Excerpt from An Essay on Spenser's Faery Queen

But the religious struggle of the time contributed even more strongly to form the condition of society which Spenser's great poem reflects. The English reformation had not been a spontaneous movement of elementary power like that of Germany. It had been brought about by the arbitrary will of Henry VIII, who determined its character and fixed its boundaries. Nor would it ever have sunk deep into the hearts of the people, ' had not Mary undertaken to quench in blood every spark of the new light, and to hand over her people, bound hand and foot, to the tender mercies of her Spanish husband. And this happened at a time, when in every country of Europe Roman Catholicism rallied after its defeat inspired with new strength and confidence by vigorous popes trusting in the spiritual assistance of the Order of Jesus and in the keen-edged sword of Philip II, whilst on the other hand the sterner and more aggressive form of protestantism was developed by Calvin and Knox. It was the fear of Spanish bondage and of the Inquisition that made England definitely protestant, and as the tide of the catholic reaction rose higher and higher on the continent, irresistibly recovering the ground that had been lost in the first half of the century, the depth and intensity of protestant feeling and the aversion to those institutions and ceremonies that savoured of Catholicism increased in England. Towards the middle of the reign of Elizabeth the danger arising from the catholic reaction increased from year to year; the Guises triumphed in France, the revolt of the Nether lands seemed about to be crushed, Jesuit emissaries traversed England sowing the seeds of rebellion, conspiracies threatening the life! Of the queen followed each other in rapid succession, and the excitement of the loyal part of the population rose to fever heat. The cool prudence and cautious policy of Elizabeth were forced to yield to the irre sistible pressure of public opinion which clamoured for the blood of Mary Stuart, whose mere existence in the midst of a wildly agitated and divided people sufficed to create a panic. Thus Mary was sacrificed to the security of England, and the rampant Catholicism of the Northern counties was deprived of its only possible head. The protestant people exulted, and when in the following year (1588) the - storm burst and Philip hurled his Armada against England, the whole nation, Protestants and Catholics alike, rallied in unbounded enthusiasm around their Queen, and the English fleet which threw the Spaniards into disorder and forced them to the disastrous retreat round the Orkneys, was commanded by a Howard, a member of one of the great Catholic families of the country.

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