A Survey of Anglican History traces the story of Christianity in the British Isles from its Roman origins through the medieval period and beyond. Each episode explores a key figure, event, or turning point that shaped the English church, drawing on historical scholarship and primary sources. Based on content from Wikipedia and adapted for audio narration.
A Survey of Anglican History
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26 episodes
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Podcast Overview
A Survey of Anglican History traces the story of Christianity in the British Isles from its Roman origins through the medieval period and beyond. Each episode explores a key figure, event, or turning point that shaped the English church, drawing on historical scholarship and primary sources. Based on content from Wikipedia and adapted for audio narration.
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4/1/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 8, 2026
Elizabethan religious settlement
The Elizabethan religious settlement was the set of religious and political arrangements made for England during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The settlement, implemented from 1559 to 1563, marked the end of the English Reformation. It permanently shaped the Church of England's doctrine and liturgy, laying the foundation for the unique identity of Anglicanism. When Elizabeth inherited the throne, England was bitterly divided between Catholics and Protestants as a result of various religious changes initiated by Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. Henry VIII had broken from the Catholic Church and the authority of the pope, becoming the supreme head of the Church of England. During Edward's reign, the Church of England adopted a Reformed theology and liturgy. In Mary's reign, these religious policies were reversed, England was re-united with the Catholic Church and Protestantism was suppressed. The Elizabethan settlement was an attempt to end this religious turmoil. The Act of Supremacy of 1558 re-established the Church of England's independence from Rome. Parliament conferred on Elizabeth the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Act of Uniformity 1558 re-introduced the Book of Common Prayer, which contained the liturgical services of the church. Some modifications were made to appeal to Catholics and Lutherans, including giving individuals greater latitude concerning belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and permission to use traditional priestly vestments. In 1571, the Convocations of Canterbury and York adopted the Thirty-Nine Articles as a confessional statement for the church, and a Book of Homilies was issued outlining the church's reformed theology in greater detail. The settlement failed to end religious disputes. While most people conformed, a minority of recusants remained loyal Catholics. Within the Church of England, a Calvinist consensus developed among leading churchmen. Calvinists split between conformists and Puritans, who wanted to abolish what they considered papist abuses and replace episcopacy with a presbyterian church government. After Elizabeth's death, a high church, Arminian party gained power in the reign of Charles I and challenged the Puritans. The English Civil War (1642–1651) and the overthrow of the monarchy allowed the Puritans to pursue their reform agenda, including dismantling the Elizabethan settlement. The Restoration in 1660 reestablished both the monarchy and the religious settlement, but the Puritans were forced out of the Church of England. Anglicans henceforth defined their church as a via media or middle way between the religious extremes of Catholicism versus Protestantism, Arminianism versus Calvinism, and high church versus low church. Episode artwork: Artist: Unidentified painter. License: Public domain. Content adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_religious_settlement), used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
April 25, 2026
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history and culture, gave name to the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. When Elizabeth was two years old, her parents' marriage was annulled, her mother was executed, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Henry restored her to the line of succession when she was 10. After Henry's death in 1547, Elizabeth's younger half-brother Edward VI ruled until his own death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to a Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, despite statutes to the contrary. Edward's will was quickly set aside and the Catholic Mary became queen, deposing Jane. During Mary's reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. Upon Mary's death in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by William Cecil, whom she created Baron Burghley. One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English church, of which she became the supreme governor. This arrangement, later named the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, would evolve into the Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir; however, despite numerous courtships, she never did. Because of this she is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". She was succeeded by her first cousin twice removed, James VI of Scotland. In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo ('I see and keep silent'). In religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. After the pope declared her illegitimate in 1570, which in theory released English Catholics from allegiance to her, several conspiracies threatened her life, all of which were defeated with the help of her ministers' secret service, run by Francis Walsingham. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the major powers of France and Spain. She half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. By the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. As she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult of personality grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day. The Elizabethan era is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, the prowess of English maritime adventurers, such as Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, and for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler who enjoyed more than her fair share of luck. Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor in an era when government was ramshackle and limited, and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems and religious civil wars that jeopardised their thrones. After the short, disastrous reigns of her half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped to forge a sense of national identity. Episode artwork: Artist: Unidentified painter. License: Public domain. Content adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I), used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
April 24, 2026
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous attempts to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament but, during her five-year reign, more than 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake, in what became known as the Marian persecutions, leading later commentators to label her "Bloody Mary". Mary was the only surviving child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. She was declared illegitimate and barred from the line of succession following the annulment of her parents' marriage in 1533, but was restored via the Third Succession Act 1543. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded their father in 1547 at the age of nine. When Edward became terminally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary as heir to the throne because he supposed, correctly, that she would reverse the Protestant reforms that had taken place during his reign. Upon his death, leading politicians proclaimed their Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as queen instead. Mary speedily assembled a force in East Anglia and deposed Jane. Mary was—excluding the disputed reigns of Jane and the Empress Matilda—the first queen regnant of England. In July 1554, she married Philip of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556. Marriage to the Spanish king was controversial in England. After Mary's death in 1558, her re-establishment of Catholicism in England was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor, Elizabeth I. Episode artwork: Artist: Antonis Mor. License: Public domain. Content adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I), used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
26 total episodes available
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