During the 1400’s and 1500’s the Catholic church was the supreme power over everything. The Pope was the leader of the church and and played a big role in the government. During this time Reformists such as Luther and Calvin were creating new religions that took power from the Papacy. In 1534 King Henry VIII declared himself to be supreme leader of the Church of England. King Henry did no longer want to be under the control of the Catholic church and wanted the supreme power for himself. This resulted in a schism with the Papacy. As a result of this schism, many non-Anglicans consider that the Church of England was taking power away from the Papacy and the agreed with this because of all the impurities of the Catholic Church. Schism was the division between people, usually belonging to a specific organization, or religious denomination.The first break with the Catholic Church subsequently came when Pope Clement VII refused, over a period of years, to allow and give his blessing of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, not purely as a matter of principle, but because the Pope was fearful of the power of Catherine's nephew, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, as a …show more content…
The early legislation focused primarily on the differences of the temporal and spiritual supremacy. The Church of England became the established church by an Act of Parliament in the Act of Supremacy passed by Queen Elizabeth, beginning a series of events known as the English Reformation. During the reign of Queen Mary I and King Philip, the church was fully restored under Rome in 1555. However, the pope's authority was again turned downed and rejected after the rule of Queen Elizabeth I when the Act of Supremacy 1558 was