English Reformation Research Paper

How did the English reformation have an effect on British society?
In 1536, the Act of Suppression closed down small monasteries with an income of less than £200 a year, giving the building, land and money to the King. The Second Suppression Act of 1539 allowed the Dissolution of the larger monasteries and religious houses. The Dissolution lead to King Henry becoming wealthier because of the amount of gold and silver confiscated from the monasteries. However, the King spent a great amount of the money gained on the war with France and Scotland. Monastic libraries and illuminated manuscripts were also lost or destroyed during the Dissolution.
Arguably, the Reformation had a whole lot to do with forming the Western society we know today. To

All church services were held in English. The Catholics were treated very badly and catholic bishops were locked up. After Edwards’s regime, Queen Mary 1st (1553-1558) was granted the power, and England returned to being a Catholic nation. The pope became the head of the church again, and the services changed back to Latin. Queen Mary received the nickname “Bloody Mary” after burning 300 Protestants at the stake. After Mary, Queen Elizabeth 1st (1558-1603) took over. She made England Protestant once again, and the Anglican Church was firmly established. Elizabeth did not want England to be divided over religion, so despite herself being a protestant, she allowed many things from the Catholic religion. She also disliked and punished extremists who tried to convert people to their faiths whether they were Catholics or

These different interests became more distinguishable during the reign of Henry 8th. Land occupied by Irish landowners were confiscated, and distributed to colonists. The colonists made plantations, which resulted in the creation of large Protestant English communities. In the late sixteen hundreds, the catholic King James 2nd was defeated by the protestant King William 3rd. This ensured the Protestant supremacy, and “penal laws” restricted the Catholics right to education, bear arms, driving and it limited their property ownership even further. The new laws created the first real reform movement, who lobbied for representation in parliament. The English did not want a revolution, so the penal laws were relaxed.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Irish groups, who aimed to preserve the language and Irish culture, started to gather. In May 1921, the Government of Ireland Act passed, and Northern Ireland was born. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was not too fond of this Act. They violently started to fight for the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and the reunification of Ireland. Events alongside with Bloody Sunday, where the British police shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march, have caused more than 3500 people their life, where almost 2000 were