Act of Supremacy 1559

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The Act of Supremacy 1559 (1 Eliz, c. 1) was an Act of the Parliament of England, passed under the auspices of Queen Elizabeth I of England. It replaced the original Act of Supremacy 1534 issued by Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, which arrogated ecclesiastical authority to the monarchy, and which had been repealed by Mary I of England. Along with the Act of Uniformity 1559 it made up what is generally referred to as the Elizabethan Religious Settlement.

The Act rewound the clock to the state of religious affairs as they were on the death of Edward VI. It revived 10 acts which Mary had reverted, and significantly tightened up the definition of what constituted heresy.

In the 1559 Act, Elizabeth declared herself Supreme Governor of the Church of England It further included provision for the Oath of Supremacy which provided for any person taking public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarchy. Failure to so swear was to be treated as treasonable. The Oath was later extended to include Members of Parliament and people studying at universities.

The text of the Oath of Supremacy was to be as follows:

"I, A. B., do utterly testify and declare in my conscience that the queen's highness is the only supreme governor of this realm and of all other her highness's dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal, and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm; and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, superiorities, and authorities, and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear faith and true allegiance to the queen's highness, her heirs, and lawful successors, and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, privileges, and authorities granted or belonging to the queen's highness, her heirs, and successors, or united or annexed to the imperial crown of this realm: so help me God and by the contents of this Book"

This had a specific impact on English Roman and European Catholic parish histories since it expressly indicates that they must forswear allegiance to Roman Catholicism, inasmuch as the Church of Rome was directly a foreign jurisdiction, power, superiority and authority. However, during the early years of her reign Elizabeth practiced, in large measure, religious clemency and tolerance, which was an attempt to harmonise the state of affairs between Roman Catholics and Protestants in England. This was necessary for Elizabeth to fully establish her power, hold off threats of invasion from France and Spain, and overcome the accusations of illegitimacy that plagued her early years. In the last twenty years of her reign, as Catholic power within England waned (because Catholics were forbidden to take public office and were slowly deprived of their lands and fortunes) and anti-Spanish, anti-Jesuit sentiment increased, however, Elizabeth made numerous Catholic Martyrs. Perhaps the most famous of these was Fr. Edmund Campion.