Despite the upheavals of the mid-sixteenth century, belief about angels was evidently an enduring aspect of English religious cultures. Angels did not merely survive the turmoil of the early years of reform, but also persisted as an important element of belief that played a part in many significant theological discussions of the era, in the process contributing to the emergence of a distinctly ‘English’ Protestant identity. The legacy was to endure, and become a permanent feature of post-Reformation England. This chapter examines this legacy, tracing the evidence for a core set of beliefs about angels that persisted throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, beliefs which together could be considered to be the ‘authorized’, Church of England, angel. It investigates how belief about angels continued to fulfil important and wide ranging pastoral and didactic functions after the Reformation, and how churchmen utilized the concept of angels in polemic designed to establish Protestantism in the hearts and minds of their parishioners. The result of this was that particular aspects of belief were elaborated upon to create an ‘orthodox’ angel that was well suited to the ecclesiology and religious outlook of the Church of England.

The first section of the chapter explores the ongoing consolidation of the processes outlined previously. It will first demonstrate how the compendious works of prominent English churchmen, with their strong Calvinist theology, reinforced the concept of the ‘reformed’ angel, with distinctive characteristics and qualities, before exploring how these ideas were secured in a broader range of texts and over time.