ABSTRACT
The Church in England and Wales was governed by two archbishops and twenty-four bishops, each with his own diocese or territory of jurisdiction. One of the Church's greatest successes was in improving the knowledge and education both of clergy and laymen. Belief in the supernatural had important consequences for the lives of the believers. A more unarguably positive effect of the Reformation in England was the encouragement of literacy through the use of a vernacular Bible and Prayer Book. Christianity remained far and away the most potent intellectual influence on Tudor Englishmen; and all allowance made for religious minorities and for magical and non-Christian beliefs, the Church remained central to the lives of the great majority. The neglect of the Elizabethan Church by twentieth-century historians seems to reflect a belief that the Church was far more influenced by lay society than vice versa, a very debatable proposition.
