The Act for the Advancement of True Religion (34 & 35 Henry VIII, c. 1) was an Act passed by the Parliament of England on 12 May, 1543. It restricted the reading of the Bible to clerics, noblemen, the gentry and richer merchants. Women below gentry rank, servants, apprentices and generally poor people were forbidden to read it. Women of the gentry and the nobility were only allowed to read it in private. In Westminster System parliaments, an Act of Parliament is a part of the law passed by the Parliament. ... English parliament in front of the king c. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ...

The Act allowed moral plays to be performed if they promoted virtue and condemned vice but such plays were forbidden from contradicting the interpretation of Scripture as set forth by the King. Virtue (Latin virtus; Greek ) is moral excellence of a man or a woman. ... Vice is the opposite of virtue. ... Many religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. ...

The Act claims that "malicious minds have, intending to subvert the true exposition of Scripture, have taken upon them, by printed ballads, rhymes, etc., subtilly and craftily to instruct His Highness' people, and specially the youth of this his realm, untruly. For reformation whereof, His Majesty considereth it most requisite to purge his realm of all such books, ballads, rhymes, and songs, as be pestiferous and noisome". However, the Act also commanded that "all books printed before the year 1540, entituled Statutes, Chronicles, Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's books, Gower's books, and stories of men's lives, shall not be comprehended in the prohibition of this Act". Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902. ... The tomb of John Gower in Southwark Cathedral. ...

The Act was repealed under Henry's more Protestant-inclined son, Edward VI (1 Edward VI, c. 12). Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547, at just nine years of age. ...

References

• William Chappell, Popular Music of the Olden Time a Collection of Ancient Songs, Ballads and Dance Tunes Illustrative of the National Music of England: Part One (Kessinger, 2004).
• Janette Dillon, The Cambridge Introduction to Early English Theatre (Cambridge University Press, 2006).