by the French Court, it was probably only with the
purpose of using them to bring pressure to bear on Elizabeth and on the
stubborn country which still refused to restore its lands to the Church
and to make the complete submission which Paul demanded. But Cecil and
the Queen knew that, even had they been willing to pay such a price for
the crown, it was beyond their power to bring England to pay it. The
form too in which Paul had couched his answer admitted of no compromise.
The summons to submit the Queen's claim of succession to the judgement
of Rome produced its old effect. Elizabeth was driven, as Henry had been
driven, to assert the right of the nation to decide on questions which
affected its very life. A Parliament which met in January, 1559,
acknowledged the legitimacy of Elizabeth and her title to the crown.

[Sidenote: The Supremacy re-established.]

Such an acknowledgement in the teeth of the Papal repudiation of Anne
Boleyn's marriage carried with it a repudiation of the supremacy of the
Papacy. It was in vain that the clergy in convocation unanimously
adopted five articles which affirmed their faith in transubstantiation,
their acceptance of the supreme authority of the Popes as "Christ's
vicars and supreme rulers of the Church," and their resolve "that the
authority in all matters of faith and discipline belongs and ought to
belong only to the pastors of the Church, and not to laymen." It was in
vain that the bishops unanimously opposed the Bill for restoring the
royal supremacy when it was brought before the Lords. The "ancient
jurisdiction of the Crown over the Estate ecclesiastical and spiritual"
was restored; the Acts which under Mary re-established the independent
jurisdiction and legislation of the Church were repealed; and the clergy
were called on to swear to the supremacy of the Crown and to abjure all
foreign authority and jurisdiction. Further Elizabeth had no personal
wish to go. A third of the Council and at least two-thirds of the people
were as opposed to any radical changes in religion as the Queen. Among
the gentry the older and wealthier were on the conservative side, and
only the younger and meaner on the other. In the Parliament itself Sir
Thomas White protested that "it was unjust that a religion begun in such
a miraculous way and established by such grave men should be abolished
by a set of beardless boys." Yet even this "beardless" Parliament had
shown a strong conservatism. The Bill