The Jacobean Prayer Book (1604)

Historical background

When James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, Puritan clergy presented him with the Millenary Petition, asking for changes to the Prayer Book and to church ceremonies. James convened the Hampton Court Conference in January 1604, bringing bishops and Puritan representatives together. He rejected most of the Puritans’ demands, but agreed to some clarifications. The most famous outcome of the conference was not liturgical at all: it commissioned the translation that became the King James (Authorized) Version of 1611.

What changed

The changes were modest. Private baptism was restricted to a lawful minister rather than midwives or lay people, answering Puritan objections. Some Apocryphal lessons in the lectionary were replaced. Thanksgivings for particular occasions (such as rain, fair weather and deliverance from plague) were added after the Litany, and the rubric heading “Confirmation” gained the words “or laying on of hands upon children baptized.” The most important addition was a section on the two sacraments at the end of the Catechism (“How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church?”), which has remained in use in Anglican catechesis ever since.

Notable and controversial

Because the book was altered by royal authority rather than by Parliament, its legal standing was disputed, and Puritans resented that so little changed. The Canons of 1604 that followed required clergy to subscribe to the Prayer Book, and some ministers were deprived for refusing. The Jacobean book remained in use until the Civil War, when Parliament replaced it with the Directory for Public Worship (1645).