From Catholic to Protestant- the English Reformation.
How one man’s personal quest to secure the throne led to an entire country changing their church.
The English Reformation would not have occurred in the manner that it did without the influence of King Henry VIII. It was a series of statutes passed by Henry VIII in the English Parliament that led to England’s final break with Rome between 1529 and 1536. Although primarily concerned with being the King of England , Henry VIII had always maintained an interest in church affairs. But Henry VIII also had a pressing self-interest: his desire to secure the throne for the Tudor lineage. At the time, England was under the rule of the Catholic church, which did not permit divorce. The church had begun to attract unwelcome attention as it became apparent that greed and corruption were taking place within its clergy. The undercurrent of unrest that was gaining momentum against the Catholic church in England meant that it was the perfect time for Henry VIII to act to satisfy his personal agenda. Pre-Reformation England was a predominantly Catholic nation, with much of its administration coming from the pope and Rome. Post-Reformation England saw a break with Rome and the country heading in a more Protestant direction. Henry VIII played a pivotal role in the English Reformation which resulted in an increase in Royal power at the expense of Papal power.
The year was 1517. Martin Luther, a German monk and professor, had arrived at a conclusion to a problem that had been troubling him since his entry into the monastery. The problem was the assurance of eternal salvation and how one might go about achieving it. Catholic doctrine at the time made it clear that both faith and good works were required for a Christian to reach heaven. Through his study of the bible, Luther was unconvinced by this argument and believed that pure faith alone would be enough to ensure personal salvation. Luther was greatly upset by a custom of the time- the widespread selling of indulgences. The fact that people were giving money to monks in the belief that they were ‘buying’ themselves a reduced time in purgatory led Luther to write and distribute his famed document, the Ninety-five Theses. This document was a stinging attack on the sale of indulgences. The Catholic church in Germany ordered Luther to recant the heresies that he had espoused in his document. Luther refused, and was ex-communicated by the church in 1521. However, Luther’s ideas eventually morphed into a religious movement that then became a revolution. Under Luther’s influence, the traditional Catholic Mass was out; new religious services with a focus on the Bible and God were in. The new Lutheran churches were no longer supervised by the Holy Roman Empire, but by the state. This was an early step in a long road that would eventually lead to the English Reformation crafted by Henry VIII.
Luther’s Ninety-five Theses had not gone unnoticed in England. In 1521, a young Henry VIII was early into his reign and a devoted son of the Roman Church. With some help, Henry VIII wrote a book that attacked Luther’s views. While Henry VIII’s attack on Luther’s views may have gained him favour with Pope Leo X, there was a growing unrest amongst a minority of people in England who were influenced by the reform started in Germany. In England at the time, it was possible for bishops to own land and many became quite wealthy. Monks and priests were often involved in acts of immorality. The Catholic church courts had significant influence, but there were those who thought that legal questions should come under the jurisdiction of the Common Law court instead. These factors combined with news of spreading Lutheranism and a newfound feeling of national pride meant that there had never been a better time for England to break with the Roman Catholic church.
Despite his previous hostility towards Luther’s ideals, the idea of reformation now became of personal interest to Henry VIII. He wished to secure the succession of the English throne to the Tudors. His wife Catherine of Aragon had failed to produce a son and heir to succeed the throne. The problem with the lack of children in the marriage did not lie with Henry VIII- he had at least one illegitimate son. However, only children born within a legitimate marriage that could ascend the throne.
Henry VIII’s eye began to wander in search of a younger woman who may be able to bear him a son.
His gaze came to rest upon the young Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII was painfully aware that divorcing Catherine was not an option under the Catholic church. Henry VIII instead tried to have his current marriage annulled- on the basis that Catherine had in the first place, been the wife of his deceased brother, Arthur Tudor. As former in-laws, the fact that Henry VIII and Catherine were able to marry in the first place was due to the intervention of the previous pope, Julius II. Henry VIII hopeds that the successive Pope Clement VII will be easily persuaded by Henry VIII’s arguments for annulment and will grant one. However, concerned about possible international political repercussions, Clement VII refuses. With Henry VIII having exhausted his options for an annulment within the Catholic Church, he began to explore other options.
According to historian G.W. Bernard “Henry VIII began to put pressure on the church to accept that the king, rather than the pope, was its head, and that any measures taken by the pope against the king should not be observed by the church in England”. There is considerable evidence that Henry VIII was involved in an effort to define true religion. Letters and petitions from the time indicate that Henry participated in debates on the topic. One set of documents “which formed the blueprint for the break with Rome was the Collectanea Satis Copiosa”. Meaning ‘sufficiently large collection’, the Collectanea was a collection of evidence to prove how Henry VIII’s divorce could proceed in England without any reference to the pope. Compiled together by 1531, this mass of documents proved too difficult for secular politicians to summarise and make sense of.
Professor Andrew Petegree asserts that “in rapid succession from 1932, legislation was passed through Parliament curbing the influence of the Papacy in England and appointing the King as Supreme Head of the Church.” As part of this process, Henry issued the necessary summonses for a Parliament. His reasons for calling a Parliament were somewhat unclear to the Lord and Commons who were required to attend. The day of the Parliament arrived. Two bills pertaining to the regulation of probate and mortuary fees were brought forth- both of which would have resulted in a loss of income for the clergy. Fortunately for the clergy, there were enough of them present in order to contest the two bills. However, it was the third bill of the day that brought staunch opposition from the gathered clergy- a bill of clerical reform. This bill was designed to limit the practices of pluralism and non-residences as well as restrict what kind of businesses the clergy might run in addition to their work for the church. The Catholic clergy present thought that the current restrictions were sufficient enough already. Henry VIII did not agree and eventually manage to get a watered-down version of the bill through Parliament. In past decades, if a king had suggested such dramatic change, he may well have faced assassination. But Henry VIII was able to take advantage of the views of the minority of England at the time and give them a much more powerful voice. Henry VIII had begun to heavily assert his Royal power over that of the clergy.
According to historian Glyn Redworth, “only the foolhardy would try to deny that the shabby business of the divorce triggered off the break with Rome”. Despite the fact that Anne had initially been unwilling to share a bed with the king until they were legally married, at some point in 1532 she changed her mind and became pregnant with the king’s child. In January 1533 Henry VIII appointed Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury. In the same month, Henry VIII married Anne so that their child could be born in wedlock and thus considered a legitimate heir to the Tudor throne. It wasn’t until several months later that Archbishop Cranmer finally annulled Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine. After his secret marriage to Anne, Henry VIII took another step towards ensuring that Royal power would eventually trump Papal power. He presented to Parliament the 1534 Act for the Submission of the Clergy which stated that spiritual jurisdiction was inferior to both Royal supremacy and parliamentary statute good.
News of Henry VIII’s marriage and annulment travelled rapidly back to Rome and to the ears of Pope Clement VII. In response to Archbishop Cranmer’s annulment of the king’s marriage to Catherine, Pope Clement VII excommunicated Henry VIII from the Catholic church. This didn’t stop Henry VIII in his quest to assert his Royal supremacy over the papacy. The passing of the 1934 Act of Supremacy was the final straw with Rome. Interestingly, a break from Rome did not mean that Henry VIII wanted a complete break from the ideology of the Catholic Church. The Act of Supremacy did not actually give the king any new powers; it merely confirmed his position as head of the church and emphasised that he had the right to exercise powers that had always belonged to the crown anyway. As Duiker observed, ‘The Act of Supremacy declared that the king was “the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England,” a position that gave Henry VIII control of doctrine, clerical appointments, and discipline’. In essence, Henry VIII proclaims himself, not the pope, to be the head of the Church in England.
By their respective actions, Henry VIII and Clement VII sparked a radical transformation of English religious identity that would prove irreversible. No longer would the pope and Catholic church be regarded as the highest authority in England. Instead, it would be the king and the monarchy that held the balance of power. Many Catholic believers in England at the time recognised that the compromises that they made with the regime allowed key aspects of their beloved religion to be protected. There remained those who believed that the break from Rome would be temporary and was purely about Henry’s marital woes. For staunch Protestant believers, the victory of the gospel above the Papacy was the will of God and its rapid progress through Europe was proof of God’s favour. While England may have broken with Rome, there were only small changes in terms of ceremony, theology and doctrine. Radical changes such as clergy being allowed to marry, and a completely new Protestant church service would have to wait until after Henry’s death.
The English Reformation most certainly originated from Henry VIII’s desire to remove himself from a marriage that had failed to produce a male heir and hence, threatened his desire for a Tudor dynasty. With no male heir and an aging wife, Henry VIII needed the help of the Catholic church to remedy the situation. When the church and the pope refused to be swayed, Henry VIII knew that he needed to find another way. By taking advantage of some of the less savoury ecclesiastical practices of the time, Henry VIII was able to get a series of statutes passed by the Parliament that allowed him to assert his power over the church. The legislation passed by the Reformation Parliament combined with a general ‘clean-up’ of the clergy and their practices began the break between England and Rome. The rejection of Papal authority in favour of the king being the Supreme Head of the Church in England was entirely due to the tempestuous leadership of Henry VIII.
*disclaimer: The above was written by me as part of a University subject that I undertook in late 2019. You will see by the publication date here that the essay was already submitted and graded, results were released, and the term was well and truly over by the time I shared it here. Thanks must go to beautiful Anthony- my friend and proofreader.*
Bibliography (Because, let’s face it, I couldn’t have written this alone).
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