English Reformation

English Reformation

• - series of events in 16th-century in England• - associated with the process of the European

Protestant reformation• - religious and political movement

English Reformation

• Many factors contributed to the process:• - decline of feudalism• - rise of nationalism• - rise of common law• - invention of the printing press• - transmission of new knowledge

English Reformation

• - more a political affair than a theological dispute

• - before the break with Rome – code of canon law

• - the split from Rome made the English monarch the Supreme Governor

• - Church of England = established church of the nation

Role of Henry VIII

• - ascended the Englisch throne in 1509 (17 years)• - made a dynastic marriage with Catherine of Aragon• - observant Catholic• - defended the Catholic Church

from Martin Luther´s accusations of heresy

• - book The defence of the Seven Sacraments

• - „Defender of the Faith“

Role of Henry VIII

• meeting Anne Boleyn • In 1520s – Henry VIII wanted to divorce his

wife and annulled his marriage• The Pope refused• Henry VIII made himself the leader of the

Church

Thomas Cromwell

• 1st Earl of Essex• Advisor of Henry VIII• Lawyer and a Member

of Parliament• Great reformist• Protestant ideas to justify Henry

´s actions

Results of the English Reformation

• - the English clergy was cut off from Rome• - Henry VIII – Supreme Head of the Church

and clergy of England• - 1536 Parliament passed an act to close down

the monasteries (dissolution of the Monasteries)

English Reformation

• 1533 marriage – Anne Boleyn• birth of daughter, Princess Elizabeth• Exkommunicating from the Roman Catholic

Church• Other 4 wives• Further transformation of the Church to

Protestantism – reign of Henry´s son, King Edward VI

The Anglican Church

• - in England, Wales, Scotland• - head = Supreme Governor (Defensor Fidei)• - 2 archbishops (archbishop from Canterbury =

primate