testant pockets of support within the two countries would only be possible if she reformed England; in this way, she could rely on these Protestant supporters abroad to counter potential attacks from Scotland and France. Protestant support was Elizabeth’s strong point in convincing France and Scotland to make peace in the beginning years of her reign. Ultimately, Cecil’s genius political undermining of the Scottish monarchy would lead to peace between England and Scotland in the Treaty of Edinburgh (1960), but the initial Protestant support abroad for a Protestant queen was essential to warding off foreign threats in the first twelve months of Elizabeth’s reign.
Catholics within England and Scotland
With so many Catholic forces working abroad to end her reign, Elizabeth also had English Catholics looking to overthrow her and put the both legitimate and Catholic Queen Mary of Scots on the throne.
Toward the end of 1558, Elizabeth ordered that Catholic preaching was specifically limited to the Gospels and the Ten Commandments. Worship was restricted to the Lord’s Prayer and Creeds in the English tongue. The intent of this injunction was to stave off priest-led uprisings until her parliament could enact religious reform to unify the country.
In addition to Catholic opponents, some Protestants also challenged Elizabeth’s reform laws. While Edward VI’s reformation had been orchestrated by influences from Strasburg and Zurich, two “cities on the hill” in Christendom, Elizabeth’s reformation was much less appealing to Protestants exiled during Mary I’s reign, who returned from exile expecting the Protestant queen to make radical reforms favoring their religion. Some clergy exiled in Zurich were given major dioceses; they made demands of the Queen to not allow major theological freedom to Catholics or show a state endorsement of Lutheranism. This was mainly because the clergy, especially Richard Cox and Edmund Grindal, were in communication with Zurich leaders and hoped to form London into another city on a hill. Geneva leadership had the same idea, but because of their deplorable association with John Knox, the Scottish reformer, and his sexism toward female leaders, Elizabeth rejected their attempts to influence her reforms.
Puritans, after reviewing Elizabethan reforms, were dissatisfied and wanted to take the reformation a step further to purge the Anglican Church of all traces of Roman Catholicism. Specifically, they took issue with those allowances made to clergy to wear vestments and ornaments evocative of Catholicism. But, as with her other religious challenges, Elizabeth saw the Puritans as a threat to her political power, albeit a minor one; they would not accept the acts which she and her counselors established to secure her throne. In 1574 through 1576, she prevented the Puritans from gathering and prophesying, again utilizing her monarchy to control England’s religion and strengthen her throne.
Although the tactics mentioned above gave Elizabeth some advantage over her enemies, it was the 1959 religious settlement that was the most effective in solidifying her reign. As mentioned before, Elizabeth was not concerned with transforming England into an idealized, uniform Protestant society like Geneva or Zurich; rather, she and her council were more interested in “ensuring the conformity of ‘all manner of canons, constitutions, and ordinances… with the Royal Supremacy.” In fact, requiring an oath of loyalty to the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and standardizing church practices (not making spiritual demands like Edward IV and Mary I) were key steps Elizabeth took to securing loyalty to her monarchy. Catholics and Anglican bishops alike opposed the proposal that the Queen, being a woman, should take the place of Biblical Peter and succeeding popes to become “Supreme Head on earth of the Church of Christ in England”. To avert this possibility of “domestic trouble” as well as to appease the bishops, who had all voted against every reform since Elizabeth’s coronation, the title was changed to “Supreme Governor”