CHAPTER XII

THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM

245. The Problem of the Succession. 1558. When Mary Tudor died (in November, 1558) the succession was again theoretically in doubt. According to the laws of descent as The claims of understood by Roman Catholics (and England was Mary Stuart. still officially in the Catholic communion), Mary Stuart was the legitimate heiress; but Henry's will, which was founded on a parliamentary statute, designated Elizabeth. Though Mary Stuart was of Tudor blood and directly descended from Henry VII, there were excellent reasons, aside from the statute, for rejecting her claims: she was queen of Scotland and dauphiness of France; with England and Ireland added to the possessions already held by her own and her husband's family, Mary Stuart would become the first monarch in Christendom. The union of Britain and France, the old dream of the The European Hundred Years' War, might now have been realized; but England could not endure the thought of being governed from Paris. A few hours after Mary Tudor's death, Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, was proclaimed Queen of England and began her glorious reign of nearly forty-five years.

situation.

Queen Elizabeth: personality and

246. Queen Elizabeth.1 Elizabeth came to the throne as a mature woman twenty-five years of age. The Tudors took pride in mental accomplishments, and Elizabeth like her father, Henry, and her cousin, the unfortunate Lady Jane, was carefully educated. Though a princess, she had not wholly escaped the severe lessons of experience in a rough world: during the reign of her 1 Cheyney, Nos. 213, 218; Innes, I, 326–333; Tuell and Hatch, Nos. 33 (Ascham), 34 (Green). books are from Melville's Memoirs.

character.

Kendall, No. 53; Robinson, No. 129;
Most of the selections in the source

QUEEN ELIZABETH

273

sister Mary she was the object of constant suspicion on the part of the government. A rising in favor of Elizabeth and Protestantism actually had occurred four years earlier; but

Elizabeth was too shrewd to become involved in any treasonable movements and escaped with a brief residence in the Tower. Like all the Tudors she was willful and stubborn, but she also had the Tudor love of approbation, and like the other rulers of the family she had a profound respect for the senti

ment of the nation. She had inherited in full measure the frivolous nature of her mother, the stupendous vanity of her father, and the niggardly spirit of her grandfather Henry VII, though this did not extend to what she considered her personal needs: at the time of her death she is said to have possessed 3000 gowns. But she was also shrewd, spirited, and independent; she was determined in her purposes, and in every real crisis she displayed remarkable strength and self-reliance.

247. Her Ministers. During her entire reign Queen Elizabeth was the actual ruler of the kingdom, though the policies of the government were

often those of her advisers rather than her own. The queen had the advantage of living in an age when the intellect of England flourished as never before. There was, therefore, no dearth of able counselors, and Elizabeth exercised great discretion in her choice of high officials. During the earlier part of her reign two men held the chief places in her council: William Cecil, later created Lord

Matthew
Parker.

English statesmen, who was secretary of state; and Matthew Parker, a clear-headed theologian and able ecclesiastical statesman who succeeded Reginald Pole as archbishop of Canterbury. Both of these men had decided Prot

THE CHIEF PROBLEMS

275

estant leanings, but neither was an extremist. Associated with Burleigh and Parker was Nicholas Bacon, who held Nicholas the high office of lord chancellor, but played a Bacon. lesser part in the queen's government. The three were all Cambridge men and firmly believed in a church establishment of the type that had been outlined in the reforms of Thomas Cranmer.

settlement.

248. The Chief Problems. The two questions that had been uppermost at the accession of Mary Tudor, religion and the queen's marriage, also came into immediate prominence at the beginning of the new reign. However, the settlement that was reached was vastly different. Both for personal and political reasons, perhaps, Elizabeth did not marry. For political, perhaps also for personal reasons, she made the English church Protestant. In determining the form of the The religious religious settlement, the queen had a choice among several differing types of worship and creed. Two great movements were at their height in the first year of her reign. The Council of Trent, the world-council of the Catholic church, had resumed its sessions and was making rapid progress in weeding out abuses. In Geneva the great Calvin had developed an extreme form of Protestantism which aimed at a republican system in church government, simplicity in the ceremonial of the church, and the acceptance of Protestant doctrines of the reformed type. But neither of these could possibly attract the English queen. Roman Catholicism denied the validity

of her mother's marriage and left Elizabeth herself no rights whatever to the English throne. Nor is it likely that Elizabeth, who loved power as all the Tudors did, would have been willing to diminish her own authority in the kingdom by accepting the

papal supremacy in the church. Equally un- Calvinism.

attractive was Calvinism, as it, too, denied the

authority of the sovereign over the church. Public sentiment probably favored a return to the Anglican system of Henry VIII; but Elizabeth saw clearly that no form of Catholicism was now possible but that of Rome. The outcome was that the

Anglican church was reorganized along the lines followed by the Protestant princes on the Continent; but care was taken to proceed with caution and to avoid extremes.

249. The Settlement of the Church.1 The first necessity was to fill the episcopal offices with men who could be trusted to give The appoint- loyal assistance in the work of transforming the

ment of bishops.

church. The great number of vacancies that existed at the time made this a relatively easy task. Archbishop Pole, who was under suspicion of heresy during the last months of Mary's life, was naturally unable to act with much vigor and allowed several sees to remain vacant. He died within twenty-four hours of Queen Mary's death, and several of the other bishops followed him to the grave within the next few weeks. Other vacancies were created by plain deprivation: in all fourteen bishops were either deprived of their offices or induced to resign. As soon as suitable candidates could be found, these vacancies were filled, and gradually the bench of bishops in the house of lords was filled up with men of the reformed faith.

In the work of reconstruction Archbishop Parker adopted the principle of Cranmer that the English church should accept the

Cranmer's principle

religious system that came into England with Saint Augustine in 597; what had been developed since adopted. that time might be rejected. This principle allowed the retention of the episcopacy and the use of an elaborate ritual, for these had developed very early in the church. Cranmer's principle also allowed considerable freedom in the matter of doctrine, as the points of belief that were most in dispute were not formally and officially accepted and enforced by the church until long after the coming of Saint Augustine. Transubstantiation, for example, did not become a dogma before the days of Lanfranc; celibacy of the priests was not generally insisted upon before the pontificate of Gregory VII, who was Lanfranc's contemporary; confession was not made compulsory before the time of Innocent III.

1 Gardiner, 429-431.