When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1553 she faced a number of problems, but no one problem was of greater concern than religion. This was because arguments were braking out and there was conflict all over England. There was no peace and so many changes were being made that it meant no one could decide on one religion to all follow. Elizabeth had to work out a way of pleasing both religions and cutting corners. She would make a new prayer book to please the catholic and then change it to English to please the Protestants.
This meant when he came to power, there wasn’t really that much religious tension. At this point the most dangerous extremist group was the Catholic, they had been because of the Anti-Catholic laws that she had past once the Catholic Plots had started to appear. James was favoured in the eyes of Catholics as he was the son of the Catholic martyr Mary, Queen of Scots. It has been said that before he came to throne, while he was King of Scotland he has promised the Catholics more tolerance. This has been greatly debated and in the end he didn’t become more tolerant towards the Catholics, he started to suppress them.
The main motivation for the reformation in England was Henry V111 religious convictions how far do you agree with this statement? The reformation in England was the change from Catholicism to Protestantism. Henry V111 played a huge role in the reformation for example he stopped the amount of taxes that were being payed to Rome and he later ordered the dissolution of the monasteries however there are many other reasons to why the reformation in England took place for example for many years Protestants had argued over the beliefs and laws of the catholic religion as they believed some of their beliefs were corrupt. For example the Catholics had a strong belief in purgatory this is a seen as being like a waiting room were your soul is weighed on all of the sins you have committed compared to all of the positives that you have done throughout your life. The church said that the only way you could get time out of purgatory or save a family member from purgatory was to buy indulgences this means that the monks will pray for you and your family.
Therefore it was not to a great extent that the English Church needed reformation in the 16th Century. Those historians, who would claim that the English Church needed reformation, would begin with the issue of The Papacy. As the Catholic Pope in Italy was the head of the Church, this gave a foreign authority a great deal of power in England. This did not sit well with Henry VIII or his people. Therefore by reforming the English Church and removing the Pope and making Henry VIII the Supreme Head of the Church in England, there was a revolution in the relationship between Church and State.
The Victorian period, up until the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, was therefore a time of religious confusion, but also, as we will see, of great charity, as well as of birth of new beliefs. What role did religion play in the lives of citizens of this period and their society? The Victorian era was marked by the immense influence of the Church of England in religion, of course, but also in politics- being linked to the government meant it had its hand in certain social decisions, such as the oppression of dissenters. This naturally caused friction amongst people of other faith, especially the Catholics who had previously been stripped of many of their civil rights, which were only returned to them in 1827 by Parliament. They had a long wait until 1840 to see the tax-supported status of the Anglican Church be removed, making them equal once again.
She was a Catholic, so naturally Parliament were concerned that England was going to return to Catholicism. Charles was to blame because of power. He let his friends help him with important decisions and Power. People did not approve of some of the choices they made such as raising taxes. Although, Charles was not entirely to blame.
An unmarried female ruler was inconceivable to sixteenth-century Europeans. There were two major threats to the peace of her reign, the reigns of Edward and Mary had left England as a divided country religiously. Elizabeth’s religious ideals were unknown, but both Catholics and Protestants hoped for her support. She brought Protestants who had been exiled back into England. As for the religious divide, Elizabeth created a Church of England where Protestants and Catholics alike could go to pray and let people decide what religion they would like to follow.
For instance, “the sale of indulgences for the benefit of the church of Rome specifically for the rebuilding of St. Peters Cathedral provoked harsh criticism, especially by those who saw the luxuries of the papacy as a betrayal of apostolic ideals ” (Fiero 119). Martin Luther stated a list of objections, called the Ninety-Five Theses, against the Roman Catholic Church. The Protestant Reformation changed the course of Western civilization for the long term which led to the impact on the arts using Northern Renaissance art, music and literature. Protestant reformers made two new printmaking processes, which were woodcut and engraving. Compared to the too expensive hand-illuminated manuscripts, books with printed pictures became an inexpensive option for all (Fiero 127).
Bismarck did not help to make the Catholics feel welcome in the Confederation. Pope Pius IX that the Church was slowly losing its traditional power, so he announced that any statement he made was to be accepted everywhere by Catholics, therefore German bishops would have to obey. Bismarck similarly wanted his new government to be obeyed. The Centre party (Catholic party) began to win more seats in the Reichstag, causing concern for Bismarck as there loyalty may be to the Pope. Bismarck began to fight back, he banned the most active order of Catholic priests and introduced a law that the government had a right to inspect all schools, including Catholic ones.
Protestant Reformation in Europe During the sixteenth century, there were quite a few people who questioned the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. This time period was called the Reformation, and during this time, the Church was criticized by the Protestants for their corruption. “The omnipotence of the church, both in the spiritual sense and in the political realm, had been called into question” (Rogers 9). The Reformation ended the period of unity created by Medieval Christianity. The two people who stand out during this time period are Martin Luther and John Calvin.