Forty-two Articles Act

1553. The accession of Edward VI to the throne in 1547 marked an important step in the development of the Reformation in England. Under the influence of Thomas Cranmer the young king began to exercise a direct influence on the church. As a result Cranmer drew up the Forty- Two Articles Act, which became the first truly Protestant confession of faith for the Church of England. Promulgated in 1553, they reflected the position of the Augsburg Confession in their statement of the doctrines of the Trinity and justification, but in their position on predestination and the Lord's Supper they were clearly Calvinistic. They were revised in 1562 by the Convocation of the Anglican clergy, and in 1563 they were promulgated by Elizabeth as the Thirty-Nine Articles Act.