Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
rise of the papacy
middle ages reformation
the period of reformation and its impact
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: rise of the papacy
Henry VIII and his Reformation of the Church in England
Henry VIII, in his Reformation of the English Church, was driven
mostly by political factors, but also partially by a belief that he
was one of the Kings of the Old Testament. Although the initial break
with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries seem to be the work
of a monarch who has changed his religious colours, and turned from
Catholicism to Protestantism, they were in fact only a means for
gaining money and divorce. By 1547, England was still essentially
Catholic.
Many traditional historians, such as G. R. Elton and A. G. Dickens,
believe that the Church originally came under attack in 1529 because
the laity were not satisfied with its work. According to Elton, 'If
one thing can be said of the English people early in the sixteenth
century it is that they thought little of priests.' People were
resentful of the wealth of the Church, (it owned approximately one
third of all the land, and the incomes of some of the great abbeys
exceeded the revenues of the greatest temporal lords), as they felt
that they could make better use of it. They were also aggrieved by the
Church courts, and more specifically the rights of benefit of clergy
and clerical sanctuary, especially after the Hunne case. This view
also seems to be supported by contemporary opinion. Evangelicals, such
as Simon Fish, had new ideas, and believed that the Church was wrong,
while even members of the clergy, like John Colet, seemed to be
dissatisfied with the work of the Church. Christian Humanists, for
instance Erasmus, wanted a better and more accurate version of the
Bible, and even totally devout ...
... middle of paper ...
... noble
progenitors of right ought to have been, a full king, that is, a rule,
and not rule in his kingdom as others were.'
Bibliography
Belloc, Hilaire. Characters of the Reformation TAN Books, October 3, 1992
Elton, Geoffrey Rudolph. Reform and Reformation: England, 1509-1558. Harvard University Press, Jan 1, 1977
Haigh, Christopher. English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors Oxford University Press, June 24, 1993.
Lotherington, John. The Tudor Years. Hodder Education, 7 July 1994.
Randell, Keith. Henry VIII and the Government of England, Hodder Education; 2nd Revised edition edition 1 Jun 2001.
Rex, Richard. Henry VIII. Gloucestershire: Amberly Publishing Plc, 2009
Lucas, Henry S. The Renaissance and the Reformation Second Edition New York: Harper Brothers, 1960.
After many failed attempts to obtain a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII took momentous steps that led to "The Reformation," a significant occurrence in the history of religion. Prior to the reformation, all of England's inhabitants including King Henry VIII prescribed to Catholicism. In fact, King Henry VIII was such a strong supporter that he was given the title "Defender of the Faith" by the pope for his efforts in protecting Catholicism against the Protestants. However, all these changed upon the pope's denial of Henry's request for a divorce.
Watt, T. (1991). Cheap Print and Popular Piety 1550-1640. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Within the book are four main chapters present the reign and legacy of Edward VI Reformation. This book also includes a list of illustrations, acknowledgements, notes, bibliography and an abbreviation list, which helps readers understand in more detail about the Edwardian Reformation.
Roper, H. R.. The crisis of the seventeenth century; religion, the Reformation, and social change. [1st U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 19681967. Print.
Religious reformations. In (2009). N. Key & R. Bucholz (Eds.), Sources and Debates in English History (2 ed., ch. 3). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Christopher Haigh, ‘Revisionism and the Reformation and the History of English Catholicism’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Volume. 36, No. 3 (July, 1985), pp. 394-406
While both Henry VIII and Martin Luther identified corruption in the Church, Martin Luther sought to purify it when Henry VIII was only driven by his desire for an heir. Martin Luther did many things to try to please God such as constantly repent, fast, and bow down in humble reverence to his Creator, but Luther found the forgiveness process to only get more difficult, because truly, not one human being is without fault. Luther began noticing corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, and was soon convinced it had fallen away from many key truths of the Bible, perverting others and leading them astray with many unethical sources including the grotesque sale of indulgences. Henry VIII was also well aware of the Church’s critical situation,
Henry VIII's Reformation In 1529 Henry VIII started to reform the Catholic Church in England, however there are different opinions as to why he began these controversial changes. The orthodox view concurs that there was a vast anti-clerical feeling in 16th century England; the corrupt church was unpopular with the masses. However the revisionist view claims that the reformation was actually due to politics. Henry needed a male heir and therefore needed a divorce.
Like Wyclif's Lollard heresy, the English Protestant Reformation, over one hundred years later, would draw support from both the common people and the royal establishment. Among the many causes of the Reformation, one stands out as the most important because it alone brought about a specifically English reformation. The religious drive of the common people to create a more open system of worship was a grassroots movement of reform, similar to the reformations taking place across Europe. The political ambitions of those at the highest levels of government to consolidate power in the person of the monarch, however, is what made a reformation of the Church in England into a specifically English Reformation.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I may have been the English Reformation’s greatest benefactors, all because of self interest. Henry VIII was not originally Protestant, but after the pope denied him of his divorce, Henry VIII took things into his own hands. Due to the power kings had in the Middle Ages, Henry VIII was able to control Parliament and force it to do whatever he wanted. So in 1534, Henry VIII forced Parliament to pass a law he made known as the Act of Supremacy. The Act of Supremacy stated that the king ought to be the head of the Church of England. This law gave the king complete power over the Church of England, instead of the pope. However, the type of church and state relationship did not change. Rather all the Act of Supremacy did was take power from the pope and give it to the king. Surprisingly, the Catholics did not retaliate against this strong change. The pope had always been the head of the church, but now the king had taken his position. This serves as an example of nationalism. The Catholics did not think about how removing the pope could harm their religion in any way. However, instead the people blindly followed Henry VIII because he was the leader of the nation and they assumed he was right. Also, by imposing other laws that punished Protestants, Henry VIII did not give the people much of a choice. Fortunately, for Henry VII, nationalis...
Greaves, Richard L. “Tudor, House of.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 6 Feb.
The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. Both of these great time periods are strikingly similar in some ways and totally different in others. This is because the renaissance was a change from religion to humanism whether it is in art or literature; it is where the individual began to matter. However, the reformation was,” in a nutshell,” a way to reform the church and even more so to form the way our society is today. The first half of this paper will view the drop in faith, the economic powers, and the artistic and literary changes during the renaissance, while the second half will view the progresses and changes the church makes during the reformation.
Pettegree, Andrew. "The English Reformation." BBC History. BBC, 17 Feb 2011. Web. 1 Oct 2013.
Burns, Julia. "Notes MLA 6318". Church and State in Early Modern England. Fall 2013. Dr. D. David.