ABSTRACT
Queen Elizabeth was publicly identified with the Protestant movement, by others and by herself. Sir John Neale suggested that Elizabeth had wanted a much more 'Catholic' church, but, since the conservative bishops refused to accept a royal supremacy, she had to give in to the Protestant clamour for a more radical settlement. The Queen left Gloucester and Salisbury without bishops for five years, Chichester for seven years, Bristol for fourteen, and Ely for nineteen and the bankrupt Earl of Oxford was supported by a pension from Elizabeth out of the Ely revenues. The property of the Church was subordinated to the financial needs of the Crown and the patronage demands of courtiers, while its religion was subordinated to the Queen's political calculations. For all her sincere Protestantism, Elizabeth used the Church as a political weapon. Perhaps Elizabeth was God's instrument, but the Church of England was hers.
