The Religious Policy Of Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

The reign of Elizabeth I was an important period of England .During this period , the religious issues, which involved the stability of reign and the security of kingdom, was extremely complex and acute. Under the guide of rationalistic religious views, Elizabeth I, according to the variable situation, strived to seek the balance between the politics and religion and practiced a mild religion policy.She abandoned the traditional security views that the political unification must depend on the religious unification, and implemented the new reign conception that political unification was separated from the religious unification. During the early reign of Elizabeth I,due to the pindling reign, she had to harmonize the Catholics and Protestants and carry out the religion policy of"Combination and Coexistance" and "not to probe into the soul". However, inthe later reign, Elizabeth I executed the diversification of religious belief as long as the Nonconformists conformed to the authority. At the same time , Elizabeth I started to restrict and suppress the Catholics and Puritans for their challenging her reign. In a word, the mild religion policy taken by Elizabeth I not only made England successful in avoiding the risk of religious war but also supplied a stable environment for development of politics, economy and culture. In addition, it made Elizabeth I become an important figure.