Glimpses of Britain. Учебное пособие - Алексей Минченков

What Elizabeth and her government eventually managed to achieve in matters of religion is often referred to as Elizabethan religious settlement. The queen, who was not particularly religious herself, wanted to return to how things stood shortly after Henry VIII’s death. But her first Parliament wanted a more radical form of Protestantism, so did the people she wanted to work with. At her accession England was still Catholic. What became the Anglican Church slowly emerged as the reign progressed. It was shaped by political events as a cross between Catholic and what was called Puritan. The Puritans wanted the abolition of the bishops and any trace of ritual reminiscent of Rome. The Puritan doctrine modeled on Calvinism and the Church of Geneva with its democratic republicanism didn’t appeal to the queen, who thought and acted on her successor’s principle ‘No bishop, no king’.

William Cecil’s family originated in Herefordshire. Both his father and grandfather were able lawyers and found employment at Court under Henry VIII and Edward VI. William, born in 1520, gave support to Elizabeth during the repressive reign of her sister. When she came to the throne the Cecils already owned estates at Burghley and Wothorpe. In 1571 Sir William Cecil was created Lord Burghley, and grants of land and Crown offices continued throughout his long life. A measure of his importance is a magnificent palace near Stamford, Lincolnshire, called Burghley House. The House was completed in the reign of Elizabeth and became the centre of a dynasty. [36; 37] William Cecil’s elder son Thomas was created Earl of Exeter in 1605 and the 10th Earl became the 1st Marquess in 1801. The descendants of the 1st Earl have occupied Burghley House ever since the 17th century. William Cecil’s second son, Robert, was created Earl of Salisbury and his descendants were also elevated to the title of a marquess. This branch of the family owns Hatfield House near London. [48]

In 1559 Elizabeth’s first Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which abolished papal allegiance and recognized the queen as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. She wanted to return to the moderate and largely Catholic Prayer Book of 1549, but was forced to allow the restoration of the more radical version of 1552, although some of the more extreme attitudes were eliminated. Eventually this Prayer Book proved to be a golden mean, a chameleon that meant different things to different people. Parliament also passed the Act of Uniformity and in 1562 Cranmer’s 42 Articles of Faith were modified to 39 and adopted by the clergy. In 1571 these Articles were imposed by Parliament as the doctrine of the Anglican Church. With certain revisions, they have remained the basic doctrines of faith of the Established Church of England till the present day.

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