She would make a new prayer book to please the catholic and then change it to English to please the Protestants. During Mary’s reign, persecuted Protestants looked on Elizabeth as their saviour. Many Protestants thought that Elizabeth would turn the country firmly back towards the Protestant religion. In my analysis of Elizabeth’s religious settlement it is clear to see that this is not totally the case. Out of the eight main points of the settlement, I found that Elizabeth had rules that would please both Protestants and Catholic’s.
I think Elizabeth was a very successful Queen, but on the other hand she did cause disagreement and executed lots of Catholic e.c.t. Elizabeth could be as ruthless and calculating as any King before her. One of the problems Elizabeth faced was religion and I think she managed it well I think this because she made all of the churches a mixture. Elizabeth was a Protestant and her mother was a Protestant so I would thought that she would of made all the churches, Protestant, but she was good queen and managed the religion well. She kept the Monarch as the Governor of the church not the Pope which is Protestant, I believe this is a good idea because the Protestants will still think she is a true Protestant and she will be popular with them.
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.
They rebelled and tried to attack. Charles was partly to blame for religious reasons like the one above, and some other reasons as well. He made William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and he tried to make England a Catholic country. Also, he married a woman named Henrietta Maria. She was a Catholic, so naturally Parliament were concerned that England was going to return to Catholicism.
One of the long term reasons is religion. Since Henry VIII had been King, the country had been in a long term battle between whether the country should be Catholic or Protestant. Currently, in 1642, the country was Protestant. However, Charles was believed to be a secret Catholic, as he was doing some very Catholic-like things. One of these things was allowing Archbishop Laud’s reforms to the Church.
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. According to Catholics, Henry married Anne Boleyn is 1533 while still married to Catherine of Aragon. Catholics did not recognize this marriage and Elizabeth was illegitimate under Catholic Law. Elizabeth’s legitimacy was indeed open to question. Henry’s first Act of Succession in 1534 had declared Mary illegitimate, placing Elizabeth first in the line of succession.
Elizabeth I 1558 - 1588 Foreign Policy Was religious foreign conflict unavoidable? Elizabeth was cautious in foreign policy. She avoided a religious war as it would split the English and was concerned with the sheer power held by Spain Spain declared war after the execution of the Catholic Mary of Scots, seeming to show that religion sparked conflict. However, this can be said to have just been a justification for war, as if conflict was unavoidable purely on religious grounds, it would have happened sooner as Elizabeth has always been protestant and Phillip had always been Catholic. = using a religious justification for war She was close with the catholic French and nearly married into France = not to do with religion She didn’t defend the Huguenots (protestants) of France, but this maybe partly to do with not having the resources Instead of religion, it could be said that England and France had a common interest against Spain, so joined forced against it Elizabeth seemed to put politics over religion.
Also, Mary struggled to re-establish the Catholic faith as she was unable to restore monasteries and chantries and unable to restore land due to rested interests. When Mary came to power, she was determined to crush the Protestant faith. It was part of her policy to reverse the religious changes made by Henry VIII and Edward VI, she wanted to restore Papal Supremacy and she supported a reconciliation with Rome. It could be viewed that this was a public display of force to impress the Pope and exiles such as Reginald Pole. Mary’s chief advisor, Gardiner, supported this policy.
Finally, in a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Roman Catholics would no longer be seen as the overwhelming and threatening majority but rather as cooperating fellow citizens, thus transforming Protestant views of fear and loathing. Indeed as Lord Castlereagh stated "Strength and confidence will encourage liberality". Indeed, following the passing of the Act of Union, Prime Minister Pitt was expected to come forward with the proposal of Catholic Emancipation (which finally passed in 1829). Yet the union between the two countries was not as evident as it should have been. Ireland was still being treated as a separate country and a 'half-alien dependency'.
Elizabeth was strict. It is extremely debateable whether Elizabeth the 1st was a ‘great’ queen or not. Looking back to this important era of history [1558-1603], makes you think about the religion, money, the marriage, the social life, and the Spanish armada. Not only those other things, but Mary Stuart Queen of Scots was a very big problem to Elizabeth during the time she was on the throne. The Roman Catholics in those days thought Elizabeth 1st was the heretic queen in their eyes; however, for the protestant, she was their hero.