Elizabeth’s Religious Settlement

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Fortunately for England Queen Elizabeth had no strong religious feelings. She was not a violent Protestant like Edward, nor a strict Catholic like her sister Mary. Because of this she was able to go some way to meet both sides.

To please the Protestants she made all churches use the English prayer book of Edward and allowed the clergymen to marry: to please the Catholics she allowed the priests to keep the elaborate robes they had always worn and also made some changes in the wording prayer book.

In it she called herself the ‘governor’ of the church of England, not ‘Head’, so that when people spoke of, or prayed for, the head of the church, the Catholics meant in their hearts the Pope and the Protestants meant the queen.
Although no-one was completely satisfied with this, most ordinary Protestants and Catholics were prepared to accept it for the sake of peace. Only the strict Catholics and the Puritans really objected.