Elizabeth Tudor suffered problems related with religion before she had even born. Henry VIII dissociated himself from the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope Clement VII when he divorced Catherine of Aragon to marry Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn.
When Elizabeth was a child, she was raised Protestant as her mother Anne Boleyn. However, as Anna Keaton says, Elizabeth always followed “the religious requirement of the country regardless of whether they were Catholic or Protestant.” (Citar) During her brother’s reign, she “followed the Protestant practices.” (citar Anna Keaton) However, during her sister’s reign she “followed the Catholics practices.” (Anna Keaton) Anna claims that Elizabeth had kept her personal beliefs private …show more content…
Her solution was the creation of a Religious Settlement which was a middle way (in some occasions also called via media) between both religions - Catholicism and Protestantism. Firstly, it is important to define the term middle way. The Oxford Dictionary web page defines the term as “a policy or course of action which avoids extremes.” After the definition, the Elizabethan Settlement is understood as a religious policy which wanted to maintain peace between radicals of both religions. According to Peter Milward, this term “is characteristics rather than of the early nineteenth century, as used by John Henry Newman at the time of the Oxford movement, than of the late sixteenth century.” (Citar Peter) Some authors of the articles used in this literature review, such as Peter Milward, Anna Keaton or Leah Dassler, claim that it was not a Settlement of union, but a Protestant Settlement which tolerated some Catholics …show more content…
On her first day in the throne, Elizabeth chose William Cecil, who was Protestant, as her first Secretary of State. According to Jennifer Lauren, William Cecil used religion “to unite England, protect its monarch, and achieve security.” (Citar a Jennifer Lauren.)
When she became Queen, there was a great expectation between her subjects for the religion she was going to choose. During the last thirty years, the religion had been chosen by the monarch who ruled in that moment - Henry VIII separated the Church of England from the Roman Church, Edward VI changed the religion to Protestantism and Mary I changed the religion again to Catholicism. Anna Keaton says that these changes had left the country in “a state of religions instability.” (Citar Anna)
Elizabeth was raised Protestant, and for this reason, the Protestants who exiled to Geneva or Zurich during Mary’s reign and came back to England when Elizabeth became Queen, expected that she changed the religion to Protestantism. However, Elizabeth found herself in a serious problem - if she change her religion to Protestantism, she could provoke a civil war and a war with France or Spain. For this reason, she chose a way in which both religion could coexist peacefully. This was considered by some historians a via media or middle