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History Links |
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English Beginnings: The Church of England in England Edward, Jane, and Mary Gloriana and the Church
List of Supreme Govenors of the Church of England List of Archbishops of Canterbury List of Presiding Bishops
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Biographies |
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Queen Bertha of Kent |
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King Ethelbert of Kent |
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King Henry VIII of England |
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Anne Boleyn, queen to Henry VIII |
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Katherine of Aragon, queen to Henry VIII |
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Queen Mary I of England |
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Queen Elizabeth I of England |
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King Edward VI of England |
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Lady Jane Grey, queen of England |
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Thomas Cranmer
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Edward, Jane, and Mary |
Henry VIII died in 1547, when his son, Edward, was only 9. As king, Edward VI became England’s first truly Protestant monarch. The nine-year old and his council of regency made the first major changes in parish activity, including translation and thorough revision of the liturgy along more Protestant lines. The resulting Book of Common Prayer, issued in 1549 and revised in 1552, came into use by the authority of the English Parliament. The political aim of the work was to unite moderate religious factions into a single Protestant fold by obscuring the role of the Mass and downplaying the status of saints. Its use was enforced by an Act of Uniformity.
When it had become clear that Edward's life was to be a short one, the king and his advisors made an attempt to exclude his two half sisters, the devout Catholic Mary, daughter of Katherine of Aragon, and moderate Protestant Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, from the line of succession in order to procure the throne for his piously Protestant cousin, Lady Jane GreyEdward VI died at the age of 15 in 1533, either of tuberculosis, arsenic poisoning, or syphilis. His last words were said to have been: "Oh my Lord God, defend this realm from papistry and maintain their true religion." He was buried in at Westminster by Thomas Cranmer with Protestant rites on August 9, while his half-sister, Mary, the daughter of Katherine of Aragon, had a Catholic Mass said for his soul.
Following the death of Edward, there was further upheaval in England, and religious wounds were re-opened.
A surprised Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England on July 10, 1553. Though Jane's accession, pursuant to the Will of Edward VI, may have breached the laws of England, many powers of the land proved willing to accept her as Queen of England, even if only as part of a power-struggle to stop the Catholic Mary from ascending the throne. Lady Jane had a reputation as one of the most learned women of her day, and the historical writer Alison Weir describes her as one of "the finest female minds of the century.“ But it wasn’t enough to save her queenship, nor immediate Protestantism for England. Jane made have been Edward’s de jure successor, but his sister, Mary, was his heiress de facto.
Jane's brief rule ended when Mary (with Elizabeth at her side) raised an army and marched on London. Mary offered to spare her cousin’s life, if only Jane would accept Roman Catholicism as the true faith. Jane refused, and Mary eventually had her executed for treason.
Mary renounced the Henrician and Edwardian changes, first by repealing her brother's reforms then by re-establishing unity with Rome. She gained the common sobriquet of "Bloody Mary" because of the widespread torture and execution of many of those opposed to Roman Catholicism. She also revalidated her father’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon, legitimising herself in the process. Now, at the age of 37, Mary turned her attentions to producing an heir to uphold Catholicism and preventing her half-sister, the Protestant Elizabeth, from inheriting her throne.
Mary married her cousin, Phillip of Spain, in 1554.
During her reign, Mary's weak health led her to suffer two false pregnancies. After such a delusion in 1558, Mary decreed in her will that her husband Philip should be the regent during the minority of her child. No child, however, was born, and Mary died at the age of 42, most probably of ovarian cancer, at St. James's Palace on November 17, 1558. She was famously succeeded by her half-sister, who became Elizabeth I. Mary was interred in Westminster Abbey in a tomb she would eventually share with Elizabeth. The Latin inscription on a marble plaque on their tomb (affixed there during the reign of James I) translates to "Partners both in Throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection."
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Gloriana and the Church |
The second schism, from which the present Church of England originates, came later. Upon Mary's death in 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth I (reigned 1558 - 1603) came to power. Elizabeth was a professed Protestant, and as such, wanted to re-create a Protestant church.
In 1559, Elizabeth convened her Parliament to consider the establishment of a new church. The church as we know it today, had begun.
The Reformation Bill defined the Eucharist as a consubstantial celebration as opposed to a transubstantial celebration, included abuse of the papacy in the litany, and ordered that ministers should not wear the surplice or other Roman Catholic vestments. It allowed ministers to marry, banned images from churches, and confirmed the monarch as Supreme Head of the Church of England. The bill met heavy resistance in the House of Lords, as Catholic bishops, as well as the lay peers voted against it. They butchered much of the bill, changed the litany to allow for a transubstantial belief in the Communion and refused to grant Elizabeth the title of Supreme Head of the Church.
Later, Elizabeth and her government entered two new bills into the Houses — the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity. The Act of Supremacy confirmed Elizabeth as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, as opposed to the Supreme Head. Supreme Governor was a suitably ambiguous phrasing that made Elizabeth head of the church without ever saying that she was, important because in the Sixteenth Century, it was felt that women could not rule a church.
The Bill of Uniformity was more cautious than the initial Reformation Bill. It revoked the harsh laws against Catholics, removed the abuse of the Pope from the litany, and kept the wording that allowed for both consubstantial and transubstantial belief in the Communion.
But Elizabeth became a determined opponent of papal control and re-introduced separatist ideas., and in 1559, Parliament recognised Elizabeth as the Church's supreme governor, with a new Act of Supremacy that also repealed the anti-Protestant legislation of her sister, Mary. A new Book of Common Prayer appeared in the same year. Elizabeth also presided over the Elizabethan Settlement, an attempt to satisfy the Protestant and Catholic forces in England within a single national Church, and end the religious wrangling that was the product of her sibling‘s reigns.
The settlement under Queen Elizabeth I created a church that was subject to the state, and accommodated a wide range of theological positions. For the settlement, Elizabeth was excommunicated by Pope Pius V, finally breaking communion between Catholicism and the Anglican Church.After Parliament was dismissed, Elizabeth, along with William Cecil, her most trusted and Protestant advisor, drafted what are known as the Royal Injunctions. These were additions to the Settlement, and largely stressed continuity with the Catholic past — ministers were ordered to wear the surplice. Wafers, as opposed to ordinary baker's bread, were to be used as the bread at Communion. There had been opposition to the Settlement in English towns, which for the most part were largely Catholic, so the changes were made in order to allow for acceptance to the Settlement.
Elizabeth never changed the Religious Settlement despite Protestant pressure to do so, but Elizabeth, a Protestant queen, felt more compelled to end the religious conflicts of her people, and it is in fact the 1559 Settlement that forms much of the basis of modern churches in the Anglican Communion.