When Elizabeth I came to the throne in AD 1558, she knew that although she was a Protestant, most of her subjects were Catholic. She was determined to reconcile these two religious factions. She probably went beyond her own conservative views in allowing the introduction of bills in 1559 to re-establish royal supremacy (the monarch as the head of the Church) and Edward VI’s Book of Common Prayer of 1552. The settlement was completed in 1563 when Convocation (the governing body of the Church) accepted the Thirty-nine Articles, which defined the doctrine of the Church of England.

The passing of these acts did not mean that English Catholics became Protestants. Elizabeth’s whole reign was a struggle to maintain the settlement. As time went by, Catholic clergy died and were replaced by Protestants. In 1584-5, during the conflicts with Spain, Parliament passed an act declaring that any priest ordained by papal authority since 1559 was automatically a traitor. 126 priests were executed under this act.

Protestants, and particularly Puritans (radical Protestants), were active evangelists for their faith. Elizabeth, however, resisted all attempts to make the settlement more Puritan, and appointed firmly moderate archbishops of Canterbury. John Whitgift (archbishop 1583-1604) insisted that all clergy accept royal supremacy, the Prayer Book and the Thirty-nine Articles or forfeit their posts.