7 Elizabeth I 7second Edwardian prayer book as the official order of wor-
ship. Although she restored the Protestant service, she
retained many features of Catholicism, including bishops
and archbishops. She hoped this compromise would pro-
duce unity in the state, but the Catholics, who formed a
majority of her subjects, were not reconciled; neither were
hardline Protestants. Elizabeth’s government moved cau-
tiously but steadily to transfer these structural and
liturgical reforms from the statute books to the local par-
ishes throughout the kingdom.
From time to time, some Catholics plotted with Spain
or France to put Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots,
on the throne. France and Spain were rivals, and Elizabeth
was usually able to play one against the other. She even
used courtship as part of her diplomatic game. She refused
to marry Philip II of Spain but held out hopes to more
than one of his royal relatives when France appeared to be
a threat to England. Later, when Philip turned against
England, Elizabeth encouraged French princes to pursue
her. To cut Scotland’s ties with France, she gave secret help
to the Scottish Presbyterians. She also aided the Protestant
Netherlands when they revolted against Spain.
The alarming increase in religious tension, political
intrigue, and violence was not only an internal, English
concern. In 1570 Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth
and absolved her subjects from any oath of allegiance that
they might have taken to her. Elizabeth was under great
pressure to become more involved in the continental
struggle between Roman Catholics and Protestants, in
particular to aid the rebels fighting the Spanish armies in
the Netherlands. But she was very reluctant to become
involved, in part because she detested rebellion—even
rebellion undertaken in the name of Protestantism—and
in part because she detested expenditures. Eventually, after