d at the close of April the last
Prayer-Book of Edward, and enforced its use on the clergy on pain of
deprivation.

[Sidenote: Pius the Fourth.]

At Rome the news of these changes stirred a fiercer wrath in Paul the
Fourth, and his threats of excommunication were only held in check by
the protests of Philip. The policy of the Spanish king still bound him
to Elizabeth's cause, for the claims of Mary Stuart had been reserved in
the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis and the refusal of France to abandon them
held Spain to its alliance with the Queen. Vexed as he was at the news
of the Acts which re-established the supremacy, Philip ordered his
ambassador to assure Elizabeth he was as sure a friend as ever, and to
soothe the resentment of the English Catholics if it threatened to break
out into revolt. He showed the same temper in his protest against action
at Rome. Paul had however resolved to carry out his threats when his
death and the interregnum which followed gave Elizabeth a fresh respite.
His successor, Pius the Fourth, was of milder temper and leaned rather
to a policy of conciliation. Decisive indeed as the Queen's action may
seem in modern eyes, it was far from being held as decisive at the time.
The Act of Supremacy might be regarded as having been forced upon
Elizabeth by Paul's repudiation of her title to the crown. The
alterations which were made by the Queen's authority in the Prayer-Book
showed a wish to conciliate those who clung to the older faith. It was
clear that Elizabeth had no mind merely to restore the system of the
Protectorate. She set up again the royal supremacy, but she dropped the
words "Head of the Church" from the royal title. The forty-two Articles
of Protestant doctrine which Cranmer had drawn up were left in abeyance.
If the Queen had had her will, she would have retained the celibacy of
the clergy and restored the use of crucifixes in the churches.

[Sidenote: The Clergy and the oath.]

The caution and hesitation with which she enforced on the clergy the
oath required by the Act of Supremacy showed Elizabeth's wish to avoid
the opening of a religious strife. The higher dignitaries indeed were
unsparingly dealt with. The bishops, who with a single exception refused
to take the oath, were imprisoned and deprived. The same measure was
dealt out to most of the archdeacons and deans. But with the mass of the
parish priests a very different course was taken. The Commissioners
appointed in May 155