The 1559 Book of Common Prayer,[note 1] also called the Elizabethan prayer book, is the third edition of the Book of Common Prayer and the text that served as an official liturgical book of the Church of England throughout the Elizabethan era.
Elizabeth I became Queen of England in 1558 following the death of her Catholic half-sister Mary I. After a brief period of uncertainty regarding how much the new queen would embrace the English Reformation, the 1559 prayer book was approved as part of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. The 1559 prayer book was largely derived from the 1552 Book of Common Prayer approved under Edward VI. Retaining much of Thomas Cranmer's work from the prior edition, it was used in Anglican liturgy until a minor revision in 1604 under Elizabeth's successor, James I. The 1559 pattern was again retained by the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which remains in use by the Church of England.
The 1559 prayer book and its use throughout Elizabeth's 45-year reign secured the Book of Common Prayer's prominence in the Church of England and is considered by many historians as embodying the Elizabethan church's drive for a via media between Protestant and Catholic impulses and cementing the church's particular strain of Protestantism. Others have assessed it as an achievement in Elizabeth's commitment to an evangelical and stridently Protestant faith.
The text became integrated with late 16th-century English society and the diction used within the 1559 prayer book has been credited with helping mould the English language's modern form. Historian Eamon Duffy considered the Elizabethan prayer book an embedded and stable "re-formed" development out of medieval piety that "entered and possessed" the minds of the English people. A. L. Rowse asserted that "it is impossible to over-estimate the influence of the Church's routine of prayer".
When Edward VI succeeded his father Henry VIII as King of England in 1547 on the latter's death, the young king's regency council encouraged the English Reformation and its associated Protestant liturgical reforms in England. These reforms would be undertaken by Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, who had already performed revisions under Henry such as to the litany in 1544. Cranmer was familiar with contemporary Lutheran developments as well as the Catholic efforts to reform the Roman Breviary under Cardinal Quiñones. Cranmer's royally authorized 1548 Order of the Communion introduced an English-language devotion into the Latin Mass along the lines of work done by Martin Bucer and Philip Melanchthon in Cologne. On Pentecost Sunday 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was issued under an Act of Uniformity and replaced the Latin rites for service in the Church of England.[3]
The first prayer book reflected a variety of influences. Cranmer may have introduced an Epiclesis into the 1549 Communion canon based on familiarity with the Divine Liturgies of Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil. Other services were derived from the Use of Sarum (the liturgical use of Salisbury Cathedral) and still others were translations of the old rites from Latin into English. A rubric prohibited the Catholic practice of elevating the Communion elements, and other Protestant interpolations and simplifications appear throughout the text.[4] Though some Catholics such as the imprisoned bishop Stephen Gardiner assessed the 1549 Communion rite as "not distant from the Catholic faith",[5] peasants in the West Country launched the unsuccessful Prayer Book Rebellion partially as a bid to restore the old rites.[6]
Despite resistance, the English Reformation and its liturgical developments continued. The primer issued under Henry was further reformed with the Hail Mary deleted while Latin liturgical books were defaced. The first Edwardine Ordinal[note 2] appeared in 1550; its vesting rubrics proved insufficiently reformed for John Hooper, who convinced the young king to authorize more reformed vestment regulations in the subsequent ordinal and prayer book.[10] Cranmer's work in the 1552 Book of Common Prayer–authorized for introduction on All Saints' Day that year by another Act of Uniformity–further directed English worship towards Protestantism. The Black Rubric, which was added to 1552 text after parliament had approved it, was a notable result of Protestant pressure from Hooper, John Knox, Nicholas Ridley, and Peter Martyr Vermigli. It explained that kneeling in the Communion office did not imply Eucharistic adoration nor "any real and essential presence there being of Christ's natural flesh and blood".[11]
The momentum towards Protestantism was halted after Edward's death on 6 July 1553, which led to the accession of his Catholic half-sister, Mary I.[12][note 3] Prior to her accession, Mary had her chaplains celebrate Mass according to the pre-prayer book rites.[14] According to Charles Wriothesley's Chronicle, some London parishes restored the Latin Mass of their own accord upon Mary's accession.[15] Liturgical books that were supposed to have been defaced or destroyed under Edward reemerged, sometimes without damage.[16] However, the new queen soon proved unpopular. Her efforts to restore English religion to the state it had existed in before Henry's reforms–alongside her marriage to the Spanish Philip II–brought opposition, not least due to the financial costs involved.[17] Many prominent Protestant fled to avoid becoming imprisoned or executed during the Marian persecutions. These exiles in Continental Europe became influenced by the worship patterns of Protestants in Frankfurt and John Calvin's Geneva.[18] Before her death in 1558, Mary's efforts had claimed Cranmer's life.[19]
_-_Portrait_of_Queen_Elizabeth_I_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/1280px-Nicholas_Hilliard_(called)_-_Portrait_of_Queen_Elizabeth_I_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Elizabeth succeeded Mary as queen on 17 November 1558. During her sister's reign, Elizabeth had outwardly embodied worship in conformity to the Catholic practices Mary had promoted. However, there were widespread rumours that Elizabeth's faith more approximated that of her half-brother Edward VI. Elizabeth did not firmly pronounce her preferences before her first parliament sat.[20] However, the early years of her reign would be marked by both the Elizabethan Religious Settlement and a restoration of the Edwardine patterns of "matters and ceremonies of religion".[21]
By December 1558, rumours circulated that the English Litany had been restored in Elizabeth's Chapel Royal. On Christmas, the celebrating bishop refused Elizabeth's request that he refrain from elevating the sacramental host, leading her to leave the chapel after singing the gospel.[22] She appointed Richard Jugge as the Queen's Printer and had him print a pamphlet containing a version of the Cranmerian Litany for use in the Chapel Royal at the beginning of 1559;[23][note 4] Jugge was joined by John Cawood, who had held the position under Mary and was eventually reinstated by Elizabeth.[26] At her coronation on 15 January 1559 and the 25 January opening of parliament–both at Westminster Abbey–Elizabeth eschewed some ceremonial aspects of the events and processed in with the Chapel Royal singers rather than the typical monks.[27]
On 9 February 1559, a Bill of Supremacy was introduced in the House of Commons to restore the Church of England's independence that had been lost under Mary. It was met with opposition from both Mary's bishops and some in the reformed party. J. E. Neale believed this bill's permission for Communion under both kinds indicates that Elizabeth and her advisors were unwilling to pursue a new Act of Uniformity during the queen's first parliament, as this allowance would have been made superfluous by the latter legislation. Parliament committed the supremacy bill to two returned Marian exiles, Anthony Cooke and Francis Knollys, on 15 February after lengthy debate.[28]
Subsequently, two bills were introduced on 15 and 16 February to establish an English liturgy, though without support from the government. Neale believed these proposals referred to either the 1552 prayer book or a revised Frankfurt liturgy. These bills quickly disappeared but likely contributed to Cooke and Knollys including provisions for an English liturgy in the Bill of Supremacy as reintroduced by their committee on 21 February.[29] On 3 March, the conservative Convocation of Canterbury delivered their decisions in opposition to the supremacy bill to Lord Keeper Nicholas Bacon to no apparent effect.[30] The liturgical provisions were removed from the bill as a concession to conservatives in the House of Lords, passing there on 22 March.[31] With this, Elizabeth became Supreme Governor of the Church of England.[32]
This frustrated the reformed party in Commons which wished to expel the papacy from English affairs but also considered the lack of liturgical revision unacceptable. Elizabeth may have been content with this outcome, willing to incrementally introduce the minor reforms initially implemented in her chapel. However, the increasing threat posed by both emboldened Marian conservatives and disaffected reformers in Commons meant that the post-Easter parliamentary proceedings would emphasize liturgical revision.[33] On 22 March, the Wednesday of Holy Week, Elizabeth intended to issue a proclamation permitting all Englishmen to receive Communion in both kinds in defiance of the Catholic practice. Though this proclamation went unissued, it was printed and made implicit reference to restoring the 1548 Order of the Communion or a similar liturgical supplement. By Easter, Elizabeth was privately receiving Communion in both kinds, though–contrary to some historical speculation–did not introduce the 1552 prayer book on that date as it would have undermined her legal legitimacy.[34]
On Easter Monday, John Jewel wrote to fellow returned Marian exile Peter Martyr of a planned disputation between the Marian conservatives and the reformers. Simultaneously, Elizabeth began floating the idea of "the Mass being said in English". The privy council selected three subjects for the debate: the necessity of vernacular liturgy, whether a national church had a right to prescribe its own liturgy, and whether the Mass was a propitiatory sacrifice. This disputation, perhaps arranged during the lull between the Bill of Supremacy's initial debate and passage in the House of Lords, was intended to secure the Protestant side's success.[35] The Westminster Disputation's first session on 31 March likely indicated that the Marian bishops would not concede the departure from papal authority and, before the 3 April second session could begin, the entire papalist party was arrested.[36] Conservative will was broken. An Uniformity bill was read in Commons on 18 April and was passed ten days later with limited opposition in the House of Lords. The Commons passed a supremacy bill declaring Elizabeth "supreme governor"–a title they had initially rejected in favour of "supreme head"–on 29 April.[37]
The book attached to the Act of Uniformity 1558[note 5] was the 1552 prayer book, though with what Bryan D. Spinks called "significant, if not totally explicable, alterations."[38] Among the changes was the removal of the explanatory Black Rubric from the Communion service.[39] Also removed were the prayers against the pope in the Litany. The new Ornaments Rubric, while not the subject of debate at the time of adoption, was vague regarding what vestments it permitted.[40] Printing rights for the newly adopted prayer book were solely extended to the Queen's Printers, a monopoly that reflected the text's value to the state.[41] The prayer book was used in the queen's chapel on 12 May and legally introduced on the Feast of St. John the Baptist, 24 June.[42][note 6]
