4.) Church of England: King Henry VII convinced Parliament to make him head of the Church of England in 1533-1534. King Henry VII wanted to become the leader of the Church of England because the pope did not allow him to divorce his then current wife, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine did not give birth to a living male heir, which caused King Henry to become angry. When King Henry became head of the Church of England, he took over money-making Catholic Church properties.
He petitioned to the Pope for an annulment, and when he was refused, decided that he needed not permission from the Pope on church matters in England. He then divorced Catherine of Aragon after his mistress, Anne Boleyn, was found with child. The king’s close friend, Thomas More, was very much against this. Thomas and Henry had both been very devout Catholics, having written “Declaration of the seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther” together, and so Thomas was shocked and disappointed to see his loved friend go against the faith in such a way. Thomas confronted Henry about this, causing great conflict between the two.
Meanwhile, Henry VIII had broken from the Roman Catholic Church establishing himself as Head of the Church of England. He closed monasteries, sold church lands thereby increasing royal revenues. These outlandish actions of Henry and Luther led to years of controversy and ill will among the churches. Nevertheless, Luther’s protests prevailed in the end, ultimately bringing protestant reform to
In anger, King Henry broke from the church and made himself head of the church of England. King Henry could do whatever he wanted, because the people of England had lost their freedom. Laws were created which forced people to stop practicing the Catholic religion and turn to Protestantism, which resulted in a great loss of souls. While all of this was
King Henry’s marriage to Katherine was finally annulled and he remarried to one of the queen’s servants Anne Boleyn but she did not bear a son either. When he died England became mainly Calvinistic with hints of Protestantism. The Catholic Church had a fairly slow response to the accusations of the corruption but they did form the Council of Trent which had the main job of defeating heresy in the Church. This council also introduced the Counter-Reformation which made many changes to the way the Church was being run and added more intellect elements in with the teachings.
Eventually, his beliefs led to the creation of Lutheranism. Initially, Henry VIII was against reformation. He wrote the Defense of the Seven Sacraments in response to Luther’s actions against the church beliefs. Henry VIII’s beliefs changed after his first
Henry VIII broke away from the Church so that he was able to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon when she would not give him a son as a heir. The church would not grant him his annulment, so he excommunicated himself from the Church. By doing so he became Protestant, and England broke away from the Catholic Church. After Henry died, his son ruled, before he died as well. After the reign of her half brother, Mary I, also known as Bloody Mary, became queen of England.
Henry thought that he didn’t need the pope’s approval to resolve the issues of the Catholic church. What he did was to convince Parliament that the Church one which included the divorce of his first wife. He placed himself as head of the church as a result, while many people defied and spoke out about the unfairness and betrayal of the Catholic faith. When King Henry became the Supreme Head of the Church in 1534, he gained authority over all the churches in England, using this power to take more money from the Catholics by marriage, baptism and funeral fees. Once he was appointed, he noticed that some monasteries were the wealthiest in England.
He allowed divorce in his church which allowed him to leave Catherine and get married to Ann. He also took control of land belonging to the Catholic Church and redistributed it to the nobles in England increasing the national treasury. The church of England only had minor differences from the Catholic Church and kept almost all of the Catholic practices. Both Martin Luther and Henry VIII provided new Bibles for their followers and reduce the power of the pope. Both the English Church and the Protestant church allow divorce to be practiced, which appealed to the common
In most cases, the Catholic Church was indeed incharge. Lutheranism wanted to be the new ones in charge since they believed the Catholics were wrong in their teachings. But, they refused to let go of their powers and dominance of all the citizens in the community. This caused the divisions with European Christians and Lutheranism and Calvinism/Anglicanism. Luther thought the Catholic Church and their popes were out of hand and should not control the people as much as they did.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the king possessed the greatest amount of power and influence in all of England, right after the Pope of course. In view of this, Henry VIII was able to control the fate of his six wives. He was desperate for an heir to the throne and insisted on divorcing his first wife, but “the pope refused to grant a divorce” (Hung). His “efforts to divorce Catherine,” soon “became a parting of the ways for the English political elite” (David 420). In view of this, Henry VIII was so determined to get his way that “he started a church of his own.
So, Henry got excommunicated. However, Henry was so determined to get the divorce that he made his own church, Church of England,
Henry's actions were based solely on personal reasons. At the beginning, Henry broke away from Rome because of his assertions of royal supremacy. The England church was a ‘monarchical’. Before he became king , he had a prayer scroll containing illuminations of the Trinity, the crucified Christ, and several martyred saints. The prayers contained martyred saints, St George slaying the dragon, and Christ’s passion.
The problem with the Reformation was that Henry did not have the control he wanted over it, (the problem being identical to the one he had with the Catholic Church). When Henry made his break from the Catholic Church, he did so to make himself supreme head of the English Church. Porter stated it perfectly when she said he “disliked superstition, idolatry, and anything that came between him and those he governed.” What he also came to dislike was the Lutheran and Calvinist churches and ideas that were being spread across his country, and what the reformers (and Parr herself) did not seem to understand, was that Henry was not for a complete overhaul of the Catholic Church, but rather a modification to remove what was irksome for him and the
After England’s separation from the catholic church and the death of Henry VIII, England was left in a state of unrest, especially when it came to national identity. Before Elizabeth’s reign, many people were unsure of the religion of the state, because of this many civil wars broke out within the kingdom to help solidify an identity. During the reign of henry VIII, the annulment of Henry’s first marriage with Catherine of Aragon resulted in the establishment of The Church of England in 1533. Since England was recognized as a catholic state, Henry’s profound actions incited religious reformation and would cause England to remain protestant until the ascension of his daughter Mary in 1553. The accession of Mary furthered uproar throughout the nation as it returned to Catholicism, which would yet again change the identity of England.
