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A level Stuarts History Essay Plan - Early Stuart Monarchy and religion
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Essay Plan for question 'How successfully did the early Stuart Monarchs handle the issue of religion ?'
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In the years 1603-1629 how successfully did early Stuart Monarchy handle the issue ofreligion?
Religion shaped the politics of foreign policy, finance and crown-parliament relations,
therefore managing religious tension was the early Stuart monarchs most important
concern. James was successful at doing exactly that, his pragmatic solution of
constructing a ‘Jacobethan Balance’ kept disputes under control, even when he was
faced with a radical Catholic plot to end his reign. His son, however, wasn't as careful
and made some bold decisions, after succeeding to the throne in 1625, which
heightened tensions, yet religion under Charles became more of a problem after 1629.
As a whole the early Stuart Monarchs successfully handled the issue of religion in the
years 1603-1629; through minimising catholic/puritan threat, effectively managing the
church and maintaining a peaceful foreign policy.
The early Stuart monarchs handled the issue of religion successfully due to their efforts
of minimising catholic/puritan threat in England. The years of religious confusion that
followed the Tudor period left James I in a difficult position. In 1603 England was a
largely protestant country, and the catholic threat was minimal due to Britain's victory in
the Spanish war. However the popularity of Puritanism grew -a group with more
‘extreme’ protestant views- which began to pose as a problem to James. James openly
disliked extremism and strove to create a peaceful country, in which neither sides of the
Christian religion were aggressively persecuted. In the Hampton Court conference
1604, James established his position over the church and granted the puritans a few of
their wishes, such as a translation of the bible (King James Bible 1611). He then
reinforced this power by licensing the Bancroft Canons in 1604 which stated that all
puritan clergy had to subscribe to the 39 articles and the contents of the prayer book.
Some puritans reacted badly to this oath, some resigned rather than signing it, and
around 90 clergy who refused, were deprived of their livings. Although this may have
agitated some puritans, James’ willingness to compromise and peacefully mediate
between the bishops and the puritans largely minimised the puritan threat. However
James’ peaceful approach wasn't always successful, in response to James’
enforcement of recusancy fines, a group of Catholics planned the violent plot to blow up
James and parliament in 1605- the Gunpowder Plot failed. However it's useful to know
that James was adamant to enforce recusancy fines and he only did so due to pressure
from parliament. In conclusion the issue of religion was successfully handled due to
James’ peaceful approach to minimising threat.
Through effectively managing the Church, James I handled the issue of religion
successfully, however Charles I provoked opposition. James I appointed ministers with
a range of views and acceptance of conformity to the Church- Archbishop Richard
Bancroft became increasingly more radical and was therefore replaced by Calvanist
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