Protestantism and national identity in the British Isles 1558-1649

1. Protestantism and national identity in the British Isles 1558-1649 Gabriel Glickman

2. Linkage between Protestantism and nationhood • Protestantism in Europe legitimised by principle of ‘cuiusregio, eiusreligo’(of whom the region, of whom the religion). • Edwin Sandys, Bishop of London (1571 sermon): ‘One God, one king, one faith, one profession, is fit for one monarchy and commonwealth. Division weakeneth; concord strengtheneth… as a wall of defence unto this realm’. • European Protestant communities voice patriotic ideas in defence of their nations against Catholic Empires e.g. Dutch, Bohemians, Hungarians.

3. Bonfire Night, Lewes

4. Protestantism and national history • Protestant authors claim that their faith is true to the ancient Christian traditions of the British Isles. • John Bale, Bishop Richard Davies – claim that British Christianity originally implanted by Christ’s Disciple Joseph of Arimathea, therefore preceded creation of the Roman Catholic Church. • Writings of George Buchanan (Scotland), James Ussher (Ireland) – belief in common pre-Catholic Church vindicates idea of British religious unity.

5. Protestant internationalism • European consciousness to the Protestant religion – British communicants engaged with the struggles of their brethren abroad. • Pressure on Elizabeth from her Privy Councillors to intervene in support of Dutch rebels again the Spanish. • 1618-1623 – political crisis in England over James I’s reluctance to intervene in support of Protestants, and his plans for the ‘Spanish match’. • Scottish Protestant internationalism shaped by Thirty Years’ War 1618-1648 - 60,000 Scottish soldiers, including 3,500 officers fight in the Swedish Protestant armies.

6. Scottish mercenaries in Thirty Years’ War 1618-1648

7. England and the Protestant Reformation • Uncertainty over how far the break with Rome makes England fully Protestant under Henry VIII • Emergence of more fully Protestant reforms under Edward VI followed by Catholic reconstruction under Mary (1553-1558) • Elizabeth faced with tension between conservative and militant Calvinist sections of the Church. • Elizabethan religious settlement aims at compromise between Calvinist theology and retention of traditional church structure and many traditional liturgical practises.

8. Scotland and the Protestant Reformation Scottish Protestantism takes more radical form than its English counterpart. • Doctrine of opposition against the Catholic Regency under Mary of Guise e.g. among Castelian rebels(1547-8), Lords of the Congregation 1557-1560. • More directly linked to a Calvinist influence from Geneva and French Huguenot circles. • Influence of ‘Monarchomach’ political theory – idea that the godly people have the right to resist an ungodly monarch:radical theologies of John Knox, George Buchanan, Andrew Melville.

9. Ireland and the Protestant Reformation • Irish Protestantism largely confined to the secular communities after failure of evangelising efforts among native population. • Split between: • Official structures of the Church of Ireland –strongest around Dublin and the Pale, the religion of the ‘New English’. • Scottish Presbyterian planters who had entered Ulster under policies of James I.

10. The creation of British Protestantism • Protestant affinities engender the first ideas of Anglo-Scottish union in reign of Elizabeth. • James I and Charles I aim to construct single national church following the liturgical model of the Church of England. • Archbishop Laud plans similarly to extend this structure over the American colonies. • But Laudian a controversial and exclusive form of the Protestant faith: attacked for alleged ‘popery’ and elevation of bishops as political authorities.

11. Presbyterian opposition and the countdown to Civil War 1637-1642 • Scottish national covenant infused with nationalistic language. • Combines religious grievances with assertion of Scottish political and commercial rights. • Scottish armies led by returning veterans from the Swedish armies under Alexander Leslie: represent Bishops’ Wars as part of struggle to preserve international Protestantism. • Conversely, opposition towards Presbyterian Scots helps to give rise to a royalist party in the Long Parlt.

12. Presbyterian case for British unity • Scottish Covenanting manifestos become less separatist and more ‘British’ as they seek allies in the Long Parlt 1640-42. • Scottish propaganda pamphlets sent into England; Scottish commissioners posted in London to establish alliances with Puritans. • Root and Branch bill lodged by radicals in Long Parlt (1641) taken from a Scottish negotiation demand. • Outbreak of full British Civil War can be seen as a conflict between two alternative visions of British Protestant unity – Laudian and Presbyterian.

13. Protestant dividing lines in the Civil War • England – royalists are Church of England conservatives; Parliamentarians are Puritan. • Scotland – moderate Presbyterian factions under marquis of Montrose and duke of Hamilton separate from Covenanters in support of Charles I (1644). • Ireland: three rival Protestant armies – royalists (under earl of Ormond); Puritan faction in Dublin Parliament (backed by arrival of Cromwell, 1649); Scottish Covenanting forces in Ulster. • 1650 – Covenanters reunite in Scotland and crown Charles II as Presbyterian king of ‘Great Britain’. • Radical Independent Puritans on Council of State of the English Republic deeply hostile to Scottish Presbyterians.