ABSTRACT
When the state assumed supreme control of the Anglican church in the sixteenth century it became imperative that both should work together, not least because whoever sought to change the national religion might well seek to change also the organization of the state (and vice versa), so that heterodoxy in religion might be allied to disloyalty or treason in politics. Thus, quite apart from the importance attached to religious instruction as an essential part of education, it seemed logical that schools and universities should be prevented from producing potential enemies of both church and state, and that the government should decree that the licensing of teachers and the provision and oversight of education should be under ‘the control and auspices’ of ‘the established Church of the Realm’.
