World History

Unit 4: The Emergence of Modern Nations

Chapter 16: Revolution and Change in England

Mon, Jan 13, 2014

34. Tue, Jan 14, 2014

The textbook treats Henry VIII only in passing in this chapter. Henry's influence in creating the Church of England was discussed in Chapter 14, though not given extensive treatment. (What, in this book, ever is?) The important thing to note is that while Henry established a new church, it was initially for all intents Catholic, with Henry at its head instead of the Pope. But the Reformation swept through England just the same as the rest of Europe, and having its own church made it all the easier for Protestants to prevail in that country. The Book of Common Prayer instituted by Henry's blink-and-you'll-miss-him son had many elements of Protestant theology in it. Some said, however, that it didn't have enough. And so the religion of England became dramatically fractured.

Chapter 14 discussed the distinction between Lutherans and Calvinists. That distinction was present in England as well, but the bigger splits were between those who remained Catholic; the "high church" Anglicans who were, in one phrasing, "One step from Rome;" and the "low church" English who became the Puritans… and several other denominations.

The Reformation had reopened the gates to religious factionalism not seen since the early Church, with splinter groups abounding. England in the 17th Century got a whole crop of them. There were the Baptists, the Ranters, the Diggers, and the apocalyptic Fifth Monarchy Men, to sample only a few. Predictably they all hated each other. It got so wild that at least one new group, the Quakers, was established in part because of the confusion, with its founder stating he'd tried them all and found them all wanting. The Diggers were primarily economic in their focus, advocating a "levelling" of wealth and poverty; the Ranters apparently went the farthest and chucked out every rule and hierarchy in the books, though predictably they were not terribly well-organized. These various "dissenter" groups, from the Puritans on down, could have wide-ranging influence often surpassing their numbers. Certainly they had an effect on the governments in Britain and the colonization of North America.

The Puritans (the book often describes them as the Independents) wound up commanding the Parliamentary side in the English Revolution. Their zeal and discipline rubbed off on the New Model Army, which soon became the main arbiter in Parliament. The Presbyterians in Scotland first triggered the civil war by defying Charles I, but wound up backing Charles II and sheltering him from Cromwell. Anglicans, Calvinists, and Puritans could join forces against Catholics, but would then fall to fighting with each other. And so it went.

• England in the 17th Century was thus a Christian cornucopia, with seemingly all branches from Catholics to Ranters available as spiritual possibilities (though there were few if any Orthodox churches in the counry at the time, few Jews, and probably no Muslims, Hindus, or Daoists). What advantages would such a wide range of religions in society have? What disadvantages?
• In light of all this, how did England ever come to any form of religious tolerance? (It was not easily acquired; Catholics essentially were allowed to exist, but not much more, and it took years for the more out-there denominations to gain protection under the law.)
• Everyone knows that the Puritans and "Pilgrims" set out for America for religious freedom. Given the climate in England at the time, how do you think they treated other religious groups that wound up coming to Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay?

Contents of this page © Copyright 2011, 2012 by Paul Christiansen and Bruce A. McMenomy.
Permission to download or print this page is hereby given to members of Scholars Online for purposes of personal study only. All other use constitutes a violation of copyright.