Editing Elizabeth I (section)

==Church settlement==
{{Main|Elizabethan Religious Settlement}}
[[File:Nicholas Hilliard (called) - Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|The ''[[Pelican Portrait]]'' by [[Nicholas Hilliard]]. The [[pelican]] was thought to nourish its young with its own blood and served to depict Elizabeth as the "mother of the Church of England".<ref>{{Citation |title='Queen Elizabeth I: The Pelican Portrait', called Nicholas Hilliard (c. 1573) |date=1998 |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/13c-16c/elizabeth.aspx |work=Walker Art Gallery |access-date=29 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416214748/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/13c-16c/elizabeth.aspx |place=Liverpool, United Kingdom |publisher=National Museums Liverpool |archive-date=16 April 2014}}</ref>]]

Elizabeth's personal religious convictions have been much debated by scholars. She was a Protestant, but kept Catholic symbols (such as the [[crucifix]]), and downplayed the role of sermons in defiance of a key Protestant belief.<ref name="collinson">{{cite ODNB|last=Collinson |first=Patrick |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8636 |doi-access=free |title=Elizabeth I (1533–1603) |date=2008}}</ref>

Elizabeth and her advisers perceived the threat of a Catholic crusade against heretical England. The Queen therefore sought a Protestant solution that would not offend Catholics too greatly while addressing the desires of English Protestants, but she would not tolerate the [[Puritan]]s, who were pushing for far-reaching reforms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Christopher |title=This Sceptred Isle 1547–1660 |title-link=This Sceptred Isle (radio series) |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-5635-5769-2 |chapter=Disc 1 |author-link=Christopher Lee (historian) |orig-date=1995}}</ref> As a result, the Parliament of 1559 started to legislate for a church based on the [[Edward VI of England#Reformation|Protestant settlement of Edward VI]], with the monarch as its head, but with many Catholic elements, such as [[vestments]].<ref>Loades, 46.</ref>

The [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] backed the proposals strongly, but the bill of supremacy met opposition in the [[House of Lords]], particularly from the bishops. Elizabeth was fortunate that many bishoprics were vacant at the time, including the [[Archbishopric of Canterbury]].{{Efn|"It was fortunate that ten out of twenty-six bishoprics were vacant, for of late there had been a high rate of mortality among the episcopate, and a fever had conveniently carried off Mary's Archbishop of Canterbury, [[Reginald Pole]], less than twenty-four hours after her own death".<ref>Somerset, 77.</ref>}}{{Efn|"There were no less than ten sees unrepresented through death or illness and the carelessness of 'the accursed cardinal' [Pole]".<ref>Black, 10.</ref>}} This enabled supporters amongst peers to outvote the bishops and conservative peers. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was forced to accept the title of [[Supreme Governor of the Church of England]] rather than the more contentious title of [[Supreme Head]], which many thought unacceptable for a woman to bear. The new [[Act of Supremacy 1558|Act of Supremacy]] became law on 8 May 1559. All public officials were forced to swear an oath of loyalty to the monarch as the supreme governor or risk disqualification from office; the [[heresy]] laws were repealed, to avoid a repeat of the persecution of dissenters by Mary. At the same time, a new [[Act of Uniformity 1558|Act of Uniformity]] was passed, which made attendance at church and the use of the [[Book of Common Prayer (1559)|1559 ''Book of Common Prayer'']] (an adapted version of the [[1552 prayer book]]) compulsory, though the penalties for [[recusancy]], or failure to attend and conform, were not extreme.<ref>Somerset, 101–103.</ref>