Irenical Tendencies in the Elizabethan Church

Abstract

In a much quoted phrase which apparently originated with Sir Francis Bacon Elizabeth I deliberately set her face against making 'windows into men's hearts and secret thoughts' and for this reason amongst others it has become a historical commonplace to portray the queen as a proponent of religious toleration'. Certainly on occasions the supreme governor of the Elizabethan church did exhibit considerable forbearance, especially towards some English catholics who she knew did not share her religious opinions, but it would be highly misleading on this account to regard her reign as one of incipient religious toleration or even one which showed any real sympathy for irenical ideas. In fact the trends of the times pointed in a quite contrary direction. The very concept of the royal supremacy presup posed a uniformity in religion. As soon as the new renunciation of papal obedience made church and state once more conterminous, ruled by one royal governor, any questioning of the doctrines or government of the church automatically undermined the monarch's authority, as the queen, mindful of her prerogative, never failed to grasp, even if the greater part of her subjects did not. The royal supremacy led to intolerance, not tolerance, and in consequence few if any genuinely irenical tendencies can be discerned within the Elizabethan church.