Shaftesbury and the Royal Supremacy

• Published in: Anthony Ashley Cooper, First Earl of Shaftesbury 1621-1683 pp. 51 - 76
• Main Author: Seaward, Paul
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 2011; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700; Superb; Young Man; Royal Supremacy; Grand Father; TNA; Worcester House Declaration; Denzil Holles; Foreign Affairs Committee; Heneage Finch; Charles II's Reign; Secretaries Of State; Edward III; Bulstrode Whitelocke; Osborn Shelves; MS 63057B; Ecclesiastical Affairs; Ma Tie; William III; Ma Ty; Conventicle Act; Charles II's England; Vicar General
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315567273-3
• ISBN: 9780754661719; 0754661717

Anthony Ashley Cooper, First Earl of Shaftesbury, was a giant on the English political scene of the later seventeenth century. For a start, it provides a very partial account of Shaftesbury's interest in the Supremacy, which dates back well before 1672. During the autumn further moves were made to try to alter the current course of religious policy, and while they continued to refer to the royal supremacy. The reference was to the Scottish Supremacy Act, passed in the Scottish Parliament in November 1669, which had asserted the subordination of the clergy to the royal power. The issuing of the Declaration of Indulgence indicated the increasing influence at Court of the figures most identified with it and with the attempt to promote the royal supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs. The precise nature of Shaftesbury's interests in the supremacy suggests, in fact, that he may have had larger plans than simply securing a limited freedom of worship for Dissenters.