The Reformation in Britain

Introduction:

The Reformation in Britain:

1. The reign of Henry VIII:

a. Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon: the divorce issue

b. Thomas Cromwell's ascendancy, 1531-1540, and the establishment of royal supremacy over the church in England (Church of England)

c. Constitutional implications of England's break with Rome

d. The dissolution of the monasteries

e. Henry VIII's foreign policy

f. Anne Boleyn accused of adultery and Henry other wife's

2. The reign of Edward VI: Ecclesiastical and theological developments

3. The reign of Mary Tudor: The attempts to reverse the English Reformation fail.

4. The reign of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603:

a. The re-introduction of the Church of England

b. Marriage, succession and Mary, Queen of Scots

c. Constitutional developments

d. Foreign policy

e. The growth in seapower and empire

f. Catholics and Puritans during the reign of Elizabeth I

The Scottish Reformation:

1. The reign of James V

2. The reign of Mary, Queen of Scots

3. John Knox

Bibliography:

Introduction

The aim of this essay is to write about the impact of the Reformation in Britain and Scotland had on religious and they cultural over the course of a 'long sixteenth century' (roughly 1480-1640).

"Until early in the seventeenth century, Great Britain was divided between the house of Tudor in England and Stuart kingdom of Scotland. The two houses were related by blood, and eventually the two kingdoms would be united. But, during the sixteenth century, their relationship was one of enmity and open warfare, and therefore the Reformation followed a different course in each of them. For this reason in ....we shall deal first with the Reformation in England and then turn to the Scottish Reformation."

The Reformation in Britain

The reign of Henry VIII:

"In 1503 the future Henry VIII married his elder brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, a younger daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. In light of the Old Testament warnings that the man who took his brother's widow to wife would have no issue, Pope Julius II issued a dispensation for the marriage." But Queen Catherine gave Henry no male heir, their only surviving child was Princess Mary Tudor not having a son to carry on his line, King Henry feared he was under God's wrath. "Henry was growing frustrated by his lack of a male heir, but he remained a devoted husband. He had at least two mistresses that we know of: Bessie Blount and Mary Boleyn. By 1526 though, he had begun to separate from Catherine because he had fallen in love with one of her ladies (and sister of one of his mistresses): Anne Boleyn." In 1527 Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. King Henry requests that Rome annul his union with Catherine, thus leaving him free to marry Anne. "Such annulments were not uncommon, and the pope would grant them for various reasons. In this particular case, the argument was that, in spite of the papal dispensation, the marriage between Henry and his brother's widow was not licit, and that therefore it had never a true marriage. But other factors completely unrelated to canon law were much more weighty. The main consideration was that Catherine was the aunt of Charles V, who at that time had the pope practically under his thumb, and who had received a plea from his aunt to save from dishonor. The pope Clement VII could not invalidate Henry's marriage to Catherine without alienating Charles V." He refuse Henry's request.

The pope reluctantly authorized a commission consisting of cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio to decide the issue in England. Catherine denied the jurisdiction of the court, and before a decision could be reached, Clement had the hearing adjourned (1529) to Rome. The failure of the commission, followed by reconciliation between Charles V and Francis I, led to the fall of Wolsey and to the initiation by Henry of an anti-ecclesiastical policy intended to force the pope's assent to the divorce.

Under the guidance of the king's new minister, Thomas Cromwell, the anticlerical Parliament drew up in 1532 the Supplication Against the Ordinaries, a long list of grievances against the church. In a document known as the Submission of the Clergy, the convocation of the English church accepted Henry's claim that all ecclesiastical legislation was subject to royal approval. Acts stopping the payment of annates to Rome and forbidding appeals to the pope followed. The pope still refused to give way on the divorce issue, but he did agree to the appointment (1533) of the king's nominee, Thomas Cranmer, as archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer immediately pronounced Henry's marriage with Catherine invalid and crowned Anne (already secretly married to Henry) queen, and the pope excommunicated Henry.

In 1534 the breach with Rome was completed by the Act of Supremacy, 'crowned the revolutionary edifice. Henry became without qualification the "only supreme head in earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia"' . Any effective opposition was suppressed by the Act of Succession entailing the crown on Henry's heirs by Anne, by an extensive and severe Act of Treason, and by the strict administration of the oath of supremacy. A number of prominent churchmen and laymen, including former chancellor Sir Thomas More,' It is said that Thomas More's answer was "I never intend to pin my conscience to another man's back."' , were executed, thus changing Henry's legacy from one of enlightenment to one of bloody suppression. Under Cromwell's supervision, a visitation of the monasteries in 1535 led to an act of Parliament in 1536 by which smaller monasteries reverted to the crown, and the others were confiscated within the next few years. By distributing some of this property