Textuality » 4LSCA InteractingPowerPoint Emilia Romagna - RoncarĂ 08/02/21
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In 1534, Henry VIII summoned Parliament and made it pass the “Act of Supremacy” by which the King was confirmed Supreme Head of the Church of England and Protestantism was recognized as the State Religion. After Henry’s death the religious struggles went on with an alternation of protestant and Catholic kings which witnessed first the persecution of Catholics and then of Protestants. When Mary Tudor died, Elizabeth I came to the throne (1558). She re-established the Anglican Church and a second Act of Supremacy (1559) restated the independence of the church of England and the Act of Uniformity made the use of the Book of Common Prayer compulsory. During the throne of James I, the Calvinists, called Puritans, wanted to purify the Anglican church. When James I insisted on the strict conformity to the liturgy of the Anglican Church, the Catholics tried to blow up the king and the Parliament. The plot was discovered, many Catholics were put to death, severe laws and restrictive measures were passed against all dissenters. Puritans, too, were persecuted. In 1625, Charles I came to the throne and in 1642 the first civil war broke out. On one side there were the Cavaliers and on the other side there were the Parliamentarians. The war ended in the victory of the Puritans. Charles I was charged with high treason and beheaded. England became a Parliamentary Republic, the Commonwealth, and people soon got tired of all the restrictions. In 1660 a newly summoned Parliament recalled Charles II from his exile. He restored the Church of England and granted freedom of religion to Puritans and Catholics. In 1672 he issued a Declaration of Indulgence which suspended all penal laws against Protestants and Catholic non-conformists. |