The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an
Act of the
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14
Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
s, administration of
sacraments
A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the real ...
, and other
rites of the Established
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, according to the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the
1662 ''Book of Common Prayer''. Adherence to this was required in order to hold any office in government or the church, although the new version of the ''Book of Common Prayer'' prescribed by the Act was so new that most people had never even seen a copy. The Act also required that the ''Book of Common Prayer'' 'be truly and exactly Translated into the British or
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
Tongue'. It also explicitly required
episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
ordination
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...
for all ministers, i.e. deacons, priests and bishops, which had to be reintroduced since the
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
s had abolished many features of the Church during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
A few sections of this Act were still in force in the United Kingdom at the end of 2010.
Great Ejection
As an immediate result of this Act, over 2,000 clergymen refused to take the oath and were expelled from the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
in what became known as the
Great Ejection of 1662. Although there had already been ministers outside the established church, this created the concept of
non-conformity, with a substantial section of English society excluded from public affairs for a century and a half.
Clarendon Code
The Act of Uniformity itself is one of four crucial pieces of legislation, known as the
Clarendon Code, named after
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon,
Charles II's Lord Chancellor. They are:
*The
Corporation Act (1661) - This first of the four statutes which made up the Clarendon Code required all municipal officials to take Anglican communion, and formally reject the
Solemn League and Covenant
The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War, a theatre of conflict in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. On 17 August 1 ...
of 1643. The effect of this act was to exclude
nonconformists from public office. This legislation was rescinded in 1828.
*The Act of Uniformity 1662 - This second statute made use of the Book of Common Prayer compulsory in religious service. Upwards of 2000 clergy refused to comply with this act, and were forced to resign their livings.
*The
Conventicle Act (1664) - This act forbade conventicles (a meeting for unauthorized worship) of more than 5 people who were not members of the same household. The purpose was to prevent
dissenting religious groups from meeting.
*The
Five Mile Act (1665) - This final act of the Clarendon Code was aimed at Nonconformist ministers, who were forbidden from coming within five miles of incorporated towns or the place of their former livings. They were also forbidden to teach in schools. This act was not rescinded until 1812.
Combined with the
Test Act, the
Corporation Acts excluded all nonconformists from holding civil or military office, and prevented them from being awarded degrees by the
universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Another Act, the
Quaker Act (1662), required subjects to swear an oath of allegiance to the king, which Quakers did not do out of religious conviction. It set out specific penalties for first (a fine of up to £5, or three months' imprisonment with hard labour), second (a fine of up to £10, or six months imprisonment with hard labour), and third (transportation) offence. It also allowed that should the defendant subsequently agree to swear oaths and not attend unlawful assemblies (as defined by the Act) then all penalties would be cancelled.
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' introduced by Charles II was substantially the same as Elizabeth's version of 1559, itself based on
Thomas Cranmer's earlier
version of 1552. Apart from minor changes this remains the official and permanent legal version of prayer authorised by Parliament and Church.
Act of Toleration
The
Toleration Act 1688
The Toleration Act 1688 (1 Will & Mary c 18), also referred to as the Act of Toleration, was an Act of the Parliament of England. Passed in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, it received royal assent on 24 May 1689.
The Act allowed for f ...
allowed certain dissenters places and freedom to worship, provided they accept to subscribe to an oath.
Modified in 1872
The provisions of the Act of Uniformity 1662 were modified and partly revoked by the
Act of Uniformity Amendment Act 1872
The Act of Uniformity Amendment Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 35), sometimes called the ''Shortened Services Act'', was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amended some of the provisions of the English Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car. ...
.This has been repealed by the General Synod.
See also
*
Act of Uniformity
*
Conformist
Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often choo ...
*
Nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
*
Puritan's Pit
Puritan's Pit (also known as Preacher's Pit, The Devil's Pit or Gruti's Pit) is a large steep-sided pit in the south side of the valley of the River Lemon in Bradley Woods, just west of the town of Newton Abbot in Devon, England. It is probably ...
*
Religion in the United Kingdom
*
Savoy Conference
*
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Digital reproduction of the Original Act on the Parliamentary Archives catalogueText of the Act, in ''Statutes of the Realm'', vol. 5 at British History Online*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Act Of Uniformity 1662
1662 in Christianity
1662 in England
1662 in law
Acts of the Parliament of England concerning religion
Acts of the Parliament of England still in force
Christianity and law in the 17th century
History of the Church of England
Great Ejection
The Restoration