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I Queen Anne's Upbringing, Education, and Their Impact

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I Queen Anne's Upbringing, Education, and Their Impact QUEEN ANNE’S UPBRINGING, EDUCATION, AND THEIR IMPACT ON HER REIGN AND INFLUENCE OVER THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND A Thesis submitted by Troy A. Heffernan, BA, MA For the award of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 I ABSTRACT Three hundred years of historical study has shaped current understandings of Queen Anne, but little has been written about the influence she believed she held in shaping England’s politics and religion, or how both shaped her actions as Queen and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. This thesis begins by examining the implications of Anne’s unremarkable place in the line of succession. It assesses why the Catholic suspicions surrounding her father and uncle (James, Duke of York and King Charles II) unexpectedly shaped the approach of a future queen regnant to her sovereignty. An evaluation of Anne’s upbringing and beliefs concerning the Church’s role in government and society establishes that her political and religious views were defined before and during James II’s reign, leading up to the 1688 Revolution, and continued to mature throughout William III’s rule. The consequence of the political landscape she inherited, and her education and beliefs, is that she was destined to face conflict with the Whig-majority in the House of Lords and Whig-sympathetic bishops in the episcopate. After Anne became queen, she attempted to protect the Church by increasing its voting influence in Parliament and the episcopate by filling the episcopal bench with Tory-sympathetic bishops who shared her vision. She was nonetheless often defeated by her inability to combat the Whiggish strength in Parliament and influence in the episcopate that had grown during William’s reign, but Anne adapted and she represents a new expression of monarchical rule with minimal royal prerogative or authority. This thesis sits within the historiography of English royal history, and the histories of the Stuarts. Anne has not attracted as much modern scholarly attention as other Tudor and Stuart monarchs (including Tudor queens regnant), which this thesis amends by highlighting why Anne’s successes and difficulties merit attention. The work builds on the body of literature that has developed since Anne’s lifetime and following her death when her contemporaries wrote about her, to the substantial foundational works of the nineteenth century and more recent seminal scholarship. The thesis adopts a methodology focused on evidence-based historical analysis of seventeenth and eighteenth-century documents which are largely focused on how Anne’s personal relationships influenced her life and rule in the form of letters, diaries, and memoirs. The sources derive from those who were responsible for her upbringing, and later those who were close to her or part of her interactions with the episcopate and Parliament and provide evidence via II personal documents and material contained within political tracts, proclamations, and speeches. These personal and formal sources provide multiple perspectives of the same events that shaped Anne’s life and ability to achieve her goals as Queen and Supreme Governor of the Church. The thesis demonstrates that while Anne faced frequent difficulties in achieving her objectives, she developed strategies to negotiate the politics of religion, and remained constant in her commitment to securing the Church’s role in society and government. III CERTIFICATION OF THESIS This thesis is entirely the work of Troy A. Heffernan except where otherwise acknowledged. The work is original and has not previously been submitted for any other award, except where acknowledged. Student and supervisors’ signatures of endorsement are held at USQ. Dr Marcus Harmes Principal Supervisor Dr Catherine Dewhirst Associate Supervisor Professor Emeritus Sybil M. Jack Associate Supervisor IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completing my thesis, the greatest of thanks must go to Dr Marcus Harmes for being willing to support and supervise my project from its inception to completion. For the last three years, he has been the one sitting through regular meetings and reading countless drafts as a research idea turned into an 80,000 word scholarly contribution. At all times, Dr Catherine Dewhirst was also there to answer questions and give invaluable input towards my thesis’s relation to early modern European history. Professor Emeritus Sybil M. Jack has for several years also given her feedback and advice on my thesis and other research projects. Her comments added to my thesis a lifetime of experience and knowledge concerning early modern English history. Thanks must also go to my wife, Amanda. As life would have it, we completed our doctoral journeys at the same time which meant there was never a time when we felt alone or did not understand the difficulties of doctoral study that sometimes occur. Yes, the question of who would finish our doctorate first turned into a competition, but I am happy to have come second to such a worthy competitor. When it comes to deciphering Stuart manuscripts and eighteenth century French archival material, her skills are also faultless and much appreciated. Studying seventeenth and eighteenth century English monarchical history at a small university in regional Australia was always destined to be difficult, but it did ensure several trips to Europe were required. Carlene and Scott Riley must be thanked for making this possible, so thank you Scott for opening your house to us for months at a time. It was spectacular to live in the centre of London and only be 10 minutes from Lambeth Palace, and 20 minutes from the National Archives. Staying in a home with a friendly face and not a hotel made for experiences beyond compare and was perhaps one of the most important elements in seeing this thesis completed. It was while I was overseas that I was also able to gain the advice of several others who have helped shape this thesis. Thank you Professor Diarmaid Macculloch and Dr Judith Maltby for helping me overcome the complexities of issues that centred around the mix of religion and politics, and thank you Professor Ronald Hutton for assisting me in establishing how to view a very specific topic amongst the wide and varied issues that shaped the monarchy in the later-Stuart period. Finally, thanks must go to the staff at the archives I spent so many months at including Lambeth Palace, Dr Williams’s Library, the Bodleian, and the National V Archives at Kew but also further afield in some of their other locations. Though I spent time at other archives and libraries in England and Europe, it was the staff from the above-mentioned locations that helped me find my feet in early modern research. Thanks must also go to the Australian Commonwealth Government contribution for tuition fees through the Research Training Scheme (RTS), and the provision of an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship which supported the research required to complete the thesis. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ II CERTIFICATION OF THESIS .............................................................................. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... VII CHAPTER ONE - Introduction ................................................................................9 CHAPTER TWO - Queen Anne in Historiography .................................................26 Nineteenth and early-twentieth century assessments of Queen Anne ................... 28 Anne’s constitutional context .............................................................................. 31 Recent assessments of Queen Anne..................................................................... 35 Summary ............................................................................................................ 42 CHAPTER THREE - Lady Anne: A True Daughter of the Church .........................44 Religion and politics before Anne’s birth ............................................................ 46 The education of male monarchs ......................................................................... 49 Educating royal women ...................................................................................... 51 Implications of Anne’s upbringing: princess and queen ....................................... 60 Summary ............................................................................................................ 62 CHAPTER FOUR - Anne, Catholic Conversion, and the Revolution ......................64 Princess Anne’s religious beliefs during the reign of James II ............................. 65 The first steps to revolution ................................................................................. 80 Anne’s faith and the Glorious Revolution ........................................................... 82 Summary ............................................................................................................ 95 CHAPTER FIVE - William’s Reign and Anne’s Sovereignty .................................97 The impact of William’s reign on Anne’s rule ..................................................... 97 Royal prerogative.............................................................................................. 100 Anne’s political views ......................................................................................
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