No sooner was the Queen's accession announced to the Pope than he
declared her illegitimate (SS349, 355), and ordered her to lay aside
her crown and submit herself to his guidance. Such a demand was a
signal for battle. However much attached a large part of the nation,
especially the country people, may have been to the Catholic religion
of their fathers (S370), yet the majority of them were loyal to the
Queen and intended to stand by her.
The temper of Parliament manifested itself in the immediate
reenactment of the Act of Supremacy. It way essentially the same,
"though with its edge a little blunted," as that by which Henry VIII
had freed England from the dominion of the Pope (S349). It declared
Elizabeth not "supreme head" but "supreme governor" of the Church.
Later, the act was made more stringent (1563).
To this act, every member of the House of Commons was obliged to
subscribe; thus all Catholics were exclued from that body. The Lords,
however, not being an elective body, were excused from the obligation
at that time (S478).
In order to enforce the Act of Supremacy, Parliament passed a new Act
of Uniformity (S362), which ordered the minister of every congregation
in England, whether Catholic or Protestant, to use the services laid
down in the recently established Book of Common Prayer, and to use no
other. In fact the law forbade the holding of any other service, even
in a room with closed doors. In case he failed to obey this law he
would be severely punished, and for a third offense would be
imprisoned for life. The same act imposed a heavy fine on all persons
who failed to attend the Established Church of England on Sundays and
holidays.
The reason for these stringent measures was that in that age Church
and State were everywhere considered to be inseparable. No country in
Europe--not even Protestant Germany--could then conceive the idea of
their existing independently of each other. Whoever refused to
support the established form of worship, whatever that might be, was
looked upon as a "rebel" against the government.
In order to try such "rebels" Parliament now gave Queen Elizabeth
power to organize the High Commission Court.[1] By that Court many
Catholics were imprisoned and tortured for refusing to comply with the
new Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, and later on about two hundred
priests and Jesuits were put to death on charges of treason. A number
of Puritans, also, were executed for publishing books or pamphlets
which attacked the government, and others were cast into prison or
banished from the realm.
[1] High Commission Court: so called because originally certain church
dignitaries were appointed commissioners to inquire into heresies and
kindred matters. See, too, Summary of Constitutional History in the
Appendix, p. xiv, S15.