A Chosen People? The English Church and the Reformation
Was the Protestant Church of Elizabeth the catalyst for a new patriotism, based on a special sense of English destiny and divine guidance?
In 1555, with catholic Mary on the throne, the leading cadres of the English Reformation found themselves eclipsed and in German exile. Hearing that some of their countrymen had succeeded in establishing a church of their own at Frankfortam-Main, and as men accustomed to command, these bishops and future bishops moved in on the Frankfort experiment and attempted to take charge of it as legatees of the official, Edwardian Church, symbolised by Archbishop Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer, which they called 'the Book of England'. When they proceeded to 'do as they had done in England' and to use the Prayer Book responses in public worship they were rebuked by the elders of the congregation, to whom Dr Richard Cox, later to be bishop of Ely, declared that 'their Church should have an English face'; to which an ex-galley slave called John Knox retorted: 'The Lord grant it to have the face of Christ's Church!'
To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.
Start my trial subscription now
If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.
Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.