Impact of Religious Change

History: Edexcel A Level England, 1509-1603, topic 4.3.2

Impact of Religious Change on Culture

The Reformation had a tangible impact on English culture. Aural and visual culture were used to carve a Protestant identity.

Congregational worship transformed following the Reformation.
A parish in a Catholic Church engaged in confession and moved around the Church reciting prayers.
A parish in a Protestant Church, over the course of the century, remained seated and silently listened to the sermon.

Music was central to the religious experience because of congregational singing.
The amount of music in services was very contentious amongst Protestant reformers. For example, some Puritans believed music detracted from the message of God.
In 1562, there was an attempt to ban organs. But this failed.
The Psalms written by Sternhold and Hopkins were very popular.
Historians argue that music was central to religious identity in Elizabethan England.

Outside of congregational worship, the Godly Ballad developed.
These ballads helped shape a Protestant mentality, as they defined Protestantism against an enemy (Catholicism).
Ballads were not directly derived from scripture.
Most importantly, they coalesced around the theme of anti-catholicism.

The rhetoric of early reformers suggests that Protestants rejected art and imagery.
Iconoclasm did feature in the Reformed Church, particularly under Edward VI.
The suspicion of imagery (and its connotations of idolatry) can be seen in the pressure on Elizabeth I to remove images from the Book of Homilies.
However, it is too simplistic to argue that the visual did not play a part in the Protestant Church.
E.g. historians have noted the importance of royal arms in Churches to symbolise the supreme governorship.