Act of Uniformity 1548

The Act of Uniformity 1548, also known as the Act of Uniformity 1549, the Uniformity Act 1548, or the Act of Equality (2 & 3 Edw. 6. c. 1), was an act of the Parliament of England, passed on 21 January 1549 during the reign of Edward VI. Formally titled An Act for Uniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments throughout the Realm, it mandated the use of the newly created Book of Common Prayer across England, Wales, Calais, and all other Crown territories. It was the first act of its kind, establishing a single, uniform form of Christian worship at a time when competing branches of the faith were causing widespread social unrest, including the Prayer Book Rebellion in Cornwall and the South West of England.

The Book of Common Prayer, largely the work of Archbishop of CanterburyThomas Cranmer, was not merely a translation of existing Latin liturgical texts but a substantially new creation, reflecting a range of reforming doctrinal influences while retaining certain Catholic elements such as altars, vestments, and prayers for the dead. The act required all clergy to conduct services in accordance with the new prayer book, with penalties escalating from the loss of one year's income and six months' imprisonment for a first offence, to deprivation of all positions for a second offence, to life imprisonment for a third.

The act proved deeply controversial. When debated in the House of Lords in January 1549, eight of the eighteen bishops present voted against it, and hostility to the new prayer book prompted rioting in several parts of the country. It was superseded by the Act of Uniformity 1552, which introduced a more overtly Protestant prayer book, before being repealed under Mary I and revived in modified form under Elizabeth I by the Act of Uniformity 1558. The major principles established in 1549 were continued and developed by the Act of Uniformity 1662, passed following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, most of which was itself repealed during the removal of religious discrimination in the nineteenth century.