Henry VIII and his Reformation of the Church in England

Henry VIII and his Reformation of the Church in England

Henry VIII, in his Reformation of the English Church, was driven

mostly by political factors, but also partially by a belief that he

was one of the Kings of the Old Testament. Although the initial break

with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries seem to be the work

of a monarch who has changed his religious colours, and turned from

Catholicism to Protestantism, they were in fact only a means for

gaining money and divorce. By 1547, England was still essentially

Catholic.

Many traditional historians, such as G. R. Elton and A. G. Dickens,

believe that the Church originally came under attack in 1529 because

the laity were not satisfied with its work. According to Elton, 'If

one thing can be said of the English people early in the sixteenth

century it is that they thought little of priests.' People were

resentful of the wealth of the Church, (it owned approximately one

third of all the land, and the incomes of some of the great abbeys

exceeded the revenues of the greatest temporal lords), as they felt

that they could make better use of it. They were also aggrieved by the

Church courts, and more specifically the rights of benefit of clergy

and clerical sanctuary, especially after the Hunne case. This view

also seems to be supported by contemporary opinion. Evangelicals, such

as Simon Fish, had new ideas, and believed that the Church was wrong,

while even members of the clergy, like John Colet, seemed to be

dissatisfied with the work of the Church. Christian Humanists, for

instance Erasmus, wanted a better and more accurate version of the

Bible, and even totally devout ...

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... noble

progenitors of right ought to have been, a full king, that is, a rule,

and not rule in his kingdom as others were.'

Bibliography

Belloc, Hilaire. Characters of the Reformation TAN Books, October 3, 1992

Elton, Geoffrey Rudolph. Reform and Reformation: England, 1509-1558. Harvard University Press, Jan 1, 1977

Haigh, Christopher. English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors Oxford University Press, June 24, 1993.

Lotherington, John. The Tudor Years. Hodder Education, 7 July 1994.

Randell, Keith. Henry VIII and the Government of England, Hodder Education; 2nd Revised edition edition 1 Jun 2001.

Rex, Richard. Henry VIII. Gloucestershire: Amberly Publishing Plc, 2009

Lucas, Henry S. The Renaissance and the Reformation Second Edition New York: Harper Brothers, 1960.