The English Reformation to 1553
England had a reputation for maintaining the power of the king over the pope. Edward I rejected efforts of the pope to not tax the clergy. Parliament passed the Statutes of Province and the Praemunire in the mid-14th century to lessen payments to Rome. Lollardy, humanism and anticlerical feelings paved the road for Protestant ideas in the early 16th century.
Preconditions of Reform
William Tyndale translated the New Testament into English in 1524-1525 while residing in Germany. It was printed in Cologne and Worms. It began to circulate in England in 1526.
The chief minister to King Henry VIII, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Sir Thomas More, Wolsey’s successor, guided the opposition to Protestantism. The king earned the title “Defender of the Faith” by protecting the 7 sacraments against Luther’s attacks. Thomas More wrote Response to Luther in 1523.
The King’s Affair
The King’s marriage kick started the English Reformation. Catherine Aragon would not produce a male heir for King Henry VIII, only Mary, and Henry wanted a divorce.
Catherine had first been the wife of Henry’s brother, Arthur, but he died, so Henry inherited Catherine. They were married in 1509 with a special dispensation from Pope Julius II himself.
By the time of his divorce conflict, Henry was in love with Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting. He wanted to wed Anne instead of Catherine. However, he could not get a divorce because Pope Clement VII was a prisoner of Charles V.
Cardinal Wolsey, who was in charge of securing and annulment, was dismissed in shame when he failed to do so. Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, both of whom harbored Lutheran sympathies then became Henry’s most trusted advisors. They wanted to create an English church of which the King would be the head. This allowed Henry to annul his own marriage.
The “Reformation Parliament”
In 1529, Parliament convened for a seven-year session. It was called the