PURITANS - History
WHO WAS THE GREATER THREAT – CATHOLICS OR PURITANS???
CATHOLICS
➢ Historians have found it difficult to come to a consensus about the severity of the Catholic threat because there needs to be a distinction between Catholics abroad and Catholics in England.
➢ Dickens (orthodox view) argued the majority of people in England were not ardent Catholics, since they were so quick to take up Protestantism, and therefore were not a serious threat.
➢ The orthodox view is that Bloody Mary’s reign produced anti-Catholic feeling and that therefore Catholicism was not a threat to Elizabeth.
➢ Haigh (revisionist view) argued that Catholicism was not in persistent decline at the start of Elizabeth’s reign and therefore did pose a threat.
➢ Duffy (revisionist view) argued that outside London and the South-East, England remained Catholic until the 1580s and therefore was a threat.
➢ Revisionist historians argue that the success of Protestantism was not guaranteed. Rebellions such as the 1549 Western Rebellion show Protestantism was not popular under Edward VI and Mary restored it with ease.
➢ The Revisionist view is supported by the problems Elizabeth faced in 1559. Previous historiography has suggested Elizabeth was forced into a radical settlement by a Puritan choir in Parliament. However, this view has been discredited. In actual fact, the Religious Settlement only managed to come about due to the imprisonment of two Bishops in the Tower, the absence of the Abbot of Westminster and the Pope’s initial lack of action. This suggests the Catholic threat was strong.
➢ In order to enforce the Religious Settlement, Elizabeth had to depend on JPs, many of whom were Catholic and who did not implement her changes. She was forced to turn a blind eye to those who continued to attend Mass. This suggests Catholicism was still a dangerous power.
➢ As a result of the illegitimacy issue, many Catholics supported Mary Queen of Scots as the rightful Queen. This meant that Catholicism was a significant threat.
➢ Elizabeth herself lessened the Catholic threat through her via media. Her Church resembled the old Church in many ways which were comforting to Catholics, e.g. the use of the English Bible alongside the Catholic book “Paraphrases”. and she refused to make her Settlement more Protestant, despite calls from Puritans to do so.
➢ Elizabeth learnt from Mary the dangers of creating martyrs and the punishments she imposed on clergy and laity were not excessively harsh. This meant that for many Catholics, open rebellion was not worth it. In the meanwhile, the next generation grew up in the Protestant faith.
➢ Initially the Papacy was inactive on the issue. However, the 1570 Papal Bull, which forbade Catholics from attending C of E services, put many Catholics in an impossible situation and divided their loyalties. Few were prepared to put the Catholic Church ahead of their other loyalties, so this suggests that Catholicism was not a serious threat.
➢ The arrival of seminary priests in 1574 from Douai might suggest that Catholicism was a threat, however, Haigh has argued that these priests were misdirected because they focused on the South-East which was difficult to convert, while faith in the loyal North withered and died.
➢ The Rebellion of the Northern Earls might suggest that Catholicism was a threat, since the rebels even managed to celebrate Mass in Durham Cathedral. However, Elizabeth reduced the threat by removing Mary Queen of Scots from the area and by establishing her own supporters in positions of power in the North.
➢ The Babington Plot might suggest that Catholicism was a threat, however, in actuality most Catholics were scandalised by Mary Queen of Scots’ actions. Walsingham’s spy ring ensured that no plots came to fruition, while enabling the government to justify harsher measures against Catholics. The very fact that they needed to remove Elizabeth to convert the country shows the weakness of the Catholic threat.
➢ Initially Spain and France had their own problems to deal with, the Dutch Rebellion and Wars of Religion respectively, and therefore were in no position to aid Catholics in England.
➢ Elizabeth’s aid to the Dutch gave Spain a reason to support English Catholics. These poor relations culminated in the Armada, however, the Protestant country was victorious in this event.
➢ The threat from Catholicism abroad should not be overlooked. Plots and planned invasions presented a serious physical threat to Elizabeth. Even if these plans were unable to remove the Queen, many contemporaries must have feared the instability which they could cause and must have been concerned about the possibility of civil war.
PURITANS
➢ Warren has argued there were different strands of Puritanism and each strand posed a different threat, the least significant coming from the moderates, who reluctantly accepted the C of E, while working from within the change doctrine and structure.
➢ The Presbyterians posed slightly more of a threat because they wanted reform of the Church and removal of the Bishops. This was unacceptable to Elizabeth.
➢ The biggest threat came from the Separatists, who wanted to disband the C of E and allow each Parish to pursue its own direction.
➢ The Puritans were weakened by their small numbers and lack of organisation.
➢ The threat the Puritans posed to Elizabeth was very different from that of the Catholics. They did not want to overthrow her, only change the Religious Settlement. Rather than posing a physical threat to the Queen it was therefore her Prerogative Power that was in danger.
➢ Knappen argued Puritans faced the choice of accepting the Religious Settlement or adopting passive resistance, and many chose to reform the C of E from within, even taking up bishoprics.
➢ The Puritan threat was evident in the Vestments Controversy and ensuing Convocation. However, the threat was not too great, since many Puritans seemed unwilling to resign over the issue of clerical dress e.g. Grindal argued it was better to reform the Church from within than to quit over the issue of vestments.
➢ Neale argued there was a Puritan Choir in Parliament who pushed for a more Protestant Settlement than Elizabeth cared for, a Protestant marriage for the Queen and a Protestant foreign policy. However, Jones has argued against this threat, maintaining that the Puritan Parliamentary challenge stood little chance. The Puritans were not a coherent group, but rather suffered division which weakened them. In any case, Elizabeth could use her Parliamentary weapons of Prerogative power, proroguing and dissolving to combat the Puritan threat.
➢ The failure of the Puritan Parliamentary challenge resulted in a local campaign. One approach which threatened Elizabeth’s authority in the localities was prophesyings. Elizabeth argued that these people who were outside her control should be limited to four in each county. When Archbishop Grindal refused this request he was suspended.
➢ A more significant threat to Elizabeth came in the form of secret networked groups of international and homebred Presbyterians. However, Whitgift’s appointment after Grindal’s death ended this threat, since he forced the clergy to sweat an acceptance of Bishops, the Prayer Book and the 39 Articles or face suspension. Although over 300 clergy were suspended in the South, the threat was removed.
➢ The Separatist threat, created by the realisation that Puritanism must be practised in a secret underground in order to survive, appears to be a threat since it was outside the government’s control. These Separatists were subversive and offered an alternative Church order. However, in actuality their numbers were probably quite small. The government pursued them in order to dissuade others from following their example. Even challenges such as the 1589 Marprelate Tracts backfired, since the government linked all Puritans with the treasonous Separatists and enacted the 1593 Act Against Seditious Sectaries.
➢ The Puritan movement was seriously weakened in the 1590s by the actions of the Separatist movement and also by the deaths of influential Puritans such as Warwick and Leister who had been a voice for Puritanism in Parliament.
➢ However, the Puritan threat cannot be totally dismissed, since it was a significant cause of the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1640.
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