Religion

What did religion mean in Elizabethan

England?

Beliefs Of The
Elizabethan Era
Science
What were the scientific beliefs of
Elizabethan England?
Medical
What were the medical beliefs in Elizabethan
England?
Why did people become ill?

Witchcraft
What were the beliefs about witches in
Elizabethan England?

Crime & Punishment

What crimes were committed and what was
their punishment in Elizabethan England?

Everyday Life:
Marriage
What were the beliefs regarding marriage,
equality and family in Elizabethan England?

Astronomy & Astrology

What did the people in Elizabethan England
believe about the stars?
o The reigning monarch dictated the favoured religion. Schools were
then required to teach it and if anyone failed to follow this belief
system, they were punished, in ways including torture,
imprisonment and execution.

o In the early 1500s all people in England practiced the Roman

Catholic religion. The practices of this belief system were
questioned during the Reformation and men such as Martin Luther
(1485-146) gathered together to create a new religion,
Protestantism, which adhered to their new found beliefs. The term
“Protestant” began being used when supporters of this new
religion had to protest against the efforts against this new religion
being spread.

o Though her sister, Queen Mary, had been a devout Roman

Catholic, Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant, thus making it the
favoured religion in England. Elizabeth however, thought that all
 people should be able to practice the Catholic religion without fear
of recrimination, as long as no threat was presented. She stayed
true to her word, but still many Catholic plots to replace Elizabeth
with her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, were uncovered, which
eventually led to Mary’s execution.

Differences Between Catholicism and Protestantism

Catholics
o Believed that church services
and the Bible should continue
to be in Latin, as they had
been for the last 1000 years.
o Believed that priests were the
link between God and the
People ant that the Pope was
ordained by God. These
Protestants
o Believed that church services
and the Bible should be in the
language of the people so
that everyone could
understand.
o Believed that people could
find God without a priest or
Pope and ministers, who were
ordinary people with ordinary
 priests were viewed as special lives and robes, were just as
and having devoted their lives able to guide them.
to God, were expected to
wear elaborate clothes and
remain unmarried.
o Believed that priests and the o Believed, firmly, that only God
Pope were able to forgive sins could forgive sins.
through gifts and indulgences
given to the church.

o The legal age for girls to marry was 12, and for boys 14.

o Many marriages were arranged between families, with the Bride

and Groom often having never met before the wedding.
o Women were expected to bring a dowry (money, goods or
property) to the marriage.
o After marriage, women were expected to run households and
produce children. Since many women died in childbirth, they were
also expected to make arrangements for care of their children, just
in case. The law gave husbands full rights over their wives, making
them their husband’s property.

o Arrangements for weddings were with the local church. There was
always a religious ceremony conducted by a minister, which was a
very solemn affair. There was however a legal process required
before the actual wedding. First there was the “crying of the
bands”, which announced the couple’s intention to marry. This had
to happen three times, on three consecutive Holy Days (Sundays).
Any marriages that were not published before hand were
considered illegal.
o Since people lived in small communities, no one bothered with
invitations to weddings, instead whoever was available just showed
up, only rarely with a gift for the newly married couple.

o Before the ceremony the bride and groom would be attended by

close friends and family. The colours of their wedding clothes
varied. A festive bridal procession would move from the family’s
house to the church, accompanied by musicians.

o After the wedding ceremony, the procession would return to their

homes or sometimes to the home of one of the couple’s family
members to enjoy a feast where they wished the couple a long and
happy life.

o A faster way to have a legalized marriage was to get a Marriage

Bond which acted as a contract and proof to the Bishop that the
issue of a marriage licence was legal. The Marriage Bond would
only require one reading of the banns and was accompanied by a
sworn statement that there was no pre-existing marriage contract.

Crime
Manslaughter, rape, robbery,
piracy and capital crimes
Nobility found guilty of treason
A woman found guilty of
poisoning her husband
A cook who poisoned his
customers
Punishment
Usually a public hanging,
although if it was a crime
against the stat the criminal
would be taken from prison on a
sled or hurdle, hanged until
nearly dead, then quartered
alive (whipped until dead)
Beheaded
Burned alive
Boiled to death in a cauldron of
lead or water
Servant who killed his master
Public drunkenness
Women found of having bad or
unsavoury reputations
Gossiping or slanderous women
Executed for petty treason
Drunkards cloak: the man had to
wear a barrel and wander
around town while his peers
jeered at him, or the stocks: two
slabs of wood where feet were
trapped and the offender had to
stay there
A correcting scold or dunking
was administered by sitting the
woman in a chair attached to a
pole hung over a body of water
and be dunked in repeatedly
They would have to wear the
Brank: a bridle like, metal mask
that had a sharpened or spiked
mouthpiece that caused painful
wounds to the tongue if she tried
 to speak
Bakers found guilty of default All got the Pillory: a T-shaped
weight, butchers guilty of selling stand that had holes to hold
bad meat and forgerers criminals’ hands and feet, and
that was placed in the middle of
town square for passersby to
ridicule.

o Perhaps one of the most disturbing facts about these punishments

is that they were often inflicted in public areas, with large crowds
gathering to watch.
o Many prominent people of the Elizabethan Era used references to
the stars as symbols of fate and divine beings in things such as
artwork and writing.
o Many people believed that astrology, alchemy and magic were all
interconnected. In this time period astronomy wasn’t considered a
separate entity than astrology.
o Famous astrologers and alchemy of the Elizabethan Era include
Johannes Kepler, Tyro Brahe and Cornelius Agrippa, a natural
magician who wrote a book about the three realms; elementary,
celestial, and intellectual.
o Phrases such as “star-crossed” and “blessed by the stars” became
parts of everyday language used to describe good or bad luck,
events that took place and stars were looked to to determine
outcomes.
o Science and astrology were closely related at this time as more
people became curious about the universe and the “Heavens”.
Many famous scientists lived and studied during the Elizabethan
Era.
o Both Copernicus and Galileo lived during this era, although neither
were alive at the same time. Galileo however, did support
Copernicus’ idea of a sun-centred universe with each planet having
their own circular orbits around the sun, rather than the accepted
theory of an Earth-centred universe. Galileo spent his life viewing
the stars, and the more he watched and learned, the more he
 began to believe Copernicus’ theory. Later Kepler, a
mathematician, worked out that planets travel in elliptical, not
circular, orbits. This discovery later led to the discovery of the
principle of gravity.
o For a long time, people of the Elizabethan Era didn't equate
medical practices with science, rather they believed health was
related to the stars or supernatural arts. Treatments and the
gathering of herbs were decided by the positions of celestial bodies
(stars and planets).
o Astrological positions of planets were also used to diagnose and
explain medical problems of many sorts. For example, Saturn was
used to symbolize longevity, Mars was believed to cause tertian
fever and the conjunction of Mars and Saturn is what was believed
to have caused the plague.
o Two scientists in the the 1500s, Vesalius and Harvey studied the
bodies of once-living creatures. Harvey founded the notion of
blood circulation through animal dissection and Vesalius gave the
world its first detailed description of the human body based on
 actual dissection. Now he is recognized as the founder of human
anatomy.
o Many diseases were believed to be caused by devils, spirits,
demons, and gods. These diseases could only be cured by charms,
white witches, or prayer.