Religious Changes

Question 1

What Religious policies were issued under Edward?

Answer 1

• Royal Injunctions (1547)
• The Chantries Act (1547)
• The First Book of Common Prayer (1549)
• The act of Uniformity(1549)
• Removal of Altars ( 1550 )
• The Second Book of Common Prayer ( 1552 )
• The Second Act of Uniformity ( 1552)
• The 42 articles in 1553

Question 2

What were the Religious Policies under Mary ?

Answer 2

• The first Act of Repeal ( 1553)
• The Royal Injunctions ( 1554)
• Heresy Laws Reinstated (1554 )
• Second Act of Repeal ( 1554)
• Reginald Pole becomes Archbishop of Canterbury (1555)

Question 3

What did the 1547 Royal Injunctions do ?

Answer 3

• Issued by Edward VI government
• removed all Catholic images and superstitions for Churches
• Promoted English Bible readings and Clergy Marriage

Question 4

What did the Chantries Act do?

Answer 4

• 1547
• Closed Chantries which were chapels where priests prayed for souls
• removed purgatory related practices

Question 5

What did the Removal of Altars do?

Answer 5

• 1550
• Altars were replaced with plain wooden communion tables
• this symbolised a move away from Catholic Transubstantiation

Question 6

What did the first book of common prayer do?

Answer 6

• 1549
• Written by Thomas Cranmer
• Introduced English language services and stopped Mass in Latin
• However was still moderate and kept some Catholic elements

Question 7

What did the second book of common prayer do?

Answer 7

• 1552
• Was much more radical and fully protestant
• and removed all traces of Catholic practices

Question 8

What did the act of Uniformity do?

Answer 8

• 1549
• Made the first book of common prayer compulsory in all churches
• If people did not comply they would be fined or imprisoned

Question 9

What was the second act of Uniformity ?

Answer 9

• 1552
• Made the Second Book of Common Prayer legally mandatory

Question 10

What did the 42 articles do?

Answer 10

• Issued by Cranmer and it outlined the doctrine of the Church of England
• Was influenced by Calvinist theology
• It was never passed officially because Edward died soon after

Question 11

What did the first act of repeal do?

Answer 11

• 1553
• Repealed all Protestant legislation from Edward VI’s reign
• Also restored religious practices to the form it had under Henry VIII in 1547 for example Latin Mass, Clerical celibacy and Catholic rituals all came back
• Cranmer’s Books of Common Prayers were abolished

Question 12

What did the Reinstatement of Heresy Laws do ?

Answer 12

• 1554
• Reintroduced the Medieval Heresy Acts
• Gave permission to burn Protestant who refused to corporate
• Led to Marian burnings between 1555-1558

Question 13

What did the Second act of repeal do?

Answer 13

• 1554
• Repealed all religious legislation passed since 1529
• Officially restored the Papal Supremacy meaning the Pope was head of the Church in England again

Question 14

What did the 1554 Royal Injunctions do?

Answer 14

• Ordered Bishops to suppress heresy, restore holy days and remove married clergy
• Images, crucifixes and Latin Services were restored in Churches

Question 15

Evidence of Support for Mary’s religious policies

Answer 15

• When Mary used her Royal prerogative to suspend the Second Act of Uniformity and also restored mass there was no serious opposition
• Traditional Practices like the Latin Mass, images and Holy days returned quickly in many Churches even before the laws were passed
• Areas like the North were still deeply Catholic
• Parliament supported the major reforms and this shows that many political individuals were willing to support Mary’s aim

Question 16

Evidence of opposition to Mary’s religious Policies

Answer 16

• Marian Burnings, over 285 Protestants were burned for Heresy, including famous figures such as Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley, and these executions shocked many even if they were not strongly Protestant. It also created sympathy for Protestants and turned some against Mary
• In early 1554, around 800 Protestant leaders left England and fled to Germany and Switzerland
• Wyatt rebellion, although sparked by Spanish marriage, religious tension was also a key factor

Question 17

How effective and lasting were Mary I religious changes?

Answer 17

• After she died in 1558, Elizabeth I immediately reversed everything she implemented
• The burnings damaged the reputation of Catholicism and created Marian martyrs who were protestants who were executed under the reign of Mary, the famous martyrs AKA the Oxford Martyrs were Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer. A hugely Protestant book was written under Elizabeth I by John Foxe in 1563 called the Book of Martyrs and it portrayed them as heroes of true faith and it cemented Mary’s legacy and Bloody Mary
• The refusal to return lands to the Church, as under Henry and Edward the crown confiscated massive amounts of Church land during the dissolution of Monasteries and these lands were sold to gentry and noble families, so Mary did not return the lands because she needed the support of Parliament and she did not want to risk rebellion , Mary doing this meant that the Church remained economically weak as it lacked land and income which meant that Catholicism could not return to its former strength

Question 18

How effective and lasting were Edward’s religious changes?

Answer 18

• England became legally and officially protestant by 1553
• However it had some resistance for example the Western rebellion which opposed the new Prayer book and demanded for the return of Latin Mass
• Areas in the North remained largely Catholic in belief
• It was short lived because Edward died in 1553 and all his changes were reversed

Question 19

What were the Marian burnings and what were the attitudes towards it ?

Answer 19

• Took place from 1555-1558
• 285 Protestant burned at the stake
• John Rogers, a biblical translator was first to be burnt
• This was part of Mary’s effort to restore Catholicism
• Famous individuals who were burnt at stake were Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer
• Most burnings took place in the south east and this was because there was a higher number of Protestants in that area
• In some strongly Catholic areas, people supported the burnings as they saw it as a rightful punishment for heretics
• Others were deeply disturbed and this created sympathy for the victims
• John Foxe’s book called Book of Martyrs in 1563, amplified the negative views and portrayed the martyrs as heroic and Mary as Bloody Mary