passed, and the election of bishops by congé d'élire finally arranged. (See list of bishoprics, 1534.)

The clergy are forbidden to make laws binding on themselves without the King's consent. (The legislative power of Convocation is thus practically suppressed.)

The Act abolishing the authority of the Pope in England is passed. The Convocations of Canterbury and York declare that the Bishop of Rome has no greater jurisdiction conferred on him by God in the Kingdom of England than any other foreign bishop."

1535-Henry takes the title of "Supreme Head of the Church of England," by the Act of Supremacy.

Fisher and Sir Thomas More are executed, practically for denying the King's supremacy.

Thomas Cromwell is appointed vicar-general.

1536.-Benefit of clergy is now restricted by Act of Parliament, and henceforth in the matter of jurisdiction clergy and laity are on an equality.

The smaller monasteries and nunneries are dissolved, and their property transferred to the Crown.

An English translation of the Bible is set up in the Churches. 1539.-All monasteries are now dissolved and granted to the King. The Act of the Six Articles, with severe penalties for disobedience, is passed.

1540.-Fall and execution of Thomas Cromwell.

EDWARD VI.

1547. An ecclesiastical visitation is directed, to order the use of English in services, and to pull down images. Bonner and Gardiner protesting, they are imprisoned.

1549. The "First Prayer-Book of Edward VI." is approved, and the "Act for Uniformity of Service" passed in Parliament. A rebellion in Devon and Cornwall demanding the restoration of the old Liturgy is put down by Russell.

1552.-A second Act of Uniformity and second Prayer-Book are

issued.

MARY

1553-Bonner is made Bishop of London, and Gardiner Lord

Chancellor.

The laws concerning religion passed in Edward VI.'s reign are annulled in Parliament.

1554.-Cardinal Pole comes to England.

All statutes against the Pope since the twentieth year of Henry VIII. are repealed (but the monastic lands remain in the hands of their present owners).

1555. The persecuting statutes of Henry IV. and V. against heretics are revived.

Hooper and many others are burnt as heretics.

October.-Latimer and Ridley are burnt. 1556.-Cranmer is burnt.

Cardinal Pole, papal legate, is made Archbishop of Canterbury. (He dies in 1558.)

ELIZABETH

1558.-Elizabeth forbids unlicensed preaching, and allows part of the Liturgy to be used in English. A new Prayer-Book is prepared.

1559.-The Act of Supremacy is passed in Parliament, with penalties for refusing it.

The Act of Uniformity is passed establishing the revised PrayerBook.

Parker is made Archbishop of Canterbury.

CHAPTER II

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH

UNDER ELIZABETH

ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH-PROTESTANT HOPES OF REFORM DISAPPOINTED-ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION-THE ACT OF SUPREMACY ITS PROVISIONS-THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY-ONE FORM OF RITUAL AND WORSHIP ESTABLISHED BY LAW; ALL OTHERS MADE ILLEGAL ; CHURCH ATTENDANCE COMPULSORY-LEGISLATION BY QUEEN AND PARLIAMENT WITHOUT REFERENCE TO BISHOPS OR CONVOCATION-CLAIMS OF CONVOCATION IN BEHALF OF EPISCOPAL AUTHORITY DISREGARDED-BISHOPS VOTE AGAINST BOTH ACTS-BISHOP OF CHESTER'S PROTEST-BISHOPS AND OTHERS DEPRIVED-REASONS WHY SO FEW WERE DEPRIVED -THE QUEEN EXCOMMUNICATED-SUBSCRIPTION TO THE ARTICLES OF RELIGION ENFORCED-SubscripTION AS AFFECTING PURITANS AND CATHOLICS-MOTIVES OF THE QUEEN'S POLICY-LEGISLATION AGAINST ROME-THE SPELL OF ELIZABETH-WAS SHE A PROTESTANT QUEEN ?-HER PROTESTANTISM POLITICAL RATHER THAN RELIGIOUS-NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND RELIGIOUS UNITY HER FIRST AIM-HER POLICY OF COMPROMISE AND ITS LATER RESULTS.

E'

LIZABETH came to the throne on November 17, 1558. Within a month there was great religious excitement in London and in other parts of the kingdom. She was a Protestant queen, and fervent Protestants were indignant that she did not at once abolish the superstitions and idolatries of Rome. They were indignant that the clergy who had been driven from their livings and from the country in Queen Mary's time were not at once restored. Mass was still being sung in parish churches; popish priests were still preaching in the pulpits, were still listening to the confessions of penitents and professing to absolve them from their sins. Popular zeal began to show itself in dangerous forms. Violent mobs broke into the churches, interrupted the service, pulled down the images of saints, scattered and profaned the relics of martyrs and saints. Protestant preachers, creeping from their hiding-places, or released from prison by the Queen's

orders,1 gathered great crowds of people who listened to them. with delight and enthusiasm while they denounced the idolatries and the crimes of Rome, and demanded instant reformation. The Romanists, on the other hand, were alarmed and, as Strype says, "took frequent occasion . . . to speak very untoward words against the Queen, reflecting (as it seems) upon Queen Anne Boleyn, her mother, and her own. legitimacy and title to the succession, and in favour of the Queen of Scots." There lay Elizabeth's danger. If she could not conciliate the Catholics, they might rise in favour of her sister Mary; and the rising might receive help from France. That peril menaced her during a great part of her reign and determined very much of her policy in relation to religion.

2

To prevent popular tumults, a proclamation was issued on December 28, forbidding all preaching and all listening to preaching; allowing the Gospel and the Epistle for the day, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, to be read in English; but declaring that no other changes would be permitted in the Catholic service until her Majesty could consult Parliament.

Parliament met towards the end of January, and passed in rapid succession a number of laws in relation to religion. The most important of these were (1) an Act to restore to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the Estate Ecclesiastical and Spiritual, and abolishing all foreign Powers repugnant to the same; (2) an Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church and Administration of the Sacraments.

I

The first of these Acts, after reviving certain laws passed under Henry VIII. and repealed under Mary, declared that-

1 "One of her earliest actions was to release the captives, and to restore liberty to the freeborn. Therefore order from above was sent to the keepers of the prisons, wheresoever these honest and pious people were detained, that they should set them at liberty, taking their own bonds for their appearance whensoever they should be called to answer." The prisoners had been previously described as “the afflicted professors of the Gospel in bonds and imprisonment." Strype, Annals, i. (1), 54-55.

2 Strype, ibid., 63.

31 Eliz. cap. I; and see Gibson, Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani, I. 42-49, and especially 44, 45.

"And to the intent that all the usurped and foreign power and authority Spiritual and Temporal, may for ever be clearly extinguished, and never be used and obeyed within this Realm, or any other your Majesties Dominions or Countries, May it please your Highness that it may be further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no Foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State, or Potentate Spiritual or Temporal, shall at any time after the last day of this Session of Parliament, use, enjoy or exercise any manner of power, jurisdiction, superiority, authority, pre-heminence or privilege Spiritual or Ecclesiastical, within this Realm, or within any other your Majesties Dominions or Countreys that now be, or hereafter shall be, but from thenceforth the same shall be clearly abolished out of this Realm, and all other your Highness's Dominions for ever; any Statute, Ordinance, Custom, Constitutions, or any other matter or cause whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. And that also it may likewise please your Highness that it may be established and enacted by the authority aforesaid, That such jurisdictions, privileges, superiorities, and pre-heminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical, as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power or authority hath heretofore been, or may lawfully be exercised or used for the visitation of the Ecclesiastical state and persons, and for reformation, order and correction of the same, and of all manner of errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities, shall for ever, by authority of this present Parliament, be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm."

The Act further provides that archbishops, bishops, and "every other Ecclesiastical person," every temporal judge, justice, mayor, and every other person in the service of the Crown, shall take the following oath :

“I, A. B., do utterly testify and declare in my Conscience, That the Queens Highness is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm, and of all other Her Highness's Dominions and Countries, as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes, as Temporal ; and that no foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Potentate, hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction, Powers, Superiority, Preheminence, or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm, and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign Jurisdictions, Powers, Superiorities and Authorities, and do promise, that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Queens Highness, her Heirs and lawful successors, and to

In the second Parliament of Elizabeth (1562), this oath was imposed on all members of the House of Commons and on many other persons. It was not imposed as a qualification for sitting in the House of Lords, as the loyalty of the peers was held to be above question (5 Eliz. cap. I, §§ 5, IO, I7).