ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between Church and music in Elizabethan England, beginning with an overview of the various contexts against which that relationship was formulated. John Bale's commentary on the book of Revelation, The Image of Both Churches, was published the following year while its author was in exile in Germany. The book went on to treat music in civil and martial matters, and the last four chapters dealt with music in church, as confirmed by tradition, the Church Fathers, and Scripture, as well as a refutation of objections against the lawful use of music. The polemic of the established Elizabethan Church became increasingly complex, as it simultaneously strove to defend itself against both Presbyterian and papist critics of its practices. In large part, it stemmed from starkly different attitudes towards the relationship between Reformed worship and the traditional ceremonies of the Church of Rome.
