After the radical reformism of Edward VI's reign, and the Catholic counter-reformation of Mary I, Elizabeth I had to tread a careful path on her accession to the English throne in 1558. Her first Archbishop of Canterbury was Matthew Parker, who sought to retain some of the practices of the pre-Reformation Church, in the face of opposition from some of his more reform-minded colleagues. An 'anti-vestiarian' group wanted to abandon clerical vestments completely, but in a set of instructions called the 'Book of Advertisements', he ordered in favour of their continued use. However, the Queen refused to endorse any hardline approach, and so a mixed solution was used, in which the surplice (the most basic of the vestments) was to be used in parish churches, and the cope only enforced for cathedral communion services. This...

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