Act of Uniformity 1549 - Penalties

Penalties

A first offence was punished thus:

- shall lose and forfeit to the king's highness, his heirs and successors, for his first offence, the profit of such one of his spiritual benefices or promotions as it shall please the king's highness to assign or appoint, coming and arising in one whole year next after his conviction; and also that the same person so convicted shall for the same offence suffer punishment by the space of six months, without bail or mainprize:

This provided loss of all income, which was forfeited to the Crown. Imprisonment “without bail or mainprize” meant one could not pay one's way out of prison, nor be given freedom until acquittal or the completion of the sentence.

A second offence was dealt with more harshly:

and if any such person once convicted of any offence concerning the premises, shall after his first conviction again offend and be thereof in form aforesaid lawfully convicted, that then the same person shall for his second offence suffer imprisonment by the space of one whole year, and also shall therefore be deprived ipso facto of all his promotions; and that it shall be lawful to all patrons, donors, and grantees of all and singular the same spiritual promotions, to present to the same any other able clerk, in like manner and form as though the party so offending were dead;

A second offence added a year to the previous six months in prison, loss of livelihood, and any promotions and position would be given to another as if the miscreant had died. A third offence was the harshest, punished by life in prison:

and that if any such person or persons, after he shall be twice convicted in form aforesaid, shall offend against any of the premises the third time, and shall be thereof in form aforesaid lawfully convicted, that then the person so offending and convicted the third time shall suffer imprisonment during his life.

Nothing in this Act enforced attendance at public worship, but the provisions of the Act apply to every kind of public worship or “open prayer”, as it was called, which might take place. The Act itself defines “open prayer” as “that prayer which is for others to come unto or near, either in common churches or private chapels or oratories, commonly called the service of the Church.” The Act of Uniformity 1549 was the first Act of its kind and was used to make religious worship across England and its territories consistent (i.e. uniform) at a time when the different branches of Christianity were pulling people in opposite directions, causing riots and crimes, particularly the Prayer Book Rebellion. The Book of Common Prayer defined a middle ground for Christian faith within England; the Act of Uniformity 1549 mandated that all English subjects move to that middle ground, so that they could put aside their differences.