Elizabeth I
Queen of England from 1558, sister and successor of Mary I. Her first Parliament made her supreme governor of the English church and restored the Prayer Book. Pope Pius V excommunicated her in 1570.
Elizabeth was proclaimed queen in London on 17 November 1558, hours after the death of her sister Mary I of England (Machyn, Diary 17 November 1558). The statutes of her first Parliament ended the pope’s jurisdiction in England, required an oath that she was “the only supreme governor” of the realm in spiritual as in temporal things (Act of Supremacy, 1559, in Gee and Hardy, p. 449), and restored the English Prayer Book (Act of Uniformity, 1559, in Gee and Hardy, pp. 458–459). The Articles of Religion issued under her explain that this government does not include the ministry of the word or of the sacraments (Thirty-Nine Articles article XXXVII).
In 1570 Pope Pius V called her “the pretended queen” of England, declared her a heretic and released her subjects from their allegiance (Pius V, Regnans in excelsis 1–5). The laws that followed treated Catholic priests in England as traitors (Act against Jesuits and Seminarists, 1585, in Gee and Hardy, pp. 485–487). See the Elizabethan Settlement.
In the timeline
- 1559, firm dateThe Elizabethan Settlement
Elizabeth I’s first Parliament ends the pope’s jurisdiction in England, makes the queen supreme governor of the church and restores the Prayer Book. In 1570 the pope excommunicates her, and new laws make Catholic priests and those reconciled to Rome traitors.
- 25 February 1570, firm dateRegnans in Excelsis and the Execution of Catholic Priests under Elizabeth I
In 1570 Pope Pius V declares Elizabeth I deposed. Parliament makes reconciliation with Rome treason, and priests such as the Jesuit Edmund Campion are executed: as traitors, says the government; for their religion, say Catholic writers.
Primary sources
The Diary of Henry Machyn
- Machyn, Diary 17 November 1558british-history.ac.uk
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
- Thirty-Nine Articles article XXXVIIchurchofengland.org
Regnans in excelsis
- Pius V, Regnans in excelsis 1–5papalencyclicals.net