The Protestant confession of Martin Luther in 1517 AD gradually became the dominant religion of England, although in the late 1500s there were still many Roman Catholics in England. It is difficult to place numbers on church membership at this exact period, as they did not keep accurate or reliable statistics in the 16th Century. At this time, major disputes and even some wars arose between the Protestants and Catholics, including between the Protestant monarch, Queen Elizabeth the First, and the Spanish Catholic monarch, King Philip II, resulting in the defeat of the Spanish by Elizabeth and the subsequent domination of the Protestant religion in England until the present day.
Religion in the sixteenth and seventeenth century was of enormous political significance in Europe. Political significance, but not necessarily spiritual significance.
The Roman Catholic Church, which had been the only legal religion in Europe for centuries, basically since Constantine adopted Christianity in 300 A.D. was also a considerable temporal power. The Pope was the ruler of half of Italy, and used his power of excommunication to control other monarchs politically. But sometimes other monarchs got control of the Pope, which enabled them to get the upper hand on their rivals. The Pope was not looked on as a spiritual leader and did not act that way.
Martin Luther, in 1517, opened a can of worms by questioning the authority of the Pope and the church hierarchy to determine the spiritual questions of Christianity. His example was followed by John Calvin and a number of more radical theologians. Strong communities of "Protestants" as followers of these reformers were called, arose in many states in Europe. But if their intent was spiritual, the effect was political.
In Germany, many small princes, especially in the North, adopted Luther's form of Christianity as their official religion. This put them at odds with the Holy Roman Emperor and with other princes who remained true to the Catholic Church. The Thirty Years' War was a consequence.
In France, fanatical Catholics slaughtered thousands of Protestant men, women and children in what is called The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, on August 23, 1572. Wars of religion followed until the heir to the throne, himself a Protestant, agreed that the country should be officially Catholic but that Protestants would be tolerated (The Edict of Nantes).
In Spain, already insecure about its large population of Jews and Muslims, the violent enforcement of religious orthodoxy reached unprecedented heights in the Spanish Inquisition.
In England, meanwhile, King Henry VIII, frustrated in his attempt to divorce his aging Spanish wife by a Pope who was answerable to the king of Spain, declared that he would be the Supreme Head of the Church in England. The official religion thus became the Church of England and everyone had to belong to it, by law. Although temporarily reversed by his eldest daughter, Mary I, daughter of said aging Spanish wife, after Mary's death England was firmly Protestant.
But that didn't stop those people who for political reasons wanted to renew England's submission to the Pope. During the reign of Elizabeth I, numerous people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed for harbouring priests, secretly holding Catholic church services, and trying to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with her Catholic cousin, Mary the Queen of Scotland. After Elizabeth's death the Catholic Guy Fawkes famously tried to blow up the English government on November 5, 1605, and this tension between Catholic and Protestant continued until the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688.
On the other hand, there were people who thought that the Church of England wasn't Protestant enough. Protestant extremists (called Puritans), like the Catholics, were often terrorists and were imprisoned, tortured and put to death. Some, like the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620, sought to escape to another place. The danger from the Puritans was very real, because these fanatics actually overthrew the government in 1642 and set up a republican government more to their liking.
Did these events affect William Shakespeare? They must have. He was bound by law to attend services of the Church of England, like everyone else. His mother's family were known Catholic sympathizers, and his father may have secretly become a Catholic later in life. His eldest daughter, on the other hand, married a man of Puritan leanings, and had to pay fines for skipping church, a common practice among Puritan types.
Christianity was the religion in England in 1666. However, the Anglican Church of England was the ruling religious entity of the time.
The Church of England also known as the Anglican Church.
the religion was called Christianity
Protestant
pornology
Protestant and Catholic
In Elizabethan England, the only real main religion was Christianity. However, that can be divided into Catholics and Protestants.
The large religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam and so on.
It was really more like 3 religions.... Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Non conformists was a term used in England and Wales after the Act of Uniformity 1662 to refer to a Protestant Christian who did not "conform" to The Church of England. Non conformists were radical in the separation from the church.
"Anglican" religions would be a religion from England. the Anglican Church, though, is the national church of England.
circa 1595-about. Died in March 1617, Gravesend, England
Anglican, Catholicism, Islam and many other minor religions.
1595 was in the 16th century.
catholic franc protestant england
christianity
1595 was in the 16th century.
Mainly religions of Europe and England, Christian, but some were also Protestant religions.
Most people in England are Christian
40% off of 1595 = 1595 - (0.4 x 1595) = 957
Since about 1595, William Shakespeare has been and still is England's most famous playwright, and is, in fact the most famous playwright in the world, period.
1595/11 = 145: exactly.1595/11 = 145: exactly.1595/11 = 145: exactly.1595/11 = 145: exactly.