Religious matters: settlement, Catholics and Puritans
The Religious Inheritance of 1568
When this depth study opens in 1568, England’s religion had changed three times in a single generation. Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 1530s; Edward VI made the country firmly Protestant; Mary I restored Catholicism and burned around 280 Protestants. When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 she had to settle the question for a fourth time. The compromise she chose — the Religious Settlement of 1559 — would shape the next 35 years.
The Religious Settlement, 1559
The settlement was carried by two laws. The Act of Supremacy made Elizabeth ‘Supreme Governor’ of the Church of England (not ‘Supreme Head’, a title some thought wrong for a woman) and required clergy and officials to swear an oath of loyalty. The Act of Uniformity imposed a new English Book of Common Prayer on every parish, set out the form of services, and required attendance at Sunday worship. Those who failed to attend faced a fine of 12 pence.
The Settlement was deliberately a middle way. Doctrine was Protestant: the 39 Articles of 1563 affirmed salvation by faith and rejected the Catholic mass as a sacrifice. But the appearance of services kept some traditional Catholic features: priests wore vestments, churches kept altars, and the Prayer Book’s wording on communion was carefully ambiguous so that both Protestants and many Catholics could attend. Elizabeth’s aim was outward conformity — she famously said she had ‘no desire to make windows into men’s souls’.
The 1559 Religious Settlement was carried by two Acts: the Act of Supremacy (Elizabeth as Supreme Governor of the Church of England) and the Act of Uniformity (one English Prayer Book, compulsory Sunday attendance, 12-pence fine for staying away).
English Catholics
In 1568 a large minority of the population was still Catholic, especially in the north and west. Most attended Anglican services to avoid the fine and were nicknamed ‘Church Papists’. A smaller, more determined group refused to attend at all. They were called recusants — from the Latin ‘recusare’, ‘to refuse’.
Elizabeth and her ministers initially treated Catholics cautiously. The fines were enforced loosely; few priests were arrested in the 1560s; and the queen even tolerated private Catholic worship in some great households. Her concern was political loyalty, not theological purity. This relatively soft approach would harden sharply after 1569 (the Northern Rebellion) and 1570 (her excommunication) — the subject of the next lesson.
The Puritans
If Catholics found the Settlement too Protestant, the Puritans found it not Protestant enough. ‘Puritan’ was originally a term of insult for hardline Protestants who wanted to ‘purify’ the Church of remaining Catholic features. Their objections were specific: vestments looked too Catholic; the Prayer Book’s communion wording was too vague; bishops’ authority was too like the Roman hierarchy; church courts and saints’ days were superstition. Puritans wanted simpler services, more preaching, and church government by elected elders rather than bishops appointed by the Crown.
Puritans were not a single party. Many remained inside the Church of England and worked for reform from within — pressing through Parliament for changes to the Prayer Book. Others were Presbyterians, who wanted bishops abolished entirely. A small minority were Separatists, who left the Church to form independent congregations. Elizabeth saw the most radical Puritans as a political threat — their attacks on bishops, she argued, were attacks on her own authority over the Church.
In the 1560s some Puritan clergy refused to wear the surplice, the white robe required by the Prayer Book. Archbishop Parker, on Elizabeth’s orders, suspended around 37 London ministers in 1566. In the 1570s Puritans organised ‘prophesyings’ — meetings to discuss Bible passages and improve preaching. Archbishop Grindal refused to suppress them, arguing that better preaching was good for the Church. Elizabeth disagreed and suspended Grindal in 1577. After his death in 1583, John Whitgift was made archbishop with orders to enforce conformity strictly.
The Government’s Response, 1568–1603
Through the reign, the regime tightened the rules whenever a threat appeared. Recusancy fines rose sharply in 1581 (from 12 pence per Sunday to £20 per month). The 1585 Act made it treason to be a Catholic priest trained abroad and entering England; up to 130 priests were executed by 1603. From the 1580s, Whitgift’s ‘Three Articles’ required every clergyman to accept the queen’s supremacy, the Prayer Book and the 39 Articles. Roughly 200 Puritan ministers were suspended for refusing, although most gave way in the end.
For most ordinary parishioners, ‘outward conformity’ meant turning up at the parish church on a Sunday morning, listening to the Prayer Book service, and going home. It did not require enthusiasm. Many in the north of England, in country parishes far from London, kept old practices — saints’ days, holy wells, prayers for the dead — alongside attendance. The state was content with the appearance of compliance because punishing private belief was beyond its administrative reach.
Elizabeth aimed for outward conformity, not inner belief. The 1559 Settlement kept Catholic-style appearances (vestments, altars, ambiguous wording) but enforced Protestant doctrine through the Act of Supremacy and the 39 Articles. Both committed Catholics and hardline Puritans rejected the compromise; the rest were expected to attend church and keep their views private.