, bishops absolved diocesan clergy, and they in turn absolved parishioners.[149] On 26 December, the Privy Council introduced legislation repealing the religious legislation of Henry VIII's reign and implementing the reunion with Rome. This bill was passed as theSecond Statute of Repeal.[150]
The historian Eamon Duffy writes that the Marian religious "programme was not one of reaction but of creative reconstruction" absorbing whatever was considered positive in the reforms of Henry VIII and Edward VI.[151] The result was "subtly but distinctively different from the Catholicism of the 1520s."[151] According to historian Christopher Haigh, the Catholicism taking shape in Mary's reign "reflected the matureErasmian Catholicism" of its leading clerics, who were all educated in the 1520s and 1530s.[152] Marian church literature, churchbenefactions andchurchwarden accounts suggest less emphasis on saints, images, and prayer for the dead than had been prevalent in pre-Reformation English Catholicism. There was a greater focus on the need for inward contrition in addition to external acts of penance.[153] Cardinal Pole himself was a member of theSpirituali, a Catholic reform movement that shared with Protestants an emphasis on man's total dependence on God's grace by faith andAugustinian views on salvation.[154][155]
Cardinal Pole would eventually replace Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1556, jurisdictional issues between England and Rome having prevented Cranmer's removal. Mary could have had Cranmer tried and executed for treason—he had supported the claims of Lady Jane Grey—but she resolved to have him tried for heresy. Hisrecantations of his Protestantism would have been a major coup. Unhappily for her, he unexpectedly withdrew his recantations at the last minute as he was to be burned at the stake, thus ruining her government'spropaganda victory.[156]
As the papal legate, Pole possessed authority over both hisProvince of Canterbury and theProvince of York, which allowed him to oversee theCounter-Reformation throughout all of England.[157] He re-installed images, vestment and plate in churches. Around 2,000 married clergy were separated from their wives, but the majority of these were allowed to continue their work as priests.[156][158] Pole was aided by some of the leading Catholic intellectuals, Spanish members of theDominican Order:Pedro de Soto,Juan de Villagarcía andBartolomé Carranza.[156]
In 1556, Pole ordered clergy to read one chapter of Bishop Bonner'sA Profitable and Necessary Doctrine to their parishioners every Sunday. Modelled on theKing's Book of 1543, Bonner's work was a survey of basic Catholic teaching organised around theApostles' Creed,Ten Commandments,seven deadly sins, sacraments, theLord's Prayer, and theHail Mary.[159] Bonner also produced a children's catechism and a collection of homilies.[160]
From December 1555 to February 1556, Cardinal Pole presided over a national legatine synod that produced a set of decrees entitledReformatio Angliae or the Reformation of England.[161] The actions taken by the synod anticipated many of the reforms enacted throughout the Catholic Church after theCouncil of Trent.[157] Pole believed that ignorance and lack of discipline among the clergy had led to England's religious turmoil, and the synod's reforms were designed to remedy both problems. Clerical absenteeism (the practice of clergy failing to reside in their diocese or parish),pluralism, andsimony were condemned.[162] Preaching was placed at the centre of the pastoral office,[163] and all clergy were to provide sermons to the people (rectors and vicars who failed to were fined).[162] The most important part of the plan was the order to establish a seminary in each diocese, which would replace the disorderly manner in which priests had been trained previously. The Council of Trent would later impose the seminary system upon the rest of the Catholic Church.[163] It was also the first to introduce the altartabernacle used to reserve Eucharistic bread for devotion and adoration.[157]
Mary did what she could to restore church finances and land taken in the reigns of her father and brother. In 1555, she returned to the church theFirst Fruits and Tenths revenue, but with these new funds came the responsibility of paying the pensions of ex-religious. She restored six religious houses with her own money, notablyWestminster Abbey for theBenedictines andSyon Abbey for theBridgettines.[164] However, there were limits to what could be restored. Only seven religious houses were re-founded between 1555 and 1558, though there were plans to re-establish more. Of the 1,500 ex-religious still living, only about a hundred resumed monastic life, and only a small number of chantries were re-founded. Re-establishments were hindered by the changing nature of charitable giving. A plan to re-establishGreyfriars in London was prevented because its buildings were occupied byChrist's Hospital, a school for orphaned children.[165]
There is debate among historians over how vibrant the restoration was on the local level. According to historian A. G. Dickens, it was a time of "religious and cultural sterility",[166] though historian Christopher Haigh observed enthusiasm, marred only by poor harvests that produced poverty and want.[167] Recruitment to the English clergy began to rise after almost a decade of declining ordinations.[168] Repairs to long-neglected churches began. In the parishes, "restoration and repair continued, new bells were bought, andchurch ales produced their bucolic profits".[169] Great church feasts were restored and celebrated with plays, pageants and processions. However, Bishop Bonner's attempt to establish weekly processions in 1556 was a failure. Haigh writes that in years during which processions were banned people had discovered "better uses for their time" as well as "better uses for their money than offering candles to images".[170] The focus was on "the crucified Christ, in the mass, the rood, and Corpus Christi devotion".[168]
Protestants who refused to conform remained an obstacle to Catholic plans. Around 800 Protestants fled England to find safety in Protestant areas of Germany and Switzerland, establishing networks of independent congregations. Safe from persecution, theseMarian exiles carried on a propaganda campaign against Catholicism and the Queen's Spanish marriage, sometimes calling for rebellion.[171][172] Those who remained in England were forced to practise their faith in secret and meet in underground congregations.[173]
In 1555, the initial reconciling tone of the regime began to harden with therevival of the English late medieval civil heresy laws, which authorised capital punishment as a penalty for heresy.[174] The persecution of heretics was uncoordinated—sometimes arrests were ordered by the Privy Council, others by bishops, and others by lay magistrates.[175] Protestants brought attention to themselves usually due to some act of dissent, such as denouncing the Mass or refusing to receive the sacrament.[176] A particularly violent act of protest wasWilliam Flower's stabbing of a priest during Mass on Easter Sunday, 14 April 1555.[177] Individuals accused of heresy were examined by a church official and, if heresy was found, given the choice between death and signing arecantation.[178] In some cases, Protestants were burnt at the stake after renouncing their recantation.[179]
Around 284 Protestants were burnt at the stake for heresy.[180] Several leading reformers were executed, including Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer,Nicholas Ridley,John Rogers,John Hooper,Robert Ferrar,Rowland Taylor, andJohn Bradford.[181] Lesser known figures were also among the victims, including around 51 women such asJoan Waste andAgnes Prest.[182] Historian O. T. Hargrave writes that the Marian persecution was not "excessive" by "contemporary continental standards"; however, "it was unprecedented in the English experience".[183] Historian Christopher Haigh writes that it "failed to intimidate all Protestants", whose bravery at the stake inspired others; however, it "was not a disaster: if it did not help the Catholic cause, it did not do much to harm it."[169] After her death, the Queen became known as "Bloody Mary" due to the influence ofJohn Foxe, one of the Marian exiles.[184] Published in 1563,Foxe'sBook of Martyrs provided accounts of the executions, and in 1571 the Convocation of Canterbury ordered that Foxe's book should be placed in every cathedral in the land.[185]
Mary's efforts at restoring Catholicism were also frustrated by the church itself.Pope Paul IV declared war on Philip and recalled Pole to Rome to have him tried as a heretic. Mary refused to let him go. The support she might have expected from a grateful Pope was thus denied.[186] From 1557, the Pope refused to confirm English bishops, leading to vacancies and hurting the Marian religious program.[162]
Despite these obstacles, the 5-year restoration was successful. There was support for traditional religion among the people, and Protestants remained a minority. Consequently, Protestants secretly ministering to underground congregations, such asThomas Bentham, were planning for a long haul, a ministry of survival. Mary's death in November 1558, childless and without having made provision for a Catholic to succeed her, meant that her Protestant sister Elizabeth would be the next queen.[187]
Although deeply concerned about her restoration of Catholicism, Mary ultimately recognized Elizabeth as her heir on 6 November 1558 on her deathbed. This decision was reportedly influenced by Elizabeth's vow of Catholic faith—including her belief in theReal Presence—which she affirmed under oath during Mary's final illness.[188]: 72, 73, 90 Elizabeth became queen whenMary died on 17 November.[189]
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Elizabeth I inherited a kingdom in which a majority of people, especially the political elite, were religiously conservative, and England's main ally was Catholic Spain.[190] For these reasons, the proclamation announcing her accession forbade any "breach, alteration, or change of any order or usage presently established within this our realm".[191] This was only temporary. The new Queen was Protestant, though a conservative one.[192] She also filled her new government with Protestants. The Queen'sprincipal secretary wasSir William Cecil, a moderate Protestant.[193] Her Privy Council was filled with former Edwardian politicians, and only Protestants preached atCourt.[194][195]
In 1558, Parliament passed theAct of Supremacy, which re-established the Church of England's independence from Rome and conferred on Elizabeth the title ofSupreme Governor of the Church of England. TheAct of Uniformity of 1559 authorised the1559Book of Common Prayer, which was a revised version of the 1552 Prayer Book from Edward's reign. Some modifications were made to appeal to Catholics and Lutherans, including giving individuals greater latitude concerning belief in the real presence andauthorising the use of traditional priestly vestments. In 1571, theThirty-Nine Articles were adopted as a confessional statement for the church, and aBook of Homilies was issued outlining the church's reformed theology in greater detail.[citation needed]
The Elizabethan Settlement established a church that was Reformed in doctrine but that preserved certain characteristics of medieval Catholicism, such ascathedrals,church choirs, a formal liturgy contained in the Prayer Book, traditional vestments and episcopal polity.[196] According to historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, the conflicts over the Elizabethan Settlement stem from this "tension between Catholic structure and Protestant theology".[197]
"Churchpapists" were Catholics who outwardly conformed to the established church while maintaining their Catholic faith in secret. Catholic authorities disapproved of such outward conformity.Recusants were Catholics who refused to attend Church of England services as required by law.[198] Recusancy was punishable by fines of £20 a month (fifty times anartisan's wage).[199] By 1574, Catholic recusants had organised an underground Catholic Church, distinct from the Church of England. However, it had two major weaknesses: membership loss as church papists conformed fully to the Church of England, at least outwardly, and a shortage of priests. Between 1574 and 1603, 600 Catholic priests were sent to England.[200] The influx of foreign trained Catholic priests, the unsuccessfulRevolt of the Northern Earls, theexcommunication of Elizabeth, and the discovery of theRidolfi plot all contributed to a perception that Catholicism was treasonous.[201] Executions of Catholic priests became more common—the first in 1577, four in 1581, eleven in 1582, two in 1583, six in 1584, fifty-three by 1590, and seventy more between 1601 and 1608.[note 10][202] In 1585, it became treason for a Catholic priest to enter the country, as well as for anyone to aid or shelter him.[199] As the older generation of recusant priests died out, Catholicism collapsed among the lower classes in the north, west and in Wales. Without priests, these social classes drifted into the Church of England and Catholicism was forgotten. By Elizabeth's death in 1603, Catholicism had become "the faith of a small sect", largely confined to gentry households.[203]
Gradually, England was transformed into a Protestant country as the Prayer Book shaped Elizabethan religious life. By the 1580s, conformist Protestants (those who conformed their religious practice to the religious settlement) were becoming a majority.[204] Calvinism appealed to many conformists, andCalvinist clergy held the best bishoprics and deaneries during Elizabeth's reign.[205] Other Calvinists were unsatisfied with elements of the Elizabethan Settlement and wanted further reforms to make the Church of England more like theContinental Reformed churches. These nonconformist Calvinists became known asPuritans. Some Puritans refused tobow at the name ofJesus, to make thesign of the cross inbaptism, usewedding rings ororgan music in church. They especially resented the requirement that clergy wear the whitesurplice andclerical cap.[206] Puritan clergymen preferred to wearblack academic attire (seeVestments controversy).[207] Many Puritans believed the Church of England should follow the example of Reformed churches in other parts of Europe and adoptpresbyterian polity, under which government by bishops would be replaced with government byelders.[208] However, all attempts to enact further reforms through Parliament were blocked by the Queen.[209]
Traditionally, historians have dated the end of the English Reformation to Elizabeth's religious settlement. There are scholars who advocate for a "Long Reformation" that continued into the 17th and 18th centuries.[210]
During the earlyStuart period, the Church of England's dominant theology was stillCalvinism, but a group of theologians associated with BishopLancelot Andrewes disagreed with many aspects of the Reformed tradition, especially its teaching onpredestination. They looked to theChurch Fathers rather than the Reformers and preferred using the more traditional 1549 Prayer Book.[211] Due to their belief infree will, this new faction is known as theArminian party, but theirhigh church orientation was more controversial. James I tried to balance the Puritan forces within his church with followers of Andrewes, promoting many of them at the end of his reign.[212]
During the reign ofCharles I, the Arminians were ascendant and closely associated withWilliam Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). Laud and his followers believed the Reformation had gone too far and launched a"'Beauty of Holiness' counter-revolution, wishing to restore what they saw as lost majesty in worship and lost dignity for the sacerdotal priesthood".[212]Laudianism, however, was unpopular with both Puritans and Prayer Book conformists, who viewed the high church innovations as undermining forms of worship they had grown attached to.[213] TheEnglish Civil War resulted in the overthrow of Charles I, and a Puritan-dominated Parliament began to dismantle the Elizabethan Settlement.[211] The Puritans, however, were divided among themselves and failed to agree on an alternative religious settlement. A variety of new religious movements appeared, includingQuakers,Ranters,Seekers,Diggers,Muggletonians, andFifth Monarchists.[214]
TheRestoration of the monarchy in 1660 allowed for the restoration of the Elizabethan Settlement as well, but the Church of England was fundamentally changed. The "Jacobean consensus" was shattered.[215] Many Puritans were unwilling to conform and becamedissenters. Now outside the established church, the different strands of the Puritan movement evolved into separate denominations:Congregationalists,Presbyterians, andBaptists.[216]
After the Restoration,Anglicanism took shape as a recognisable tradition.[217] FromRichard Hooker, Anglicanism inherited a belief in the "positive spiritual value in ceremonies and rituals, and for an unbroken line of succession from the medieval Church to the latter day Church of England".[218] From the Arminians, it gained a theology of episcopacy and an appreciation for liturgy. From the Puritans and Calvinists, it "inherited a contradictory impulse to assert the supremacy of scripture and preaching".[219]
The new religion was not enthusiastically adopted in all locations for several centuries: Cornish philologistHenry Jenner noted that "the Cornish as a body...(remained)...more or less of the old religion, until the perhaps unavoidable neglect of its authorities caused it to drift into the outward irreligion from whichJohn Wesley rescued them. ...the bulk of the population in Cornwall, as elsewhere, had no desire for the Reformed Service-book in any language."[220]: 12
The religious forces unleashed by the Reformation ultimately destroyed the possibility of religious uniformity. Protestant dissenters were allowed freedom of worship with theToleration Act 1688. It took Catholics longer to achieve toleration.Penal laws that excluded Catholics from everyday life began to be repealed in the 1770s. Catholics were allowed to vote and sit as members of Parliament in 1829 (seeCatholic emancipation).[221]
The historiography of the English Reformation has seen vigorous clashes among dedicated protagonists and scholars for five centuries. The main factual details at the national level have been clear since 1900, as laid out for example byJames Anthony Froude[222] andAlbert Pollard.[223]
Reformation historiography has seen many schools of interpretation withCatholic,Anglican andNonconformist historians using their own religious perspectives.[224][page needed] In addition there has been a highly influentialWhig interpretation, based on liberal secularised Protestantism, that depicted the Reformation in England, in the words of Ian Hazlett, as "the midwife delivering England from the Dark Ages to the threshold of modernity, and so a turning point of progress". Finally among the older schools was aneo-Marxist interpretation that stressed the economic decline of the old elites in the rise of the landed gentry and middle classes. All these approaches still have representatives, but the main thrust of scholarly historiography since the 1970s falls into four groupings or schools, according to Hazlett.[225][page needed]
Geoffrey Elton leads the first faction with an agenda rooted in political historiography. It concentrates on the top of the early modern church-state looking at it at the mechanics of policymaking and the organs of its implementation and enforcement. The key player for Elton was not Henry VIII, but rather his principal Secretary of State Thomas Cromwell. Elton downplays the prophetic spirit of the religious reformers in the theology of keen conviction, dismissing them as the meddlesome intrusions from fanatics and bigots.[226][227]
Secondly, A. G. Dickens and others were motivated by a primarily religious perspective. They prioritise the religious and subjective side of the movement. While recognising the Reformation was imposed from the top, just as it was everywhere else in Europe, it also responded to aspirations from below. Dickens has been criticised for underestimating the strength of residual and revived Catholicism, but has been praised for his demonstration of the close ties to European influences. In the Dickens school,David Loades has stressed the theological importance of the Reformation for Anglo-British development.[228]
Revisionists comprise a third school, led byChristopher Haigh,Jack Scarisbrick,Eamon Duffy and numerous other scholars. Their main achievement was the discovery of an entirely new corpus of primary sources at the local level, leading them to the emphasis on Reformation as it played out on a daily and local basis, with much less emphasis on the control from the top. They emphasise turning away from elite sources, and instead rely on local parish records, diocesan files, guild records, data from boroughs, the courts, and especially telltale individual wills.[229] The revisions picture pre-Reformation parish Catholicism as a "vibrant church that provided spiritual succour to the English people."[230]
Finally,Patrick Collinson and others have brought much more precision to the theological landscape, with Calvinist Puritans who were impatient with the Anglican caution sent compromises. Indeed, the Puritans were a distinct subgroup who did not comprise all of Calvinism. The Church of England thus emerged as a coalition of factions, all of them Protestant inspiration.[231]
