MovieChat Forums > Lady Jane (1986) Discussion > religion: please help!

religion: please help!

posted 18 years ago by estella2
11 replies | jump to latest

I have watched this movie a million times and i own the dvd. I still don't think i quite understand what religion Jane and Guilford were following. when i first saw the film i thought they were free thinkers who had their own religious beliefs/philosophy against organized relgion. could they be agnostic, Unitarian? for awhile a thought almost athiest, but that really doesn't fit because they believe in some kind of an after life. then i thought they were protestants because the whole conspiracy was to keep the protestant faith on the throne and not Catholicism, but it doesn't seem like Jane is a protestent since she prefers reading plato and socrates in the beginning of the film. Could someone explain this?

[–] mrwiseman-1 18 years ago

It would take a lot of space to provide the proper English history that your question really requires., so alas, I will just make it brief...

Jane was a Protestant. The consipracy put her on the thrown to keep the thrown Protestant. Mary, a Catholic, has her put to death.

[–] estella2 18 years ago

thank you. i thought she was a protestant just because of the time in history, but her personal belief/religion portrayed in the film was pretty mysterious/vague.

[–] reesieg 18 years ago

Jane was an extremely intelligent, vehement Protestant, like her cousin King Edward VI, whom she briefly succeeded. (During her childhood, Jane's parents hoped that Jane would marry Edward.) Facing the prospect of being succeeded by his vehemently Catholic half-sister, Mary, the dying Edward was willing to alter the succession to leave the throne to Jane.

After Mary took the throne from Jane via a popular uprising, Mary initially spared Jane's life. A second, anti-Catholic uprising followed, however. Mary offered to spare Jane's life a second time if Jane would convert to Catholicism, but Jane ultimately refused.

[–] princess_0423 18 years ago

To be more specific, Jane was an Anglican, or a member of the Church of England, which was begun by King Henry VIII. However, the movie messed up a little bit because at the time, Anglicans still believed in the true presence of the Eucharist (ie, the bread given out at communion is really the body of Christ), but in the movie, Jane questions this belief when she meets with Mary in her castle.

In the United States, Episcopalians are roughly the same religion as Anglicans.

[–] Catdubh 18 years ago

However, the movie messed up a little bit because at the time, Anglicans still believed in the true presence of the Eucharist (ie, the bread given out at communion is really the body of Christ

The change of the substance of the bread and wine to the body and blood of Christ occurring in the Eucharist is called Transubstantiation. The Roman Catholic Church holds this belief and it is this view, which not only has set them apart from other Christian denominations but also has caused great divide and controversy. Particularly between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church or Church of England.

Actually, the movie was correct. When Henry VIII reigned, the Anglican did accept the concept of the Transubstantiation or the sacrifice of the mass. Edward VI, Henry VIII’s son, was the reigning King at this particular time set in the movie. During Edward’s reign, the Anglican Church DID NOT accept the Transubstantiation, (and have not since) in fact, it directly OPPOSED IT. Jane raised and educated very much like her cousin, King Edward vehemently OPPOSED the Transubstantiation. This was illustrated in the movie in Jane’s character and the opposition was KEY to the core of the VIOLENT controversy at the time Jane was alive.

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See what a difficult situation you've created. Proud of yourself now are you?

[–] marlarkey 14 years ago

Not quite accurate.

Henry VIII broke with Rome and appointed himself Defender of the Faith, but he still regarded himself as the Catholic head of the church in England.

That's why at the time depicted in the film they followed the practices of the Catholic Church.

It was Elizabeth that formally founded the Church of England that we know today and broke with Catholic practices.

[–] angelosdaughter 13 years ago

Actually Edward is the one that really turned England in the direction of Protestantism. Henry VIII considered himself a good Catholic until the day he died, keeping the rites and liturgy of Cathoicism intact. The only difference was that he was an English Catholic and head of the English Church. His son Edward who had had Protestant counselors moved England in the direction of Protestantism. During his reign many rites and customs associated with Roman Catholicism were abolished. The Book of Common Prayer was introduced.
Elizabeth tried to walk a middle way between those who wanted to remain Roman Catholic and those "Separatists" who wanted an even more extreme form of Protestantism. Both groups were persecuted in her reign. Much of Elizabeth's reign was devoted to undoing the pro-Roman Catholic policies of her sister Mary and attempting to conciliate Cathoics and Protestants.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] willjohn 9 years ago

Henry VIII claimed to always be a Catholic. He made himself the head of the Catholic Church in England, now known as the High Church of England.

[–] accer 17 years ago

Jane was schooled in the "new" religion, by Queen Catherine (Parr). That made Jane a Lutheran.

[–] Virginiana 14 years ago

She was influenced by the teachings of a number of religious scholars besides Luther. If I had to choose a single word to sum up her beliefs, I think I'd go for "Calvinist".

She may not have used that word herself, but her beliefs clearly lined up very closely with strict Calvinist doctrine.