Religion During Personal Rule
Lauds five aims
To impose uniformity of practise on the church
To make churches more fit for worship
To eradicate Puritanism
To increase church in the government
To restore the wealth of the clergy
All services followed the prayer book
Thirty nine articles and cannons all fully observed
Priests must wear a surplice and bow in the name of Jesus
Alters placed at the east end of the church and railed in
Clergy who refused to obey his rules were to be punished and could lose their jobs
Bishops should live in their dioceses and priests in their parishes
Fewer priests should be appointed by the gentry
Churches should display beauty of holiness with candles and altar clothes and stained glass
More music in services
Churches like St Pau's cathedral should be repaired with contributions levied from Londoners
Wanted more people to have pride in their churches
Puritan books and pamphlets censored
Preaching of Predestination was banned
1633- Court of Exchequer dissolved Feoffees for Impropriations to stop the Puritan's being appointed as ministers in parishes
Puritan preachers could no longer be financed by town councils or individuals
Courts of high commision and star chamber used to punish Puritan individuals such as Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, Burton and Lilburne
Encouraged Charles I to make the Bishop of London Lord Treasurer when Weston died
Used court of high commission to discipline people for moral misdemeanours such, such as adultery
Recover Church endowments taken over by the laity
Encourage appointment of graduates once higher salaries could be paid
Criticism and reaction to Laudianism
Henry Burton
Published his sermons For God and King
Was tried and punished with Prynne and Bastwick
Taken to preaching against Laudianism after being dismissed from his position at court
John Lilburne
Distributed works of other Puritans
Brought before Star Chamber in 1638 and charged with printing unlicensed- punished extensively
Was not silenced and continued to write
Alexander Leighton
Published book which attacked Bishops- Sions Plea against Prelacy and refered to Henrietta Maria as a daughter of hell
1630- was fined and punished extensively
William Prynne
1633- wrote Histriomastix- expressed dissaproval of females appearing on stage
Referred to women actors as 'notorious whores'- seen as attack on the Queen
Fined and punished- had ears cut off- sentenced to life imprisonment
Continued to 1637- had ears cut off for attacking bishops in pamphlet News from Ipswich
John Bastwick
1637- sent to the tower for his Litany which included the petition 'from bishops, priests and deacons, Good Lord deliver us'
Lost his ears and was fined and imprisoned
Reaction from gentry
Gentry disliked being told what to do by social inferiors, and were unhappy at being hauled before church courts which now dealt with cases involving 'adultery, whoredom, incest, drunkenness, swearing, ribaldry and usury
Installation of church altars at the east end of churches sometimes involved the removal of family pews where the gentry had to worship for generations
Use of punishments like the pillory or mutilation, was generally reserved for lower classes not gentlemen
General Reaction
Some left to seek new world free from persecution and the numbers of emigrants leaving for New England increased- 2000 left for Massachusetts bay- 1630's total reached 16,000
Lauds church seen as too close to Roman Catholicism- railing in the altar and the creation of a sacred space where only the clergy could go looked much like the mass
Obvious change in local church that no one could miss- linked with belief that there was a catholic clique at court led by Henrietta Maria working for the re-conversion of England
Charles and the Roman Catholics
Charles married to devout Catholic and the Pope had offered to make Laud a cardinal
Charles ordered recusancy fines to be enforced- subjected to more financial burdens
Catholic worship openly allowed at court and their influence was increasing there
Jesuits to be detained and those who protected them to be punished
Popish plot never happened