The Extent to Which England was a Protestant Country by 1547

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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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... however,

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.

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