The Tudors for Dummies (AvaxHome Download) (29 page)

Drake came home a hero, the best known pri-

Dragon or The Devil.

vateer of his day and the first Englishman to sail

In November 1577 Drake set sail from Plymouth to round the world, and he brought back a lot of

explore the South Pacific. His investors included loot. The queen was delighted and knighted

Leicester, Hawkins, the lord admiral and other Drake on the deck of his ship, the Pelican

members of the Council and Navy Board. The (renamed the Golden Hind), at Deptford on the

queen gave him one ship, the Swallow. Thames in London.

The exploration turned into a mega raid. Drake

executed his number two, Thomas Doughty, for

Plymouth

La Coruna

Lisbon

Cadiz

Canaries

C. Verde

Sierra Leone

Drake's circumnavigation, 1577�1580

Philip, on the other hand, knew that English pirates had been attacking his

treasure ships for years. It could only be a matter of time before outright war

broke out.

Choosing the Middle Way between Protestants and Catholics In This Chapter

Setting up a new Church

Underlining the Royal Supremacy

Imposing on Ireland

Saying goodbye to France

Uncovering plots (and Mary Queen of Scots)

Weighing up Elizabeth's first decade

W hen filling in a form today that asks about religion, many people in

Britain write C of E. This is shorthand for the Church of England,

which was essentially the brainchild of Elizabeth I.

When she became queen, Elizabeth was only too aware of the upheavals in

religion throughout her life. In some ways, because of who her mother was

(Anne Boleyn), she could be said to be part of those upheavals. Now she was

determined to build her via media (a middle way, or compromise) that would

bring Catholics and Protestants together.

Settling the Faith

What was the religious situation when Elizabeth became queen?

Everybody expected the new queen to make changes. Anybody in the

know knew that Elizabeth was a Protestant; her vague pretence to be

Catholic had been for her sister Mary's benefit only.

The Catholic Counter-Reformation in England (see Chapter 8) had

stalled badly between 1557 and 1558 because Mary fell out of favour

with the pope and Cardinal Pole died. 216 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth

Elizabeth could easily have carried on without change until she'd found her

feet, but that wasn't her way.

Gauging opinion

The bishops supported Elizabeth as queen (but not the archbishop of York,

who was unhappy with her religious settlement; see Chapter 12), but they

warned her that if she changed things, God would send his lightning bolts.

In 1559 the same sort of attitudes prevailed as at the start of Mary's reign six

years earlier (see Chapter 10):

Some people wanted to see a return to the Church `as King Henry left

it' � Six Articles, an English Bible, no monasteries, no pope (see Chapter

6 for details of Henry and the Church). The difference now was that

Catholic and Protestant had become more obvious and more opposed.

The clergy of 1559 once again looked to the pope as their boss.

Some wanted a full Protestant set-up � English services and prayer

books and no Catholic `hocus-pocus'. Men who'd run for their lives

when Mary became queen started coming back from exile in Europe.

Most people � the mildly conservative silent majority � decided to wait and see.

A Protestant Church would be a fresh start, a clean break and a chance to

promote very clever men (many of them still in exile) to be bishops. It would

also put Elizabeth in the driving seat. On the other hand, those who were

strongly Catholic were still a large minority and the move would be bound

to upset them.

Pinning down the queen's beliefs

What did the queen actually believe?

Her mother, Anne Boleyn, may have supported the religious reformers

to an extent but Elizabeth could have few memories of her, so it's not

very important.

Under Edward she no doubt went Protestant � hence the simple, cheap

clothes. She accepted the 42 Articles of the Faith in 1553 (see Chapter 8)

and believed in only two sacraments � baptism and communion.

Under Mary Elizabeth went through the motions of Catholicism, taking the

mass, but even Mary realised her commitment wasn't for real. But Elizabeth

did like a bit of Catholic colour � music in church, crosses and candles �

and was suspicious of married priests in line with Catholic beliefs. Chapter 13: Choosing the Middle Way between Protestants and Catholics 217

Elizabeth followed in the footsteps of her father in dismantling the few

monasteries that Mary had set up.

She believed in Church government by bishops (the episcopalian system)

and that they should be appointed by her, not the pope (who was now

out forever). She was careful to choose conscientious churchmen, not

mere yes men, and she paid them well.

She had no opposition to Church courts, and they went on as before,

with no change from Mary's reign.

It may have been Elizabeth's intention to turn the cathedrals into power-

houses of reformed teaching, but she met a lot of resistance. Some of the

cathedral clergy lost their jobs because they wouldn't take the oath of Royal

Supremacy (Henry VIII had men killed for that � see Thomas More in Chapter

4). It would take a generation to make a real difference in the cathedrals.

No doubt Elizabeth was a Christian, but she often consulted her magus, the

astrologer Dr John Dee (Chapter 17 has the lowdown on him).

Clashing over uniformity

Parliament accepted a new Bill of Royal Supremacy in January 1559. Only the

bishops in the Lords voted against the bill, and they were a small minority.

Elizabeth now called herself supreme governor of the Church of England, and

the bishops and an Ecclesiastical Commission handled the day-to-day business.

The House of Commons had no real Catholics in 1559 � so much for Mary's old

faith having won the hearts and minds of her subjects.

The Royal Supremacy was one thing, but bringing back the 1552 prayer book

(see Chapter 8) was altogether more difficult. The Commons accepted the

book but the more conservatively minded Lords said no � they wanted a

return to the Church as King Henry VIII had left it, stepping back from the full

Protestantism of Edward VI.

Elizabeth suspended Parliament over Easter 1559 to give herself time to think.

Although Elizabeth can't have known it, the Lords blocking the prayer book

was a warning for the future power balance between monarch and Parliament

(see Chapter 14 for more on this). Seeking backing from Parliament of course

meant the risk of not getting backing at all. For Elizabeth merely to suspend

or dismiss Parliament until they came up with the answer she wanted wasn't

the right thing to do. In 1642, clashing with Parliament led to Civil War and

in 1649 Charles I lost his head because of it. Today, the actual powers of the

monarch are very limited and Parliament calls the shots. The last time a mon-

arch stopped an act of Parliament was in 1884, when Victoria vetoed a bill on

lesbianism. 218 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth

Elizabeth's strategy was clever. She let the members of Parliament fall out

among themselves. Over Easter the old and new bishops agreed on a debate

to iron out the situation. The old party blew the rules of procedure during

the debate and two of the bishops went to jail for contempt. In this weakened

state, when Parliament was recalled the Lords' vote went Elizabeth's way by

one vote. Phew!

After building her via media (middle way) Elizabeth made no more religious

changes. Religious ideas were changing, however � more and more extreme

forms of Protestantism were gaining ground. Many reformers wanted a Church

run by synods (assemblies of clergy and important laymen) not by the bishops

and the queen. Elizabeth saw this as an attack on the Royal Supremacy and

her own role as governor of the Church. She believed her role was God-given.

The methods may be negotiable; the authority itself wasn't.

Elizabeth's Church remained Protestant, emphasising preaching and the

use of the English Bible, but the clergy still wore flashy clothes (vestments)

and stuck to the set services from the prayer book. By the end of her reign,

people unhappy with the Church broke away to form a number of sects on

the `left' of Elizabeth's compromise. The dissenters were every bit as rabid

as the Catholics on the `right', and we have a detailed look at them in

Chapter 14.

Telling little white lies to Rome

Pope Paul IV died in August 1559 (hurrah, all of Rome cheered! � see Chapter

10) and the new man was Pius IV. He didn't terrify people like Paul, he had

three illegitimate children and he spent most of his time finding jobs in the

Vatican for his relatives.

England had no papal ambassador for the rest of Elizabeth's reign, so all

news about what was going on in the country reached Rome via the Low

Countries (today's Netherlands) or the Spanish ambassador.

No important Catholic was in the mood for a crusade against England.

Elizabeth claimed that her Church was essentially Catholic, only a bit different

`in certain particulars' (which was nonsense). Pius chose to believe it (any-

thing for a quiet life) and Philip of Spain still wanted England as an ally.

When Pius invited England to send representatives to the ongoing Council of

Trent (see Chapter 8) however, Elizabeth was put on the spot. She ignored

the invitation, so blowing her `Catholic' cover in terms of European diplo-

macy. Had she really been a supporter of Catholic ideas, she would have sent

somebody; no representatives were ever sent. Chapter 13: Choosing the Middle Way between Protestants and Catholics 219

Enforcing her will

Elizabeth was well aware that getting the prayer book reaccepted by one vote

(see `Clashing over uniformity') wouldn't cut the mustard, so her ministers

persuaded her to get heavy (the queen herself was all for toleration).

Non-attendance at church cost a fine of 12 pence (1 shilling).

The queen's right-hand man William Cecil made sure that a few promi-

nent Catholics still celebrating mass went to jail.

Matthew Parker, the new archbishop of Canterbury, got the job of

making sure that people everywhere accepted the 39 Articles of Faith

(reduced from the 42 of Cranmer's time � see Chapter 8 for details).

Parker sent out his `advertisements' in 1566 demanding that his priests

play ball, but Elizabeth wouldn't let him use her name to force the issue.

But if Elizabeth was trying to stand aloof from Protestants and Catholics in

the hope religious rows would go away, she was wrong.

Conforming clergymen?

The debate between Catholics and Protestants went on for the rest of

Elizabeth's reign. Bishop John Jewel wrote an article defending the new

Church; Catholic pamphleteer Thomas Harding wrote one attacking it . . .

and so on.

Stoking the fires Most of Elizabeth's grief over religion came In 1568 William Allen set up `a nest of scorpions', from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. an English college at Douai in France that was Under Mary, Cardinal Pole had made sure that a training ground for disaffected Englishmen, all lecturers were Catholic and many of them whose mission it was to win England back to were rabid. Between 1559 and 1562 many of the old faith by whatever means necessary. these men left the country for European univer- sities like Bologna and put their talents to good use on behalf of the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation.

In 1559 Elizabeth sent a royal visitation that was supposed to get the back-

ing of the bishops for the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, but all but one

of them refused and the deans and archdeacons followed suit. Bishops who

wouldn't play ball lost their jobs. Some went abroad and others were impris-

oned. (Nobody died.) Most of the rank and file clergy took the oath, however,

probably to keep their jobs and because if the queen wanted to upset God,

that was her business, not theirs.

A lot of clergymen and their flocks went to prayer book services in the morn-

ing and had a quiet mass celebration in the evening when they hoped nobody

was looking.

Converting Ireland?

Elizabeth probably realised that re-imposing the prayer book in Ireland

wasn't going to work (see Chapter 10 for how far anglicisation had got there).

The Irish Parliament met briefly in 1560, just long enough to re-impose Royal

Supremacy, which Thomas Radcliffe, the earl of Sussex, would manage at

ground level.

Tackling the tribes

Sussex's approach was a no-nonsense military occupation. On the grounds

that the French might invade at some point (always a useful one to keep up

your doublet sleeve) he raided and burned tribal lands, put his cronies into

key positions and built up an army of 2,500 men.

The O'Neill

Shane O'Neill was the brother of the earl of A compromise was reached in 1562 when O'Neill

Tyrone and he wanted to inherit the title. He came over to Elizabeth's Court and she gave

was pushy and dynamic and the question him the title of captain (but not earl) of Tyrone.

everybody was asking was whether he was His powers were very vague and although the

only after his brother's title or trying to get the queen recognised him as tribal chieftain of the

English out of Ireland. He had massive backing O'Neills, all this did was put him at loggerheads

across Ireland. with Sussex. For details of Shane O'Neill's ongo-

ing rebellion, see Chapter 14. Chapter 13: Choosing the Middle Way between Protestants and Catholics 221

Elizabeth kept Sussex on a tight financial leash (remember, she was Henry

VII's grand-daughter) and told him how to do his job in terms of the planta-

tions (see Chapter 10). Not unnaturally, the local nobility and tribal chieftains

took exception to Sussex's high-handed approach.

Setting up the counties

Sussex realised that the only way to stop the endless squabbling between the

Irish tribes was to conquer the whole island and bring in a hard-line English

overlordship, which in the past the English had only ever tried in the Pale

(Chapter 2 explains the geography of Ireland at this time).

Sussex was recalled in 1564 and was replaced by Sir Henry Sidney, who car-

ried out a low key and usually peaceful anglicisation over the next 14 years.

The most obvious outward sign of anglicisation was the creation of coun-

ties: Clare and Wicklow, 1560; Galway, 1569; Longford, 1571; Mayo, 1576; and

Donegal and Coleraine, 1585.

Creating the counties didn't just involve changing names of areas. The coun-

ties had their own sheriffs and courts based on the English model, which sat

uneasily alongside the Irish tribal set-up that most Irishmen continued to

follow. Setting up counties was a bit of a cosmetic exercise but it gave Sidney a

pretext to intervene if he wanted to.

Polarising the faiths

The arrival of the new counties offended the old English, the families who'd

held land and power in Ireland for generations. Ireland had technically been

made a kingdom in 1541 when Parliament passed an act that said `The King's

highness, his heirs and successors, kings of England, shall be always kings of

this land of Ireland.' Since then, a situation that favoured the Irish had been

developing:

The Anglo-Irish community became more, not less Catholic as time

went on.

After 1570, as you see in Chapter 14, Ireland was the target of Catholic

missionaries who realised that Irish hostility to the English was useful in

their bid to get England back to the old faith.

Getting people to take on Church of Ireland jobs was difficult � they were

badly paid and unpopular.