The sixteenth century was undeniably a religious age. Religion impacted all lives to varying degrees. The church, present in everyone's life, was an arm of the established power that ruled England. The church, often in the heart of the village, was visible from the fields as you worked. Its bells punctuated your day. The city parish church was likewise nearby. The priest would be visible haggling in the market like anyone else, perhaps occupying a corner of the local tavern. He was part of the civic power structure as well as sitting in judgement over your spiritual life. He reported your civil and moral misdemeanours, convened and presided over the church court, arranged poor relief and preached. One form of socio- moral reinforcement was the homily the priest was obliged by his superiors to read out every Sunday. The Book of Homilies (the first 1547; the second in 1571) had 33 homilies, intended to bed in the ideas of the new reformed Church of England, to educate the masses and assist conformity. They covered doctrinal and liturgical subjects but included moral sermons: ‘Against peril of Idolatry’, ‘Against gluttony and drunkenness’, ‘Against excess of apparel’, ‘Of alms [charity] deeds’, ‘Of the state of Matrimony’, ‘Against Idleness’, ‘Against disobedience and wilful rebellion’.

Religion meant much to the Elizabethans. It was central to many of the age's controversies, but not all those who attended church did so in a spirit of devotion. Many went simply to avoid the punishments meted out for nonattendance, but ‘there was no escaping the rhythms of the Prayer Book or the barrage of catechisms and sermons’. Though a largely churchgoing society, there had always been those who claimed (and believed) they needed no church or priest to intercede between them and God. Increasingly Dissenters would assert they could worship in the field, the workshop, their home. Enforced church attendance was increasingly resisted. One sailor expressed the view in 1581 that ‘it was never merry England since we were impressed to come to church’. The pursuit and prosecution of non- attenders depended on the zeal of the vicar.