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 '''''' (
5 Eliz. 1. c. 1) 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 (because Roman Catholics were forbidden to take public office and were slowly deprived of their lands and fortunes), 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 (
16 Cha. 1. c. 11). Section 15 of the act was repealed by section 10(2) of, and part I of schedule 3 to, the
Criminal Law Act 1967, which came into force on 1 January 1968. == Related legislation ==