The Religious Settlement of 1559
The Religious Problem in 1558
When Elizabeth came to the throne in November 1558, England was a country torn by religious conflict. Henry VIII had broken with Rome in the 1530s and made himself Supreme Head of the Church of England; Edward VI’s reign had pushed England towards a more clearly Protestant settlement; and Mary I had returned England to papal obedience and burned nearly 300 Protestants. By 1558 the country had been through four different religious settlements in twenty-five years. Elizabeth needed to act swiftly and carefully to restore stability.
The religious landscape Elizabeth inherited was deeply divided. Committed Protestants (many returning from exile in Protestant Europe) wanted a thorough reformation. Many ordinary English people — especially in the north and west — remained attached to traditional Catholic practice. A significant number of Catholic clergy refused to swear loyalty to a Protestant queen. The Pope, and England’s main Catholic neighbours France and Spain, watched closely. Any settlement Elizabeth chose would alienate someone.
Elizabeth’s Aims: The ‘Middle Way’
Elizabeth’s approach to religion has been described as the Middle Way — a settlement designed to be broadly inclusive. She wanted a Church that was Protestant in its key doctrines (rejecting papal authority and the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation) but that retained enough traditional ceremony to be acceptable to moderate Catholics. Her aim was political stability rather than theological purity. Elizabeth appears to have had genuine personal religious views, but she was above all a pragmatist who wanted a peaceful kingdom.
Elizabeth’s religious aims were: to establish her own authority over the Church of England (replacing the Pope), and to set a uniform style of worship that most English people could accept. These aims were delivered by the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity, both passed in 1559.
The Act of Supremacy, 1559
The Act of Supremacy was passed by Parliament in April 1559. It formally re-established the English Church’s independence from Rome and gave Elizabeth the title ‘Supreme Governor’ of the Church of England. Note the subtle but important distinction: Henry VIII had been ‘Supreme Head’, but Elizabeth chose ‘Supreme Governor’ — a less sweeping claim that was more acceptable to those who doubted a woman could be the spiritual head of the Church.
All clergy and royal officials were required to swear an oath recognising Elizabeth’s supremacy. Those who refused could be fined or imprisoned. Most of the Marian clergy eventually conformed, though several bishops who had served under Mary refused and were deprived of their positions. The Act effectively dismantled papal authority in England for the second time.
The Act of Uniformity, 1559
The Act of Uniformity was passed in the same month. It made attendance at Church of England services compulsory for all English people — those who absented themselves could be fined twelve pence (a significant sum for a labourer) per absence. It also introduced a revised Book of Common Prayer, based on Thomas Cranmer’s 1552 Protestant version but with key modifications designed to be more acceptable to traditional Catholics. Most notably, the words said at Communion were a composite of the 1549 and 1552 versions, allowing both Protestant and Catholic interpretations of the ceremony.
Alongside the two Acts, Elizabeth issued a set of Royal Injunctions in 1559 — detailed instructions to the clergy about how services should be conducted. These reinforced the Protestant character of the settlement: clergy were to preach in English, use the English Bible, and remove images (though the wording on images was deliberately vague). The Injunctions also created the post of ‘visitor’ — officials who would travel the country to inspect churches and ensure compliance with the settlement. Elizabeth retained some traditional features, including clerical vestments (special robes for clergy) and the use of the crucifix in the Chapel Royal, which pleased moderate traditionalists but frustrated committed Protestants who wanted a plainer form of worship.
Reactions to the Settlement
Reactions to the 1559 Settlement were mixed. Most ordinary English people accepted it — change had come so frequently that many simply went along with whatever their parish church now offered. However, several groups were unhappy. The Pope refused to recognise the settlement and eventually excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570. Catholic nobles, particularly in the north of England, retained private Catholic worship. A small number of committed Catholics, known as recusants, refused to attend Church of England services and accepted the fines.
From the Protestant side, some returning exiles felt the settlement did not go far enough. These critics — later called Puritans — wanted a plainer church, less ceremony and a presbyterian form of church government rather than bishops. They were broadly willing to work within the settlement at first, hoping to reform it from within. The settlement was therefore a genuine compromise — it pleased no one perfectly, but it provided a workable stability that survived the whole of Elizabeth’s reign.
Catholics who refused to attend Church of England services were called recusants and could be fined twelve pence per absence. The Pope excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570, technically releasing Catholics from obedience to her — a turning point that made recusancy a matter of political loyalty as well as personal faith.
Historians have debated the success of the 1559 Settlement. The traditional ‘Whig’ view praised it as a masterpiece of pragmatic politics, creating a broad national church. More recent revisionist historians (such as Christopher Haigh) have argued that the settlement was not a fully planned ‘Middle Way’ but a series of compromises forced upon Elizabeth by parliamentary and political pressures. What is clear is that the settlement proved durable — England did not return to religious civil war, unlike France and the Holy Roman Empire. By the end of Elizabeth’s reign in 1603, the Church of England was firmly established and its Protestant character was broadly accepted.