Overview

Compared with the reign of his illustrious predecessor, that of James I can be characterized as ‘more of the same', in the sense that he did his best to continue her policies, although he was far from being a passive actor in her shadow. As an accomplished theologian of (apparently) impeccable Calvinist credentials, James could defend his own convictions with great learning, and he was respected by almost all sections of the church, even if they did not always agree with him. His essentially conservative approach was a disappointment to some, but it was tolerable, and his ability to play one faction off against the other ensured that no one group would attain dominance in church affairs.

In this atmosphere, the convocations were given the freedom to put together a definitive set of canons, which they promptly did - basing them almost exclusively on existing precedents and erring on the conservative side - but they were not allowed to go further and develop a theology of royal supremacy, which at least some of their members wanted to do. In addition, the king did not allow the convocations to undertake extensive liturgical revisions, as they could easily have claimed the right to do, nor were they allowed to supervise the new translation of the Bible, which appeared in 1611.

In retrospect, it appears that the convocations were gradually being sidelined, as their mainly judicial and administrative tasks were stabilized and the growing public interest in religion expressed itself in parliament to a degree which Elizabeth I would not have tolerated. By the time James died, it was an open question as to whether the convocations could really function as a kind of clerical parliament, and it was hard to see that they had any purpose other than to grant clerical subsidies. For the moment, they continued to function as they always had, but the serious debates about church affairs were now taking place elsewhere.

The convocation of 1604-11

Canterbury

Convocation met on 20 March 1604, less than three weeks after the death of Archbishop Whitgift. Ten days later it was listening to a plea from the king to send relief to the city of Geneva, a clever move on his part which strengthened his Calvinist credentials, but in a way which did not commit him to any particular line in internal church politics.