5.9: The English Reformation

Whereas Lutheranism and Calvinism had come about as protests against the perceived moral and doctrinal failings of the Catholic church, the English Reformation happened because of the selfish desires of a king.

Henry VIII (r. 1509 – 1547) had received a special dispensation from the papacy to marry his brother’s widow (a practice banned in the Old Testament of the Bible). Catherine of Aragon was the aunt of Charles V and a member of the most powerful royal line in Europe. However, she failed to produce a son. (Their only daughter would go to rule as Mary I.) Henry decided he needed a new wife and another chance at a male heir, so he started an affair with Anne Boleyn, a young noblewoman. Simultaneously, Henry petitioned the pope for a divorce - a practice that was strictly forbidden. In 1531, Henry divorced Catherine and married Anne, without the pope's permission.

When Anne did not produce a male heir in a timely manner, Henry trumped up charges of adultery and had her beheaded. In 1534, as papal threats escalated over his impiety, Henry issued the Acts of Supremacy and Succession, effectively separating England from the Catholic Church and founding the Church of England. The Church of England was almost identical to the Catholic Church in its doctrine and rituals. It simply substituted the king at its apex and discarded allegiance to the Roman pope. It also gave Henry an excuse to seize Catholic lands and wealth. The spoils from these rich monasteries would fund the crown and its subsequent military and naval buildup into the reign of his daughter, Elizabeth I.

Figure 7.5.1: Easily the best-known portrait of Henry VIII in the prime of life.

Henry married a total of six wives over the course of his life, with two divorced, two executed, one dying of natural causes, and the last, Katherine Parr, surviving him. In the end, Henry had three children. Each one took the throne in fairly rapid succession. Under Edward VI (r. 1547 - 1553) and Mary (r. 1553 - 1558), the kingdom oscillated between an extreme form of Protestantism and an attempted Catholic resurgence. Elizabeth I (r. 1558 – 1603) would become one of Europe’s most effective monarchs. Part of her success was in stabilizing the religious issue in England: she insisted that her subjects be part of the Church of England, but she did not actively persecute Catholics.

England and Scotland were divided between competing Christian factions, but ones very distinct to the British Isles in comparison to the more straightforward Catholic versus Protestant conflicts on the European continent. The Church of England, whose adherents are known as Anglicans, had an official "high church" branch supported by the nobility and the monarchy itself. However, a growing movement openly embraced Calvinism, becoming known as Puritanism (or "low church") - still technically Anglican, but rejected by the Church hierarchy. Meanwhile, numerous Catholics continued to worship in secret. Finally, most of Scotland became devoutly Calvinist, while many Scottish nobles remained Catholic until well into the seventeenth century.

Europe in the Mid-16th Century

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica