When
Elizabeth I demanded that all the bishops swear the Oath of Supremacy only one
bishop did so. All the others were
deprived of their office but they retained life and liberty. This turn of events was very advantageous to
Elizabeth as she was able to replace the whole bench of Bishops with her own
supporters. It also meant the revenue of
the dioceses – while they were vacant – would go to the Queen. In addition she taxed the new bishops by
claiming their first year’s salary for herself – ‘the first fruits’. Furthermore she forced many of them to
‘exchange’ large portions of their estates in return for their
appointments. At a stroke she was able
to renew her court officials and show the bishops who was in charge. As a result very few clergy had the courage
to resist. She allowed the clergy to
marry but only to women who had been approved by their bishop. They accepted her rule, swore their oaths and
led their congregations in welcoming the established Church of England. She succeeded in resisting the Calvinists who
would have liked to abolish the bishops.
She pointed out very clearly that although her title as Supreme Governor
of the Church of England differed from that borne by her father she fully
intended to exercise all the rights that he had – though being a man he called
himself Supreme Head.
In
the summer of 1559 parishes began to burn the images of the Virgin Mary and St
John the Baptist. In London Henry Machyr
recorded that great bonfires were made of ‘all the Roods and Marys and Johns
and many other church goods – both cope, crosses, censors, altar cloth, Rood
cloth, books and wainscot.’ Old images
inside the churches are painted over – it was only a matter of time before all
complied. Not until January 1564 did
John Shakespeare pay a workman two shillings to obliterate the Day of Judgement
images in Stratford church. Books that
celebrated and defended the new dispensations were brought out by people such
as Matthew Parker, the Archbishop of Canterbury and John Jewel, Bishop of
Salisbury. A hugely influential book
appeared in 1563 – Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
Its full title is ‘Actes and monuments to these latter and perilous
days, touching matters of the church, wherin are comprehended and described the
great persecutions and horrible troubles that have been wrought and practised
by the Romishe Prelates, specially in this realm of England and Scotland from
the year of our Lorde a thousand until the tyme now present by John Foxe (1st
Edition 1563)’. Quite a title – but I
don’t know how he refers to ‘this realm of England and Scotland in 1563 when
England and Scotland were not united until 1707! The book was an enormous asset to Elizabeth
in her propaganda war against ‘the old religion’. Elizabeth made sure that all history books
praised her, and reflected Mary’s reign and Catholicism in a negative
light. It is often the victors who write
the history books!
In
1563 Parliament extended the list of those who had to swear the Oath of
Supremacy. It now included MPs, schoolmasters, lawyers and sheriffs. The Thirty-Nine Articles date from 1563 and
they still need to be subscribed to by the clergy of the Church of England but
since 1865 only a general affirmation is required that what is expressed in
them is agreeable to the Word of God.
The principal statements of the doctrine of the Church of England are
set out establishing its position in relation to Catholicism. For example
Article 22 reads: ‘The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons,
Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation
of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of
Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.’
A
year after the 1563 Parliament half of all the Justices of the Peace in the
country still had not sworn the Oath of Supremacy. It was possible to be a Catholic and yet not
attend Church of England services – a Catholic Recusant – without too much
trouble – if you could afford the twelve pence (one old shilling) fine every
Sunday and Holy Day, a lot of money for most people. But it was not a treasonable act simply to be
a Catholic in the 1650s. But things
became much more serious after November 1569 when the Northern Rebellion took
place. The earls of Westmorland and
Northumberland gathered an army and captured Durham. There was a very public celebration of Mass
in the Cathedral. They wrote to the Pope
asking him to justify their rebellion by excommunicating Elizabeth. On 5th February 1570 Pope Pius V
took the dramatic step of commencing heresy proceedings against the Queen of
England. On 13th February she
was found guilty and on the 25th a Papal Bull was issued
excommunicating her, deposing her and absolving her Catholic subjects from
allegiance to her. This was a most
tragically stupid move with truly disastrous consequences. How to be a Catholic in Elizabethan England
was to live in the shadows.
With
thanks to ‘A Guide to Elizabethan England’ by Ian Mortimer
