To What Extent Does the Debate Over Vestments Represent the Wider Tensions in the Elizabethan Era Regarding the Nature of Reformed Religion?

Vestments have been the centre of fierce debate throughout the Reformation. Whilst the debate over vestments is generally regarded as an isolated events confined to the 1570s, this thesis will demonstrate that the conflict over clerical dress infact extended over several decades and was undoubtedly linked with the wider conflicts within reformed religion. Having undergone numerous changes in form through ecclesiastical law over several decades, the evolution of vestments presents them not only as functional objects, but as symbols of wider issues. With this in mind, this thesis seeks to uncover these issues in order to establish the role of vestments within the reformed Church. By approaching the question from both the Protestant and Catholic perspective, this study will uncover how the role of vestments within the Elizabethan Church was interpreted by Protestants in their desire for further reform, and how the preservation and continual use of vestments can shed light upon the survival and adaptation of the Catholic community during the Elizabethan period. Through the combination of written, visual and material evidence, this thesis will determine the importance of vestments as characterisations of the wider issues surrounding the move towards reform in England and the extent to which they represented an overlap with the Catholic past.