Publisher: University of Virginia Special Collections
The Booke of Common prayer
The royal coat of arms for the Kingdom of England and Ireland appears at the top of this frontispiece for a 1613 edition of The Booke of Common prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, And other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England. The official Church of England text was outlawed by Parliament in 1645, but Anglican ministers in Virginia continued to use it; as part of the negotiated surrender settlement with the Commonwealth government on March 12, 1652, Virginia received permission to keep the book in use for one more year. In 1660, after the Stuart monarchy was restored and Virginia returned to its former status as a royal colony, legal use of the prayer book was reestablished.