Elizabethan Religious Settlement
Elizabeth I assents to the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗Assent settled the law on 8 May. Parish worship was given until midsummer — 24 June — to actually change.
8 May 1559, the last day of the session
On 8 May 1559, the final day of Elizabeth's first Parliament, the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity received royal assent and became statutes. Parliament was dissolved afterward.
The Supremacy Act abolished foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, united spiritual jurisdiction to the Crown, and prescribed an oath recognizing Elizabeth as the realm's only Supreme Governor in spiritual, ecclesiastical and temporal causes.
The statutes are officially styled Acts of 1558 because the session had begun in January, when the legal English year was still 1558.
Twelve pence a Sunday
The Uniformity Act authorized a modified Book of Common Prayer, required its use beginning on 24 June, and required attendance at common prayer on Sundays and holy days.
Each unexcused absence carried a fine of twelve pence, directed to parish poor relief.
The Uniformity bill had survived the House of Lords by three votes.
Graduated penalties, not instant treason
The Supremacy Act did not make a first assertion of papal authority high treason. Penalties escalated: forfeiture for a first offence, praemunire for a second, high treason only for a third.
Offences under the act became punishable thirty days after the parliamentary session ended.
Refusing the supremacy oath cost specified clergy, judges, mayors, Crown officers and other listed officeholders their office. It was not automatically a death sentence.
Sources
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What the sources leave uncertain
- The statutes are officially styled the Acts of 1558 because the parliamentary session began in January, when the legal English year was still 1558. Royal assent nevertheless occurred on 8 May 1559.
- The date is conventionally stated in the contemporary English Julian calendar, not converted to the Gregorian calendar.