Was the Act of Six Articles still in force when Somerset rose to power?
Yes.
Why did the Catholic Princess Mary pose a particularly difficult problem for Somerset?
She remained resolutely determined to retain her faith and was supported by some of the leading figures at court and Charles V.
Why would moves towards Catholicism ease the foreign situation?
Charles V supported Princess Mary's Catholic beliefs.
Who would be dissatisfied if Somerset kept his religious policy neutral?
Both Catholic and Protestant radicals.
What was Somerset's religious attitude?
He was a reformist, being a moderate Protestant, but was religiously tolerant and had a cautious approach towards reform.
Why did the government have to adopt a cautious approach to religious reform?
Opinion among bishops was divided, and quite equally so, with 9 for and against reform.
Why is attitude to reform outside of the immediate government circle difficult to assess?
The ruling elites seemed in favour of religious reform to some extent, but the clergy and masses seemed largely conservative and in favour of Catholic traditions that made up their way of life. We have very little record of what the everyday person and cl
Where were the Protestant strongholds in England?
East Anglia and London.
What percentage of London were reformers/reform sympathisers?
20%.
What religious decision did the Privy Council make soon after Edward came to the throne and who was against this?
They decided to review the state of the Church and introduce some moderate Protestant reforms.
Conservatives- prompted by Gardiner.
What were the moderate moves towards religious reform made by the Privy Council at the start of Edward's reign?
?Bishops were to instruct their clergy to conduct sermons in English and preach a sermon every Sunday
?Bishops were to create libraries of Protestant literature and provide an English Bible for each parish and encourage the laity to read these books
?Bish
Why did the government still act cautiously with regards to Protestant reform despite clear support for it after the responses of the radical reformers to their initial moderate reform?
The regime still felt insecure and they feared any major doctrinal changes might provoke more unrest and possibly lead to the government's fall.
What was the Chantries Act and why was it passed?
A major piece of legislation closing the chantries and confiscating their wealth and property, confirming a law already passed in 1545.
The chantries were centres of superstition and selling their lands would produce money for the government, particularly
What did the 1548 Privy Council religious proclamations entail and what was the motivation behind the proclamations?
?The validity of Lent and feast days was defended
?Justices of the Peace and church wardens were to enforce existing Church of England doctrine, including transubstantiation
?Instructions were issued to speed up the removal of Catholic images from churche
What was the Act of Edwardian Uniformity of 1549 aimed at and what did it entail?
Ending the uncertainty of religious doctrine.
?It ordered all of the English and Welsh clergy to use a number of Protestant practices that had been allowed but not enforced for the past two years
?Holy communion (the mass) and eversong were to be in Engli
How and why did Cranmer make communion ambiguous in the Book of Common Prayer?
He made it open to interpretation as to whether communion was about remembrance of Jesus's sacrifice or transubstantiation.
To please the Protestants and Catholics and their interpretations respectively.
Which factors of religious change during the 1540s helped spread fear that this was the start of a systematic asset stripping of the Church and what were the other effects of these changes?
?The attack on guilds and confraternities meant that the Crown confiscated money and property which had previously underpinned charitable activities, feasts and celebrations
?The attack on chantries and the plundering of their assets by the Crown destroye
When was the dissolution of chantries and religious guilds?
Dec. 1547.
In which year was the First Act of Uniformity laid down and what did it dictate?
1547.
It laid down the publication of the Book of Common Prayer.
When was the first Edwardian Book of Common Prayer introduced? What were its aims?
1549.
Established single form of service within the English Church and translated the services into English to enhance the understanding of the key texts. It therefore simply translated into English many of the traditional Latin services.
When was the revised Book of Common Prayer introduced?
1552.
When were the Forty-Two Articles of Religion published?
1553.
Which religious radicals did Somerset welcome into his household which indicates his conversion to Protestantism?
John Hooper and Thomas Becon.
What was the significance of the denunciation of images in London in 1547?
It reflected radical attitudes among churchmen, especially Nicholas Ridley.
Who supported the denunciation of images in London in 1547 and what was one way in which they showed this?
Ridley was supported both within the government and by Protestant activists within London.
They engaged in widespread iconoclasm.
What was the nature of the 1547 injunctions?
It reflected radical attitudes in government, attacking many features of popular Catholicism such as
-Lights
-Images
-Stained glass
-Processions and practices associated with Candlemas, Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday.
Why were the chantries dissolved?
The Crown needed money to pay for expensive foreign policy.
Which policy initiated in 1547 represented an attack on
popular Catholicism
?
Dissolution of the chantries.
Why was the first Edwardian Book of Common Prayer introduced?
Due to the need for a uniform approach to religious services.
How did the 1549 Edwardian Book of Common Prayer represent a differing attitude to that of the 1547 religious policies?
It was a more moderate approach to religious reform than that followed in 1547.
What was the social impact of religious changes under Somerset? Include specific examples of policies and how they affected this.
It was highly significant because the changes amounted to a sustained attack on the religious experience of ordinary people and enabled renewed plundering of the Church's resources.
-The 1547 injunctions attacked many traditional Catholic practices
-The s
Which two factors largely determined the religious character of Northumberland's regime?
Cranmer's support and Edward's increasingly assertive Protestantism that was validated by his age and thus increase in influence. As the reign progressed, Edward had increased influence over the policy-making process: he took his role as head of the Churc
How did Protestantism advance under Northumberland's regime?
The Second Prayer Book and the Second Act of Uniformity of 1552 were produced and these were great advances towards Protestantism.
What were Northumberland's religious beliefs like?
The monarch's religion was his religion. He did not have his own religious conscience. He lacked deep philosophical interest in religion and did not care for the details. However, on his deathbed, he accepted Catholicism.
What was the first change to the clergy made under Northumberland?
Conservative bishops were replaced by reformers, including Gardiner.
What did the Articles of Religion do?
Establish doctrine.
What did the Second Act of Uniformity 1552 entail?
?Required everyone to attend church on Sunday
?Required everyone to use the Second Book of Common Prayer
?Empowered Justices of the Peace to enforce its use.
Why was there little reaction to changes in religion?
?The severe punishment of rebels in 1549 deterred some from opposing it
?Most people had probably become used to the idea of slow religious change over the past 20 years
?Protestantism had made significant progress among mostly literate classes.
What was Northumberland's strategy in relation to the Church other than advancing Protestantism?
Plundering its wealth.
Other than the influence of Cranmer and the King, which aspects of the political atmosphere influenced Northumberland's lean towards Protestantism?
?More radical senior clergy such as Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London and the even more radical John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester were becoming more influential
?Eminent continental reformers such as Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr had moved to England and
What does Eamon Duffy argue about the confiscation of church plate by the Crown?
It was not only an attack on the assets of parishes but an attack on the history and collective memory of each parish, which encouraged a "climate of discontent and disobedience".
What was the significance of the Forty-Two Articles of Religion?
They confirmed the firmly Protestant nature of official doctrine, although left some ambiguity between competing varieties of Protestantism.
How was the Crown's policy of asset-stripping, extracting wealth from the Church and the plundering of the property of bishoprics under Northumberland demonstrated? Why?
The Crown was still in financial difficulties after the ruinous expenditure of the Protectorate.
For example:
-The dioceses of Gloucester and Worcester were combined with 2/3 of the Worcester estate going to the Crown
-The bishops of Exeter and Winchester
From where has evidence been collected suggesting that the Crown's orders regarding the destruction of old Catholic habits seems gradually to have been put into effect?
Churchwardens' accounts.
After which year and why did expenditure on Church goods decline?
1540.
This seems to have been a reaction to the destructive attitudes of the Crown. In other words, people increasingly felt that there was little point in leaving money to the Church if there was a chance that their bequests might be confiscated by the C
Why is the evidence of the social impact of religious change from wills debated?
Many wills have not survived and in any case most people did not leave them. It is sometimes possible to make deductions about religious beliefs both from declarations of faith, found at the beginning of wills and from individual bequests, though such evi
What can be concluded overall from the evidence from wills and bequests about the social impact of religious change?
By the reign of Edward VI, people were much less likely to leave money to their parish church.
Christopher Haigh has argued for a crisis in religion at the parish level: "As services became plainer, plays and ales were suppressed, guilds and special funds were abolished, so churches attracted less affection- and much less money- from their people".
-There is a evidence of a decline in church attendance in the diocese of Exeter
-It has been claimed that there was a decline in the number of candidates for ordination as priests, which could potentially have left the Church with a severe manpower shorta
Which radical bishop admitted that the pace of reform was hampered by unco-operative public opinion and in which year?
Hooper.
1550.
What was the significance of the confiscation of church plate for the social impact of religious change?
The religious crisis at parish level was worsened by fear of a Crown attack on Church plate. any parishes tried to avoid this by selling their treasures. Such actions proved justified because, in January 1553, the Crown started to confiscate Church plate,
The reign of Edward saw a contest between which two reforming traditions?
?Evangelical humanism associated with those who identified with Erasmian teaching
?More radical forms of Protestantism.
Give six examples of influential humanists/humanist sympathisers and their positions and favourites under Edward VI.
?Cranmer was influenced by humanism
?The humanist Sir John Cheke had been Edward's tutor
?The humanist writer Nicholas Udall received government encouragement
?William Cecil, then junior secretary of state in Northumberland's government encouraged humanis
What evidence is there of humanism in the 1547 injunctions?
Each parish was required to acquire a copy of the Paraphrases of Erasmus.
Which event destroyed both contending reformist groups?
Edward's death.
What kind of religious change indicated that the more radical Protestant reformers were gaining ground in 1552 and 1553?
The move towards more radical reform by the government.
Why was the more militant and less comprehensive approach to reform as opposed to humanism gaining pace under Northumberland due to the strained relationship between Northumberland and Cranmer?
Northumberland seems to have come more under the influence of the radical John Hooper, whom Cranmer found divisive.
What can be concluded about the impact of religious change during Edward's reign?
It was profound; never before throughout the whole of English history had the population been subject to so much religious change so quickly. For many people, the experience was disorientating. Perhaps one can conclude that, rather than criticising the go