To what extent was the Elizabethan Church settlement the most significant factors in promoting religious change in 1529-1570?

The Elizabethan Church settlement was one of the most significant factors in promoting religious change. However, there were other settlements which also had significant factors on religious change. The Elizabethan Church Settlement formed the foundations of the Church of England in the years 1559-1563. During Elizabeth’s reign, Elizabeth’s aim was to find a suitable settlement, but one that most people could accept that it was their legal and patriotic duty to attend the established church. She wanted a church over which she had control through the bishops. One of the many religious changes that were made was The Act of Supremacy, May 1559. Unlike her father, Elizabeth was not proclaimed ‘supreme head’. Instead she became ‘supreme governor’. This was aimed to please both Catholics and more extreme Protestants who disliked the idea of a woman taking on such an important religious position. This gave the opportunity to remove Catholic clergy who refused to the oath recognising her Royal Supremacy over the Church. The Act, also required a tour of the church nationwide, to administer the Oath of Supremacy and to deliver the new Royal Injunctions on Religion. For this purpose a commission of clergy and laymen were created and was used to prosecute people with Catholic sympathies. As well as Elizabeth’s Settlement had significant factors in religious change, Henry’s reign was also a significant factor in promoting changes. The Reformation in England and Wales in Henry’s Reign had two parts; religious and political. Religious changes like the Ten Articles, Six Acts and the Dissolution of the Monasteries were some of the major changes that Henry reversed. The Ten Articles were passed by Convocation at the wish of the King in 1536. The article concerned with the Eucharist was left ambiguous. Another change Henry mad was the Six Acts reversed Ten Articles in 1539. Two forming bishops, Latimer and Shaxton resigned. To Protestants, it was “the whip with six strings”.