Q) Assess the development and impact of the Reformation in England

and France in the sixteenth century.

The sixteenth century can be seen as a period of spiritual upheaval

which weakened religious authority and thus played a crucial role in paving
the way for the rise of the modern west. If this perspective is analyzed with
regard to the Reformation in England and France a number of factors serve to
discredit it. Considering the extent to which reform was borne out of and later
penetrated society, religious changes in this century do not appear to have
marked a radical break from the past. G R Elton therefore writes that it is ‘idle
to credit the age with the beginning of modern times… if only because it’s
intellectual leaders looked determinedly back rather than forward’. The
changes of the sixteenth century acquire importance once they are seen in
conjunction with the growth of independent states with distinct national
identities and the consolidation of royal authority.

This argument can perhaps be substantiated by exploring the reasons

for which religious turmoil came to the forefront in the fifteen-hundreds (and
not earlier). Across Europe the fifteenth century had witnessed the beginnings
of the trend towards strengthening national churches and weakening papal
control. Elton proposes that the ideas of reformers and the manner in which
they were able to satisfy popular spiritual thirst, which was present even
prior to the Reformation, was important in distinguishing the changes of the
sixteenth century. The viability of this view is contingent on the extent to
which this alleged spiritual thirst existed among the majority of the
population. Euan Cameron sees the Reformation as principally concerning
privileged classes; it was a ‘protest by churchmen and scholars…against their
own superiors’ writes Cameron. On this basis he concludes that the vast
majority remained unaffected by these spiritual debates. Popular religion had
a far greater hold on the masses than the prescribed theology of the church.
Christianity as practiced in the countryside depended heavily on superstition
and the manipulation of theology to satisfy immediate concerns and to
facilitate material benefits. Cameron sees the charms and rituals prevalent in
the religious practices of the medieval countryside as manifestations of this.
The church’s presence was more marked in the cities and its hold was

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stronger among elites. With respect to these groups the church laid down
rules of behavior and underlined the importance of active religious
participation. The mass and community festivals enabled the church to
structure social life. Despite this, the church was flexible enough for its hold
over society to be enduring. Looking at the state of religion in the medieval
church Cameron opines that ‘if it were only a question of piety and worship,
we should be hard put to find signs of real mass dissatisfaction with the
church’.

What pulled the trigger for the religious outburst of the Reformation
was therefore not the buildup of spiritual unease (if there was any at all) but
rather the convergence of a number of a-religious concerns. Spiritual
immunities enjoyed by clergymen gave them a free-hand to dabble in politics,
administration and business through which they could gain worldly
advantages. Apart from its primary role of providing religious service, the
medieval church was caught in a web of secondary functions related to the
enforcement of law and involvement in politics. A massive, corrupt
bureaucracy had grown out of the multiplicity of church functions. This
parasitic organization left local priests impoverished and unable to provide
adequate services. As a result, dissatisfaction with the clergy was widespread.
This was, however, manifest before the sixteenth century and could not act
like a mobilizing factor on its own. Anti –clericalism could only serve as a
‘hostage to fortune if the church became more generally unpopular’¹. The
scale of the church’s administrative machinery did contribute to its
vulnerability though. The dependence of the church for money and resources
meant that the clergy’s survival relied heavily upon the will of lay rulers.

The main answer to the question as to why the Reformation

commenced in the sixteenth century is therefore related to political issues.
The sixteenth century was an age of ‘fervent nationalism’. In warfare national
armies fought for the defence of independent states contrary to medieval
notions of chivalry and a united Christendom. The most obvious proof of this
was Francis the First of France’s attempt to seek assistance from the sultan.
Self – contained kingdoms sought to affirm their independence by challenging
papal control and appropriating church lands. Rulers were asserting their

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authority with greater vigor and Elton proposes that circumstances looked
favourable for the ‘blossoming of royal absolutism’. The latter half of the
fifteenth century had also seen the strengthening of royal authority but rulers
of the sixteenth century initiated changes by inventing new ways of defining
their supremacy. Francis the First managed to consolidate his position in the
name of traditionalism. In England Henry the Eighth’s break with the papacy
created an independent national state rooted in constitutional law and
monarchical power rather than legitimacy from the pope. The success or
failure of religious reform can thus be understood in this context; ‘the
Reformation maintained itself wherever the lay power (princes or
magistrates) favoured it, it could not survive where the authorities decided to
suppress it’². Religion was of immense importance to political power in the
sixteenth century. Political order could not exist in the midst of multiple forms
of worship. This was due to the fact that membership of government involved
membership of an ecclesiastical organization. A corollary of this was that
religious dissent amounted to a challenge of political authority. In the
extreme, heresy was equated with treason. The political and religious
developments in England through Henrician Catholicism, Edwardian
Protestantism, Marian papalism to Elizabethan Protestantism are a perfect
illustration as to how inseparable the religion of the ruler and the state was.

Parallel to the growth of national allegiance was the development of

vernacular literature. The printing press facilitated the circulation of religious
ideas and texts through vernacular languages. This garnered greater popular
involvement in religious debates. Vernacular literature enhanced what Elton
describes as the ‘mental climate’ of the Reformation- rigorous discussion on
questions of theology. The spread of ideas across Europe was made possible
by printing and translations. The influence of humanism on religious reform is
another factor to be considered, though the nature of this influence is different
in England and in France. Thus, far from being purely a religious revival or
upheaval the Reformation was rooted firmly in the development of national
identities and the political ambitions of the laity. The sixteenth century
heralded religious changes because political circumstances across Europe
found them conducive, and developments in one part of the continent directly

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influenced events in other parts. It is in this context that the progress of the
Reformation in England and France can be traced.

The first two decades of the sixteenth century in France and England
were characterized by relative freedom of belief and the widespread
circulation of religious literature. In England Lutheran ideas were gaining
ground in the universities; first Cambridge and then, with the transfer of staff
from the former, Oxford. Henry the Eighth was staunchly Catholic and
distinguished himself as being firmly opposed to Luther’s ideas. Pope Leo the
Tenth even bestowed upon him the title ‘Defender of the Faith’. As a result of
this William Tyndale left England to publish his translation of the bible at
Cologne and Worms (1525-26). Lindenburg highlights the significance of
Tyndale’s translation which was done without using the words church or
priest. Copies of Tyndale’s translation were easily shipped into England,
though, and this stirred religious thought. In France, the relative peace of the
opening years of the century fostered spiritual and intellectual thought.
Whereas in France the two complemented each other, by the late 1520s in
England, religious speculation ran contrary to the wishes of humanist
intellectuals. English humanists like Thomas More and John Fisher remained
loyal to the Catholic Church. The Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey was a close
ally of the Pope but his secular leanings kept the persecution of Protestants in
check. His removal in 1529 cleared the ground for his successor More to
encourage bishops to suppress the spread of Lutheran ideas. Cameron
remarks that partly because of More’s efforts England in the 1520s was
efficient in the persecution of early protestant thought.

In contrast, contemporary events in France served to encourage the

spread of protestant ideas. The sack of Rome (1527) at the hands of the
Spanish army in the midst of conflict between France and Spain put Francis at
odds with the Pope (now virtually under Spanish control). Military conflicts
kept Francis pre-occupied with the regions towards France’s southern border;
as a result her north- western border with Germany was left open to the entry
of Lutheran ideas. For security reasons Francis also pursued a favorable policy
towards German Protestant princes. Foreign policy therefore favored
religious toleration and freedom of thought was condoned in 1520. The

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independent authority of the Gallican Church had already been undermined
by the Concordat of 1516. This established ‘royal gallicanism’ by which the
king could nominate bishops, archbishops and abbeys. Lutheran ideas found
support among members of the French royal family such as Margaret of
Navarre. This influenced the translation and circulation of the ideas of German
reformers. Men such as Robert Estienne contributed with his repeated
publications of the bible. Unlike More in England, the Reformation in France
was initially aided by humanists. This is reflected in the example of Jacques
Lefevre of Etaples, among the first preachers of the new doctrine and a
supporter of justification by faith, who was also a distinguished scholar
familiar with physics and mathematics. While Henry was gaining praise for
his persecution, Francis was initially in favour of religious discourse. While
protestant ideas had spread to the extent of encouraging Guillaume Briconnet
to reform his clergy at Meaux, opposition from conservative elements grew
quickly in the face of such threats. In France the universities supplied the first
opposition to the Reformation. The Sorbonne Faculty of Theology condemned
Luther in April 1521 and in 1522 Briconnet was forced to agree to the
measures taken against Luther’s books. Francis’ absence from France after his
defeat at Pavia (1525) enabled conservative academicians to curtail
protestant expansion.

The period after Francis’ return to France was one of repression.

Francis’ position had been weakened by the Treaty of Madrid and the Ladies’
Peace of Cambrai. This bound the king to the two main agents of persecution –
the parlement of Paris and the Sorbonne. The church looked to reinstate its
authority through the provincial councils of Sens and Bourges (1528). The
former granted the church the authority to distinguish between heresy and
orthodoxy in addition to strengthening its control over preaching, the latter
extended the church’s control over heretical sermons. In return the councils
would aid the king in raising badly needed funds. The councils coincided with
the execution of Lutherans at Paris and Rouen. The cooperation of humanistic
thought with religious questioning which had marked the previous decades
began to give way to the separation of religious enthusiasm from literary
production. This did not mark the end of persecution, however. X suggests

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that this, along with the long list of ‘humble victims’ who suffered at the hands
of the persecutors, reveals the popular character of this stage of the French
Reformation. The climax of this repression was reached in 1534 when
placards crudely denouncing priests and criticizing the mass in Paris and
Amboise were posted across French towns and even nailed to the king’s
bedchamber. While many protestors fled to Germany two hundred people
were arrested, twenty four of whom were burned to death. Attacks were
temporarily calmed by the edict of Coucy (1535) which suspended the
persecutions for a period of six months. Francis’ moderation was followed by
an attack on Italy. Once the war came to an end in 1538 repression was
renewed. The king handed over jurisdiction of heresy to provincial
parlements, courts and bishops. The Sorbonne compiled a list of prohibited
books and with the massacre of Protestants at Provence in 1545 repression
reached its height. After Francis’ death in 1547, repression continued with
increased vigour at the hands of his son Henry the Second.

Contemporary to this period of persecution in France, England was

embarking upon a slow move away from Catholicism. Henry the Eighth’s
alliance with Charles the Fifth (the Habsburg Emperor of Spain) was
unravelling and with this he sought to carry out the long desired annulment of
his marriage to Charles’ aunt Catherine of Aragon. In 1529 Catherine
appealed to Rome on the marriage issue. Wolsey then failed to successfully
persuade the Pope to annul the marriage. With the sack of Rome the papacy
came under the overbearing influence of Charles the Fifth. Persuasion could
no longer work and Henry was driven to force compliance on the Pope
through hostile demonstrations of his independent authority. The English
Church was more closely tied to Rome than its French counterpart. As Roman
canon law applied in England several cases concerning matters related to
marriages, baptisms and wills were appealed to Rome. Furthermore, the
papacy extracted substantial revenues from the English clergy. As a part of his
new policy towards the Pope, Henry stripped the clergy of much of its
independent powers and linkages with Rome. Anti – clericalism was already
rampant among the public. Along with a dislike of corrupt priests (the case of
Richard Hunne revealed the extent of this corruption) and resentment of the

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tithe, the gentry also coveted ecclesiastical lands which encompassed about
one- third of England’s lands. The removal of Wolsey in 1529 facilitated the
reform of the clergy. The parliament of 1529 placed restrictions on the fees
extracted by certain Church courts. In 1531 two Church councils were fined
118,000 pounds. Despite these threatening measures the divorce failed to
progress. Meanwhile a group of intellectuals with protestant leanings,
including Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, proposed that the king
settle his divorce independently through the English clergy. Henry’s desire for
papal consent remained unchanged though the resolution of the divorce
through Rome seemed increasingly unlikely. An attempt to involve the
Sorbonne so as to sway the Pope in favour of the annulment failed. More, who
had never supported the king in his marriage plans, resigned as Lord
Chancellor in 1532. Persuaded by Cromwell after More’s departure Henry
agreed to settle the divorce independently even if it meant a religious schism.

Cromwell coupled his program for the annulment with his belief in the
strength of parliament and common law as well as his desire to transform
England into a sovereign, self- contained national State. The Submission of the
Clergy (1532) suspended the payment of the Annates (a clerical tax) to Rome.
By prohibiting appeals from courts within England to ones outside, the Act in
Restraint of Appeals (1533) destroyed papal control over canon law. Thus in
May, Henry’s marriage to Catherine was annulled. The most important of
Cromwell’s legal initiatives was the Act of Supremacy (1534) which declared
that the king was the supreme head of the Church of England. In France the
Concordat had established royal controls over the church and thus given rise
to theories of Divine Right. Lawyers and schools of law undertook the study of
Roman law with the aim of reinforcing royal authority. Close to twenty years
after this, the Act of Supremacy enhanced the King of England’s standing to
that of ‘God’s vicar on earth’. While the Reformation was characterized by
substantial parliamentary involvement (as the aforementioned statutes
reveal), the Act of Supremacy made the authority of the king completely
independent and thus not even derived from parliament. The Supremacy was
reinforced by an oath which bound the taker to accept the position of the king
and his new Queen (Anne Boleyn). This test of loyalty led to persecutions;

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catholic humanists Fisher and More refused to take the oath and were
consequently executed along with sixty three other victims. The first policy
concerning religion after the Supremacy was the dissolution of the
monasteries (1535). On the grounds of ill – discipline, small monasteries,
friaries and convents were dissolved. The king gained direct advantages from
this in 1540 with an act vesting such estates with the crown. This first radical
step made towards religious reform was thus less concerned with theology
than the pragmatic benefits of such policies. The measures directed at the
clergy are nonetheless important as they reveal the extent to which religious
reform was dependant on support from the secular arm. Anti – clericalism
would not have gained voice if royal intervention had not unleashed it. There
was little opposition to these initial changes; apart from brief uprisings in the
north (where religious dissent coincided with political demands), most of
England remained loyal to the Crown and Church.

Cromwell had secured the break with the papacy but the religion of the
English Church remained essentially catholic. Reformation in England did
come to be defined by religious and spiritual considerations and an essential
figure in this respect was the new Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Foreign
affairs bolstered reform; Cromwell sought security in the face of a new Franco
– Spanish alliance by seeking the aid of German Protestant Princes. Lutheran
principles were embodied in the Ten Articles (1536) and the Injunctions on
the clergy (1536, 1538). By the Injunctions baptism, Holy Communion and
penance were the only accepted sacraments. Additionally every parish church
was bound to display a copy of the vernacular bible. Religious reform was thus
making progress, but remained confined to statute. Consequently steps were
taken to popularize the new ideas embodied in these laws. Between 1535 and
1540 a propaganda exercise was launched; this involved the publication of
treatises on obedience and even the satirical plays written by John Bale, a
protestant. The progress of protestant reforms was briefly hampered by court
intrigue. Headed by the duke of Norfolk, rebel leaders rallied for Cromwell’s
removal. They instituted conservative measures embodied in the
proclamation of 1538 and the Six Articles of 1539. They called for the
persecution of heretics and Cromwell was executed under the charge of

8
treason. Despite this, Cranmer continued to strive towards reform and the
repeal of these repressive measures left the door open to new religious ideas
from the continent. By the time of Henry’s death in 1547 the character of the
independent Church of England remained undefined. The reign of Edward the
Sixth was to bring in more visibly protestant doctrines.

By 1547 the incorporation of Protestant ideas into the religious

mainstream was well underway in England. In France, on the other hand, the
reign of Henry the Second promised even less space for any toleration of such
ideas. In his first year as king Henry created a special tribunal under the Paris
parlement to manage the persecution of heresy; it issued a number of edicts to
do so and came to be known as the Chambre ardente (the burning chamber)
because of the vigour of its repression. A clear procedure for persecution was
defined by the edict of Chateaubriant (1551). Henry’s reign is also significant
as it marked the introduction of Calvinism into France. Originally a French
native, Calvin’s ideas spread quickly from Geneva to France assisted by
common language and socio- economic conditions in France. French towns
such as Bourges, Meaux and Lyons which lay along the main arteries of trade
faced economic stagnation through much of the 1550s. Increasingly such
towns were turning towards Calvinism and thus their history was
subsequently marked by the persecution of heresy. Calvinism stressed the
power of divine grace and perhaps this serves to explain its popularity in
these towns. Y proposes that the fact that Calvin accepted the importance of a
moral law of God which could be enforced by church discipline appealed to
the French legal tradition and ‘instinct for order and discipline’. Henry’s
preoccupation with the war against the Habsburgs until the Peace of Cateau-
Cambresis (1559) slowed the attacks on heresy and thus enabled the spread
of Calvinism. ‘Conventicles’ (secret assemblies) of Calvinist sympathizers were
taking root in Meaux, Tours and the border town of Strasbourg where Calvin
ministered in the 1540s. Calvin sought to play an active role in the French
Reformation; aristocratic patronage aided him in his efforts. Through a series
of letters written in the mid 1540s he encouraged covert Protestants to
venture out of the conventicles and congregate at reformed churches. In May
of 1558, taking off from a public assembly of Protestant nobles a year earlier

9
(which had been broken up), some four thousand protestants headed by
Antoine de Bourbon sang the psalms and declared their faith at open air
meetings. By then an estimated thirty-four Calvinist churches with ministers
had sprung up across France, the growing body of believers which constituted
these came to be called Huguenots. The assembly of the national synod at
Paris (1539) sought to give Calvinism national cohesion. While the Calvinist
movement was gaining ground, the death of Henry the Second was followed
by a Catholic attempt to control the crown.

Meanwhile, across the channel, changes at the top of the English church
structure had not altered the medieval character of regular worship. Edward
the Fifth’s Lord Protector the duke of Somerset, whose position of dominance
was soon to be appropriated by the duke of Northumberland, slowly goaded
the entire structure of Christianity in England towards Protestantism. This
phase of the English Reformation centred round reforms enacted by
Parliament, rather than the royal supremacy over the Church which
characterized Henry’s reign. A new Prayer Book was authorized in 1549 but
was criticized for its moderate introduction of Protestant ideas. The first years
of Edward’s reign coincided with the entry of imminent theologians from
Germany, Italy and Poland. The ideas of the Swiss reformer Zwingli influenced
Cranmer. Northumberland had come to the fore by 1549 and followed a
severely anti-clerical policy. A more clearly protestant revised Prayer Book
was issued in 1552. A year later, the Forty-two Articles forced the clergy to
subscribe to Protestant teachings. Edward’s reign was thus characterized by
the state-sponsored initiation of Protestantism. This is most overtly reflected
in the Act of Uniformity which not only made attendance to the services of the
State Church compulsory but also penalized the exercise of other forms of
worship. Cranmer even began to codify a Protestant code of canon law, though
he failed to complete this. Extreme though they were, the religious policies
formulated under Edward failed to be enduring. Legally England seemed to be
a Protestant country but the consequences of this depended on the
enforcement of new measures. Old forms of worship persisted in many parts
of the country. As discussed above, contemporary events in France
demonstrated the growth in the popular support base for Protestantism

10
before it influenced political events at court, whereas in England State
initiation of Protestantism had not yet ignited popular involvement. Elton
thus states that ‘the Edwardian Reformation went but skin-deep’.

Edward’s death in 1553 brought Mary – a staunch Catholic- to the

throne. Mary came in with the intention of bridging the schism to restore
Roman Catholicism and eradicate heresy in England. Religious reform made
under Edward was almost immediately repealed. Cardinal-Legate Reginald
Pole was influential in restoring papal authority. From 1555 Mary launched a
fervent attack on heretics; the persecution had claimed the lives of over 300
people by 1558. Mary’s brief yet bloody reign cannot be removed from her
Spanish affiliations. As a half- cousin of Charles the Fifth it was under Mary
that England came increasingly within the Habsburg sphere of influence.
Apart from its violence, Mary’s policies had two lasting consequences. A
number of Protestants fled England during the persecutions and sought
refuge in cities such as Geneva on the continent. Here they came in close
contact with Calvinism; the return of these Marian exiles under Elizabeth was
to play a definitive role in shaping the Anglican Church. Secondly, rather than
restoring Catholicism, Mary’s repression had the counter effect of fostering
support for Protestantism. Catholicism was subsequently identified as foreign
while martyred Protestants, who were considered foreign-inspired elite up to
that point, became national legends. Mary’s death in 1558 restored religious
peace under the moderating influence of Elizabeth Tudor.

If the coup against Cromwell (1538-40) had demonstrated how

conspiracies at court could influence the shape of religious reform in England,
the events of 1559 revealed the effect of aristocratic tensions on reform in
France. Henry the Second was to be succeeded by his young son Francis the
Second. On the grounds that the prince was not yet of a ripe age, the
fanatically Catholic family of Guise persuaded the Queen Mother Catherine de
Medici to entrust them with the task of governance. Shaken by the possibility
of Catholic advance at the hands of the Guise, the Protestant Bourbon nobles
attempted to orchestrate a coup. The ‘Conspiracy of Amboise’ aimed to
displace the king and the Guise brothers in order to install Antoine de
Bourbon (king of Navarre) as regent. The plot was crushed before it could be

11
put into action. It encouraged the Guise to act with caution; they moderated
their ecclesiastical policy and slowed persecutions. This turn in Catholic
attitudes culminated with the Colloquy of Poissy (1561), a serious of
theological debates between Catholics and Protestants (who were
represented by Calvin’s disciple Theodore de Beza). These discussions
reached a gridlock on the issue of mass and the Eucharist. Catholics continued
to stress the importance of the aforementioned in offering the Christian
community access to the corporeal spirit of Christ while Protestants
continued to look upon such practice as idolatrous. Despite this failure, on
behalf of the next young king Charles the Ninth (who succeeded to the throne
after Francis’ death), the Queen Mother allowed toleration to Huguenots
through the edict of Saint-Germain-des-Pres (1562).

Almost immediately after this though, militant Catholic reactions led by

the duke of Guise destroyed any promise of compromise. The massacre of
seventy four Huguenots at a congregation in Vassy provided the trigger for the
first of the Wars of Religion which ended with the Peace of Amboise (1563).
The Wars of Religion played a crucial role in shaping the character of French
Calvinism. From the massacre of Vassy onwards, Huguenotism went on the
defensive. If in its early years it was marked by popular demand to hear the
sermon from qualified theologians, it was now dominated by lay power.
Nobles styled themselves as protectors of the faith, organizing the movement
on a militant basis. The desire for an egalitarian church organization gave way
to a system which instead ‘resembled…the military religious brotherhood of
the Sikhs in India’³. With the Huguenot movement thus redefined the next
phase of the French Reformation was marked by the repeated outbreak of
fighting. After skirmishes in 1567 – 68 the Peace of Monsieur granted
religious toleration to Huguenots. Catholic reaction to growing Huguenot
influence after this reached its zenith in 1572. Large scale Huguenot
massacres in Paris on the eve of St. Bartholomew’s feast in August soon
spread to other cities claiming the lives of close to 30,000 Protestants. This
incident was an important turning point. Y proposes that the idea of political
rebellion was already written into Calvinism. Cameron argues that St.
Bartholomew’s massacre converted this into all-out republicanism.

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 The Wars of Religion became increasingly embroiled in the succession
struggles of French nobles. Initially Huguenotism had been presented as a
threat to national unity. By 1584 extreme Catholicism advocated by the house
of Guise manifested in a Catholic league which was willing to go against the
king and even seek Spanish aid in its attack on heresy. Thus the Counter-
Reformation was beginning to pose as much a threat to national unity as
Huguenotism had. This gave rise to an attitude of toleration which advocated
State control over the church only to the extent of curbing fanaticism. This
approach was called the ‘politique’. Changes in the line of succession left the
throne open to Henry the Fourth (a Huguenot from Navarre) in 1593. He
converted to Catholicism at a crucial moment in order to secure Paris;
perhaps influenced by the politique Henry was certain that Paris was after all
‘worth a mass’(?). With Henry firmly on the throne, religious turmoil came to a
close. Reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants within the framework
of the Gallican Church with the supremacy of the king replacing the authority
of Rome (similar to the model of the Anglican Church) was impossible in
France. The Huguenots remained a militant minority, only fifteen percent of
the population, but the Edict of Nantes (1598) carved out a safe space for
them. They were granted the right to hold public office, liberty of conscience
and 150 cities which became sanctuaries of Calvinism. Huguenotism did not
shed its militant mindset after this though. Many of the cities granted to the
Huguenots were garrisoned by Protestant troops. The reign of Henry the
Fourth thus also reinforced the French tradition of ‘one king, one law, one
faith’.

In France, royal persecution during the Wars of Religion had goaded

Calvinism into militancy. The reign of Elizabeth in England would also
demonstrate the impact of royal policy in moulding Calvinism, though the end
result would be vastly different. Catholicism and Protestantism had tried to
grasp their way towards extreme measures under Mary and Edward
respectively. Elizabeth, though probably inclined towards Protestantism, was
intent upon safeguarding royal power and initially had to combat rival claims
to power from Mary Queen of Scotts. She therefore treaded carefully in
initiating religious reform. In 1559 parliament restored the monarch’s

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supreme command over the Church of England (once again made independent
from Rome) and restored the Protestant Prayer Book of 1552 (though this
was stripped of much of its anti- Catholic ideas). Other statutes in the same
year defined the nature of worship and reinstated the traditional structure of
the Church along with the changes installed by the Act of Supremacy. These
policies formed the basis of the Elizabethan settlement on religion. After the
settlement instances of persecution were rare and trends towards
sectarianism were moderated. The remainder of Elizabeth’s reign was defined
by her attempts to temper the demands of radical Calvinists in threshing out
further reform.

Elizabeth managed to subdue extreme Calvinist influence by filling

vacant sees in the episcopacy with returned exiles. Nevertheless a group of
extreme Protestants who remained firmly loyal to Calvinist views on Church
structure remained. This group, which came to encompass a diversity of
views, primarily rallied for further reform to the Prayer Book as well as
extreme changes to church organization. Protestants who shared these
demands and belonged to this group came to be called puritans. In 1563 the
Church’s stand on doctrine was elucidated by the Thirty-nine Articles which
drew largely from the Forty-two Articles issued under Edward. Elizabeth’s
archbishops influenced the extent to which she was able to get Calvinists to
conform to her measures. While Mathew Parker was archbishop Elizabeth
tried to introduce reform through parliament. Parallel to this puritans looked
for support from members of the gentry in the House of Commons. Attempts
to initiate puritan reform through parliament failed and even radicalized a
few puritans. These rallied around Thomas Cartwright who vehemently
attacked the episcopacy. The failed attempts to initiate reform through
parliament also gave rise to a puritan ‘campaign in print’. In 1575 Grindal, a
Marian exile, replaced Parker and began to pursue a more accommodating
policy towards puritans. Disagreements with Elizabeth on the issue of
prophesying led to his removal in 1583. With this, attempts to win over
moderate puritans with practical reforms ended.

Grindal was succeeded by John Whitgift. He provided further resistance

to puritan reform launched from parliament and went further by demanding

14
puritan obedience to the ecclesiastical order as it stood. Puritans turned
towards secret meetings and surreptitious attacks on bishops through
underground publications. Those responsible were prosecuted and later
forced to conform. Whitgift’s measures thus drove puritans down a self-
defeating path; while some fled, others undertook radical actions (such calling
for a schism from the Church) and were consequently denounced by public
opinion. Thus towards the end of Elizabeth’s rule Calvinism was losing
ground. In addition to widespread disagreement on its extreme proposals for
church structure, theologians in the universities were turning away from
Calvin’s views on pre-destination. Calvinist ideas did influence policy
indirectly though. This can be seen in Elizabethan attempts to alter
ornamentation involved in Church service and incorporate local assemblies or
‘classes’ into the church structure. There was, therefore, enough space in the
Church structure by the end of the fifteenth century to enable further Calvinist
reform. In the fifteenth century, however, Calvinism’s effect on England
remained limited.

These key events of the Reformations in England and France show how
they ran opposite courses. In France the main question being decided was
how much room, if any, should be allowed to Protestantism. An explanation
for this is the French tradition of one national faith shared by king and
country. The monarchy in France had made the largest strides towards royal
absolutism during the fifteenth century. The king had control over
nominations to the Church and could legislate freely. The fact that the
monarch remained entrenched in the Gallican Church rendered the
accommodation of alternate belief systems politically difficult. The end of the
fifteenth century did mark a move towards tolerance as the edict of Nantes
provided Huguenots with religious safeguards. They continued to remain
outside of the mainstream, however. In contrast, royal absolutism in England
was borne out of the king’s renunciation of Catholicism. The fact that the
theology of the National Church had not been set down naturally allowed for a
greater variety of religious views. The spiritual inclination of individual rulers
mattered little as long as the king’s position as the head of the Church
remained. Unlike in France, in England Calvinists remained within the

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mainstream (as long as they conformed). The main question which concerned
the Reformation in England, therefore, was to what extent the religion of the
State reform without challenging national unity. At the core of both of these
questions, therefore, was the maintenance of royal authority and national
unity. Within this framework the different roles played by humanists, printing,
the universities, foreign policy and the will of the gentry and the aristocracy in
determining the course of events in both Reformations can be assessed.

The Reformation in England and France did have similar impacts on

literature, thought and the cult of Kingship. With the advance of religious
discourse humanism ‘went underground’. The overwhelming emphasis
being given to the grace of God left little room for the assertion and
enhancement of human reasoning. Though the fifteenth century is not
generally associated with great strides in art and literature, the writings of
theologians played an influential role in the development of northern
vernacular languages in Europe. The character of religious advancement or
persecution in both countries was always shaped by the will of the crown.
More than religion, the figure of the monarch came to be identified with
national identity. The fifteenth century came to be associated with
exaggerated devotion to the crown which, according to Elton, approached
idolatry. Neither the French nor the English Reformation heralded great social
changes. Popular religion remained more or less insulated from the debates
that ensued in the universities. The official religion of the National Church did
not yet penetrate into the traditions of the countryside. Cameron states that
even after the Reformation ‘both Protestant and Catholic priests fought long
and hard to domesticate’ these unofficial views of religion. Furthermore, Elton
opines that there was nothing democratic about religious reform. He argues
that religious upheaval only represented social protest in the movements of
the Anabaptists. The religious developments of the fifteenth century had a
lasting impact on the balance of power across Europe. The rise of independent
kingdoms in England, France and Spain shifted the focus away from central
Europe and the Mediterranean. While the Reformation in England and France
did bring in significant changes in the structure of religion in both countries, it

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had not closed the door on further change. Instead the events of the fifteenth
century were to be of crucial importance for later religious developments.

Notes

1. Cameron, Euan. 1991.

2.

Bibliography

1. G R Elton. 1951. Introduction: The Age of Reformation. In G R Elton

(ed.), the New Cambridge Modern History: Volume Two – The
Reformation – 1520 to 1559. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. -. 1951. The Reformation in Difficulties. In G R Elton (ed.), the New
Cambridge Modern History: Volume Two – The Reformation – 1520 to
1559. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (X)
3. G R Elton. 1951. The Reformation in England. In G R Elton (ed.), the New
Cambridge Modern History: Volume Two – The Reformation – 1520 to
1559. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. -. -. Catholic Reform and Christian Missions. In – (Y)
5. Euan Cameron. 1991. The European Reformation. United States:
Clarendon Press, Oxford.
6. Lindenburg

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