Do You Agree with the Claim That Catholics Were a Threat to Elizabeth in 1588
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- Category: History: European
- Date Submitted: 11/19/2014 02:25 PM
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Do you agree with the claim that Catholics were a threat to Elizabeth in 1588?
When Elizabeth I acquired the English throne in 1558, many believed due to the religious decisions of her predecessors, dating back to Henry VIII's reign, Elizabeth had inherited a country that was predominantly Catholic in belief. With Elizabeth's church settlement of 1559 being more Protestant, were the Catholics angered to such an extent that they posed a significant threat to Elizabeth or were they merely trying to discover God through their own faith and interpretation privately? The Religious Settlement of 1559 made Elizabeth Supreme Head of the Church. However, she did not give any clear indication as to the direction of her Church and many of the clergy maintained altars and images, refusing to destroy any equipment needed for Mass. People frequently referred to Catholicism as the "old religion" and church bishops faced a very difficult task in stamping out support for Catholic practices. Elizabeth was content to adopt a cautious approach in the early years of her reign. Many Catholic gentry held important positions in local government and she did not want to provoke any negative response so early on.
On the one hand, this was only a perceived and merely potential threat as the governmental reaction was so swift in dealing with the participants and never resulted in any change to Elizabeth's prestige. There was also little enthusiastic support from English Catholics for the rebellion. However on the other hand, on this occasion only, troops had to be used by Elizabeth to defer the rebels, not only this but the support from the nobility was a very significant threat as their own reasons behind rebellion were not purely religious and so Elizabeth had to be careful to tactfully suppress the nobles power and control to prevent further and potentially more successful rebellions in the future. There were four main groups of Catholics within England during Elizabeth's reign and each...
When Elizabeth I acquired the English throne in 1558, many believed due to the religious decisions of her predecessors, dating back to Henry VIII's reign, Elizabeth had inherited a country that was predominantly Catholic in belief. With Elizabeth's church settlement of 1559 being more Protestant, were the Catholics angered to such an extent that they posed a significant threat to Elizabeth or were they merely trying to discover God through their own faith and interpretation privately? The Religious Settlement of 1559 made Elizabeth Supreme Head of the Church. However, she did not give any clear indication as to the direction of her Church and many of the clergy maintained altars and images, refusing to destroy any equipment needed for Mass. People frequently referred to Catholicism as the "old religion" and church bishops faced a very difficult task in stamping out support for Catholic practices. Elizabeth was content to adopt a cautious approach in the early years of her reign. Many Catholic gentry held important positions in local government and she did not want to provoke any negative response so early on.
On the one hand, this was only a perceived and merely potential threat as the governmental reaction was so swift in dealing with the participants and never resulted in any change to Elizabeth's prestige. There was also little enthusiastic support from English Catholics for the rebellion. However on the other hand, on this occasion only, troops had to be used by Elizabeth to defer the rebels, not only this but the support from the nobility was a very significant threat as their own reasons behind rebellion were not purely religious and so Elizabeth had to be careful to tactfully suppress the nobles power and control to prevent further and potentially more successful rebellions in the future. There were four main groups of Catholics within England during Elizabeth's reign and each...