Religion In The Elizabethan Era

Religion is “an institution of worship and belief in a certain God or Gods” (Fritz), which can be traced back thousands of years and has been the root of many events in history. In the 1500’s in England, religion was the cause of political tension, which led to the prosecution of anyone who did not followed the same religion at the time. During the reign of Henry VIII and his son, Catholics were heavily punished, while during the reign of Queen Mary, Protestants were punished. When Elizabeth became Queen, she “allowed her subjects to practice their own religion as long as it did not disrupt the order of society, until she became nervous of betrayal and started punishing anyone who posed a threat to her” (“Reformation Religion”). During this
Simon Brown states in his article “Social Structure” that during this time, there were six social classes, which determined how someone could dress, where they could live, and the kinds of jobs people and their children could get. The highest Class was a monarch, ruler of the land, someone who was usually born into this class. Second highest, are noblemen, which were rich and powerful men and women who were appointed by the monarch. The third highest class were the Gentry, which were knights, gentleman, and gentlewoman who did not have to do labor work to make a living and could build their wealth. Another class were merchants who made their money through selling goods. The middle class was the Yeomanry, which could live comfortably, but at any moment lose it all. The lowest class was the peasants, who had no money, food or shelter and because their numbers were so great, laws were placed to help them. There was even a law stating “if any poor person who was capable of doing work but choose not to, they could be trialed and sentenced to death” (“Social
The Roman Catholic Church had undergone many periods of change before the time of the Protestant Reformation, the sixteenth-century religious movement that resulted in the establishment of Protestant churches. In the 1520s Catholic leaders became concerned because many of their members were leaving the church to join the Protestant movement. In an attempt to keep people from leaving the church, they tried to eliminate corruption within the church and to clarify the church's doctrine. Church leaders also opposed the new Protestant beliefs, which they considered heresy, or religious opinions that conflict with the church's doctrines. “During this time the Catholic Church tried to reunify Europe under Catholicism and to spread Roman Catholic Christianity to the New World, Asia, and Africa” (Benson, pp. 67-83). Some scholars call this period the Counter Reformation, assuming the Catholic Church was responding to the Protestant movement; most Catholics, however, refer to it as the Catholic Reformation, arguing that the effort was an independent action within the church. When Elizabeth I, a Protestant, became queen of England in 1558, Catholics made up the majority of the population. Though most English Catholics remained loyal to the queen despite their religious differences, many of her chief councilors feared a Catholic uprising. Moreover,