The Extent to Which England was a Protestant Country by 1547
In this essay, I shall be exploring the extent of how Protestant a
country England was by 1547. The differences between Protestantism and
Catholicism form a solid base in order to understand the situation in
1547 and decide which religion became more popular. Traditional
Catholic beliefs rested on seven Sacraments: Baptism, Penance and
Reconciliation, Last rites, Holy Orders, Marriage and the Eucharist.
They believed in ‘Justification by Good works’. This meant that they
believed that in order to reach heaven they can do works to spend less
time in purgatory and reach heaven faster. This can be done through
indulgences. An indulgence implies that the Priest has a direct link
to God. However, the Protestant beliefs introduced by Martin Luther
that influenced the protestant ideas in England were completely
different. He believed in ‘Justification by Faith Alone.’ He also
criticises the seven Sacraments. Such as the role of the Priest, the
Eucharist and the process of transubstantiation.
To what extent was England a protestant country by 1547 is a complex
question and it has been argued by many that England was still a
fundamentally catholic country by the death of Henry VIII, and that it
was the events of the reign that followed that played the important
part in making England protestant. It can also be argued that the
damage done to the roman catholic church such as the dissolution of
the monasteries in which Between 1536 and 1540, Henry dissolved all
the monasteries that had not previously been dissolved. and also the
royal supremacy made it slightly more difficult for He...
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many parts of the old church had been destroyed.
The manner in which Henry VIII played upon the anti-clerical feelings
of many in Parliament was crucial to the advancement of Protestant
religious doctrines in later decades. At the time of Henry's break
from Rome, the English people were relatively content with the
teachings of the Catholic Church, although occasionally resented
hypocritical and worldly priests. The competing religious tendencies
between government and people did not work themselves out in favour of
a more Protestant England until after 1547. Henry always considered
himself "catholic" in his beliefs and wished the Church of England to
remain so as well: he considered the extremes of both Roman
Catholicism and heretical Protestantism and tried contain them both in
almost his own religion.
Social changes after the Reformation progressed and the power occurred. The local rulers and nobles collected after the clergy began to lose authority. Peasants revolted and resentful, the actions were condemned by Luther. The freedom the attempt from oppression and even death for some reason. The Reformation seemed to calm the peasants opportunity to challenge their place in the structure classes. One of the effects was when the lessening influence the Catholic Church and the rulers wanted to be less involved in matters of states. Clearly in England as Henry VIII break from papal authority and
Before the reformation Henry, the VIII had a lot of contributing factors to the start of the reformation. King Henry VIII wanted his marriage with his wife, Catherine of Aragon annulled because he wanted a male heir because at this time women wouldn't rule alone though his wife kept producing females and was about to become too old to have kids and king Henry VIII thought it was her fault not his so he wanted to marry and new younger person Anna Boleyn because he thought she would be
Cromwell initiated these changes to the faith, but Henry's Catholic faith ensured these changes were not too radical and chantries were still allowed to pray for souls in purgatory. Although Henry remained a Catholic, the end of papal power was signified in his becoming the head of the Church of England. However, with such movements that shook the foundations of England's faith, why was there so little opposition to the Henrician reformation? Perhaps on of the greatest tactics employed by the crown to prevent opposition was provoking fear amongst those who were likely to oppose the reformation. Henry had to start from the top, and therefore started by controlling parliament.
That is not to say there was no opposition to the reformation, for it was rife and potentially serious. The opposition came from both the upper and lower classes, from the monks and nuns and from foreign European powers. This opposition however, was cleverly minimised from the outset, Cromwell’s master plan ensured court opposition was minimal and new acts, oaths and decrees prevented groups and individuals from publicly voicing their dissatisfaction. Those who continued to counter such policies were ruthlessly and swiftly dealt with, often by execution, and used as examples to discourage others. Henry’s desire for a nation free of foreign religious intervention, total sovereign independence, a yearning of church wealth and the desire for a divorce sewed the seeds for reform.
In The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village, renowned scholar Eamonn Duffy investigates the English Reformation. Duffy pears through the eyes of the priest of a small, remote village in Southwestern England. Using Sir Christopher Trichay’s records of the parish, Duffy illustrates an image of Reformation opposite of what is predominantly assumed. Duffy argues the transformation that took place between 1530 and 1570, through the transition of four monarchs, was much more gradual that many interpret. Even though state mandate religious change affected the community of Morebath, the change did not ensue the violence that is often construed with the Reformation. Sir Christopher Trichay’s leadership and his portrayal of community life, the development and removal of St. Sidwell, and the participation in the church through stores develop Duffy’s argument of appeasement rather than violence during the English Reformation.
the aftermath of the Protestant reformation. In England, after the establishment of the separate Anglican church of England there were many protestant groups left in England still in conflict. These groups all tried to push and pull parliament in their favor -- which ultimately made it so that nothing could be done. These conflicts even came to the point of bloody civil wars and suffering on both sides of the fighting. Parliament ultimately decided to stop these wars by creating religious Act of Toleration (1689) for the non-conformist protestants.
The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread turmoil that took place throughout Europe between 1560 and 1660.
Martin Luther inspired another thinker of the time that questioned the Church’s beliefs. That man was John Calvin. The Catholic belief during the Renaissance and Reformation was that one’s good deeds hel...
The protestant reformation of 16th century had both: immediate and long term effects. Thus, we can see that it was a revolution of understanding the essence of religion, and of what God is. The protestant reformation is said to a religious movement. However, it also influenced the economical, political and social life of people. The most global, short term effect of the reformation was the reevaluation of beliefs, and, as a result, the loss of authority of the Holy Roman Empire. The long term effects were: the emergence of new heretical movements, the declining of papacy, thus the reevaluation of people’s view on the church and life values.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
To construct Saint Peters Basilica, Archbishop Albert borrowed money from the Fuggers (wealthy banking family). To pay for this loan Pope Leo X gave permission to Archbishop Albert to sell indulgences in Germany. An indulgence is a way to reconcile with God, by confessing your sins to a priest and perform a penance. By the later Middle Ages people believed that indulgence removed all their sins and ensured entry to heaven. The selling of indulgence troubled Luther, he thought people were ignorant to believe that they didn’t have to repent after they bought an indulgence.
The Protestant Reformation began in the early 16th century, and was a religious, political, and cultural movement to expose the corruption of the Catholic Church. It all began in Germany with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. Luther didn’t like some of the things that the Catholic Church were doing such as selling indulgences, and being the middlemen between God and the people. Therefore, Luther posted his 95 Theses, which were tweaks to the way the church operated. Luther never wanted or expected it to become a major religious revolution against the church, rather he simply wanted the church to make the changes. Regardless of Luther’s intentions, the Protestant Reformation had significant short-term and long-term causes and consequences for western civilization.
Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I may have been the English Reformation’s greatest benefactors, all because of self interest. Henry VIII was not originally Protestant, but after the pope denied him of his divorce, Henry VIII took things into his own hands. Due to the power kings had in the Middle Ages, Henry VIII was able to control Parliament and force it to do whatever he wanted. So in 1534, Henry VIII forced Parliament to pass a law he made known as the Act of Supremacy. The Act of Supremacy stated that the king ought to be the head of the Church of England. This law gave the king complete power over the Church of England, instead of the pope. However, the type of church and state relationship did not change. Rather all the Act of Supremacy did was take power from the pope and give it to the king. Surprisingly, the Catholics did not retaliate against this strong change. The pope had always been the head of the church, but now the king had taken his position. This serves as an example of nationalism. The Catholics did not think about how removing the pope could harm their religion in any way. However, instead the people blindly followed Henry VIII because he was the leader of the nation and they assumed he was right. Also, by imposing other laws that punished Protestants, Henry VIII did not give the people much of a choice. Fortunately, for Henry VII, nationalis...
In 1517, when reformist Martin Luther wrote an indictment of the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church called the 95 Theses, he appealed to many people across Europe. In his indictment he greatly criticized and addressed the selling of indulgences above all. At first, a person would have to do “work of satisfaction” like fasting, prayer, almsgiving, retreats and pilgrimages in return for an indulgence. But when the empire was in need of money to fight off the Ottoman Empire and rebuild St. Peter’s in Rome, the pope allowed indulgences to be sold for money where he would receive half the proceeds and the other half would go to funding. This is when Luther was even more angered by the selling of indulgences since he already believed that salvation could not be obtained by man’s own effort, but more the fact that man would be saved only if God willed it. It was that event that prompted the German monk to post his ideas and beliefs as the 95 Theses and address the abuse of selling indulgences in it.
After the death of Henry in 1547, a 10 year old Edward came to the throne. The English Church became increasingly Protestant in worship and doctrine under the Protestant Lord Somerset. Mary succeeded the throne after Edward’s death in 1553. Mary was a devout Catholic and saw it her mission to restore Catholicism back to England. She used mainly persecution to do this, by burning Protestants for not renouncing their beliefs, these actions turned many English people against Catholicism.