From the beginning of the 16th century, to the middle of the 17th, Europe was in a state of religious turmoil. In 1517, Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation, which drew many supporters, which divided Europe, not only geographically, but within individual states as well. In particular, England found itself going back and forth between Catholicism and Protestantism with each new ruler. Despite being half sisters, their religious policies were as different as night and day, having different state religions and persecution against those of the opposite faith. The policies of their father,
Henry VIII, provide a background for their opposing views, along with how their upbringing shaped them. Another political situation similar to that of Mary and Elizabeth was the War of the Three Henries, with Henry of Navarre and Henry, Duke of Guise. Mary I and Elizabeth I had very different religious policies, differing in faith, and styles of persecution, which can be explained through their father Henry
VIII, and are comparable to Henry of Navarre and Henry, Duke of Guise.
Mary I and Elizabeth I had radically different religious policies . On one hand, Mary was
Catholic, and Elizabeth was Protestant. The former was an extreme example of her faith. Being a devout
Catholic, Mary was eager to restore Catholicism in England, and was quick to marry Philip II of Spain.
Spain was known to be an extremely Catholic nation, having its own Inquisition, and expelling the
Moors/Jews under
Widowed and poor, Elizabeth stayed in Italy with the Filicchi family, who tried to help her sadness by teaching her the Catholic faith. In 1805, two years after William's death she became a Catholic and devoted her life to God.
At the beginning of her reign, she made the Church of England the official religion of England and she fashioned her court after that of her fathers. For a woman during that era, Elizabeth was a very daring and smart ruler. For example, she secretly encouraged sailors such as Francis Drake to make raids on Spanish shipping and challenge their naval superiority. When she was a little girl, she was well educated and was able to speak several languages, including French, Spanish, and Latin. In addition, throughout Elizabeth's reign, there was always the threat of hostilities in some form or another. Elizabeth kept the peace between rival leaders of different religions by dominating her court so she could keep the balance of power.2 She was smart enough to come up with a plan which kept the church at bay with their questions of marriage.3 She also calmed the Spanish and the French by entertaining suitors of each respective country; Philip II of Spain and Duke of Anjou of France, but she never married either of them and was therefore known as " the Virgin queen".4 Elizabeth was a Protestant queen who was not always on good terms with most Catholic rulers of Europe. Because of that, there were several assassination plots against her so the Catholics could put Mary, Queen of Scots, in her place. During the 1580's, Elizabeth began to bring her full weight onto the catholic rebels. Hundreds of Catholics died at the stake just as the
Elizabeth’s and Mary’s life were very different from each other when it comes to their early and personal lives. When we are reading, according to the book and
A study of the legal decrees of either society reveals they both desired to maintain hegemony and obtain respect (manifestly and psychologically) for their faith. They also both capitalized on the ability of infidels to perform tasks considered necessary yet
Throughout most of Mary’s life she had a unique relationship with Elizabeth Queen of England.
Another thing Elizabeth had to do while queen was she had to decide whether England’s religion was going to be Catholic or Protestant without causing a fight.
Queen Elizabeth had to be harsh and strict with Catholics, more than she would have preferred in order to maintain peace in England (Elizabeth R). Although Queen Elizabeth was nice, she could also be very strict. When Catholics rebelled she reacted quickly, she had them killed, took away their properties, or imprisoned them. After years of rebellion and fighting, England became a Protestant Country in the early 1600’s (Pitchard 103). “The significance of the Elizabethan religious settlement is that it was able to hold the vast majority of the people together, despite being a compromise few would have chosen” (Elizabeth I).
King Henry married Princess Catalina of Aragon. He later divorced Princess Catalina ( the Pope did not want anything to do with Henry getting a divorce) and married Anne Boleyn. King Henry had six's wives and chopped off two of their heads. For nearly 20 years Henry has been married to Princess Catherine of Aragon, but Catherine has failed to conceived a son, and is now beyond childbearing age. All good Kings have a son when they die and King Herny didnt have one yet. Henry took over the Catholic Church firing the Pope and granted himself a divorce. Henry VIII changed the religion of England because the Catholic church would not grant him a divorce. He eventually got married to Amber and conceived a daughter. As time went by, Amber was charged with Adultery-for that she was ''bedded.'' One week later Henry marry his new Queen Jane Seymour. The new Queen had died giving child birth-young Edward was born. His next wife had died from false accusation from the minster. Then he got marry again, but this wife in particular wasn't tantamount with Henry preference. His final wife was about to get slaughter, but her begging mercy to her husband had got her out from being kill-she continue living and also out lived her
In 1559 Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was crowned Queen. Elizabeth sought to find a middle ground during her rein (1558-1603) in England, by allowing both Catholics and Protestants to worship without fear of any repercussions. However, Gilbert (1976) that ‘Elizabeth I and her successors had legislated to make Anglican worship compulsory’ (p. 4). By introducing the Act of Uniformity of 1559 it laid out the rules of worship that both religions were to follow and reissued the Book of Common Prayer for use in worship. The Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 also set to define the doctrine of the Church of England which set out a middle path between the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church and the Protestants (Wolffe, 2008). By the end of Elizabeth’s I forty five year reign, the majority of people in English society were Protestant. As the older, mainly Catholic members of society had died through old age (Christianity in Britain, 2011). Knight and Mason (2006) describe a dissenter during
To further explain, Queen Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister Bloody Mary, who was loyal to Catholicism and refused to conform to the restored Protestantism. The two, although share the same fatherly blood, were in every other way enemies. King Henry IV, their father, had an annulment with Queen Elizabeth’s mother, by breaking from the Roman Catholic Church, so he could marry Queen Mary’s mother. The “star-crossed lovers” also knew they were an enemy of each other’s
The intent of this paper is to evaluate the distinct character and quality of the expressions of the Protestant Reformation. This paper will discuss Lutheran Reformation, The Anabaptist, and The English Puritans as well as the Catholic Reformation also known as the Counter Reformation. It is the hope that after the reader has had the opportunity to view each of the characteristics and the expressions of each of the reformation the reader will have a better understanding of each and will be able to articulate the differences of each.
In England the Protestants were divided between the Anglicans, who symbolized the Church of England along with the Puritans, who sought out to purify the Catholic Church’s practices that were part of the Anglican Church. This led to the English War in 1642, in which the Puritans had led parliamentary forces to win. Another example of how religion shaped Europe is the The Thirty Years' War and how it was substantially fought because of the disagreements on principles of religion. The war then became a royal conflictions between the Hapsburgs and the French Bourbons to decide which would be the dominant European power. The Thirty Years' War the last major religious war in Europe, and it also ended religious bloodshed in 1648.
As things continued to heated-up between parliament and Mary’s father James II, she married the Dutch Protestant prince, William of Orange. William desperately feared an alliance between James II and the Catholic French King. William and Mary were prepared to lead armed forces into England and take over the throne. When James’ II second wife gave birth to a son who would be raised Catholic and be the heir to the throne, Parliament got worried. Seven members of parliament signed a letter asking Mary and William to bring an army and drive out James II.
The long, lasting conflict between Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots was the fight over the throne. Elizabeth and Mary we second cousins and Mary thought she deserve the crown. The conflict between Elizabeth and Mary ended up leading to Mary’s death.
Elizabeth’s older half-sister, Mary Tudor came to the throne. Mary, who was Catholic, earned the nickname "Bloody Mary". During the time that Bloody Mary was at the throne she married Philip of Spain, soon to be Philip the second. However Parliament blocked his accession to the English throne. She burned many Protestants at the stake. When rebels wanted to place Elizabeth on the throne Queen Mary had her arrested and sent to the Tower of London and later on to Woodstock. She remained imprisoned for five years until Mary, near death, named Elizabeth her successor. On March 17, 1558, the last Tudor monarch of England ascended the throne.