Reformation Britain: Assessing the stability of the Religious Settlements of England in 1559 and Scotland in 1560

Introduction

This assessment will compare and contrast the long-term stability of the religious settlements in Britain through studying the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 and the Scottish Settlement of 1560. The Elizabethan religious settlement of 1559 was an attempt by Elizabeth I to consolidate power and unite the people of England, religious grievances, resistance and persecution had caused huge religious divisions under the Tudor monarchs and Elizabeth’s aim for England now was uniformity. The settlement remained virtually untouched until her death in 1603 and represented an attempt of compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism. In contrast Scotland’s religious settlement was less of a compromise and redefined the Scottish religious national identity. This discussion will assert that although the Elizabethan settlement remained intact until her death, it perhaps wasn’t as stable as it first appears, whereas the Scottish Settlement left no room for objection and remained in control of its changes for the long-term.

The Elizabethan Settlement of 1559

The start of the Elizabethan age was a time of uncertainty and religious tension. The religious settlement of 1559 answered some of those uncertainties. Elizabeth an “odd sort of Protestant”[1] would go on to create a “protestant nation, but not a nation of protestants” as Christopher Haigh argues.  Although the Elizabethan settlement in this respect changed the doctrine and ideology of the English church on paper, it can be asserted that it didn’t change much the opinion of the populous.[2] Rather than create any new phenomena the settlement reiterated the fact that uniformity and individual worship of religion was still possible and debated amongst the common people. Many in England conformed with attendance and obedience to the monarch but were not always Protestant in their hearts. Therefore, the Elizabethan settlement in theory was in fact stable as a law and documentation, but in practice was irrelevant in changing the opinions and stability of her realm.

The Elizabethan Settlement at large can be viewed as a compromise between Catholic and Protestant ideology. Elizabeth kept many of the Catholic structures of the Church in her “half-reformed” church whilst adding new Protestant sermons and ideologies from Calvinism. This settlement was contested by both Protestants and Catholics because of this compromise rather than enhancing one religion. Fuller criticised the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 arguing that “but halflie by your majesty hath God been honoured, his church reformed and established, his people taught and comforted.” [3] Fuller was a Puritan and therefore, his argument is valid to state that she called herself a Protestant Queen but had only half-fulfilled this commitment to Protestant belief. Puritan and Presbyterian contesting of the English settlement remained a problem for Elizabeth and the stability of her ‘protestant’ England throughout her reign and therefore it is feasible to argue that although the contract itself of the settlement was secure, the agreeability and practice of this ‘half-reformed’ church was not a reality for most in Elizabethan England, but more attributed to those who did not have the power to do otherwise.

Similarly, many of Elizabeth’s Catholic bishops opposed the settlement and Act of Uniformity in 1559. The Commons Journal kept at the time by John Seymour, although minimal in description tells historians that particular Catholic Lords had much debate over the passing focusing in particular on the opinion of Anthony Browne who argued that if this act should be passed it would in fact be almost authorising  ‘the Mass abrogated … sacramentes prophaned, holie aultars destroyed, temples vyolated, mariage of priests allowed, their children made legitimate.’[4] Therefore, it is likely that the vote itself was swayed by the Protestants, many returning from exile and the possibility of the removal of direct catholic threat to its passing.

In her reign overall, Elizabeth also faced much opposition to her rule and the settlement from both Protestants and Catholics which expresses that uniformity and agreement under this settlement was not a reality. It is obvious that neither the Catholics nor the Protestants wanted compromise or a middle ground. The problems Elizabeth faced because of certain aspects of her settlement being not ‘Calvinist’ in sense also provided more problems than it caused. In 1558 she issued her Proclamation to Forbid Preaching[5] which essentially is what Genevan Calvinism is centred to. This later caused her issues with Edmund Grindal due to his puritan sympathy and prophesying’s unauthorised by the Elizabethan settlement.  Elizabeth saw this as a direct contradiction of her settlement and their work relationship became problematic to say the least. Therefore, if even her own religion were not on board with her settlement, then how could it have been secure after all she was meant to be a Protestant ruler of a Protestant realm, but definitively England was neither Protestant nor Catholic but merely a blur of both.

The Scottish Religious Settlement of 1560

The Scottish Settlement and its establishment in 1560 saw a shift in how religion was to be conducted in Scotland. The Scottish Settlement of 1560, moreover, was cleaner cut and definitive on the new reformed religion of the realm and how it would be established and exercised in Scotland. In 1560 Scotland faced a new decision in terms of alliance and religious positioning. Due to the preaching of John Knox at St. John’s Church in Perth in 1559, the Scottish Parliament had been propelled into the Wars of the Congregation, the Scottish Parliament’s reestablishment and the Scot’s Confession being passed as the basis for Scottish Religion.[6] No part of the Scot’s Confession was “half-reformed” like the Elizabethan Church it was solely Protestant and relative to Calvin’s idealistic model of Geneva: “It is the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the Apostles. In other places I confess Christ to be truly preached; but manners and religion to be so seriously reformed…”[7] The Scottish Settlement was a success and was stable. The people who passed it were the people implementing the reform. John Knox as the initial catalyst to the Protestant Reform push in 1559, was the author of the Scots Confession and therefore, his preaching and publications were the essence and representations of the new reformed faith in Scotland.[8] The Scottish Settlement’s timing of 1560 saw it propel Scotland swiftly into a more Protestant led Reformation referred to by historians as The Scottish Protestant Reformation rather than the Scottish Reformation as a whole.[9]

Although the Scottish Parliament and protestant reformers of it known collectively as the Lords of the Congregation had a dramatic start to enforcing the Scottish Settlement, it did despite much upheaval prevail. In St. Andrew’s in 1560 the Lords of the Congregation stripped altars, removed iconoclasm from churches and removed all decorative nature of Catholicism overnight. The Protestants worked drastically but quickly to consolidate their power and impose the reformed religion. The leaders of the Protestant cause were also placed in high positions with the ability to implement the settlement and Calvinism throughout the realm. James Stewart, Earl of Moray led the Lords of Congregation, renouncing the Pope’s authority and mass was declared illegal. By the time Mary Queen of Scots returned in 1561 the damage was already done. [10] The success of this settlement was pushed to its full extent later under the reign of James VI of Scotland and therefore the stability of the settlement in order for it to be attributed to the new monarch and ruling of this undoubted Protestant nation is important to recognise when assessing its stability.[11]

The Scots Confession of 1560 reiterates the strength of the Scottish settlement. It repeats the importance of renewal to faith and that the followers of the religion should continue and repeat good works rather than just attend and read biblical sermons/texts. Thence comes that continual battle which is between the flesh and Spirit in God’s children, while the flesh and the natural man, being corrupt, lust for things pleasant and delightful to themselves”, it presents the importance to the people to not only follow religion but make the country more stable and uniform by adhering to religious ideals and goodliness. The Scottish settlement also bans Catholicism officially and the attendance of mass and therefore in official legislation removes the need for religious infighting as in theory the people should all follow the religion of the realm. Finally, the Confession appeals to and is directly persuasive for the ordinary people. The importance of religion and eternity for people in the early modern world is virtually uncontested, and therefore phrases like “We affirm that in these all things necessary to be believed for the salvation of man are sufficiently expressed” and “But the Spirit of God, who bears witness to our spirit that we are the sons of God, makes us resist filthy pleasures and groan in God’s presence for deliverance from this bondage of corruption, and finally to triumph over sin so that it does not reign in our mortal bodies”[12] would have had a profound impact on the everyday person who may not have been currently living in great circumstances but that hoped for a better life thereafter. The importance of predestination as a fundamental belief for Calvinism and the new belief of the Scottish Kirk would have also encouraged, with the reading/listening of the Scots Confession, fear and determination to prove themselves one of the elects few to be going to heaven. Therefore, the Scottish confession was stable as it touched on the heart strings and emotion of the people to enforce its ideology.

Conclusion

In direct comparison the Scottish Settlement was stricter than the Elizabethan Settlement as it left no room for adaptation and uncooperating. The Scots’ Settlement prevented anyone from not conforming to Protestantism. However, in Protestant England there were ways to actively be Catholic. To conclude, the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 although unchanged and stable in theoretical and written terms, was not in fact implemented well into Elizabethan society. Religious uniformity was not achieved as many just continued to disobey the religion of the realm through active recusancy and more extremely through rebellion and plots.

The Scottish Settlement however, left no room for disruption and created cohesion in the realm as serious consequences both through governmental measures and spiritual ones through God were expressed persuasively in the texts surrounding the settlement making it more appealing to conform and obey the settlement, than to not. The Scottish Settlement was also able to be fully implemented only seven years after its release with the removal of Mary Stewart, whilst Elizabethan England never quite saw uniformity but more appeared to be calmer with just as many opposed to the new system as those actually conforming to it.

Bibliography

• Dickens, A. G. The English Reformation, Fontana, 1989, 401
• Doran, S. ‘Elizabeth I’s religion: the evidence of her letters’, JEH, 51, 2000, p.699-720
• Elton, G.R., Reformation Europe 1517-1559, London, 1963 p.52
• Haigh, Christopher, English Reformations: Religion, Politics and Society under the Tudors 1993.
• John Dickinson Knox & William Croft Dickinson, John Knox’s History of the Reformation IN Scotland V1.
• John, Lord Herries, Historical Memoirs of the Reign of Mary Queen of Scots and a Portion of the Reign of James the Sixth. Edinburgh, 1836, p.14.
• Lloyd Jones, D. M. & Murray, I. H., John Knox and the Reformation, Edinburgh 2001 p.39
• Jones, Faith by Statute 63-9; House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, Survey Appendix IX.
• Queen Elizabeth’s Proclamation to Forbid Preaching (1558) – Gee, Henry and William John Hardy, eds., Documents Illustrative of English Church History, New York, Macmillan, 1896, p.416-7
• Revell, Anna, MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS: A Mary Queen of Scots Biography, 2018
• Ryrie, Alec, Congregations, Conventicles and the Nature of Early Scottish Protestantism, Oxford Academic, Oxford (May 2006) V191.
• Ryrie, Alec, The Age of Reformation: The Tudor and Stewart Realms 1485-1603, Routledge, New York, 2017.
• Ryrie, Alec, The Origins of the Scottish Reformation, Manchester University Press, UK, 2016.
• Somerset, Douglas, in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, Volume 2, 2012
• Todd, Margo, The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland, New Haven and London, 2002.
• Visitation Articles and Injunctions of the Reformation Period, .A].cuin Club Collections, XTI. 1910 ed. W.H. Frere, p.22
• William Fuller, Booke to the queen, The Second part of a Register, ii. 52, quoted in Collinson, 1967, p. 29.
• Wormald, Jenny, Court Kirk and Community: Scotland 1470-1625. Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd, 1981.

[1] S. Doran, ‘Elizabeth I’s religion: the evidence of her letters’, JEH, 51 (2000), 699-720

[2] C. Haigh English Reformations: Religion, Politics and Society under the Tudors 1993.

[3] William Fuller, Booke to the queen, The Second part of a Register, ii. 52, quoted in Collinson, 1967, p. 29.

[4] N. Jones, Faith by Statute 63-9; House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, Survey Appendix IX.

[5] Queen Elizabeth’s Proclamation to Forbid Preaching (1558) – Gee, Henry and William John Hardy, eds., Documents Illustrative of English Church History (New York: Macmillan, 1896), 416-7

[6] Douglas Somerset in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, Volume 2, 2012

[7] John Dickinson Knox & William Croft Dickinson, John Knox’s History of the Reformation IN Scotland V1

[8] Graham, Roderick, John Knox: A Man of Action (2013)

[9] Ryrie, Alec, The Origins of the Scottish Reformation, Manchester University Press, UK, 2016.

[10] Dawson, Jane, John Knox, New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 2015.

[11] John, Lord Henries, Historical Memoirs of the Reign of Mary Queen of Scots and a Portion of the Reign of James the Sixth. Edinburgh, 1836, p.14.

[12]Knox, John, The Scots Confession, www.creeds.net/reformed/Scots/scots.htm#Kirk1  Accessed 22/06/2018.