The Book of Common Prayer (1549)
The English service book authorised by the Act of Uniformity of 1549 for use throughout the realm. It puts the daily offices, the communion and the other rites of the church into English in one volume.
The book’s full title is The Book of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, after the Use of the Church of England. Its preface explains the aim: Scripture read through in order, in a language the hearers understand, with few and plain rules, and one use for the whole realm in place of the several local uses of Salisbury, Hereford, Bangor, York and Lincoln.
It is the primary source for the worship that the law required in England from 1549 to 1552. The communion service keeps the title “commonly called the Mass”. The book names no author. The Act of Uniformity says that it was drawn up by the archbishop of Canterbury with other bishops and learned men.
Cited in
- 1549 to 1552, firm date