English Reformation - Wikipedia

2/9/2021 English Reformation - Wikipedia
English Reformation
The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England
when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the
Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. These events were, in part,
associated with the wider European Protestant Reformation, a
religious and political movement that affected the practise of
Christianity in western and central Europe. Causes included the
invention of the printing press, increased circulation of the Bible and
the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars, the
upper and middle classes and readers in general. The phases of the
English Reformation, which also covered Wales and Ireland, were
largely driven by changes in government policy, to which public
opinion gradually accommodated itself.
Based on Henry VIII's desire for an annulment of his marriage (first

requested of Pope Clement VII in 1527), the English Reformation
began as more of a political affair than a theological dispute. The
reality of political differences between Rome and England allowed
growing theological disputes to come to the fore.[1] Until the break King Henry VIII of England by Hans
with Rome, the Pope and general councils of the church decided Holbein the Younger. Thyssen-
doctrine. Church law was governed by canon law with final Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.
jurisdiction in Rome. Church taxes were paid straight to Rome and
the Pope had the final word in the appointment of bishops.
The break with Rome was effected by a series of Acts of Parliament passed between 1532 and 1534,
among them the 1534 Act of Supremacy, which declared that Henry was the "Supreme Head on earth of
the Church of England".[2] (This title was renounced by Mary I in 1553 in the process of restoring papal
jurisdiction; when Elizabeth I reasserted the royal supremacy in 1559, her title was Supreme
Governor.[2]) Final authority in doctrinal and legal disputes now rested with the monarch; the papacy
was deprived of revenue and the final say on the appointment of bishops.
The theology and liturgy of the Church of England became markedly Protestant during the reign of
Henry's son Edward VI, largely along lines laid down by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Under Mary, the
process was reversed and the Church of England was again placed under papal jurisdiction. Elizabeth
reintroduced the Protestant religion but in a more moderate manner. The structure and theology of the
church was a matter of fierce dispute for generations.
The violent aspect of these disputes, manifested in the English Civil Wars, ended when the last Roman
Catholic monarch, James II, was deposed and Parliament employed William III and Mary II jointly to
rule in conjunction with the English Bill of Rights in 1688 (in the "Glorious Revolution"), from which
emerged a church polity with an established church and a number of non-conformist churches whose
members suffered various civil disabilities until these were removed many years later. The legacy of the
Roman Catholic heritage and establishment as the state church remained controversial for many years
and still exists. A substantial but dwindling minority of people from the late 16th to early 19th centuries
remained Roman Catholic in England. Their church organisation remained illegal until the Relief Act of
1829.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Reformation 1/35
Contents
New religious ideas
Henrician Reformation
Annulment controversy
Parliamentary debate and legislation
Actions against clergy
Royal supremacy
Moderate religious reform
Dissolution of the monasteries
Reforms reversed
Edwardian Reformation
Iconoclasm and abolition of chantries
1549 prayer book
Rebellion
Further reform
1552 prayer book and parish confiscations
Edward's succession
Marian Restoration
Reconciling with Rome
Catholic recovery
Obstacles
Elizabethan Settlement
Consequences
Historiography
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
Historiograpical
Primary sources
External links
New religious ideas

The Reformation was a clash of two opposed schemes of salvation. The Catholic Church taught that the
contrite person could cooperate with God towards their salvation by performing good works.[3] Medieval
Catholic worship was centred on the Mass, the church's offering of the sacrifice of Christ's body and
blood. The Mass was also an offering of prayer by which the living could help souls in purgatory.[4]
Protestants taught that fallen humanity was helpless and under condemnation until given the grace of
God through faith.[3] They believed the Catholic emphasis on purgatory was an obstacle to true faith in
God and the identification of the Mass with Christ's sacrifice a blasphemous perversion of the
Eucharist.[5][6] In place of the Mass, Protestant worship was centred on the Bible–to them the only road
to faith in Christ–either read or presented in sermons.[5]
Lollardy anticipated some Protestant teachings. Derived from the writings of John Wycliffe, a 14th-
century theologian and Bible translator, Lollardy stressed the primacy of scripture and emphasised
preaching over the sacrament of the altar, holding the latter to be but a memorial.[7][8] Unlike
Protestants, the early Lollards lacked access to the printing press and failed to gain a foothold among the
church's most popular communicators, the friars. Unable to gain access to the levers of power, the
Lollards were much reduced in numbers and influence by the 15th century. They sometimes faced
investigation and persecution and rarely produced new literature after 1450.[9] Lollards could still be
found—especially in London and the Thames Valley, in Essex and Kent, Coventry, Bristol and even in the
North—and many would be receptive to Protestant ideas.[10]
More respectable and orthodox calls for reform came from Renaissance humanists, such as Erasmus
(who lived in England for a time), John Colet, Dean of St Paul's, and Thomas More. Humanists
downplayed the role of rites and ceremonies in achieving salvation and criticised the superstitious
veneration of relics. Erasmus and Colet emphasised a simple, personal piety and a return ad fontes
("back to the sources") of Christian faith—the scriptures as understood through textual and linguistic
scholarship.[11] Colet's commentaries on the Pauline epistles emphasized double predestination and the
worthlessness of human works. Anne Boleyn's own religious views were shaped by French humanists
such as Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, whose 1512 commentaries on Paul's epistles stated that human works
were irrelevant to salvation five years before Luther published the same views.[12][13]
Humanist scholarship provided arguments against papal primacy and support for the claim that popes
had usurped powers that rightfully belonged to kings. In 1534, Lorenzo Valla's On the Donation of
Constantine—which proved that one of the pillars of the papacy's temporal authority was a hoax—was
published in London. Thomas Cromwell paid for an English translation of Marsiglio of Padua's Defensor
pacis in 1535. The conservative cleric Stephen Gardiner used Marsiglio's theory of a unitary realm to
defend royal power over spiritual as well as secular affairs.[14]
By the early 1520s, the views of German reformer Martin Luther were known and disputed in
England.[15] The main plank of Luther's theology was justification by faith alone rather than by good
works. In this view, only faith, itself a gift from God, can secure the grace of God. Justification by faith
alone threatened the whole basis of the Roman Catholic penitential system with its doctrine of
purgatory, prayer for the dead, indulgences, and the sacrificial character of the Mass.[16][17] Early
Protestants portrayed Catholic practices such as confession to priests, clerical celibacy, and requirements
to fast and keep vows as burdensome and spiritually oppressive. Not only did purgatory lack any biblical
basis according to Protestants, but the clergy were accused of using fear of purgatory to make money
from prayers and masses. Catholics countered that justification by faith alone was a "licence to sin".[18]
English Catholicism was strong and popular in the early 1500s, and those who held Protestant
sympathies would remain a religious minority until political events intervened.[19] Protestant ideas were
popular among some parts of the English population, especially among academics and merchants with
connections to continental Europe.[20] The first open demonstration of support for Luther took place at
Cambridge in 1521 when a student defaced a copy of the papal bull of condemnation against Luther.[21]
Also at Cambridge was a group of reform-minded university students that met at the White Horse tavern
from the mid-1520s, known by the moniker "Little Germany". Its members included Robert Barnes,
Hugh Latimer, John Frith, Thomas Bilney, George Joye and Thomas Arthur.[22]
The publication of William Tyndale's English New Testament in

1526 helped to spread Protestant ideas. Printed abroad and
smuggled into the country, the Tyndale Bible was the first English
Bible to be mass produced; there were probably 16,000 copies in
England by 1536. Tyndale's translation was highly influential,
forming the basis of all later English translations.[23] An attack on
traditional religion, Tyndale's translation included an epilogue
explaining Luther's theology of justification by faith, and many
The Tyndale Bible was the basis for
translation choices were designed to undermine traditional Catholic
later English translations.
teachings. Tyndale translated the Greek word charis as favour
rather than grace to de-emphasize the role of grace-giving
sacraments. His choice of love rather than charity to translate agape
de-emphasized good works. When rendering the Greek verb metanoeite into English, Tyndale used
repent rather than do penance. The former word indicated an internal turning to God, while the latter
translation supported the sacrament of confession.[24]
Between 1530 and 1533, Thomas Hitton (England's first Protestant martyr), Thomas Bilney, Richard
Bayfield, John Tewkesbury, James Bainham, Thomas Benet, Thomas Harding, John Frith and Andrew
Hewet were burned to death.[25] In 1531, William Tracy was posthumously convicted of heresy for
denying purgatory and affirming justification by faith, and his corpse was disinterred and burned.[26]
While Protestants were only a small portion of the population and suffered persecution, the rift between
the king and papacy in the 1530s gave Protestants opportunities to form new alliances with government
officials.[27]
Henrician Reformation
Annulment controversy
Henry VIII acceded to the English throne in 1509 at the age of 17. He
made a dynastic marriage with Catherine of Aragon, widow of his
brother Arthur, in June 1509, just before his coronation on
Midsummer's Day. Unlike his father, who was secretive and
conservative, the young Henry appeared the epitome of chivalry and
sociability. An observant Roman Catholic, he heard up to five masses
a day (except during the hunting season); of "powerful but
unoriginal mind", he let himself be influenced by his advisors from
whom he was never apart, by night or day. He was thus susceptible
to whoever had his ear.[28]
This contributed to a state of hostility between his young

contemporaries and the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.
As long as Wolsey had his ear, Henry's Roman Catholicism was
secure: in 1521, he had defended the Roman Catholic Church from
Martin Luther's accusations of heresy in a book he wrote—probably Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's
with considerable help from the conservative Bishop of Rochester first wife. Attributed to Joannes
John Fisher[29]—entitled The Defence of the Seven Sacraments, for Corvus, National Portrait Gallery,
which he was awarded the title "Defender of the Faith" (Fidei London.
Defensor) by Pope Leo X.[30] (Successive English and British
monarchs have retained this title to the present, even after the
Anglican Church broke away from Roman Catholicism, in part because the title was re-conferred by
Parliament in 1544, after the split.) Wolsey's enemies at court included those who had been influenced
by Lutheran ideas,[31] among whom was the attractive, charismatic Anne Boleyn.
Anne arrived at court in 1522 as maid of honour to Queen Catherine, having spent some years in France
being educated by Queen Claude of France. She was a woman of "charm, style and wit, with will and
savagery which made her a match for Henry".[32] Anne was a distinguished French conversationalist,
singer, and dancer. She was cultured and is the disputed author of several songs and poems.[33] By 1527,
Henry wanted his marriage to Catherine annulled.[34] She had not produced a male heir who survived
longer than two months, and Henry wanted a son to secure the Tudor dynasty. Before Henry's father
(Henry VII) ascended the throne, England had been beset by civil warfare over rival claims to the
English crown. Henry wanted to avoid a similar uncertainty over the succession.[35] Catherine of
Aragon's only surviving child was Princess Mary.
Henry claimed that this lack of a male heir was because his marriage
was "blighted in the eyes of God".[36] Catherine had been his late
brother's wife, and it was therefore against biblical teachings for
Henry to have married her (Leviticus 20:21); a special dispensation
from Pope Julius II had been needed to allow the wedding in the
first place.[37] Henry argued the marriage was never valid because
the biblical prohibition was part of unbreakable divine law, and even
popes could not dispense with it.[38] In 1527, Henry asked Pope
Clement VII to annul the marriage, but the Pope refused. According
to canon law, the pope could not annul a marriage on the basis of a
canonical impediment previously dispensed. Clement also feared the
wrath of Catherine's nephew, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V,
whose troops earlier that year had sacked Rome and briefly taken
the Pope prisoner.[39]
The combination of his "scruple of conscience" and his captivation

by Anne Boleyn made his desire to rid himself of his Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second
compelling.[40] The indictment of his chancellor Cardinal Wolsey in wife, by an unknown artist. National
1529 for praemunire (taking the authority of the papacy above the Portrait Gallery, London.
Crown), and subsequent death in November 1530 on his way to
London to answer a charge of high treason left Henry open to the
opposing influences of the supporters of the Queen and those who sanctioned the abandonment of the
Roman allegiance, for whom an annulment was but an opportunity.[41]
Parliamentary debate and legislation
In 1529, the King summoned Parliament to deal with annulment, thus bringing together those who
wanted reform but who disagreed what form it should take; it became known as the Reformation
Parliament. There were common lawyers who resented the privileges of the clergy to summon laity to
their courts;[42] there were those who had been influenced by Lutheranism and were hostile to the
theology of Rome; Thomas Cromwell was both. Henry's chancellor, Thomas More, successor to Wolsey,
also wanted reform: he wanted new laws against heresy.[43]
Cromwell was a lawyer and a member of Parliament—a Protestant who saw how Parliament could be
used to advance the Royal Supremacy, which Henry wanted, and to further Protestant beliefs and
practices Cromwell and his friends wanted.[44] One of his closest friends was Thomas Cranmer, soon to
be made an archbishop.
In the matter of the annulment, no progress seemed possible. The

Pope seemed more afraid of Emperor Charles V than of Henry. Anne
and Cromwell and their allies wished simply to ignore the Pope, but
in October 1530 a meeting of clergy and lawyers advised that
Parliament could not empower the archbishop to act against the
Pope's prohibition. Henry thus resolved to bully the priests.[45]
Actions against clergy
Having brought down his chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII

finally resolved to charge the whole English clergy with praemunire
to secure their agreement to his annulment. The Statute of
Praemunire, which forbade obedience to the authority of the Pope or Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
of any foreign rulers, enacted in 1392, had been used against (c. 1485–1540), Henry VIII's chief
individuals in the ordinary course of court proceedings. Now Henry, minister 1532–40.
having first charged Queen Catherine's supporters, Bishops John
Fisher, Nicholas West and Henry Standish and Archdeacon of
Exeter, Adam Travers, decided to proceed against the whole clergy.[46] Henry claimed £100,000 from
the Convocation of Canterbury (a representative body of English clergy) for their pardon, which was
granted by the Convocation on 24 January 1531. The clergy wanted the payment spread over five years,
but Henry refused. The convocation responded by withdrawing their payment altogether and demanded
Henry fulfil certain guarantees before they would give him the money. Henry refused these conditions.
He agreed only to the five-year period of payment and added five articles that specified that:
1. The clergy recognise Henry as the "sole protector and Supreme Head of the Church and clergy of
England".[47]
2. The King had spiritual jurisdiction
3. The privileges of the church were upheld only if they did not detract from the royal prerogative and
the laws of the realm
4. The King pardoned the clergy for violating the statute of praemunire, and
5. The laity were also pardoned.
In Parliament, Bishop Fisher championed Catherine and the clergy; he had inserted into the first article
the phrase "as far as the word of God allows".[48][49] In Convocation, however, William Warham,
Archbishop of Canterbury, requested a discussion but was met by a stunned silence; then Warham said,
"He who is silent seems to consent", to which a clergyman responded, "Then we are all silent." The
Convocation granted consent to the King's five articles and the payment on 8 March 1531. That same
year, Parliament passed the Pardon to Clergy Act 1531.
Royal supremacy
The breaking of the power of Rome proceeded little by little. In 1532, Cromwell brought before
Parliament the Supplication Against the Ordinaries, which listed nine grievances against the church,
including abuses of power and Convocation's independent legislative power. Finally, on 10 May, the King
demanded of Convocation that the church renounce all authority to make laws. On 15 May, the
Submission of the Clergy was subscribed, which recognised Royal Supremacy over the church so that it
could no longer make canon law without royal licence—i.e., without the King's permission—thus
emasculating it as a law-making body. (Parliament subsequently passed this in 1534 and again in 1536.)
The day after this, More resigned as chancellor, leaving Cromwell as Henry's chief minister. (Cromwell
never became chancellor. His power came—and was lost—through his informal relations with Henry.)
Several acts of Parliament then followed. The Act in Conditional Restraint of Annates proposed that the
clergy pay no more than 5 percent of their first year's revenue (annates) to Rome. This was initially
controversial and required that Henry visit the House of Lords three times to browbeat the
Commons.[50]
The Act in Restraint of Appeals, drafted by Cromwell, apart from

outlawing appeals to Rome on ecclesiastical matters, declared that
This realm of England is an Empire, and so hath been

accepted in the world, governed by one Supreme Head
and King having the dignity and royal estate of the
Imperial Crown of the same, unto whom a body politic
compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in
terms and by names of Spirituality and Temporality, be
bounden and owe to bear next to God a natural and
humble obedience.[51]
This declared England an independent country in every respect.

English historian Geoffrey Elton called this act an "essential
ingredient" of the "Tudor revolution" in that it expounded a theory Thomas More, with John Fisher the
[52] leader of political resistance against
of national sovereignty. The Act in Absolute Restraint of Annates
the break with Rome. Both were
outlawed all annates to Rome and also ordered that if cathedrals
executed in 1535.
refused the King's nomination for bishop, they would be liable to
punishment by praemunire. Finally in 1534, the Acts of Supremacy
made Henry "supreme head in earth of the Church of England" and
disregarded any "usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority [or] prescription".[53]
Meanwhile, having taken Anne to France on a pre-nuptial honeymoon, Henry married her in
Westminster Abbey in January 1533. This was made easier by the death of Archbishop Warham, a strong
opponent of an annulment. Henry appointed Thomas Cranmer to succeed him as Archbishop of
Canterbury. Cranmer was prepared to grant the annulment of the marriage to Catherine as Henry
required, going so far as to pronounce on 23 May the judgment that Henry's marriage with Catherine
was against the law of God.[54] Anne gave birth to a daughter, Princess Elizabeth, in September 1533.
The Pope responded to the marriage by excommunicating both Henry and Cranmer from the Roman
Catholic Church (11 July 1533).[55] Henry was excommunicated again in December 1538.
Consequently, in the same year the Act of First Fruits and Tenths transferred the taxes on ecclesiastical
income from the Pope to the Crown. The Act Concerning Peter's Pence and Dispensations outlawed the
annual payment by landowners of one penny to the Pope. This Act also reiterated that England had "no
superior under God, but only your Grace" and that Henry's "imperial crown" had been diminished by
"the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations and exactions" of the Pope.[56]
In case any of this should be resisted, Parliament passed the Treasons Act 1534, which made it high
treason punishable by death to deny Royal Supremacy. The following year, Thomas More and John
Fisher were executed under this legislation. Finally, in 1536, Parliament passed the Act against the
Pope's Authority, which removed the last part of papal authority still legal. This was Rome's power in
England to decide disputes concerning Scripture.
Moderate religious reform
The break with Rome gave Henry VIII power to administer the English Church, tax it, appoint its
officials, and control its laws. It also gave him control over the church's doctrine and ritual.[57] Despite
reading Protestant books, such as Simon Fish's Supplication for the Beggars and Tyndale's The
Obedience of a Christian Man, and seeking Protestant support for his annulment,[58] Henry's religious
views remained conservative. Nevertheless, to promote and defend the Royal Supremacy, he embraced
the language of the continental Reformation all while maintaining a middle way between religious
extremes. The King relied on men with Protestant sympathies, such as Thomas Cromwell and Thomas
Cranmer, to carry out his religious programme.[59]
Since 1529, Cranmer had risen to prominence as part of the team working on the annulment. Having
begun the task as a Catholic humanist, Cranmer's religious views had shifted toward Protestantism by
1531, in part due to the personal contacts made with continental reformers.[60] While on a diplomatic
mission to Emperor Charles V in 1532, Cranmer visited Lutheran Nuremberg where he became friends
with theologian Andreas Osiander. It was at this time that Cranmer became interested in Lutheranism,
and he renounced his priestly vow of celibacy to secretly marry Osiander's niece.[61] The Lutherans,
however, were not in favour of the annulment, forcing Cranmer and Henry to also seek support from
other emerging Protestant churches in Germany and Switzerland. This brought him into contact with
Martin Bucer of Strasbourg.[62] After Warham's death, Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury
(with papal consent) in 1533.[63]
In 1534, a new Heresy Act ensured that no one could be punished for speaking against the pope and also
made it more difficult to convict someone of heresy; however, sacramentarians and Anabaptists
continued to be vigorously persecuted.[64] What followed was a period of doctrinal confusion as both
conservatives and reformers attempted to shape the church's future direction.[65] The reformers were
aided by Cromwell, who in January 1535 was made vicegerent in spirituals. Effectively the King's vicar
general, Cromwell's authority was greater than that of bishops, even the Archbishop of Canterbury.[66]
Largely due to Anne Boleyn's influence, a number of Protestants were appointed bishops between 1534
and 1536. These included Latimer, Thomas Goodrich, John Salcot, Nicholas Shaxton, William Barlow,
John Hilsey and Edward Foxe.[67] During the same period, the most influential conservative bishop,
Stephen Gardiner, was sent to France on a diplomatic mission and thus removed from an active role in
English politics for three years.[68]
Cromwell's programme, assisted by Anne Boleyn's influence over episcopal appointments, was not
merely against the clergy and the power of Rome. He persuaded Henry that safety from political
alliances that Rome might attempt to bring together lay in negotiations with the German Lutheran
princes of the Schmalkaldic League.[69] There also seemed to be a possibility that Emperor Charles V
might act to avenge his rejected aunt (Queen Catherine) and enforce the pope's excommunication. The
negotiations did not lead to an alliance but did bring Lutheran ideas to England.[70]
In 1536, Convocation adopted the first doctrinal statement for the Church of England, the Ten Articles.
This was followed by the Bishops' Book in 1537. These established a semi-Lutheran doctrine for the
church. Justification by faith, qualified by an emphasis on good works following justification, was a core
teaching. The traditional seven sacraments were reduced to three only—baptism, Eucharist and penance.
Catholic teaching on praying to saints, purgatory and the use of images in worship was undermined.[71]
In August 1536, the same month the Ten Articles were published,
Cromwell issued a set of Royal Injunctions to the clergy. Minor feast
days were changed into normal work days, including those
celebrating a church's patron saint and most feasts during harvest
time (July through September). The rationale was partly economic
as too many holidays led to a loss of productivity and were "the
occasion of vice and idleness".[72] In addition, Protestants
considered feast days to be examples of superstition.[73] Clergy were
to discourage pilgrimages and instruct the people to give to the poor
rather than make offerings to images. The clergy were also ordered
to place Bibles in both English and Latin in every church for the
people to read.[74] This last requirement was largely ignored by the
bishops for a year or more due to the lack of any authorised English
translation. The only complete vernacular version was the Coverdale
Bible finished in 1535 and based on Tyndale's earlier work. It lacked
royal approval, however.[75]
St Paul's Cross (in the lower left
Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch in his study of The Later corner of the painting) was a
Reformation in England, 1547–1603 argues that after 1537, prominent preaching cross on the
"England's Reformation was characterized by its hatred of images, grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral.
as Margaret Aston's work on iconoclasm and iconophobia has
repeatedly and eloquently demonstrated."[76] In February 1538, the
famous Rood of Grace was condemned as a mechanical fraud and destroyed at St Paul's Cross. In July,
the statues of Our Lady of Walsingham, Our Lady of Ipswich, and other Marian images were burned at
Chelsea on Cromwell's orders. In September, Cromwell issued a second set of royal injunctions ordering
the destruction of images to which pilgrimage offerings were made, the prohibition of lighting votive
candles before images of saints, and the preaching of sermons against the veneration of images and
relics.[77] Afterwards, the shrine and bones of Thomas Becket, considered by many to have been
martyred in defense of the church's liberties, were destroyed at Canterbury Cathedral.[78]
Dissolution of the monasteries
For Cromwell and Cranmer, a step in the Protestant agenda was

attacking monasticism, which was associated with the doctrine of
purgatory.[79] While the King was not opposed to religious houses on
theological grounds, there was concern over the loyalty of the
monastic orders, which were international in character and resistant
to the Royal Supremacy.[80] The Franciscan Observant houses were
closed in August 1534 after that order refused to repudiate papal
authority. Between 1535 and 1537, 18 Carthusians were killed for
doing the same.[81] Remains of Finchale Priory, a
Benedictine monastery near
The Crown was also experiencing financial difficulties, and the Durham that was closed in 1535
wealth of the church, in contrast to its political weakness, made
confiscation of church property both tempting and feasible.[82]
Seizure of monastic wealth was not unprecedented; it had happened before in 1295, 1337, and 1369.[79]
The church owned between one-fifth and one-third of the land in all England; Cromwell realised that he
could bind the gentry and nobility to Royal Supremacy by selling to them the huge amount of church
lands, and that any reversion to pre-Royal Supremacy would entail upsetting many of the powerful
people in the realm.[83]
In 1534, Cromwell initiated a visitation of the monasteries ostensibly to examine their character, but in
fact, to value their assets with a view to expropriation.[82] The visiting commissioners claimed to have
uncovered sexual immorality and financial impropriety amongst the monks and nuns, which became the
ostensible justification for their suppression.[83] There were also reports of the possession and display of
false relics, such as Hailes Abbey's vial of the Holy Blood, upon investigation announced to be "honey
clarified and coloured with saffron".[84] The Compendium Competorum compiled by the visitors
documented ten pieces of the True Cross, seven portions of the Virgin Mary's milk and numerous saints'
girdles.[85]
Leading reformers, led by Anne Boleyn, wanted to convert monasteries into "places of study and good
letters, and to the continual relief of the poor", but this was not done.[86] In 1536, the Dissolution of the
Lesser Monasteries Act closed smaller houses valued at less than £200 a year.[74] Henry used the
revenue to help build coastal defences (see Device Forts) against expected invasion, and all the land was
given to the Crown or sold to the aristocracy. Thirty-four houses were saved by paying for exemptions.
Monks and nuns affected by closures were transferred to larger houses, and monks had the option of
becoming secular clergy.[87]
The Royal Supremacy and the abolition of papal authority had not
caused widespread unrest, but the attacks on monasteries and the
abolition of saints' days and pilgrimages provoked violence. Mobs
attacked those sent to break up monastic buildings. Suppression
commissioners were attacked by local people in several places.[88] In
Northern England, there were a series of uprisings against the
dissolutions in late 1536 and early 1537. The Lincolnshire Rising
occurred in October 1536 and culminated in a force of 40,000 rebels
assembling at Lincoln. They demanded an end to taxation during
peacetime, the repeal of the statute of uses, an end to the The chapter house of Forde Abbey,
suppression of monasteries, and that heresy be purged and heretics a Cistercian monastery closed in
punished. Henry refused to negotiate, and the revolt collapsed as the 1539 and converted into a country
nervous gentry convinced the common people to disperse.[89] house
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a more serious matter. The revolt began
in October at Yorkshire and spread to the other northern counties. Around 50,000 strong, the rebels
under Robert Aske's leadership restored 16 of the 26 northern monasteries that had been dissolved. Due
to the size of the rebellion, the King was persuaded to negotiate. In December, the Duke of Norfolk
offered the rebels a pardon and a parliament to consider their grievances. Aske then sent the rebels
home. The promises made to them, however, were ignored by the King, and Norfolk was instructed to
put the rebellion down. Forty-seven of the Lincolnshire rebels were executed, and 132 from the
Pilgrimage of Grace. In Southern England, smaller disturbances took place in Cornwall and Walsingham
in 1537.[90]
The failure of the Pilgrimage of Grace only sped up the process of dissolution and may have convinced
Henry VIII that all religious houses needed to be closed. In 1540, the last monasteries were dissolved,
wiping out an important element of traditional religion.[91] Former monks were given modest pensions
from the Court of Augmentations, and those that could sought work as parish priests. Former nuns
received smaller pensions and, as they were still bound by vows of chastity, forbidden to marry.[92]
Henry personally devised a plan to form at least thirteen new dioceses so that most counties had one
based on a former monastery (or more than one), though this scheme was only partly carried out. New
dioceses were established at Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford, Peterborough, Westminster and Chester, but
not, for instance, at Shrewsbury, Leicester or Waltham.[93]
Reforms reversed
According to historian Peter Marshall, Henry's religious reforms were based on the principles of "unity,
obedience and the refurbishment of ancient truth".[94] Yet, the outcome was disunity and disobedience.
Impatient Protestants took it upon themselves to further reform. Priests said Mass in English rather
than Latin and were marrying in violation of clerical celibacy. Not only were there divisions between
traditionalists and reformers, but Protestants themselves were divided between establishment reformers
who held Lutheran beliefs and radicals who held Anabaptist and Sacramentarian views.[95] Reports of
dissension from every part of England reached Cromwell daily—developments he tried to hide from the
King.[96]
In September 1538, Stephen Gardiner returned to England, and official religious policy began to drift in
a conservative direction.[97] This was due in part to the eagerness of establishment Protestants to
disassociate themselves from religious radicals. In September, two Lutheran princes, the Elector of
Saxony and Landgrave of Hesse, sent warnings of Anabaptist activity in England. A commission was
swiftly created to seek out Anabaptists.[98] Henry personally presided at the trial of John Lambert in
November 1538 for denying the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. At the same time, he shared in
the drafting of a proclamation ordering Anabaptists and Sacramentaries to get out of the country or face
death. Discussion of the real presence (except by those educated in the universities) was forbidden, and
priests who married were to be dismissed.[96][99]
It was becoming clear that the King's views on religion differed from those of Cromwell and Cranmer.
Henry made his traditional preferences known during the Easter Triduum of 1539, where he crept to the
cross on Good Friday.[100] Later that year, Parliament passed the Six Articles reaffirming Roman
Catholic beliefs and practices such as transubstantiation, clerical celibacy, confession to a priest, votive
masses, and withholding communion wine from the laity.[101]
On 28 June 1540 Cromwell, Henry's longtime advisor and loyal servant, was executed. Different reasons
were advanced: that Cromwell would not enforce the Act of Six Articles; that he had supported Robert
Barnes, Hugh Latimer and other heretics; and that he was responsible for Henry's marriage to Anne of
Cleves, his fourth wife. Many other arrests under the Act followed.[102] On 30 July, the reformers Barnes,
William Jerome and Thomas Gerrard were burned at the stake. In a display of religious impartiality,
Thomas Abell, Richard Featherstone and Edward Powell—all Roman Catholics—were hanged and
quartered while the Protestants burned.[103] European observers were shocked and bewildered. French
diplomat Charles de Marillac wrote that Henry's religious policy was a "climax of evils" and that:
[I]t is difficult to have a people entirely opposed to new errors which does not hold with the
ancient authority of the Church and of the Holy See, or, on the other hand, hating the Pope,
which does not share some opinions with the Germans. Yet the government will not have
either the one or the other, but insists on their keeping what is commanded, which is so often
altered that it is difficult to understand what it is.[104]
Despite setbacks, Protestants managed to win some victories. In May 1541, the King ordered copies of
the Great Bible to be placed in all churches; failure to comply would result in a £2 fine. Protestants could
celebrate the growing access to vernacular scripture as most churches had Bibles by 1545.[105][106] The
iconoclastic policies of 1538 were continued in the autumn when the Archbishops of Canterbury and
York were ordered to destroy all remaining shrines in England.[107] Furthermore, Cranmer survived
formal charges of heresy in the Prebendaries' Plot of 1543.[108]
Traditionalists, nevertheless, seemed to have the upper hand. By the

spring of 1543, Protestant innovations had been reversed, and only
the break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries
remained unchanged.[109] In May 1543, a new formulary was
published to replace the Bishops' Book. This King's Book rejected
justification by faith alone and defended traditional ceremonies and
the use of images.[110] This was followed days later by passage of the
Act for the Advancement of True Religion, which restricted Bible
reading to men and women of noble birth. Henry expressed his fears
to Parliament in 1545 that "the Word of God, is disputed, rhymed,
sung and jangled in every ale house and tavern, contrary to the true
meaning and doctrine of the same."[111]
By the spring of 1544, the conservatives appeared to be losing

influence once again. In March, Parliament made it more difficult to
prosecute people for violating the Six Articles. Cranmer's The 14th-century Chantry Chapel of
Exhortation and Litany, the first official vernacular service, was St Mary the Virgin in Wakefield,
published in June 1544, and the King's Primer became the only West Yorkshire. Chantries were
authorised English prayer book in May 1545. Both texts had a endowments that paid priests to say
reformed emphasis. [112] After the death of the conservative Edward masses for the dead to lessen their
Lee in September 1544, the Protestant Robert Holgate replaced him time in purgatory.
as Archbishop of York.[113] In December 1545, the King was
empowered to seize the property of chantries (trust funds endowed
to pay for priests to say masses for the dead). While Henry's motives were largely financial (England was
at war with France and desperately in need of funds), the passage of the Chantries Act was "an indication
of how deeply the doctrine of purgatory had been eroded and discredited".[114]
In 1546, the conservatives were once again in the ascendent. A series of controversial sermons preached
by the Protestant Edward Crome set off a persecution of Protestants that the traditionalists used to
effectively target their rivals. It was during this time that Anne Askew was tortured in the Tower of
London and burnt at the stake. Even Henry's last wife, Katherine Parr, was suspected of heresy but saved
herself by appealing to the King's mercy. With the Protestants on the defensive, traditionalists pressed
their advantage by banning Protestant books.[115]
The conservative persecution of Queen Katherine, however, backfired.[116] By November 1546, there
were already signs that religious policy was once again tilting towards Protestantism.[117] The King's will
provided for a regency council to rule after his death, which would have been dominated by
traditionalists, such as the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Chancellor Wriothesly, Bishop Gardiner and Bishop
Tunstall.[118] After a dispute with the King, Bishop Gardiner, the leading conservative churchman, was
disgraced and removed as a councilor. Later, the Duke of Norfolk, the most powerful conservative
nobleman, was arrested.[119] By the time Henry died in 1547, the Protestant Edward Seymour, brother of
Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife (and therefore uncle to the future Edward VI), managed—by a number
of alliances such as with Lord Lisle—to gain control over the Privy Council.[120]
Edwardian Reformation
When Henry died in 1547, his nine-year-old son, Edward VI, inherited the throne. Because Edward was
given a Protestant humanist education, Protestants held high expectations and hoped he would be like
Josiah, the biblical king of Judah who destroyed the altars and images of Baal.[121] During the seven
years of Edward's reign, a Protestant establishment would gradually

implement religious changes that were "designed to destroy one
Church and build another, in a religious revolution of ruthless
thoroughness".[122]
Initially, however, Edward was of little account politically.[123] Real

power was in the hands of the regency council, which elected
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, to be Lord Protector. The
Protestant Somerset pursued reform hesitantly at first, partly
because his powers were not unchallenged.[124] The Six Articles
remained the law of the land, and a proclamation was issued on 24
May reassuring the people against any "innovations and changes in
religion".[125]
Nevertheless, Seymour and Cranmer did plan to further the

reformation of religion. In July, a Book of Homilies was published,
King Edward VI of England, in
from which all clergy were to preach from on Sundays.[126] The whose reign the reform of the
homilies were explicitly Protestant in their content, condemning English Church moved in a more
relics, images, rosary beads, holy water, palms, and other "papistical Protestant direction
superstitions". It also directly contradicted the King's Book by
teaching "we be justified by faith only, freely, and without works".
Despite objections from Gardiner, who questioned the legality of bypassing both Parliament and
Convocation, justification by faith had been made a central teaching of the English Church.[127]
Iconoclasm and abolition of chantries
In August 1547, thirty commissioners—nearly all Protestants—were appointed to carry out a royal
visitation of England's churches.[128] The Royal Injunctions of 1547 issued to guide the commissioners
were borrowed from Cromwell's 1538 injunctions but revised to be more radical. Historian Eamon Duffy
calls them a "significant shift in the direction of full-blown Protestantism".[129] Church processions—one
of the most dramatic and public aspects of the traditional liturgy—were banned.[130] The injunctions also
attacked the use of sacramentals, such as holy water. It was emphasised that they imparted neither
blessing nor healing but were only reminders of Christ.[131] Lighting votive candles before saints' images
had been forbidden in 1538, and the 1547 injunctions went further by outlawing those placed on the rood
loft.[132] Reciting the rosary was also condemned.[129]
The injunctions set off a wave of iconoclasm in the autumn of 1547.[133] While the injunctions only
condemned images that were abused as objects of worship or devotion, the definition of abuse was
broadened to justify the destruction of all images and relics.[134] Stained glass, shrines, statues, and
roods were defaced or destroyed. Church walls were whitewashed and covered with biblical texts
condemning idolatry.[135]
Conservative bishops Edmund Bonner and Gardiner protested the visitation, and both were arrested.
Bonner spent nearly two weeks in the Fleet Prison before being released.[136] Gardiner was sent to the
Fleet Prison in September and remained there until January 1548. However, he continued to refuse to
enforce the new religious policies and was arrested once again in June when he was sent to the Tower of
London for the rest of Edward's reign.[137]
When a new Parliament met in November 1547, it began to dismantle

the laws passed during Henry VIII's reign to protect traditional
religion.[138] The Act of Six Articles was repealed—decriminalising
denial of the real, physical presence of Christ in the Eucharist.[139] The
old heresy laws were also repealed, allowing free debate on religious
questions.[140] In December, the Sacrament Act allowed the laity to
receive communion under both kinds, the wine as well as the bread.
This was opposed by conservatives but welcomed by Protestants.[141]
The Chantries Act 1547 abolished the remaining chantries and

confiscated their assets. Unlike the Chantry Act 1545, the 1547 act was
intentionally designed to eliminate the last remaining institutions
dedicated to praying for the dead. Confiscated wealth funded the
Rough Wooing of Scotland. Chantry priests had served parishes as
auxiliary clergy and schoolmasters, and some communities were
destroyed by the loss of the charitable and pastoral services of their
chantries.[142][143]
Historians dispute how well this was received. A.G. Dickens contended
that people had "ceased to believe in intercessory masses for souls in
This statue in the Lady Chapel of
purgatory",[144] but Eamon Duffy argued that the demolition of chantry Ely Cathedral was vandalized
chapels and the removal of images coincided with the activity of royal during the Reformation.
visitors.[145] The evidence is often ambiguous.[146] In some places,
chantry priests continued to say prayers and landowners to pay them to
do so.[147] Some parishes took steps to conceal images and relics in order to rescue them from
confiscation and destruction.[148][149] Opposition to the removal of images was widespread—so much so
that when during the Commonwealth, William Dowsing was commissioned to the task of image breaking
in Suffolk, his task, as he records it, was enormous.[150]
1549 prayer book
The second year of Edward's reign was a turning point for the English Reformation; many people
identified the year 1548, rather than the 1530s, as the beginning of the English Church's schism from the
Roman Catholic Church.[151] On 18 January 1548, the Privy Council abolished the use of candles on
Candlemas, ashes on Ash Wednesday and palms on Palm Sunday.[152] On 21 February, the council
explicitly ordered the removal of all church images.[153]
On 8 March, a royal proclamation announced a more significant change—the first major reform of the
Mass and of the Church of England's official eucharistic theology.[154] The "Order of the Communion"
was a series of English exhortations and prayers that reflected Protestant theology and were inserted into
the Latin Mass.[155][156] A significant departure from tradition was that individual confession to a priest
—long a requirement before receiving the Eucharist—was made optional and replaced with a general
confession said by the congregation as a whole. The effect on religious custom was profound as a
majority of laypeople, not just Protestants, most likely ceased confessing their sins to their priests.[153]
By 1548, Cranmer and other leading Protestants had moved from the Lutheran to the Reformed position
on the Eucharist.[157] Significant to Cranmer's change of mind was the influence of Strasbourg
theologian Martin Bucer.[158] This shift can be seen in the Communion order's teaching on the Eucharist.
Laypeople were instructed that when receiving the sacrament they "spiritually eat the flesh of Christ", an
attack on the belief in the real, bodily presence of Christ in the Eucharist.[159] The Communion order was
incorporated into the new prayer book largely unchanged.[160]
That prayer book and liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer, was
authorized by the Act of Uniformity 1549. It replaced the several
regional Latin rites then in use, such as the Use of Sarum, the
Use of York and the Use of Hereford with an English-language
liturgy.[161] Authored by Cranmer, this first prayer book was a
temporary compromise with conservatives.[162] It provided
Protestants with a service free from what they considered
superstition, while maintaining the traditional structure of the
mass.[163]
The cycles and seasons of the church year continued to be

observed, and there were texts for daily Matins (Morning
Prayer), Mass and Evensong (Evening Prayer). In addition,
there was a calendar of saints' feasts with collects and scripture
readings appropriate for the day. Priests still wore vestments—
the prayer book recommended the cope rather than the
chasuble. Many of the services were little changed. Baptism kept
a strongly sacramental character, including the blessing of water
in the baptismal font, promises made by godparents, making the
sign of the cross on the child's forehead, and wrapping it in a
white chrism cloth. The confirmation and marriage services
followed the Sarum rite.[164] There were also remnants of prayer
Title page of the 1549 Book of Common
for the dead and the Requiem Mass, such as the provision for
Prayer
celebrating holy communion at a funeral.[165]
Nevertheless, the first Book of Common Prayer was a "radical"

departure from traditional worship in that it "eliminated almost everything that had till then been
central to lay Eucharistic piety".[166] Communion took place without any elevation of the consecrated
bread and wine. The elevation had been the central moment of the old liturgy, attached as it was to the
idea of real presence. In addition, the prayer of consecration was changed to reflect Protestant
theology.[161] Three sacrifices were mentioned; the first was Christ's sacrifice on the cross. The second
was the congregation's sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and the third was the offering of "ourselves,
our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and lively sacrifice" to God.[167] While the medieval Canon
of the Mass "explicitly identified the priest's action at the altar with the sacrifice of Christ", the Prayer
Book broke this connection by stating the church's offering of thanksgiving in the Eucharist was not the
same as Christ's sacrifice on the cross.[164] Instead of the priest offering the sacrifice of Christ to God the
Father, the assembled offered their praises and thanksgivings. The Eucharist was now to be understood
as merely a means of partaking in and receiving the benefits of Christ's sacrifice.[168][169]
There were other departures from tradition. At least initially, there was no music because it would take
time to replace the church's body of Latin music.[165] Most of the liturgical year was simply "bulldozed
away" with only the major feasts of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun along with a few biblical saints' days
(Apostles, Evangelists, John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene) and only two Marian feast days (the
Purification and the Annunciation).[166] The Assumption, Corpus Christi and other festivals were
gone.[165]
In 1549, Parliament also legalised clerical marriage, something already practised by some Protestants
(including Cranmer) but considered an abomination by conservatives.[170]
Rebellion
Enforcement of the new liturgy did not always take place without a struggle. In the West Country, the
introduction of the Book of Common Prayer was the catalyst for a series of uprisings through the
summer of 1549. There were smaller upheavals elsewhere from the West Midlands to Yorkshire. The
Prayer Book Rebellion was not only in reaction to the prayer book; the rebels demanded a full
restoration of pre-Reformation Catholicism.[171] They were also motivated by economic concerns, such
as enclosure.[172] In East Anglia, however, the rebellions lacked a Roman Catholic character. Kett's
Rebellion in Norwich blended Protestant piety with demands for economic reforms and social
justice.[173]
The insurrections were put down only after considerable loss of life.[174] Somerset was blamed and was
removed from power in October. It was wrongly believed by both conservatives and reformers that the
Reformation would be overturned. Succeeding Somerset as de facto regent was John Dudley, 1st Earl of
Warwick, newly appointed Lord President of the Privy Council. Warwick saw further implementation of
the reforming policy as a means of gaining Protestant support and defeating his conservative rivals.[175]
Further reform
From that point on, the Reformation proceeded apace. Since the
1530s, one of the obstacles to Protestant reform had been the
bishops, bitterly divided between a traditionalist majority and a
Protestant minority. This obstacle was removed in 1550–1551 when
the episcopate was purged of conservatives.[177] Edmund Bonner of
London, William Rugg of Norwich, Nicholas Heath of Worcester,
John Vesey of Exeter, Cuthbert Tunstall of Durham, George Day of
Chichester and Stephen Gardiner of Winchester were either
deprived of their bishoprics or forced to resign.[178][179] Thomas Edward VI and the Pope: An
Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster, managed to stay a bishop only by Allegory of the Reformation. This
Elizabethan work of propaganda
being translated to the Diocese of Norwich, "where he did virtually
depicts the handing over of power
nothing during his episcopate".[180] Traditionalist bishops were
from Henry VIII, who lies dying in
replaced by Protestants such as Nicholas Ridley, John Ponet, John bed, to Edward VI, seated beneath
Hooper and Miles Coverdale.[181][179] a cloth of state with a slumping pope
at his feet. In the top right of the
The newly enlarged and emboldened Protestant episcopate turned picture is an image of men pulling
its attention to ending efforts by conservative clergy to "counterfeit down and smashing idols. At
the popish mass" through loopholes in the 1549 prayer book. The Edward's side are his uncle the Lord
Book of Common Prayer was composed during a time when it was Protector Edward Seymour and
necessary to grant compromises and concessions to traditionalists. members of the Privy Council.[176]
This was taken advantage of by conservative priests who made the
new liturgy as much like the old one as possible, including elevating
the Eucharist.[182] The conservative Bishop Gardiner endorsed the prayer book while in prison,[163] and
historian Eamon Duffy notes that many lay people treated the prayer book "as an English missal".[183]
To attack the mass, Protestants began demanding the removal of stone altars. Bishop Ridley launched
the campaign in May 1550 when he commanded all altars to be replaced with wooden communion tables
in his London diocese.[182] Other bishops throughout the country followed his example, but there was
also resistance. In November 1550, the Privy Council ordered the removal of all altars in an effort to end
all dispute.[184] While the prayer book used the term "altar", Protestants preferred a table because at the
Last Supper Christ instituted the sacrament at a table. The removal of altars was also an attempt to
destroy the idea that the Eucharist was Christ's sacrifice. During Lent in 1550, John Hooper preached,
"as long as the altars remain, both the ignorant people, and the ignorant and evil-persuaded priest, will
dream always of sacrifice".[182]
In March 1550, a new ordinal was published that was based on Martin Bucer's own treatise on the form
of ordination. While Bucer had provided for only one service for all three orders of clergy, the English
ordinal was more conservative and had separate services for deacons, priests and bishops.[175][185]
During his consecration as bishop of Gloucester, John Hooper objected to the mention of "all saints and
the holy Evangelist" in the Oath of Supremacy and to the requirement that he wear a black chimere over
a white rochet. Hooper was excused from invoking the saints in his oath, but he would ultimately be
convinced to wear the offensive consecration garb. This was the first battle in the vestments controversy,
which was essentially a conflict over whether the church could require people to observe ceremonies that
were neither necessary for salvation nor prohibited by scripture.[186]
1552 prayer book and parish confiscations
The 1549 Book of Common Prayer was criticised by Protestants both

in England and abroad for being too susceptible to Roman Catholic
re-interpretation. Martin Bucer identified 60 problems with the
prayer book, and the Italian Peter Martyr Vermigli provided his own
complaints. Shifts in Eucharistic theology between 1548 and 1552
also made the prayer book unsatisfactory—during that time English
Protestants achieved a consensus rejecting any real bodily presence
of Christ in the Eucharist. Some influential Protestants such as
Vermigli defended Zwingli's symbolic view of the Eucharist. Less
radical Protestants such as Bucer and Cranmer advocated for a
spiritual presence in the sacrament.[187] Cranmer himself had
already adopted receptionist views on the Lord's Supper.[188] In
April 1552, a new Act of Uniformity authorised a revised Book of
Common Prayer to be used in worship by November 1.[189]
This new prayer book removed many of the traditional elements in Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556),
the 1549 prayer book, resulting in a more Protestant liturgy. The Henry VIII's Archbishop of
communion service was designed to remove any hint of consecration Canterbury and editor and co-author
or change in the bread and wine. Instead of unleavened wafers, of the first and second Books of
ordinary bread was to be used. [190] The prayer of invocation was Common Prayer.
removed, and the minister no longer said "the body of Christ" when
delivering communion. Rather, he said, "Take and eat this, in
remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving". Christ's
presence in the Lord's Supper was a spiritual presence "limited to the subjective experience of the
communicant".[190] Anglican bishop and scholar Colin Buchanan interprets the prayer book to teach that
"the only point where the bread and wine signify the body and blood is at reception".[191] Rather than
reserving the sacrament (which often led to Eucharistic adoration), any leftover bread or wine was to be
taken home by the curate for ordinary consumption.[192]
In the new prayer book, the last vestiges of prayers for the dead were removed from the funeral
service.[193] Unlike the 1549 version, the 1552 prayer book removed many traditional sacramentals and
observances that reflected belief in the blessing and exorcism of people and objects. In the baptism
service, infants no longer received minor exorcism and the white chrisom robe. Anointing was no longer
included in the services for baptism, ordination and visitation of the sick.[194] These ceremonies were
altered to emphasise the importance of faith, rather than trusting in rituals or objects. Clerical vestments
were simplified—ministers were only allowed to wear the surplice and bishops had to wear a rochet.[190]
Throughout Edward's reign, inventories of parish valuables, ostensibly for preventing embezzlement,
convinced many the government planned to seize parish property, just as was done to the chantries.[195]
These fears were confirmed in March 1551 when the Privy Council ordered the confiscation of church
plate and vestments "for as much as the King's Majestie had neede [sic] presently of a mass of
money".[196] No action was taken until 1552–1553 when commissioners were appointed. They were
instructed to leave only the "bare essentials" required by the 1552 Book of Common Prayer—a surplice,
tablecloths, communion cup and a bell. Items to be seized included copes, chalices, chrismatories,
patens, monstrances and candlesticks.[197] Many parishes sold their valuables rather than have them
confiscated at a later date.[195] The money funded parish projects that could not be challenged by royal
authorities.[198] In many parishes, items were concealed or given to local gentry who had, in fact, lent
them to the church.[199]
The confiscations caused tensions between Protestant church leaders and Warwick, now Duke of
Northumberland. Cranmer, Ridley and other Protestant leaders did not fully trust Northumberland.
Northumberland in turn sought to undermine these bishops by promoting their critics, such as Jan Laski
and John Knox.[200] Cranmer's plan for a revision of English canon law, the Reformatio legum
ecclesiasticarum, failed in Parliament due to Northumberland's opposition.[201] Despite such tensions, a
new doctrinal statement to replace the King's Book was issued on royal authority in May 1553. The
Forty-two Articles reflected the Reformed theology and practice taking shape during Edward's reign,
which historian Christopher Haigh describes as a "restrained Calvinism".[202] It affirmed predestination
and that the King of England was Supreme Head of the Church of England under Christ.[203]
Edward's succession
King Edward became seriously ill in February and died in July 1553. Before his death, Edward was
concerned that Mary, his devoutly Catholic sister, would overturn his religious reforms. A new plan of
succession was created in which both of Edward's sisters Mary and Elizabeth were bypassed on account
of illegitimacy in favour of the Protestant Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Edward's aunt Mary Tudor
and daughter in law of the Duke of Northumberland. This new succession violated the "Third"
Succession Act of 1544 and was widely seen as an attempt by Northumberland to stay in power.[204]
Northumberland was unpopular due to the church confiscations, and support for Jane collapsed.[205] On
19 July, the Privy Council proclaimed Mary queen to the acclamation of the crowds in London. [206]
Marian Restoration
Reconciling with Rome
Both Protestants and Roman Catholics understood that the accession of Mary I to the throne meant a
restoration of traditional religion.[207] Before any official sanction, Latin Masses began reappearing
throughout England, despite the 1552 Book of Common Prayer remaining the only legal liturgy.[208]
Mary began her reign cautiously by emphasising the need for tolerance in matters of religion and
proclaiming that, for the time being, she would not compel religious conformity. This was in part Mary's
attempt to avoid provoking Protestant opposition before she could consolidate her power.[209] While
Protestants were not a majority of the population, their numbers had grown through Edward's reign.
Historian Eamon Duffy writes that "Protestantism was a force to be

reckoned with in London and in towns like Bristol, Rye, and
Colchester, and it was becoming so in some northern towns such as
Hessle, Hull, and Halifax."[210]
Following Mary's accession, the Duke of Norfolk along with the

conservative bishops Bonner, Gardiner, Tunstall, Day and Heath
were released from prison and restored to their former dioceses. By
September 1553, Hooper and Cranmer were imprisoned.
Northumberland himself was executed but not before his conversion
to Catholicism.[211]
The break with Rome and the religious reforms of Henry VIII and
Edward VI were achieved through parliamentary legislation and
could only be reversed through Parliament. When Parliament met in
October, Bishop Gardiner, now Lord Chancellor, initially proposed
the repeal of all religious legislation since 1529. The House of Queen Mary I of England restored
Commons refused to pass this bill, and after heated debate,[212] the English allegiance to Rome.
Parliament repealed all Edwardian religious laws, including clerical
marriage and the prayer book, in the First Statute of Repeal.[213] By
20 December, the Mass was reinstated by law.[214] There were disappointments for Mary: Parliament
refused to penalise non-attendance at Mass, would not restore confiscated church property, and left
open the question of papal supremacy.[215]
If Mary was to secure England for Roman Catholicism, she needed an heir and her Protestant half-sister
Elizabeth had to be prevented from inheriting the Crown. On the advice of her cousin Charles V, Holy
Roman Emperor, she married his son, Philip II of Spain, in 1554. There was opposition, and even a
rebellion in Kent (led by Sir Thomas Wyatt); even though it was provided that Philip would never inherit
the kingdom if there was no heir, received no estates and had no coronation.[216]
By the end of 1554, Henry VIII's religious settlement had been re-
instituted, but England was still not reunited with Rome. Before
reunion could occur, church property disputes had to be settled—
which, in practice, meant letting the nobility and gentry who had
bought confiscated church lands keep them. Cardinal Reginald Pole,
the Queen's cousin, arrived in November 1554 as papal legate to end
England's schism with the Roman Catholic Church.[216] On 28
November, Pole addressed Parliament to ask it to end the schism,
declaring "I come not to destroy, but to build. I come to reconcile,
not to condemn. I come not to compel, but to call again."[217] In
response, Parliament submitted a petition to the Queen the next day
asking that "this realm and dominions might be again united to the
Church of Rome by the means of the Lord Cardinal Pole".[217]
On 30 November, Pole spoke to both houses of Parliament,

absolving the members of Parliament "with the whole realm and Cardinal Reginald Pole presided
over the English Church's
dominions thereof, from all heresy and schism".[218] Afterwards,
reconciliation with Rome
bishops absolved diocesan clergy, and they in turn absolved
parishioners.[219] On 26 December, the Privy Council introduced
legislation repealing the religious legislation of Henry VIII's reign
and implementing the reunion with Rome. This bill was passed as the Second Statute of Repeal.[220]
Catholic recovery
Historian Eamon Duffy writes that the Marian religious "programme was not one of reaction but of
creative reconstruction" absorbing whatever was considered positive in the reforms of Henry VIII and
Edward VI.[221] The result was "subtly but distinctively different from the Catholicism of the 1520s."[221]
According to historian Christopher Haigh, the Catholicism taking shape in Mary's reign "reflected the
mature Erasmian Catholicism" of its leading clerics, who were all educated in the 1520s and 1530s.[222]
Marian church literature, church benefactions and churchwarden accounts suggest less emphasis on
saints, images and prayer for the dead. There was a greater focus on the need for inward contrition in
addition to external acts of penance.[223] Cardinal Pole himself was a member of the Spirituali, a
Catholic reform movement that shared with Protestants an emphasis on man's total dependence on
God's grace by faith and Augustinian views on salvation.[224][225]
Cardinal Pole would eventually replace Cranmer as Archbishop of

Canterbury in 1556, jurisdictional issues between England and Rome
having prevented Cranmer's removal. Mary could have had Cranmer
tried and executed for treason—he had supported the claims of Lady
Jane Grey—but she resolved to have him tried for heresy. His
recantations of his Protestantism would have been a major coup.
Unhappily for her, he unexpectedly withdrew his recantations at the
last minute as he was to be burned at the stake, thus ruining her
government's propaganda victory.[226]
As papal legate, Pole possessed authority over both his Province of

Canterbury and the Province of York, which allowed him to oversee
the Counter-Reformation throughout all of England.[227] He re-
installed images, vestment and plate in churches. Around 2,000
married clergy were separated from their wives, but the majority of
these were allowed to continue their work as priests.[226][228] Pole
was aided by some of the leading Catholic intellectuals, Spanish Conservative Bishop Edmund
members of the Dominican Order: Pedro de Soto, Juan de Bonner
Villagarcía and Bartolomé Carranza.[226]
In 1556, Pole ordered clergy to read one chapter of Bishop Bonner's A Profitable and Necessary
Doctrine to their parishioners every Sunday. Modelled on the King's Book of 1543, Bonner's work was a
survey of basic Catholic teaching organized around the Apostles' Creed, Ten Commandments, seven
deadly sins, sacraments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Hail Mary.[229] Bonner also produced a children's
catechism and a collection of homilies.[230]
From December 1555 to February 1556, Cardinal Pole presided over a national legatine synod that
produced a set of decrees entitled Reformatio Angliae or the Reformation of England.[231] The actions
taken by the synod anticipated many of the reforms enacted throughout the Catholic Church after the
Council of Trent.[227] Pole believed that ignorance and lack of discipline among the clergy had led to
England's religious turmoil, and the synod's reforms were designed to remedy both problems. Clerical
absenteeism (the practice of clergy failing to reside in their diocese or parish), pluralism, and simony
were condemned.[232] Preaching was placed at the centre of the pastoral office,[233] and all clergy were to
provide sermons to the people (rectors and vicars who failed to were fined).[232] The most important
part of the plan was the order to establish a seminary in each diocese, which would replace the disorderly
manner in which priests had been trained previously. The Council of Trent would later impose the
seminary system upon the rest of the Catholic Church.[233] It was also the first to introduce the altar
tabernacle used to reserve Eucharistic bread for devotion and adoration.[227]
Mary did what she could to restore church finances and land taken
in the reigns of her father and brother. In 1555, she returned to the
church the First Fruits and Tenths revenue, but with these new
funds came the responsibility of paying the pensions of ex-religious.
She restored six religious houses with her own money, notably
Westminster Abbey for the Benedictines and Syon Abbey for the
Bridgettines.[234] However, there were limits to what could be
restored. Only seven religious houses were re-founded between 1555
and 1558, though there were plans to re-establish more. Of the 1,500
ex-religious still living, only about a hundred resumed monastic life,
and only a small number of chantries were re-founded. Re-
establishments were hindered by the changing nature of charitable
giving. A plan to re-establish Greyfriars in London was prevented
because its buildings were occupied by Christ's Hospital, a school for
orphaned children.[235]
There is debate among historians over how vibrant the restoration Westminster Abbey was one of
was on the local level. According to historian A. G. Dickens, "Parish seven monasteries re-founded
religion was marked by religious and cultural sterility", [236] though during the Marian Restoration.
historian Christopher Haigh observed enthusiasm, marred only by
poor harvests that produced poverty and want.[237] Recruitment to
the English clergy began to rise after almost a decade of declining ordinations.[238] Repairs to long-
neglected churches began. In the parishes, "restoration and repair continued, new bells were bought, and
church ales produced their bucolic profits".[239] Great church feasts were restored and celebrated with
plays, pageants and processions. However, Bishop Bonner's attempt to establish weekly processions in
1556 was a failure. Haigh writes that in years during which processions were banned people had
discovered "better uses for their time" as well as "better uses for their money than offering candles to
images".[240] The focus was on "the crucified Christ, in the mass, the rood, and Corpus Christi
devotion".[238]
Obstacles
Protestants who refused to conform remained an obstacle to Catholic plans. Around 800 Protestants fled
England to find safety in Protestant areas of Germany and Switzerland, establishing networks of
independent congregations. Safe from persecution, these Marian exiles carried on a propaganda
campaign against Roman Catholicism and the Queen's Spanish marriage, sometimes calling for
rebellion.[241][242] Those who remained in England were forced to practise their faith in secret and meet
in underground congregations.[243]
In 1555, the initial reconciling tone of the regime began to harden with the revival of the medieval heresy
laws, which authorized capital punishment as a penalty for heresy.[244] The persecution of heretics was
uncoordinated—sometimes arrests were ordered by the Privy Council, others by bishops, and others by
lay magistrates.[245] Protestants brought attention to themselves usually due to some act of dissent, such
as denouncing the Mass or refusing to receive the sacrament.[246] A particularly violent act of protest
was William Flower's stabbing of a priest during Mass on Easter Sunday, 14 April 1555.[247] Individuals
accused of heresy were examined by a church official and, if heresy was found, given the choice between
death and signing a recantation.[248] In some cases, Protestants were burnt at the stake after renouncing
their recantation.[249]
Around 284 Protestants were burnt at the stake for heresy.[250]

Several leading reformers were executed, including Thomas
Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, John Rogers, John
Hooper, Robert Ferrar, Rowland Taylor, and John Bradford.[251]
Lesser known figures were also among the victims, including around
51 women such as Joan Waste and Agnes Prest.[252] Historian O. T.
Hargrave writes that the Marian persecution was not "excessive" by
"contemporary continental standards"; however, "it was
unprecedented in the English experience".[253] Historian
Christopher Haigh writes that it "failed to intimidate all
Protestants", whose bravery at the stake inspired others; however, it
"was not a disaster: if it did not help the Catholic cause, it did not do
much to harm it."[239] After her death, the Queen became known as
"Bloody Mary" due to the influence of John Foxe, one of the Marian
exiles.[254] Published in 1563, Foxe's Book of Martyrs provided
accounts of the executions, and in 1571 the Convocation of
Canterbury ordered that Foxe's book should be placed in every
cathedral in the land.[255]
Frontispiece of John Foxe's Book of
Mary's efforts at restoring Roman Catholicism were also frustrated Martyrs
by the church itself. Pope Paul IV declared war on Philip and
recalled Pole to Rome to have him tried as a heretic. Mary refused to
let him go. The support she might have expected from a grateful Pope was thus denied.[256] From 1557,
the Pope refused to confirm English bishops, leading to vacancies and hurting the Marian religious
program.[232]
Despite these obstacles, the 5-year restoration was successful. There was support for traditional religion
among the people, and Protestants remained a minority. Consequently, Protestants secretly ministering
to underground congregations, such as Thomas Bentham, were planning for a long haul, a ministry of
survival. Mary's death in November 1558, childless and without having made provision for a Roman
Catholic to succeed her, meant that her Protestant sister Elizabeth would be the next queen.[257]
Elizabethan Settlement
Elizabeth I inherited a kingdom in which a majority of people, especially the political elite, were
religiously conservative, and England's main ally was Catholic Spain.[258] For these reasons, the
proclamation announcing her accession forbade any "breach, alteration, or change of any order or usage
presently established within this our realm".[259] This was only temporary. The new Queen was
Protestant, though a conservative one.[260] She also filled her new government with Protestants. The
Queen's principal secretary was Sir William Cecil, a moderate Protestant.[261] Her Privy Council was
filled with former Edwardian politicians, and only Protestants preached at Court.[262][263]
In 1558, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which re-established the Church of England's
independence from Rome and conferred on Elizabeth the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of
England. The Act of Uniformity of 1559 authorised the 1559 Book of Common Prayer, which was a
revised version of the 1552 Prayer Book from Edward's reign. Some modifications were made to appeal
to Catholics and Lutherans, including giving individuals greater latitude concerning belief in the real
presence and authorising the use of traditional priestly vestments. In 1571, the Thirty-Nine Articles were
adopted as a confessional statement for the church, and a Book of Homilies was issued outlining the
church's reformed theology in greater detail.
The Elizabethan Settlement established a church that was Reformed in

doctrine but that preserved certain characteristics of medieval
Catholicism, such as cathedrals, church choirs, a formal liturgy
contained in the Prayer Book, traditional vestments and episcopal
polity.[264] According to historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, the conflicts
over the Elizabethan Settlement stem from this "tension between
Catholic structure and Protestant theology".[265] During the reigns of
Elizabeth and James I, several factions developed within the Church of
England.
"Church papists" were Roman Catholics who outwardly conformed to

the established church while maintaining their Catholic faith in secret.
Catholic authorities disapproved of such outward conformity.
Recusants were Roman Catholics who refused to attend Church of
England services as required by law.[266] Recusancy was punishable by
fines of £20 a month (fifty times an artisan's wage).[267] By 1574,
Catholic recusants had organised an underground Roman Catholic Queen Elizabeth I of England
Church, distinct from the Church of England. However, it had two reached a moderate religious
major weaknesses: membership loss as church papists conformed fully settlement.
to the Church of England and a shortage of priests. Between 1574 and
1603, 600 Catholic priests were sent to England.[268] The influx of
foreign trained Catholic priests, the unsuccessful Revolt of the Northern Earls, the excommunication of
Elizabeth, and the discovery of the Ridolfi plot all contributed to a perception that Catholicism was
treasonous.[269] Executions of Catholic priests became more common—the first in 1577, four in 1581,
eleven in 1582, two in 1583, six in 1584, fifty-three by 1590, and seventy more between 1601 and
1608.[270][271] In 1585, it became treason for a Catholic priest to enter the country, as well as for anyone
to aid or shelter him.[267] As the older generation of recusant priests died out, Roman Catholicism
collapsed among the lower classes in the north, west and in Wales. Without priests, these social classes
drifted into the Church of England and Catholicism was forgotten. By Elizabeth's death in 1603, Roman
Catholicism had become "the faith of a small sect", largely confined to gentry households.[272]
Gradually, England was transformed into a Protestant country as the Prayer Book shaped Elizabethan
religious life. By the 1580s, conformist Protestants (those who conformed their religious practice to the
religious settlement) were becoming a majority.[273] Calvinism appealed to many conformists, and
Calvinist clergy held the best bishoprics and deaneries during Elizabeth's reign.[274] Other Calvinists
were unsatisfied with elements of the Elizabethan Settlement and wanted further reforms to make the
Church of England more like the Continental Reformed churches. These nonconformist Calvinists
became known as Puritans. Some Puritans refused to bow at the name of Jesus, to make the sign of the
cross in baptism, use wedding rings or organ music in church. They especially resented the requirement
that clergy wear the white surplice and clerical cap.[275] Puritan clergymen preferred to wear black
academic attire (see Vestments controversy).[276] Many Puritans believed the Church of England should
follow the example of Reformed churches in other parts of Europe and adopt presbyterian polity, under
which government by bishops would be replaced with government by elders.[277] However, all attempts
to enact further reforms through Parliament were blocked by the Queen.[278]
Consequences
During the early Stuart period, the Church of England's dominant theology was still Calvinism, but a
group of theologians associated with Bishop Lancelot Andrewes disagreed with many aspects of the
Reformed tradition, especially its teaching on predestination. They looked to the Church Fathers rather
than the Reformers and preferred using the more traditional 1549
Prayer Book.[279] Due to their belief in free will, this new faction is
known as the Arminian party, but their high church orientation was
more controversial. James I tried to balance the Puritan forces
within his church with followers of Andrewes, promoting many of
them at the end of his reign.[280]
During the reign of Charles I, the Arminians were ascendant and

closely associated with William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury Polemical popular print with a
(1633–1645). Laud and his followers believed the Reformation had Catalogue of Sects, 1647.
gone too far and launched a "'Beauty of Holiness' counter-
revolution, wishing to restore what they saw as lost majesty in
worship and lost dignity for the sacerdotal priesthood."[280] Laudianism, however, was unpopular with
both Puritans and Prayer Book conformists, who viewed the high church innovations as undermining
forms of worship they had grown attached to.[281] The English Civil War resulted in the overthrow of
Charles I, and a Puritan dominated Parliament began to dismantle the Elizabethan Settlement.[279] The
Puritans, however, were divided among themselves and failed to agree on an alternative religious
settlement. A variety of new religious movements appeared, including Baptists, Quakers, Ranters,
Seekers, Diggers, Muggletonians, and Fifth Monarchists.[282]
The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 allowed for the restoration of the Elizabethan Settlement as
well, but the Church of England was fundamentally changed. The "Jacobean consensus" was
shattered.[283] Many Puritans were unwilling to conform and became dissenters. Now outside the
established church, the different strands of the Puritan movement evolved into separate denominations:
Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Baptists.[284]
After the Restoration, Anglicanism took shape as a recognisable tradition.[285] From Richard Hooker,
Anglicanism inherited a belief in the "positive spiritual value in ceremonies and rituals, and for an
unbroken line of succession from the medieval Church to the latter day Church of England".[286] From
the Arminians, it gained a theology of episcopacy and an appreciation for liturgy. From the Puritans and
Calvinists, it "inherited a contradictory impulse to assert the supremacy of scripture and preaching".[287]
The religious forces unleashed by the Reformation ultimately destroyed the possibility of religious
uniformity. Protestant dissenters were allowed freedom of worship with the Toleration Act 1688. It took
Catholics longer to achieve toleration. Penal laws that excluded Catholics from everyday life began to be
repealed in the 1770s. Catholics were allowed to vote and sit as members of Parliament in 1829 (see
Catholic emancipation).[288]
Historiography
The historiography of the English Reformation has seen vigorous clashes among dedicated protagonists
and scholars for five centuries. The main factual details at the national level have been clear since 1900,
as laid out for example by James Anthony Froude[289] and Albert Pollard.[290]
Reformation historiography has seen many schools of interpretation with Protestant, Catholic, Anglican
historians using their own religious perspectives.[291] In addition there has been a highly influential
Whig interpretation, based on liberal secularized Protestantism, that depicted the Reformation in
England, in the words of Ian Hazlett, as "the midwife delivering England from the Dark Ages to the
threshold of modernity, and so a turning point of progress". Finally among the older schools was a neo-
Marxist interpretation that stressed the economic decline of the old elites in the rise of the landed gentry
and middle classes. All these approaches still have representatives, but the main thrust of scholarly
historiography since the 1970s falls into four groupings or schools, according to Hazlett.[292]
Geoffrey Elton leads the first faction with an agenda rooted in political historiography. It concentrates on
the top of the early modern church-state looking at it at the mechanics of policymaking and the organs of
its implementation and enforcement. The key player for Elton was not Henry VIII, but rather his
principal Secretary of State Thomas Cromwell. Elton downplays the prophetic spirit of the religious
reformers in the theology of keen conviction, dismissing them as the meddlesome intrusions from
fanatics and bigots.[293][294]
Secondly, Geoffrey Dickens and others were motivated by a primarily religious perspective. They
prioritize the religious and subjective side of the movement. While recognizing the Reformation was
imposed from the top, just as it was everywhere else in Europe, it also responded to aspirations from
below. Dickens has been criticized for underestimating the strength of residual and revived Roman
Catholicism, but has been praised for his demonstration of the close ties to European influences. In the
Dickens school, David Loades has stressed the theological importance of the Reformation for Anglo-
British development.[295]
Revisionists comprise a third school, led by Christopher Haigh, Jack Scarisbrick and numerous other
scholars. Their main achievement was the discovery of an entirely new corpus of primary sources at the
local level, leading them to the emphasis on Reformation as it played out on a daily and local basis, with
much less emphasis on the control from the top they emphasize turning away from elite sources they
emphasize local parish records, diocesan files, guild records, data from boroughs, the courts, and
especially telltale individual wills.
Finally, Patrick Collinson and others have brought much more precision to the theological landscape,
with Calvinist Puritans who were impatient with the Anglican caution sent compromises. Indeed, the
Puritans were a distinct subgroup who did not comprise all of Calvinism. The Church of England thus
emerged as a coalition of factions, all of them Protestant inspiration.[296]
All the recent schools have decentered Henry VIII, and minimized hagiography. They have paid more
attention to localities, Catholicism, radicals, and theological niceties. On Catholicism, the older schools
overemphasized Thomas More (1470–1535), to the neglect of other bishops and factors inside
Catholicism. The older schools too often concentrated on elite London, the newer ones look to the
English villages.[297]
See also
Anti-Catholicism
Gunpowder Plot
History of the Church of England
History of England
Putting away of Books and Images Act 1549
Reformation in Ireland
Religion in England
Scottish Reformation
Notes
1. Scruton (1996, p. 470): "The Reformation must 32. Brigden 2000, p. 111. Her music book
not be confused with the changes introduced contained an illustration of a falcon pecking at
into the Church of England during the a pomegranate: the falcon was her badge, the
'Reformation Parliament' of 1529–36, which pomegranate, that of Granada, Catherine's
were of a political rather than a religious badge.
nature, designed to unite the secular and 33. Warnicke 1983, p. 38.
religious sources of authority within a single
34. Marshall (2017, p. 164):"Henry wanted an
sovereign power: the Anglican Church did not
until later make any substantial change in annulment—a formal and legal declaration of
doctrine." the marriage's invalidity. Yet the word
contemporaries used, divorce, captures better
2. Bray 1994, p. 115. the legal and emotional turmoil."
3. MacCulloch 1996, p. 210. 35. Lacey 1972, p. 70.
4. MacCulloch 2001, pp. 1–2. 36. Phillips 1991, p. 20.
5. MacCulloch 2001, pp. 4–5. 37. Lacey 1972, p. 17.
6. Moorman 1983, p. 24. 38. Marshall (2017, pp. 166–167) writes,
7. Brigden 2000, p. 86f. "Inconveniently for Henry, another Old
8. Duffy 2005, pp. xxi–xxii. Testament verse (Deut. 25:5) seemingly
9. MacCulloch 2003, p. 36. qualified the Levitical prohibition, commanding
a man to take to wife his deceased brother's
10. Dickens 1959.
widow, if there had been no child."
11. Marshall 2017, pp. 29–32. 39. Morris 1998, p. 166.
12. MacCulloch 2003, pp. 112–111.
40. Brigden 2000, p. 114.
13. Marshall 2017, p. 164. 41. Haigh 1993, pp. 93–94.
14. Haigh 1993, p. 123.
42. Haigh 1993, p. 73.
15. MacCulloch 1996, p. 27.
43. Brigden 2000, p. 116.
16. MacCulloch 2003, pp. 119–122,130. 44. MacCulloch 2003, p. 199.
17. Marshall 2017, p. 126.
45. Haigh 1993, pp. 105–106.
18. Marshall 2017, p. 146. 46. Morris 1998, p. 172.
19. Haigh 1993, p. 20,28.
47. Tanner (1930, p. 17) gives this as "their
20. MacCulloch 2003, pp. 202–203. singular protector, only and supreme lord, and,
21. Marshall 2017, p. 124. as far as the law of Christ allows, even
22. Haigh 1993, p. 58. Supreme Head".
23. MacCulloch 2003, p. 203. 48. Brigden 2000, p. 118.
24. Marshall 2017, p. 132. 49. Tanner 1930.
25. Marshall 2017, p. 186. 50. After prolonged debate in the House of
26. Marshall 2017, p. 188. Commons, it was clear they would not reach
unanimity over the Bill—so Henry ordered a
27. Marshall 2017, pp. 203–204. division. He commanded those in favour of his
28. Brigden (2000, p. 103): "He ... believed he that success and the "welfare of the realm" to one
he could keep his own secrets ... but he was side of the House, and those who opposed him
often deceived and he deceived himself." and the Bill to the other. Thus, he obtained a
29. Ryrie 2009, p. 131. majority.
30. O'Donovan, Louis (5 November 2019). The 51. Elton 1982, p. 353.
Defence of the Seven Sacraments (https://book 52. Elton 1991, p. 160.
s.google.com/books?id=hDq-DwAAQBAJ). 53. Elton 1982, pp. 364–365.
ISBN 9781538092026.
54. Ridley 1962, pp. 59–63.
31. Brigden 2000, p. 111.
55. Catholic Encyclopedia, Henry VIII (http://www.n
ewadvent.org/cathen/07222a.htm). Accessed
21 August 2009.
56. Lehmberg 1970. 93. Mackie 1952, pp. 399–400.

57. Elton 1991, p. 162. 94. Marshall 2017, p. 266.
58. Marshall 2017, pp. 176–177,179: Borrowing 95. Marshall 2017, pp. 269–270.
from Luther, Tyndale argued that papal and 96. Brigden 2000, p. 132.
clerical claims to independent power were
97. MacCulloch 1996, p. 229.
unscriptural and that the king's "law is God's
law". In 1531, Henry sought, through Robert 98. MacCulloch 1996, p. 231.
Barnes, Luther's opinion on his annulment; the 99. MacCulloch 1996, p. 233.
theologian did not approve. 100. MacCulloch 1996, p. 241.
59. Bernard 1990, p. 185. 101. Haigh 1993, p. 153.
60. MacCulloch 1996, pp. 59–60. 102. Brigden 2000, p. 135.
61. MacCulloch 1996, pp. 70–72. 103. Marshall 2017, pp. 280–281.
62. MacCulloch 1996, pp. 65–66, 153–154. 104. Marshall 2017, p. 281.
63. Marshall 2017, p. 205. 105. Marshall 2017, p. 284.
64. Marshall 2017, pp. 208,221. 106. Haigh 1993, p. 158.
65. Marshall 2017, p. 238. 107. MacCulloch 1996, p. 284.
66. Marshall 2017, p. 215. 108. Marshall 2017, pp. 286–287.
67. Marshall 2017, pp. 216–217. 109. Haigh 1993, p. 161.
68. MacCulloch 1996, p. 140. 110. Haigh 1993, p. 160.
69. Brigden 2000, p. 107: Henry was no innocent: 111. Dickens 1966, p. 103.
he sought influence in European affairs and, in 112. Haigh (1993, p. 162) argues that the Litany and
pursuance of it, his relationship with the French Primer were largely traditional devotions and
was ambivalent and essentially treacherous. that the popularity of the Primer "suggest a
70. Haigh 1993, p. 125. continued vitality in conventional religion".
71. Marshall 2017, pp. 254–256. Marshall (2017, pp. 291, 293), however, argues
72. Haigh 1993, p. 129. that both the Litany and Primer were reformed
in outlook, especially in their reduced emphasis
73. Marshall 2017, p. 241.
on the invocation of saints. They were
74. Haigh 1993, p. 130. successful, he writes, in "taking an old-
75. Marshall 2017, pp. 241–242. fashioned form and subverting its traditional
76. MacCulloch 2001, p. 57. purposes". Duffy (2005, pp. 446–447) agrees
with Marshall.
77. Haigh 1993, p. 134.
78. MacCulloch 1996, p. 227. 113. Marshall 2017, p. 292.
114. Marshall 2017, p. 294.
79. Haigh 1993, p. 131.
116. MacCulloch 1996, p. 356.
81. Haigh 1993, p. 141.
117. MacCulloch (1996, pp. 356–357) argues that
82. Smith 1938, p. vii.
Cranmer believed that, had he lived, Henry
83. Elton 1991, p. 142. would have pursued a radical iconoclastic
84. Marshall 2017, p. 269. policy and a transformation of the mass into a
85. Marshall 2017, p. 229. Protestant communion service.
86. Marshall 2017, p. 232. 118. Haigh 1993, p. 166.
87. Haigh 1993, pp. 144–145. 119. MacCulloch 1996, p. 359.
88. Haigh 1993, pp. 143–144. 120. Haigh 1993, pp. 166–167.
89. Haigh 1993, pp. 145–146. 121. Marshall 2017, pp. 291,304: Edward's tutors
90. Haigh 1993, pp. 147–149. included the reformers John Cheke, Richard
Cox and Roger Ascham.
91. MacCulloch 2003, p. 201.
122. MacCulloch 1996, p. 366.
92. Marshall 2017, p. 282.
23. MacCulloch 1999, pp. 35ff. 163. Haigh 1993, p. 174.

24. Haigh 1993, pp. 168–169. 164. Marshall 2017, pp. 324–325.
26. MacCulloch 1996, p. 372. 166. Duffy 2005, pp. 464–466.
27. Marshall 2017, p. 308. 167. Moorman 1983, p. 27.
28. Marshall 2017, pp. 309–310. 168. Jones et al. 1992, pp. 101–105.
29. Duffy 2005, p. 450. 169. Thompson 1961, pp. 234–236.
31. Duffy 2005, p. 452. 171. Duffy 2005, p. 466.
32. Duffy 2005, p. 451. 172. Brigden 2000, p. 185.
34. Duffy 2005, p. 458. 174. Marshall 2017, p. 334.
35. Duffy 2005, pp. 450–454. 175. Haigh 1993, p. 176.
36. Marshall 2017, p. 311. 176. Aston 1993; Loach 1999, p. 187; Hearn 1995,
37. MacCulloch 1996, p. 376. pp. 75–76
38. MacCulloch 1996, p. 377. 177. Haigh 1993, p. 177–178.
39. Marshall 2017, pp. 311–312. 178. Marshall 2017, p. 338.
40. MacCulloch 1996, p. 422. 179. MacCulloch 1996, p. 459.
41. Marshall 2017, p. 313. 180. MacCulloch 1996, p. 408.
42. Duffy 2005, pp. 454–456. 181. Duffy 2005, p. 471.
43. Haigh 1993, p. 171. 182. Marshall 2017, p. 339.
44. Dickens 1989, p. 235. 183. Duffy 2005, p. 470.
45. Duffy 2005, p. 481. 184. Haigh 1993, pp. 176–177.
46. Duffy 2005, p. 481: In Ludlow in Shropshire the 185. MacCulloch 1996, pp. 460–461.
parishioners complied with the orders to 186. Marshall 2017, pp. 340–341.
remove the rood and other images in 1547, 187. Haigh 1993, p. 179.
and in that same year spent money on making 188. MacCulloch (1996, pp. 461, 492) quotes
up the canopy to be carried over the Blessed Cranmer as explaining "And therefore in the
Sacrament on the feast of Corpus Christi.
book of the holy communion, we do not pray
47. Haigh 1993, pp. 171–172. that the creatures of bread and wine may be
48. Duffy 2005, p. 490. the body and blood of Christ; but that they may
49. Haigh 1993, pp. 1–2. be to us the body and blood of Christ" and also
"I do as plainly speak as I can, that Christ's
50. Graham-Dixon 1996, p. 38.
body and blood be given to us in deed, yet not
51. Duffy 2005, p. 462. corporally and carnally, but spiritually and
52. Duffy 2005, p. 457. effectually."
53. Marshall 2017, p. 315. 189. Duffy 2005, p. 472.
55. Haigh 1993, p. 173. 191. MacCulloch 1996, p. 507.
56. Duffy 2005, p. 459. 192. Duffy 2005, p. 474.
57. Marshall 2017, pp. 322–323. 193. Duffy 2005, p. 475.
58. MacCulloch 1996, p. 380. 194. Duffy 2005, p. 473.
60. MacCulloch 1996, p. 385. 196. Duffy 2005, p. 476.
61. Marshall 2017, p. 324. 197. Duffy 2005, p. 477.
62. MacCulloch 1996, p. 410.
98. Duffy 2005, pp. 484–485. Among many 234. Haigh 1993, p. 226.
examples: in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire, a 235. Marshall 2017, pp. 402–403.
chalice, paten and processional cross were 236. Dickens 1989, pp. 309f.
sold and the proceeds devoted to flood
defences; in the wealthy Rayleigh parish, £10 237. Haigh 1993, p. 214.
worth of plate was sold to pay for the cost of 238. Haigh 1993, p. 215.
the required reforms—the need to buy a parish 239. Haigh 1993, p. 234.
chest, Bible and communion table. 240. Haigh 1993, pp. 214–215.
99. Duffy 2005, p. 490: At Long Melford, Sir John 241. Haigh 1993, p. 228.
Clopton, a patron of the church, bought up
many of the images, probably to preserve 242. Marshall 2017, p. 386.
them. 243. Hargrave 1982, p. 7.
02. Haigh 1993, p. 181. 246. Marshall 2017, pp. 394, 396.
03. Marshall 2017, pp. 353–354. 247. Marshall 2017, p. 394.
04. Marshall 2017, pp. 356–358. 248. Roddy 2016, p. 64.
06. Marshall 2017, p. 359. 250. Cavill 2013, p. 879.
07. Marshall 2017, p. 360. 251. Hargrave 1982, pp. 7–8.
08. Marshall 2017, p. 363. 252. Haigh 1993, p. 230.
09. Marshall 2017, pp. 362–363. 253. Hargrave 1982, p. 8.
10. Duffy 2005, p. 479. 254. Loades 1989, p. 547.
11. Marshall 2017, pp. 360, 363. 255. Hargrave 1982, pp. 9–10.
12. Ward 1981, p. 229. 256. MacCulloch 2003, pp. 284–285.
14. Haigh 1993, p. 208. 258. MacCulloch 2001, p. 24.
15. Ward 1981, p. 230. 259. Marshall 2017, pp. 419–420.
16. MacCulloch 2003, p. 281. 260. MacCulloch 2005, p. 89.
17. Marshall 2017, p. 390. 261. Moorman 1973, p. 200.
18. Haigh 1993, p. 222. 262. Haigh 1993, p. 238.
20. Ward 1981, p. 232. 264. Coffey & Lim 2008, pp. 3–4.
21. Duffy 2005, p. 526. 265. MacCulloch 2001, p. 28.
22. Haigh 1993, p. 217. 266. Haigh 1993, p. 256.
23. Haigh 1993, pp. 215, 217. 267. Haigh 1993, p. 263.
24. MacCulloch 2003, p. 214. 268. Haigh 1993, p. 261.
26. MacCulloch 2003, p. 282. 270. Haigh 1993, pp. 262f: "...England judicially
murdered more Roman Catholics than any
27. MacCulloch 2003, p. 283.
other country in Europe."
28. Haigh 1993, p. 227.
271. MacCulloch 2003, p. 392.
29. Marshall 2017, pp. 398–399.
272. Haigh 1993, p. 266.
30. Haigh 1993, p. 216.
273. Marshall 2017, pp. 542–543.
31. Marshall 2017, p. 400.
274. Coffey & Lim 2008, pp. 3–5.
32. Haigh 1993, p. 225.
275. Craig 2008, p. 37.
33. Marshall 2017, p. 401.
76. Craig 2008, pp. 43–44. 290. R.A.F. Pollard, Henry VIII (1905) online free (htt
77. Craig 2008, pp. 39–40. ps://archive.org/details/henryviii00pollgoog);
78. Craig 2008, p. 42. Pollard, The History of England from the
Accession of Edward VI to the Death of
79. Spinks 2006, p. 50. Elizabeth, 1547–1603 (1910) online free (http
80. Maltby 2006, p. 88. s://archive.org/details/historyofenglandfr00pollu
81. Maltby 2006, p. 89. oft).
82. Marshall 2017, p. 576. 291. Vidmar 2005.
83. Maltby 1998, p. 235. 292. Hazlett 1995.
84. Bremer 2009, p. 27. 293. Slavin 1990, pp. 405–431.
85. Maltby 1998, p. 236. 294. Haigh (1997, pp. 281–299) deals with Elton.
86. Marshall 2017, p. 575. 295. A.G. Dickens, John Tonkin, and Kenneth
87. MacCulloch 2001, p. 85. Powell, eds., The Reformation in historical
thought (1985).
88. Marshall 2017, pp. 576–577.
296. Richard Cust and Ann Hughes, eds., Conflict in
89. Froude, History of England from the Fall of
early Stuart England: studies in religion and
Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada,
politics 1603–1642 (Routledge, 2014).
(12 volumes, 1893) "Wolsey" online free (http
s://archive.org/search.php?query=Froude%2 297. Duffy 2006.
C%20)
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Pearson Education. ISBN 978-1405835572.
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Wisdom, and Robert Crowley" (https://doi.org/10.33137%2Frr.v39i1.26543). Renaissance and
Reformation. 39 (1): 63–90. doi:10.33137/rr.v39i1.26543 (https://doi.org/10.33137%2Frr.v39i1.2654
3). JSTOR 43918982 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/43918982).
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405–431. doi:10.2307/494396 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F494396). JSTOR 494396 (https://www.jsto
r.org/stable/494396).
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wCwAAQBAJ). London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781349004065.
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The Oxford Guide to The Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=ezVH2h6PKUcC). Oxford University Press. pp. 44–54. ISBN 978-0-19-529756-0.
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000thom). ISBN 0-529-02077-7.
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Sussex Academic Press. OCLC 54966133 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54966133).
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s://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/1981-3/1981-3-04.pdf) (PDF). Andrews
University Seminary Studies. Andrews University Press. 19 (3): 227–241. Archived (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20150928164442/https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/1981-
3/1981-3-04.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2015.
Warnicke, Retha (1983). Women of the English Renaissance and Reformation. Praeger.
Further reading
Aston, Margaret (1988). England's Iconoclasts: Volume I: Laws Against Images.
Aston, Margaret (2016). Broken Idols of the English Reformation. Cambridge University Press.
Collinson, Patrick (1988). The Birthpangs of Protestant England: Religious and Cultural Change in
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (https://archive.org/details/birthpangsofprot00coll). St.
Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-02366-9.
Duffy, Eamon (2017). Reformation Divided: Catholics, Protestants and the Conversion of England.
Guy, John (1988). Tudor England (https://archive.org/details/tudorengland00john). Oxford University
Press. ISBN 9780192852137.
Hazlett, Ian (2003). The Reformation in Britain and Ireland: An Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Heal, Felicity (2005). Reformation in Britain and Ireland (https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=10
9904318). Oxford University Press.
Kümin, Beat A. The shaping of a community: The rise and reformation of the English Parish c. 1400–
1560 (Routledge, 2016).
MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2018). Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life.
Marshall, Peter. Religious identities in Henry VIII's England (Routledge, 2016).
Marshall, Peter (2012). Reformation England 1480–1642. excerpt (https://www.amazon.com/Reform
ation-England-1480-1642-Reading-History/dp/184966529X/)
Randell, Keith (2001). Henry VIII and the Reformation in England. short textbook
Ryrie, Alec. Worship and the parish church in early modern Britain (Routledge, 2016).
Sheils, William J. (2013). The English Reformation 1530–1570. Routledge.
Turvey, Roger; Randell, Keith (2008). Access to History: Henry VIII to Mary I: Government and
Religion, 1509–1558. Hodder.
Tyacke, Nicholas, ed. (1997). England's Long Reformation: 1500–1800. 12 essays by scholars;
excerpt (https://www.amazon.com/Englands-Long-Reformation-1500-1800-Colloquium/dp/18572875
68/)
Whiting, Robert (1998). Local responses to the English Reformation (https://archive.org/details/localr
esponsesto00robe).
Whiting, Robert (2010). The Reformation of the English Parish Church (https://archive.org/details/Th
eReformationOfTheEnglishParishChurch).
Wilkinson, Richard (December 2010). "Thomas Cranmer: The Yes-Man Who Said No: Richard
Wilkinson Elucidates the Paradoxical Career of One of the Key Figures of English Protestantism" (htt
ps://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5048524774). History Review (68).
Wilson, Derek (2012). A Brief History of the English Reformation: Religion, Politics and Fear: How
England was Transformed by the Tudors. ISBN 978-1-84529-646-9.
Historiograpical
Haigh, Christopher (December 1982). "The Recent Historiography of the English Reformation".
Historical Journal. 25 (4): 995–1007. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00021385 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2F
S0018246X00021385). JSTOR 2638647 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638647).

Marshall, Peter (July 2009). "(Re)defining the English Reformation" (http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/97/1/
WRAP_Marshall_redefining.pdf) (PDF). Journal of British Studies. 48 (3): 564–86.
doi:10.1086/600128 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F600128). JSTOR 27752571 (https://www.jstor.org/st
able/27752571).
Walsham, Alexandra (December 2012). "History, Memory, and the English Reformation" (https://doi.o
rg/10.1017%2FS0018246X12000362). Historical Journal. 55 (4): 899–938.
doi:10.1017/S0018246X12000362 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0018246X12000362).
Primary sources
King, John N., ed. (2004). Voices of the English Reformation: A Sourcebook. Philadelphia, PA:
University of Pennsylvania Press. OCLC 265599728 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/265599728).
External links
Media related to English Reformation at Wikimedia Commons
The History of the Reformation of the Church of England by Gilbert Burnet (Oxford University Press,
1829): Volume I (https://archive.org/details/historyreformat02burngoog), Volume I, Part II (https://arch
ive.org/details/historyreformat07burngoog), Volume II (https://archive.org/details/historyreformat06bu
rngoog), Volume II, Part II (https://archive.org/details/historyreformat00burngoog), Volume III (https://
archive.org/details/historyreformat04burngoog) Volume III, Part II (https://archive.org/details/historyre
format05burngoog)
Ecclesiastical Memorials, Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of It, and the
Emergencies of the Church of England, Under King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, and Queen Mary I
by John Strype (Clarendon Press, 1822): Vol. I, Pt. I (https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalm05stry
goog,), Vol. I, Pt. II (https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalm02strygoog), Vol. II, Pt. I (https://archiv
e.org/details/ecclesiasticalm03strygoog), Vol. II, Pt. II (https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalm01str
ygoog), Vol. III, Pt. I (https://archive.org/stream/ecclesiasticalm04strygoog), Vol. III, Pt. II (https://archi
ve.org/details/ecclesiasticalm00strygoog)
Annals of the Reformation and Establishment of Religion, and Other Various Occurrences in the
Church of England, During Queen Elizabeth's Happy Reign by John Strype (1824 ed.): Vol. I, Pt. I (ht
tps://archive.org/details/annalsofreformat11stry), Vol. I, Pt. II (https://archive.org/details/annalsofrefor
mat0102stry), Vol. II, Pt. I (https://archive.org/details/annalsofreformat0201stry), Vol. II., Pt. II (https://
archive.org/details/annalsofreformat0202stry), Vol. III, Pt. I (https://archive.org/details/annalsofreform
at0301stry), Vol. III, Pt. II (https://archive.org/details/annalsofreformat0302stry), Vol. IV (https://archiv
e.org/details/annalsofreformat04stry)
Hanover College Historical Texts Collection: The English Reformation (http://history.hanover.edu/text
s/ENGref/links.html) – links to primary sources.
Hanover College Historical Texts Collection: The Protestant Reformation (http://history.hanover.edu/li
nk-lists/prot.html) – links to primary sources.
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Based on Henry VIII's desire for an annulment of his marriage (first

New religious ideas

The publication of William Tyndale's English New Testament in

This contributed to a state of hostility between his young

The combination of his "scruple of conscience" and his captivation

Parliamentary debate and legislation

In the matter of the annulment, no progress seemed possible. The

Actions against clergy

Having brought down his chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII

The Act in Restraint of Appeals, drafted by Cromwell, apart from

This realm of England is an Empire, and so hath been

This declared England an independent country in every respect.

Moderate religious reform

Dissolution of the monasteries

For Cromwell and Cranmer, a step in the Protestant agenda was

Traditionalists, nevertheless, seemed to have the upper hand. By the

By the spring of 1544, the conservatives appeared to be losing

years of Edward's reign, a Protestant establishment would gradually

Initially, however, Edward was of little account politically.[123] Real

Nevertheless, Seymour and Cranmer did plan to further the

Iconoclasm and abolition of chantries

When a new Parliament met in November 1547, it began to dismantle

The Chantries Act 1547 abolished the remaining chantries and

1549 prayer book

The cycles and seasons of the church year continued to be

Nevertheless, the first Book of Common Prayer was a "radical"

1552 prayer book and parish confiscations

The 1549 Book of Common Prayer was criticised by Protestants both

Reconciling with Rome

Historian Eamon Duffy writes that "Protestantism was a force to be

Following Mary's accession, the Duke of Norfolk along with the

On 30 November, Pole spoke to both houses of Parliament,

Cardinal Pole would eventually replace Cranmer as Archbishop of

As papal legate, Pole possessed authority over both his Province of

Around 284 Protestants were burnt at the stake for heresy.[250]

The Elizabethan Settlement established a church that was Reformed in

"Church papists" were Roman Catholics who outwardly conformed to

During the reign of Charles I, the Arminians were ascendant and

56. Lehmberg 1970. 93. Mackie 1952, pp. 399–400.

23. MacCulloch 1999, pp. 35ff. 163. Haigh 1993, p. 174.

S0018246X00021385). JSTOR 2638647 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638647).

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_Reformation&oldid=1004637516"

This page was last edited on 3 February 2021, at 16:39 (UTC).

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