In summary, the basis of the Elizabethan injunctions is drawn from several injunctions which were published in the year 1547 under the leadership of Edward VI. The religious settlement of Elizabeth that was arrived at under Elizabeth 1 acted as a response to the divisions that were manifested among religions in England. The response, referred to as The 1559 Revolution was divided into the 1559 Act of Uniformity and 1558 Act of supremacy (Deazley 14). One of the vital issues to be addressed was the form of state religion to be adopted by the people of England. In 1559, the parliament was required to come up with an effective Reformation Bill that would give proper guidance on the recreation of the Church of England which was to be independent. All the archdeacons, vicars, parsons and deans were required to fully observe and adhere to the statutes and laws that were created in restoration of the crown in order to achieve uniformity in implementation of the same statutes among people.
The Elizabethan Injunctions are of great significance due to the fact that they clearly guided the ceremonial law of England for almost two centuries. The Anglican aesthetic Ornaments like patens, rails, garlands and candlesticks were as well of great importance as the church liturgy. The injunctions give more details on how the ornaments adhere to the Prayer Book and the Articles. Ornaments contributed much in reforms exhibiting Holy Orders, regulating the communion presence and pruning devotions. The aim of these injunctions was to come up with a strategy of reforming and governing the Elizabethan Church in England (Deazley). They describe how the censorship and licensing was to be implemented by the Elizabeth’s Ecclesiastical Commission which is commonly referred to as the High Commission and the Privy Council. They go further to explain how Elizabeth kept relying on the application of royal proclamations and law measures in responding to the heretical texts. It also describes the limits within which the Elizabethan press was bound to operate in application of the statutes. The establishment of the licensing regime had an aim of forming and implementing governance and parameters of the Elizabethan Church in an attempt to establish a state church.
There is a great connection between the Elizabethan Injunctions and The Consolidation of Elizabeth’s Rule in a sense that thy both address the clergy issues and the state of the church in England around 1959. It is noted that both the articles circulate around parliamentary legislation as a form of addressing heretical or seditious works and they both describe the policies that the state emphasized on in streamlining the processes of licensing and censorship. The historical significance of the document is that it gives a descriptive account of the evolution of the church in England by giving details of every aspect like liturgy and clergymen. In the article, ‘Press Censorship in Elizabethan England’, the statutes provide a rationale for offering a suitable remedy to heretical and seditious books which are printed and published by the heretical and malicious persons (Clegg 10). When Elizabeth rose to power she took back the country as a whole to Protestantism creating the Church of England that was rooted in stability and security.
The connection between these two documents clearly reveals that Elizabeth strongly fought to restore a rational state of the church in the sixteenth century. The injunctions sought to ensure that no person or party whatsoever in England prints or publishes a book or any other material without the consent of the queen, chancellors of universities, the Privy Council and the ecclesiastical authorities mentioned in the injunctions. The injunctions were meant to provide press control and ensure order when it comes to publication of church materials to eliminate all strategies that were meant to disorient the church. Elizabeth called for obedience among stationers and the authorities played the role of the police rather than that of the judge. In the article, ‘Press Censorship in Elizabethan England’, it is noted that Elizabeth sought religious settlement for the English after a long period of instability in religion especially among the Catholics and Puritans (Clegg 12). Her aim of establishing the injunctions, therefore, was solely to create reformations in the church in England.
Works cited
Deazley, Ronan. "Commentary on the Elizabethan Injunctions 1559." 2008.
Clegg, Cyndia Susan. Press Censorship in Elizabethan England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1997.
