Act of Uniformity 1552 - Mary I's Reforms and Elizabeth I's Restorations

Mary I's Reforms and Elizabeth I's Restorations

After Edward VI's death, his sister Mary I proceeded to bring the English clergy back under the auspices of the Catholic Church. She repealed all her brother's religious laws and imprisoned the country's leading Protestant clerics. In addition, she had her mother's marriage to Henry VIII declared valid. Later on, her husband Philip II of Spain persuaded Parliament to repeal all of Henry VIII's religious laws, thereby returning England to the control of the Church in Rome.(Williams:91)

When Mary I died in 1558 and her sister Elizabeth came to the throne, Catholic clergy sought to block her wish to make reforms that would turn the Church in England back in the direction of Protestantism. Elizabeth was fortunate in that many of the bishoprics of the country were vacant, which meant that the remaining bishops could not outvote the lay members of the House of Lords who supported reform. A new Act of Uniformity was passed in 1559; Mary I's heresy laws were also repealed, in order to make punishments for violating the Act less severe.(Williams:451ff) The Church of England then started to use the 1552 Book of Common Prayer with a few more traditional modifications (notably the omission of the "Black Rubric)".

For more details of the further history of this Act see Act of Uniformity 1549.