KNOWLEDGE ORGANISER: The Elizabethan Age 1558-1603 (Unit 1)

Key Question 4: How successfully did Elizabeth deal with the problem of religion?

KEY EVENTS/ TIMELINE KEY IDEAS KEY PEOPLE 1559 The Act of Supremacy Elizabeth was aware that most people were conservative in their religious All clergymen and government beliefs and enjoyed the ceremony and celebration associated with the Catholic Elizabeth had been brought up a officials to take an Oath of Supremacy church. She was also keen to avoid the strict measures imposed by her siblings Protestant and refused to adopt accepting Elizabeth as Supreme The ‘Middle Way’/ Edward VI and Mary I. As Elizabeth was a moderate Protestant, she was hoping Catholicism during her sister Mary’s Governor of the Church via media to heal the divide between the two by adopting a Religious Settlement which Queen Counter-. She disliked the reflected both Catholic and Protestant attitudes and practices. Her policy of early Elizabeth authority of the Pope but liked ornaments 1559 The Act of Uniformity toleration worked initially, as most people were prepared to accept and follow her and decorations in church as well as being form of Protestant church. opposed to the idea of and clergy Set out rules for religious services being allowed to marry. using the newly formed Prayer Book, as well as fining anyone not attending Mary was Elizabeth’s Catholic cousin church for recusancy KEY BELIEFS and was next in line to the throne. As Mary, Queen Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement was of Scots 1559 The Royal Injunctions Catholic beliefs Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement Protestant beliefs officially Protestant, Mary became the figurehead for many Catholic plots. A set of instructions to the clergy on a Church should be ruled by a The Queen is to rule as Supreme There should be no Pope or wide range of practices to establish an strict hierarchy, headed by the Governor and supported by bishops. The episcopate was the official name of uniformity of worship and behaviour Pope, assisted by Cardinals and bishops. the bishops who Elizabeth hoped would Archbishops. 1559 The Act of Exchange The follow her Religious Settlement. All Episcopacy bishops, even ones with Catholic beliefs, This act allowed Elizabeth to take land were given the opportunity to swear the and buildings belonging to the Church Mass was the most important There should be no mass. There should be no mass. Oath of Supremacy. and to force bishops to rent land to her ceremony. The work of translating the New 1563 The Thirty-Nine Articles Testament and Prayer Book fell to William , as a scholar who had been These laid down the beliefs of the Salesbury educated at Oxford University. He had , rejecting many Services and Prayer Book should Services and Prayer Book in Services and Prayer Book should been heavily influenced by Protestant Catholic practices and confirming be in Latin. English. be in native language. beliefs at Oxford. important Protestant ones William Morgan tackled the task of 1563 Act for the Translation of the translating the Old Testament from Scriptures into Welsh Hebrew into Welsh. He had been William Churches should be highly Churches should be decorated, Churches and services should be educated at St John’s College, Cambridge. Richard Davies ( of St David’s) Morgan persuaded Parliament to pass the act decorated, and services should and some ceremonies allowed. plain and simple. Morgan wrote in a more fluent style than to allow the translation of the New be full of ceremony. Salesbury, making his translation much Testament and Prayer Book more popular.

1572 and Prayer Book published in Welsh Priests should wear bright robes All clergy to wear clerical dress, Plain robes should be worn by SUMMARY (vestments) and not marry. a white linen gown and not churchmen and they should be William Salesbury’s translation was marry. allowed to marry. Elizabeth managed to reach a compromise settlement published in London, the first time which most people accepted peacefully at the time. While religious books were available in Welsh the Religious Settlement was not ideal, it did end religious persecution and discrimination and is considered a 1588 Old Testament published in Saints should receive special Saints should receive no special Saints were unimportant. success for the first part of her reign. Welsh prayers. prayers. The Religious Settlement caused more conflict in the latter William Morgan’s translation was part of her reign, when extreme Catholics and Protestants better received than Salesbury’s work – plotted to overthrow Elizabeth. people found it more accessible