The era between the death of Henry VIII and the excommunication of Elizabeth by the papacy was one consumed by the debate of what the Church of England should looks like. Edward VI was a Protestant,and he made strides to define the Church of England as a Protestant church, instead of leaving the church as mostly Catholic in practice like his father had. Mary I, on the other hand, tried to revert England back to Catholicism. And finally, Elizabeth I started her reign by being diplomatic, careful not to lean on Protestantism or Catholicism too much, but as she spent more time as the monarch she became more and more Protestant and her policies illuminated that shift. Each monarch contributed to the religious debate that had taken over England,
…show more content…
They all decided that in order for the Church of England to function properly and control the subjects it needed a clear dogma.
Edward VI worked with Thomas Cromwell to create a perfect Protestant England. Edward redefined Christianity much more than his father did, subscribing to actual Protestant beliefs and making policies to implement them in the common English way of life. These protestant beliefs included: all human sins,past and present, being forgiven as a result to Jesus’ sacrifice-- the slate was wiped clean, baptism and other sacraments, such as worshiping saints, was deemed blasphemous, and the eucharist was an affront to God’s will--because it implied that God did not have the power to save humanity alone, he needed the helpof the church(lecture, 9/14/16). As a result of these beliefs Edward VI and Cromwell issued injunctions and rules that parish churches had to follow in order to keep in line with the law. These rules included: every church having a copy of the Bible in English, so the principle of sola scriptura could be accessible to everyone, all images and saints being removed, shrines …show more content…
There was a small percentage of people in England who backed Mary’s reforms, but many members in Parliament did not want to give up the lands that they had acquired through the dissolution of monasteries under Edward VI (eme110). To some extent Mary was able to achieve her goal of a Catholic restoration in Parliament, but the dissolved institutions themselves would not be restored and there were no funds available for Mary to do it herself (eme 111). While Mary did order the parish churches to bring back Catholicism many did complied, but did so half heartedly. In 15554 and 1555 St. Edmund 's Parish in Salisbury bought an abundance of cloth, instead of gold, because they could not afford to restore the church to full Catholicism extravagance. It is also possible that they did not want to make an invest in converting their church to Catholicism only to have to convert back to Protestantism after Mary’s reign ( “Accounts and Inventories of St Edmund’s Parish, Salisbury”, 1527-1557, 37-38). This was a wise move on the Parish’s part because England did eventually revert back to Protestantism. This change was largely in part to Mary’s cruelty in her Persecution of Protestants creating martyrs for Protestants to grieve. Even a Catholic Eyewitness expressed pity at the burning at the stake of Protestant theologian Thomas Cramer, “ I think there was none that
They all decided that in order for the Church of England to function properly and control the subjects it needed a clear dogma.
Edward VI worked with Thomas Cromwell to create a perfect Protestant England. Edward redefined Christianity much more than his father did, subscribing to actual Protestant beliefs and making policies to implement them in the common English way of life. These protestant beliefs included: all human sins,past and present, being forgiven as a result to Jesus’ sacrifice-- the slate was wiped clean, baptism and other sacraments, such as worshiping saints, was deemed blasphemous, and the eucharist was an affront to God’s will--because it implied that God did not have the power to save humanity alone, he needed the helpof the church(lecture, 9/14/16). As a result of these beliefs Edward VI and Cromwell issued injunctions and rules that parish churches had to follow in order to keep in line with the law. These rules included: every church having a copy of the Bible in English, so the principle of sola scriptura could be accessible to everyone, all images and saints being removed, shrines …show more content…
There was a small percentage of people in England who backed Mary’s reforms, but many members in Parliament did not want to give up the lands that they had acquired through the dissolution of monasteries under Edward VI (eme110). To some extent Mary was able to achieve her goal of a Catholic restoration in Parliament, but the dissolved institutions themselves would not be restored and there were no funds available for Mary to do it herself (eme 111). While Mary did order the parish churches to bring back Catholicism many did complied, but did so half heartedly. In 15554 and 1555 St. Edmund 's Parish in Salisbury bought an abundance of cloth, instead of gold, because they could not afford to restore the church to full Catholicism extravagance. It is also possible that they did not want to make an invest in converting their church to Catholicism only to have to convert back to Protestantism after Mary’s reign ( “Accounts and Inventories of St Edmund’s Parish, Salisbury”, 1527-1557, 37-38). This was a wise move on the Parish’s part because England did eventually revert back to Protestantism. This change was largely in part to Mary’s cruelty in her Persecution of Protestants creating martyrs for Protestants to grieve. Even a Catholic Eyewitness expressed pity at the burning at the stake of Protestant theologian Thomas Cramer, “ I think there was none that