Act of Supremacy 1558
The Act of Supremacy 1558, also known as the Act of Supremacy 1559, is an act of the Parliament of England, which replaced the original Act of Supremacy 1534, and becoming law during the reign of Elizabeth I. The 1534 act was issued by Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, arrogating ecclesiastical authority to the monarch, but this law had been repealed by Mary I. Along with the Act of Uniformity 1558, the Supremacy Act made up what is generally referred to as the Elizabethan Religious Settlement.
The act remained in place until the 19th century, when some sections began to be repealed. By 1969, all provisions, except section 8, had been repealed by various acts, with the whole act repealed in Northern Ireland between 1950 and 1953.
The act
The act revived ten acts formerly revoked by Mary I, significantly clarified and narrowed the definition of what constituted heresy, and confirmed Elizabeth as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Compared to Henry VIII's title of "Supreme Head", Supreme Governor avoided the blasphemous implication that Elizabeth was superior in rank to Jesus, whom the Epistle to the Ephesians identifies as head of the church.The act also made it a crime to assert the authority of any foreign prince, prelate, or other authority, and was aimed at abolishing the authority of the pope in England. A third offence was high treason, punishable by death.
The oath
The Oath of Supremacy, imposed by the act, provided for any person taking public or church office in England to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Failure to so swear was a crime, although it did not become treason until 1562, when the made refusal to take the oath a treasonable offence. The oath was later extended to include Members of Parliament and those studying at universities: all but one of the bishops lost their posts and a hundred fellows of Oxford colleges were deprived of theirs—many dignitaries resigned rather than take the oath. The bishops who were removed from the ecclesiastical bench were replaced by appointees who would agree to the reforms.Text of the oath as published in 1559:
This had a specific impact on English Roman Catholics 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 practised religious clemency and tolerance, which was an attempt to harmonise the state of affairs between the Roman Catholics and the Church of England. This was necessary for Elizabeth to establish her power fully, hold off threats of invasion from France and Spain, and to counter accusations of illegitimacy that plagued her early years. In the last twenty years of her reign, as the Pope issued official encouragement to topple, and even kill, Elizabeth, as Jesuits infiltrated England, and as the threat of Spanish invasion loomed, Catholics became targets for oppression. Later, Roman Catholic power within England waned, but their influence grew again until they attempted the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 – whereupon they were further oppressed for nearly 200 years.
Text in force today
Section 8 of the act still remains in force for England and Wales, and reads as follows:The words at the end were repealed in 1641 by the Abolition of High Commission Court Act 1640.
Related legislation
A similar act was passed in Ireland in the following year, called the Act of Supremacy 1560.The Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560 remains in force in Scotland.
Another act, the , made it treason to "compass" or "imagine" to deprive the Queen of the Crown, or destroy her or her heirs, or levy war against them in their dominions, or depose them, or say that they are not or ought not to be the monarch.
Another act, the Seditious Words Act 1558, dealt with sedition.