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The Reformation in England

The Protestant Reformation, a religious movement that aimed to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of Protestant churches, began in the early sixteenth century when German monk Martin Luther (1483–1546) publicized his objections to the practices of the Catholic Church. Luther believed that faith in Christ, not the intervention of the church, was the route to salvation (deliverance from the results of sin). Luther argued that the Bible—not the Catholic Church—was the sole spiritual authority. He was particularly disgusted by the sale of papal indulgences, or free passes issued by the pope to wealthy people, allowing them to sin and then pay to be forgiven. Luther believed only God could forgive sins.

On October 31, 1517, Luther is said to have nailed to the church door in Wittenberg (a city in present-day Germany) a list of ninety-five theses, or statements, attacking the use of papal indulgences and inviting debate on the subject. He also began to write and distribute pamphlets about his views. When people from all walks of life began to support Luther and his ideas, the officials of the Catholic Church demanded that he repudiate, or withdraw, his views. When he refused, the church declared him an outlaw and sentenced him to death. Luther went into hiding, but he emerged in 1522 to find that almost half the people of the German states had adopted his views and were calling themselves Lutherans.

England's introduction to Protestantism

While the Protestant Reformation movement spread swiftly through parts of Europe in the 1520s, at first it appealed to very few residents of the geographically isolated island of England. The country had a longstanding but small group of reformers called evangelicals, who believed that salvation could be attained only through faith in Christ's sacrifice and God's mercy; that the Bible was the supreme authority; and that people could achieve faith only through personal experience and preaching rather than through ceremonies and rituals. Most English people, however, were not interested in the evangelical movement. England's introduction to the Reformation came with a jolt in the 1530s, when the

WORDS TO KNOW

archbishop:

The head bishop of a province or district.

bishop:

A clergyman with a rank higher than a priest, who has the power to ordain priests and usually presides over a diocese.

cardinal:

Atop official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the pope.

clergy:

Authorized religious leaders, such as priests and ministers.

courtier:

A person who serves or participates in the royal court or household as the king's or queen's advisor, officer, or attendant.

doctrine:

A principle (or set of principles) held by a religious or philosophical group.

evangelical:

A member of a Protestant group that believes salvation can be attained only through faith in Christ's sacrifice and God's mercy; that the Bible, particularly the first four books of the New Testament, is the supreme authority; and that people can achieve faith only through personal experience and preaching rather than through ceremonies and rituals.

heresy:

A religious opinion that conflicts with the church's doctrines.

Holy Roman Empire:

A loose confederation of states and territories, including the German states and most of central Europe, that existed from 962 to 1806 and was considered the supreme political body of the Christian people.

lady-in-waiting:

A woman in the queen's household who attends the queen.

papal legate:

A representative of the pope within a particular nation.

Protestant:

A member of one of the western Christian churches that, following reform doctrines, broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century.

Reformation:

A sixteenth-century religious movement that aimed to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of Protestant churches.

regent:

Someone who rules for a king or queen when the monarch is absent, too young, or unable to rule.

ritual:

An established ceremony performed in precise ways according to the rules of the church.

salvation:

In Christianity, deliverance from sin and punishment.

Tower of London:

A fortress on the Thames River in London that was used as a royal residence, treasury, and, most famously, as a prison for the upper class.

transubstantiation:

In Roman Catholic doctrine, the miraculous change that occurs when a priest blesses the Eucharist (bread and wine) and it changes into the body and blood of Christ, while maintaining the appearance of bread and wine.

country abruptly broke with the Catholic Church as a result of King Henry VIII's (1491–1547; reigned 1509–47) desire for a divorce. Henry's actions, which had nothing to do with the ideas of Martin Luther, prompted a chain of events that would lead to religious upheaval during his kingship and the reigns of his three children, Edward VI (1537–1553; reigned 1547–53), Mary I (1516–1558; reigned 1553–58), and Elizabeth I (1533–1603; reigned 1558–1603).

Henry VIII, Defender of the Faith

Henry VIII was the second son of Henry VII (1457–1509; reigned 1485–1509) and Elizabeth of York (1466–1503). His older brother, Arthur, was expected to succeed his father as king. While Henry was still a young boy, his parents arranged for Arthur to marry Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536), the daughter of the king and queen of Spain. This marriage, undertaken for the purpose of maintaining a strong alliance between Spain and England, took place in 1501, but Arthur died shortly after the wedding. The king, still pursuing the alliance, decided to marry his younger son, Henry, to Catherine. Because of a Biblical prohibition against marrying one's brother's wife, Henry was forced to obtain a dispensation (permission) from the pope for the marriage. In the end, the marriage did not take place until after Henry VII's death. The seventeen-year-old Henry married Catherine as he took the English throne in 1509.

The new king was intelligent, forceful, and highly charismatic (having a strong magnetic charm), but he was also selfish, egotistical, and often cruel. Henry VIII's primary goal was to make England a major power comparable to any in Europe. He spent a great deal of time, money, and human lives waging wars with France and Scodand. When not concerned with matters of war, he preferred to spend his time hunting, playing music, and carousing with his courtiers (people who serve or participate in the royal court or household as the king's advisors, officers, or attendants). He left many of the duties of state to his Lord Chancellor (the king's highest officer), Thomas Wolsey (c. 1475–1530). Wolsey attained great power, becoming a Catholic cardinal (a top official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the pope) and a papal legate, or a representative of the pope within a particular nation. Soon he was the most powerful man in the country next to the king, and he became extremely rich, building some of England's largest palaces and living in luxury. Many nobles resented his wealth and power, viewing it as an example of the corruption of the Catholic Church.

When Martin Luther's teachings began to reach English shores in the 1520s, Henry labeled them heresy (religious opinion that conflicts with the church's doctrines, or principles). In 1521, with the help of one of his favored councilors, the renowned writer and statesman Thomas More (1478–1535), Henry wrote and published Defense of the Seven Sacraments, an argument against Luther's ideas. For this work the Catholic pope honored him with the title "Defender of the Faith."

At that time, one of the leading English evangelical reformers, William Tyndale (1494–1536), decided to produce a new English translation of the Bible and distribute it to the English people. The Catholic Church banned all translations in the belief that it was the church's role to instruct its members about the teachings of the Bible. Tyndale, fearing prosecution in England, carried out his mission of translation and printing in the German city of Worms. In 1526 he secretly shipped to London three thousand copies of an English translation of the New Testament. As these books surfaced, Henry VIII and Wolsey staged a massive book-burning, destroying as many copies of the translated Bible as they could find. They warned the reformers that in the future their bodies would be burned at the stake, along with any heretical books found in their presence.

King Henry's "great matter"

In the meantime, though, Henry was trying to father a male heir to take the throne upon his death. With Catherine, however, he had only one surviving child, Mary, and he wanted a boy to succeed him. By the late 1520s, with Catherine past her childbearing years, Henry was desperate to resolve what became known as "the king's great matter." He began to believe he had been cursed with a lack of sons as punishment for going against the teachings of the Bible and marrying his brother's wife. His anxiety to divorce Catherine intensified around 1527, when he fell in love with Anne Boleyn (c. 1504–1536), a lady-in-waiting to his wife. (A lady-in-waiting is a woman in the queen's househould who attends the queen.) Anne refused to become Henry's mistress, and the lovesick king decided to marry her and make her queen of England.

Although Catholic doctrine did not allow for divorce, termination of marriages among kings was not unusual. Wolsey asked the pope to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine, arguing that the marriage was illegitimate because Catherine had been Arthur's widow. But Catherine protested, saying she and Arthur had never consummated their marriage (had sexual relations). Catherine's nephew, Charles V (1500–1558), the Holy Roman Emperor, had great influence over the pope and was able to stop him from terminating his aunt's marriage. (The title of Holy Roman Emperor is granted by the pope to the person who led, at least in name, the states and territories within the Holy Roman Empire, a loose confederation of states and territories including the German states and most of central Europe.) By 1529 it was clear that the pope would not agree to Henry's demands. The angry king fired Wolsey from his position as lord chancellor.

Cromwell and Cranmer

Two new advisors on Henry's council, Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) and Thomas Cromwell (1489–1540), quickly gained power after Wolsey's dismissal. Both were Protestants, and many historians consider them the architects of the English Reformation. Cromwell and Cranmer both took advantage of the king's desire for a divorce to get into his good graces. Each worked in his own way—Cranmer through the church and Cromwell through the government. They began by convincing the king that England was an empire (a large political body made up of several territories or groups of people under a single, all-powerful leader). As emperor, they explained, Henry was the supreme leader of both state and church and therefore not subject to the authority of the pope or the Catholic Church in Rome.

Cromwell brought the matter of the Henry's role in the church before Parliament, the legislative body in England. Many members of Parliament had been so outraged at the power Wolsey had achieved through his connections with Rome that they were glad to work toward a break with the pope. Under Cromwell and Cranmer's influence, the Reformation Parliament, which sat for seven years beginning in 1529, created a series of acts that cut the ties between England and the Catholic Church in Rome. Under Cromwell's fierce pressure, in 1531 the English clergy accepted Henry as the head of the church in England.

In 1532 Cranmer was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, the chief religious leader in England. The king had arranged the appointment because he expected Cranmer, as head of the church, to annul his marriage to Catherine. Indeed, things had become a little more urgent for the king—Anne Boleyn was pregnant. Henry was certain the child was a son and wanted him to be legitimate; that is, born to married parents. Though not yet divorced, he had married Anne in secret and brought her into the royal court as if she were queen. As soon as he became Archbishop of Canterbury, Cranmer carried out Henry's wishes. He declared Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon invalid and then publicly affirmed that Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn had been lawful and crowned Anne as queen of England. Henry had gotten his way. His excommunication (being deprived of church membership) from the Catholic Church followed Anne's coronation, or crowning as queen.

When Anne's child, the future Queen Elizabeth I, was born in September 1533, Henry was deeply disappointed to learn that she was a girl, but the course for England had already been set. In March 1534 Parliament passed the Act of Succession, which made the children of Henry and Anne the future heirs to the English throne, and effectively proclaimed his daughter, Mary, illegitimate. The act required the English people to pledge their loyalty to the succession of the new queen's children and to Henry's role as the supreme head of the English church. That same year Parliament passed the Act of Treason, making it a crime punishable by death to dispute the king's religious rulings. Anyone who refused to go along with the succession act or the supremacy act was

Calvinism

French scholar John Calvin (1509–1564) led the second generation of Protestant reformers in the 1530s and became the most influential Protestant leader of his time. Calvin had read and admired the works of Martin Luther, and in most respects their theology was the same. Like Luther and many earlier theologians, Calvin believed that all human beings were sinful from birth and he denied that humans have free will, arguing that God had determined every soul's fate at the beginning of time. Calvin believed that God chose only a special few, whom he called "the elect," for salvation. But while earlier theologians held that people who did not find salvation were responsible for their own fate because of their sins, Calvin argued there was nothing a human could do, whether good or evil, to influence God's will. God had already determined who would be saved and who would be damned. Aware of the gloomy aspect of this doctrine—the belief that it makes no difference what one does in life, since one's fate has already been determined—Calvin proclaimed that those who lived a good Christian life should assume they were among the elect.

Calvin went further than Luther in criticizing the Catholic Church, particularly in regard to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, the miraculous change that occurs in a Catholic mass when a priest blesses the Eucharist elements, bread and wine, and they change to become the body and blood of Christ, while maintaining the appearance of bread and wine. While Luther held that no priest could achieve such a miracle, he believed that Christ was physically present in the Eucharist during the Mass. Calvin disagreed, calling the presence of Christ at the mass merely spiritual, a way for people to remember and celebrate the miracle. There were other differences between Lutherans and Calvinists as well. While Lutherans retained the ceremonial worship of the Catholic Church, following precise steps and using traditional objects of worship, Calvin introduced a simple, austere service in which the sermon, not the ceremony or objects, was central. Lutheranism became the main form of Protestantism in Germany and Scandinavia, while Calvinism became the Protestant doctrine in Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Scotland.

For a time Calvin led the Protestant movement from the city of Geneva (in present-day Switzerland). Calvin attempted to turn Geneva into a city of model Christians. He introduced and rigidly enforced strict laws on daily conduct based on the teachings of the church. Geneva became a center of the Reformation. A school Calvin founded at Geneva in 1559 became the training ground of hundreds of Protestant pastors from all nations. The city was a haven for persecuted Protestants from all over Europe. Calvin's followers carried his teachings to eager reformers throughout Europe, especially in France, where Calvinists were called Huguenots, and in England, where they inspired the Puritan movement.

charged with treason. Among those who refused was Henry's once-favored councilor, Thomas More (1478–1535), who was executed for his beliefs in 1535.

Anne Boleyn reigned as Henry's queen for two-and-a-half years, but by 1536, when Anne had not produced a son, Henry was convinced his marriage had been a mistake. The ever-faithful Cromwell began arresting most of the men who had access to the queen. Under torture, a musician in her household was forced to confess to sexual relations with the queen. Although few believed the charges, Anne Boleyn was arrested for treason (adultery in connection with a king was considered treason). Henry then had Cranmer declare that his marriage with Anne had been illegitimate since he had been married to Catherine when it took place. Two days later Anne Boleyn was beheaded. Within two weeks of Anne's death, Henry married Jane Seymour (c. 1509–1537), a lady-in-waiting to Anne. She would, at last, produce the desired male heir, Edward, though she died in the process.

Dissolution of the monasteries

Though the king was by no means a Protestant, he supported some evangelical reforms when it suited him. Many of England's monasteries (houses for monks or nuns who live under religious vows) had become extremely wealthy, owning vast lands, fine buildings, and art and treasures worth a fortune. In 1536 Henry and Cromwell began to close the smaller monasteries. It was a popular measure among the Protestants and others who believed the monasteries were corrupt. For Henry this reform effort had the obvious benefit of filling up his royal treasury with the monasteries' fortunes. (The Crown received all the goods within the religious houses, while the local nobles received the land and buildings.) About 160 of the smaller monasteries were shut down that year.

Not everyone was pleased with the king's actions against the Catholic Church, however. In the strongly Catholic population in northern England, the closing of the monasteries caused several uprisings. In 1536 a large rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace took shape in Yorkshire. About forty thousand rebels participated. By deceiving the rebels into thinking the king would agree to their concerns, the king's army eventually defeated the angry mob. Still, Henry and Cromwell, not satisfied with closing the small monasteries, went after the rest. By 1540 about 250 large monasteries had been closed. The dissolution of the monasteries greatly enriched the English Crown and garnered Henry enormous support from the nobles who had received the monasteries' estates.

Henry's last years

Henry was to marry three more times after the death of Jane Seymour. Cromwell arranged a marriage between Henry and the German princess Anne of Cleves (c. 1515–1557), a Protestant. The marriage did not please Henry. He had it annulled and, blaming Cromwell for the ordeal, fired him. Cromwell was executed on some questionable charges a year later. In 1540 Henry married the teenaged Catherine Howard (c. 1525–1542), Anne Boleyn's cousin, who later was accused of adultery and executed for treason. Henry's sixth and last marriage was to Katherine Parr (c. 1512–1548), who nursed the sick and aging king through his last years. Parr served as a warm and loving stepmother to his two younger children, Elizabeth and Edward. She was intrigued with evangelical reform and held daily religious study classes at court. Both of her stepchildren attended this instruction eagerly and were therefore in regular contact with some of the prominent Protestant reformers of the time.

After dismissing Cromwell, Henry controlled the church in England more directly, fully utilizing his power as the head of the church to decide what was doctrine and what was heresy. His Act of Six Articles (1539) reinstated certain Catholic traditions that had been discontinued under Protestant reform, affirming the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, as well as the practice of confessing one's sins to a priest. Two Protestant influences remained: the availability of the English translation of the Bible and having the king, not the pope, as the head of the church. Henry did not allow people to pick and choose which church doctrines to follow. Under the act heresy was punishable by death by burning. Catholics who could not accept Henry as the head of the church were executed, along with Protestants who denied the doctrine of transubstantiation. It was a confusing and frightening time for people on both sides of the issue. Catholics feared that the fate of their souls might be doomed for all eternity because of the break with Rome. Some Protestants chose to be burned at the stake rather than agree to Catholic doctrines. Most people learned to be silent about their true beliefs, hoping for better days to come.

Protestant rule: 1547–1553

When Henry died in 1547, his ten-year-old son succeeded to the throne as Edward VI. Edward's uncle, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford (c. 1506–1552; later Duke of Somerset), received authority to act as regent (someone who rules for a king or queen when the monarch is absent, too young, or unable to rule). Seymour was a Protestant, and the Protestant Thomas Cranmer remained Archbishop of Canterbury. The young Edward was thoroughly Protestant himself, and so a way was open for the Reformation to establish itself in England.

One of the first acts of Edward's government was to repeal his father's hated heresy statutes. There were no burnings at the stake on matters of religion during his reign. In 1548 Somerset instituted the first Act of Uniformity, prescribing a new service for all English churches as described in the Book of Common Prayer, written by Cranmer. The book changed the transubstantiation rite into a celebration of the sacrifice of Christ that did not actually repeat the miracle of his Resurrection (rising from death), as it had in Catholic practice. The new mass was to be called Holy Communion, and it was delivered in English rather than Latin. Many of the Catholic decorations in churches, such as stained glass windows and statues of the Virgin Mary, were removed. The new look in English churches was starkly plain, reflecting the simple piety of Protestant worship.

Somerset soon fell from power and was replaced by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (1502–1553; later Duke of Northumberland), as Edward's chief councilor. Northumberland was eager to push Protestant reforms. Under his direction all Catholic service books were banned. England's Catholic bishops were dismissed from the church and replaced by Protestant bishops, such as Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester (1485–1555), and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of Rochester (1500–1555), who sought extensive evangelical reforms. Cranmer, though, continued to move slowly to educate the English public about the reformed church, using a mix of traditional Catholic and contemporary Protestant doctrine. He feared that sudden changes might confuse or even turn some away from their religion. Both Catholics and Protestants fiercely resisted his methods, but the young king Edward supported him. The archbishop produced a second Prayer Book (1552), a more outwardly Protestant book of church services that required every English citizen to attend the reformed service. He also wrote the Forty-Two Articles, a set of Reformation church doctrines. Cranmer's efforts would later become the basis for Elizabeth I's religious settlement and the Anglican Church. (For more information on the establishment of the Anglican Church, see Chapter 3.)

The nine-day reign of Jane Grey

In early 1553 Edward's health was deteriorating rapidly. Historians suggest that he may have been suffering from tuberculosis, a disease of the lungs. Northumberland, knowing that Edward was near death, was concerned that if Mary, a devout Catholic, succeeded him, she would be sure to undo all his Protestant reforms. Northumberland devised a plan. Henry's will had stated that if all three of his children died without heirs, the throne would go to his sister's descendants, the Greys. Northumberland quickly arranged a marriage between one of these descendants, the seventeen-year-old Jane Grey (1537–1554), and his own son. He convinced the dying Edward to create a will leaving the rule of England to Jane Grey. Although it would have taken an act of Parliament to make Edward's will effective, Northumberland managed to persuade the other royal councilors to back his plan to put his new daughter-in-law on the throne.

When Edward died at the age of fifteen, Northumberland brought a reluctant Jane Grey to the royal court as queen. The people of London were grimly silent as she was escorted past them. Mary Tudor, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, had their overwhelming support. Catholics and Protestants alike believed Mary was queen by divine (God-given) right, and considered it dangerous to replace a legitimate monarch. When Mary rode into London several days later, the city welcomed her triumphantly. Northumberland was abandoned by his army and the royal council, and Jane Grey, queen of England for just nine days, was arrested and later beheaded by order of the new queen.

Bloody Mary

Upon taking the throne the thirty-seven-year-old Mary immediately sought a husband so that she could provide an heir for England. Though her council urged her to marry an Englishman, she consulted Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, for a suitable match. Charles urged her to marry his son, Prince Philip (1527–1598), heir to the Spanish throne. Mary joyfully agreed.

The English public was outraged with Mary's choice of husband. No foreigner had served as king for centuries. Rumors spread that Philip planned to make England a province of Spain once he married the queen. Plans for uprisings were widespread. In Kent, three thousand men led by Thomas Wyatt (1521–1554) headed for London, planning to kill Mary and place the princess Elizabeth on the throne. But Mary had loyal followers in London and the rebels were stopped. Wyatt and many others were gruesomely executed, their body parts hung from the walls of London to warn others against revolt. Though Mary had begun her reign with no ill will toward her Protestant subjects, after the uprising she began to believe that all reformers sought to overthrow her; consequently, all who professed Protestantism were, in her eyes, traitors to their country.

Mary and Philip were married in 1554. Mary restored the traditional Catholic Mass, requiring all English citizens to attend. The shift was awkward. English youth had never known Catholicism, and many Protestants were deeply pious and unwilling to change. Mary and her religious leaders believed that the only way to bring unity to England was to force the Protestants to recant, or change their religion. The Catholic bishops spent hours trying to force Protestants to recant through coaxing, threats, and finally torture. Those who refused to recant were condemned to die the painful death of heretics—burning at the stake. Burnings began in February 1555 in Smithfield, near London, and continued for three years. Prominent Protestants such as Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley, as well as hundreds of humble English men and women, suffered a heretic's death. In all, about three hundred people were burned to death during Mary's short reign. More than eight hundred Protestants left England for refuge in Protestant areas of Europe.

In 1558 Mary died of cancer. The weary people of England looked to the succession of the princess Elizabeth with a mixture of fear and hope for their spiritual future.

The Princess Elizabeth

The childhood of Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, had been full of anguish and drama. Her birth had become the reason for a break with the Roman Catholic Church, and her mother had been executed at her father's orders before the young princess was three years old. But it was not all bad. Elizabeth was educated along with her brother, Edward, by some of the top scholars from Cambridge University. Her tutors had participated in the new Renaissance-humanist movement, which focused on the classical art and writings of ancient Greece and Rome. Through study humanists sought moral truths about humans and their relationship to God and the universe. The young princess excelled at her studies, speaking six languages fluently at an early age and impressing those around her with her keen intelligence and surprisingly mature presence. She was a healthy and athletic child who enjoyed horseback riding, hunting, music, and dance. Elizabeth lived with her half-sister, Mary, and later with Edward in a household attended by educated noblewomen. Though Henry initially stayed away, he took increasing interest in her as she grew up. Elizabeth adored him.

After her father's death Elizabeth lived with her stepmother, Katherine Parr. Parr had quickly remarried to her former love, the Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour (1508–1549), the Duke of Somerset's brother, and soon was carrying his child. Seymour was a handsome, bold man with overpowering ambitions. He began to make inappropriate advances to the fourteen-year-old Elizabeth. The princess was intrigued by him. As rumors started to spread, Parr sent Elizabeth to live elsewhere. Shortly thereafter Parr died of complications from childbirth.

Seymour began to consider the possibility of marrying Elizabeth, but shortly into their courtship he was caught in attempting to kidnap young king Edward and take over his brother's position as regent. With Seymour in prison Edward's councilors immediately began to question Elizabeth about her involvement in his plot. Interrogations of her household attendants revealed every embarrassing detail of the flirtation with Seymour. Elizabeth, though disgraced and prohibited from visiting her brother at the royal court, maintained her innocence under severe questioning, demanding that the council put an end to the wild rumors about her that were circulating around England. Thomas Seymour, probably her first romantic interest, was beheaded for treason. Elizabeth never expressed her feelings about this incident to anyone.

For Elizabeth, as for many English people, the reign of her half-sister, Mary, was a terrifying time. Mary suspected Elizabeth of involvement in Wyatt's rebellion and had her imprisoned in the Tower of London, a fortress on the Thames River in London that was used as a royal residence, treasury, and, most famously, as a prison for the upper class, for two months. Elizabeth was interrogated repeatedly, but never wavered from protesting her complete innocence. Even so, Mary believed that as long as Elizabeth lived, she would be a threat. Although the queen seemed eager to eliminate her sister, the people of England supported the princess, who was becoming a popular figure. Finally Mary's husband, Philip II, who had become the king of Spain, interceded on Elizabeth's behalf. Philip knew that uprisings were likely to occur if the queen had her sister executed. Some historians speculate the Philip realized his wife was dying and wanted to be on good terms with her successor. At his insistence Mary released Elizabeth into the custody of a nobleman who watched her. Mary demanded that Elizabeth attend Catholic Mass and Elizabeth obeyed rather than risk being executed as a heretic. She spent the rest of Mary's reign in great fear for her life.

For More Information

BOOKS

Brigden, Susan. New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors, 1485–1603. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.

Powicke, Sir Maurice. The Reformation in England. London: Oxford University Press, 1941.

Schama, Simon. A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3500 bc–1603 ad. New York: Hyperion, 2000.

Smith, Lacey Baldwin. Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty. London: Panther, 1971.

Tillyard, E. M. W. The Elizabethan World Picture. New York: Vintage Books, 1942.

WEB SITES

Knox, Ellis L. "The Reformation in England." History of Western Civilization. http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/reformat/englnd01.htm (accessed on July 11, 2006).

Pettegree, Andrew. "The English Reformation." Church and State: BBC History. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/english_reformation_01.shtml (accessed on July 11, 2006).

"Tudor England." http://englishhistory.net/tudor/contents.html (accessed on July 11, 2006).