The English Reformation
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The English Reformation was a series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England 
broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

These events were, in part, associated with the wider process of the European Protestant Reformation, 
a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity across most of Europe 
during this period. Many factors contributed to the process: the decline of feudalism and the rise 
of nationalism, the rise of the common law, the invention of the printing press and increased 
circulation of the Bible, the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars and the upper 
and middle classes. However, the various phases of the English Reformation, which also covered Wales 
and Ireland, were largely driven by changes in government policy, to which public opinion gradually 
accommodated itself.

The Protestant Reformation
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The Protestant Reformation resulted in a split in Western Christendom and was when the Church of 
England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church; before this only 
one church existed in Western Europe, the Roman Catholic Church, and at the top of this was the Pope 
in Rome who literally governed everything.

The Church was in disarray on the eve of the English Reformation, The Sweating Sickness had struck 
the population and the Catholic Church could offer no reason for the deadly disease and therefore, 
religious beliefs were sorely tested; the plague had such a devastating effect that people started 
to question religion in general, such as "How could God allow this to happen?"; many, previously 
devout, people became disillusioned with the church and its power and influence went into decline.

At that time there was also a growing Anti-clericalism and disrespect towards the clergy in general; 
Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a perfect example of this; the clergy was becoming increasingly 
poorly educated and the act of Simony, the selling of church offices, such as indulgences, was another 
problem.

Indulgences began during the crusades and were offered to the knights who were fighting for Christendom; 
the idea was that if you gave the church money, once you died, your soul would spent less time in 
purgatory and go faster to Heaven; the Papacy sold this idea to raise church funds; Johann Tetzel, 
one of those who helped sell the idea, had a phrase for it: "As soon as gold in the basin rings, the 
soul to heaven rings."

Martin Luther (1483 to 1546) was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the 
Protestant Reformation; he strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin 
could be purchased with money; he confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety Five 
Theses in 1517; his refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and 
the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the 
pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.

Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's 
grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin; his theology challenged the authority of 
the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely 
revealed knowledge and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptised Christians to be a holy 
priesthood; those who identified with Luther's teachings were called Lutherans.

His translation of the Bible into the language of the people, from Latin, made it more accessible, 
causing a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture; it fostered the development of a 
standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and 
influenced the translation into English of the King James Bible; his hymns influenced the development 
of singing in churches and his marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical 
marriage, allowing Protestant priests to marry.

Luther posted up his 95 theses at Wittenberg Castle, in which he denounced the selling of indulgences; 
part of his anger resulted from the fact that German money was going to Rome and thanks to the printing 
press, the 95 theses were printed all over Germany; in an Address to the Christian Nobility, he said 
that secular government had the right to reform the church; Luther was crafty here, he knew that if 
he got the nobles on his side it would mean that his ideas, and later his reformation would be successful, 
because it had support from the VIPs.

In one of the theses, 'On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church', Luther attacked the sacraments and 
in another the 'Liberty of a Christian Man', he put forward the idea of salvation by faith alone; in 
response Pope Leo X issued a Bull, a papal decree, and demanded that Luther recant; Luther took the 
Bull, went outside and publicly burned it, he no longer accepted papal authority and so the pope 
excommunicated him.

In 1521 he went before the Diet of Worms, when asked by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, "Do you or do 
you not repudiate your books and the errors that contain?", Luther responded, "Unless I am convicted 
by Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have 
contradicted each other; my conscious is captive to the Word of God; I cannot and I will not recant 
anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me, Amen."; Luther was 
subsequently banned by the Empire.

During his time as an "outlaw" he translated the Bible into German and he went from 7 to 2 sacraments, 
he only left baptism and communion; he rejected Transubstantiation and celibacy of the clergy; and he 
himself left the monastery, ran off with some girl, got married, and had several children.

Within 30 years of his 95 theses the Reformation reached Northern Germany, Scandinavia, parts of the 
Netherlands, France, Switzerland and ultimately England, and Scotland.

The English Reformation
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The English Reformation was less religious, than political; Henry VIII was married to Catherine of 
Aragon, the daughter of the Queen and King of Spain and after a number of tries Catherine was unable 
to give Henry the male heir that he wanted; the only child that Catherine gave Henry was Mary, who 
would later reign as Queen Mary.

Due to this Henry went to the pope to annul the marriage; however, Catherine was the aunt of Charles V, 
who was a devout defender of the Church and the Pope believed that if he gave the annulment to Henry, 
it would anger Charles V, who would then more than likely refuse to continue the defend of the Church, 
and the Pope also knew that the Church needed all the defenders it could get at that time; so the Pope 
subsequently refused to annul the marriage.

This infuriated Henry, who was already in love with another woman, Anne Boleyn, who was the mother of 
the future Queen Elizabeth I, so in November 1529 Henry decided to take matters in his own hands; he 
began what came to be known as the Reformation Parliament.

Henry kept Anne as his mistress and secretly married her, but he was still married to Catherine; Anne 
became pregnant and Henry knew he had to do something soon, so that his child would not be born 
illegitimate; he had to end his marriage with Catherine ASAP; he decided that the only way to do this 
was by cutting his relations off with the Catholic Church.

He repudiated papal supremacy in England, created 'The Church of England', also known as the Anglican 
Church, was made supreme head of the church in England and used the new church to annul his marriage 
to Catherine; that September a child was born, Elizabeth Tudor; this further disappointed Henry because 
he wanted a boy; he married a total of 6 times.

The consequences
****************
This event effectively lead to England breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church based in Rome. 
Henry placed himself as head of the church and in that sense, in his eyes, his divorce was perfectly 
legal. In 1533, few were brave enough to tell him otherwise!

How did the people of England react to this? In fact, the vast bulk of the population were very angry 
at the way the Roman Catholic Church had used them as a source of money. To get married you had to pay; 
to get a child baptised (which you needed to be if you were to go to Heaven - so the Catholic Church 
preached) you had to pay; you even had to pay the Church to bury someone on their land (which you had 
to do as your soul could only go to Heaven if you were buried on Holy Ground). Therefore, the Catholic 
Church was very wealthy while many poor remained just that, poor. Their money was going to the Catholic 
Church. Therefore, there were no great protests throughout the land as many felt that Henry would ease 
up on taking money from them. Henry knew of the Catholic Church’s unpopularity and, therefore, used 
this to his advantage.

Henry was made Supreme Head of the Church by an Act of Parliament in 1534. The country was still 
Catholic but the pope’s power had been ended.

The most wealthy Catholics in England were the monasteries where monks lived. They were also the most 
loyal supporters of the pope. This made them a threat to Henry.

By the time of Henry, many monks had grown fat and were lazy. They did not help the community as they 
were meant to do. All they seemed to do was take money from the poor. Also some monasteries were huge 
and owned vast areas of land. So here were monks not loyal to Henry who were also very wealthy. Henry 
decided to shut down the monasteries of England. The monasteries were to disappear like sugar dissolves 
in hot liquid. This is why Henry’s attack on the monasteries is called the 'Dissolution' - they were 
to be dissolved!

Henry wanted to make the Dissolution appear to be backed by law. He sent round government officials 
to check up on what the monks were doing. This was organised by his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell. 
The officials knew what the king wanted in their reports - information that the monks were not working, 
were not saying their prayers etc. Anything to discredit the monks was considered useful. Sometimes, 
the monks were asked trick questions. "Do you keep all of your vows?" If the monks answered "yes", 
but had taken a vow of silence, they had not kept all of their vows. If they refused to answer because 
of their vow of silence, they would be accused of failing to help the king. Or worse, were they trying 
to hide something?

One report sent to Cromwell commented that the head of the monastery visited, the prior, was a 
"virtuous man". However, his monks were "corrupt" and "full of vice". The report claimed that the 
monks had eight to ten girl friends each. This was all that Cromwell needed to shut down the monastery.

The allegations against some monks and nuns 'spoke' for themselves. At Bradley monastic house, the 
prior was accused of fathering six children; at Lampley Convent, Mariana Wryte had given birth to 
three children and Johanna Standen to six; at Lichfield Convent, two nuns were found to be pregnant 
and at Pershore Monastic House, monks were found to be drunk at Mass.

The smaller monasteries were shut down by 1536 while the larger and more valuable ones were shut by 
1540. Few people in England were sorry to see them go. Few monks protested as they were given pensions 
or jobs where their monastery was. The abbot of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, Marmaduke Bradley, was 
given a £100 pension a year for life - a considerable sum of money then. Some chief monks - abbots - 
were hanged but this was a rarity.

Some monastery buildings were reduced to ruin as the local population was allowed to take what they 
wanted as long as the silver and gold in the monastery went to the Crown. This meant that expensive 
building bricks etc. could be acquired for free. This alone made the Dissolution popular with the 
majority of the people who tended to dislike lazy monks anyhow.

The vast bulk of the wealth of the monasteries went to Henry. Some was spent building defences against 
France on the south coast around Portsmouth; a small amount went on paying pensions to monks and abbots.

The only real protest in England to what Henry was doing came in 1536 with the Pilgrimage of Grace. 
This was lead by Robert Aske, a lawyer. He wanted the monasteries left alone. Aske, along with several 
thousands of others, marched to London. Henry promised to look into their complaints and many of the 
protesters went home satisfied with this. Their complaints were never looked into.

Aske was arrested and hung from a church tower in chains until he died of starvation.

When Henry became king in 1509, the church in England was as follows:
 
	Head of the Church: the pope, based in Rome. 
	Church services: all were held in Latin. 
	Prayers: all said in Latin. 
	Bible: written in Latin. 
	Priests: not allowed to marry

By the death of Henry in 1547, the church in England was as follows: 

	Head of the Church : the king of England. 
	Church services : most held in Latin. 
	Prayers: most said in Latin. 
	The "Lord’s Prayer" was said in English. 
	Bible: written in English. 
	Priests: not allowed to marry.