Name: _______________________________________ Date: ___________________________ Period:______

Protestant ReformationThe English Reformation

After Martin Luther spread his message of reforming the Catholic Church in Germany, many countries and monarchs started to examine the Catholic Church in their own lands. They often agreed with Luther’s idea of printing the Bible in the vernacular, eliminating the position of the Pope, focusing on only two sacraments (baptism and communion), and eliminating corruption, like selling indulgences.

In England, religious leaders such as John Wycliffe had called for Catholic reform as early as the 1300s. By the 1520s, some English clergy were toying with Protestant ideas. The break with the Catholic Church in England, however, was not the work of religious leaders. It was the secular King Henry VIII who wanted to end papal control over the English for political reasons (but, really personal reasons).

The AnnulmentHenry VIII was a deeply Catholic man. Growing up, he was a staunch Catholic who was married to an even more pious Catholic, the great Queen Catherine from Aragon, Spain – daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Recall that Isabella and Ferdinand had been responsible for the Reconquista, the Inquisition, and funding Columbus’s trip across the Atlantic. They had successfully reclaimed Spain from the Moors (Muslims) and exiled all remaining Jews and Muslims in 1492 in the name of uniting the country in Catholicism.

Henry VIII disagreed with Luther’s views at first. The pope even rewarded him with the title “Defender of the Faith” for a pamphlet he wrote denouncing Luther’s ideas. However, in 1527 an issue arose that set Henry at odds with the Catholic Church. After 18 years of marriage, several stillborn children, and one surviving female child (Mary), Henry wanted an annulment (annulment, meaning to declare invalid) of his marriage to Catherine. Henry felt that the stability of England depended on having a male heir and that Catherine had failed to do so. So, Henry wanted to cancel his first marriage on the basis that the marriage was never valid to begin with. His argument was that Catherine had been married to Henry’s older brother Arthur before and that a section of the Bible forbids one brother from marrying the widow of another brother. Popes had annulled royal marriages before, but the current pope refused. The reason the pope refused was because he did not want to offend the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, who just happened to be Catherine’s nephew and leader of the Diet of Worms that had prosecuted Martin Luther.

The Break with RomeHenry was furious. His advisers, many of whom were already Protestants, encouraged Henry to take over the Catholic Church in England and create a “new” church – the Anglican Church or the Church of England. Acting through Parliament, England’s law-making body, Henry had a series of laws passed in which he took the English church

from Rome and the Pope’s control and placed himself in charge. In the 1534 Act of Supremacy, Henry was made “the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England.” Many loyal Catholics in England refused to accept the Act of Supremacy and were executed for treason. Among them was the humanist and close friend of Henry, Sir Thomas More. At the same time, Henry appointed Thomas Cranmer archbishop and he annulled Henry’s marriage to Catherine. Henry then wed Anne Boleyn, who bore him a second daughter, Elizabeth. This Elizabeth would later become the great Elizabeth I of England.

Over the next few years, Henry would behead Anne for witchcraft and incest, but her real crime was failing to provide him with his male heir. His third wife, Jane Seymour, provided Henry with his dream son, Edward VI, but Jane died from complications of three days of childbirth. Henry’s fourth wife was Anne of Cleves, a German princess. But because she was apparently ugly and smelled bad, Henry had that marriage annulled as well. Henry then married the young teenager Catherine Howard when he himself was in his 50s, hoping that she would provide him with a second son just in case. She proved to be quite the flirt and was beheaded for her affair with a palace servant Thomas Culpepper. Henry’s final wife was Catherine Parr, who outlived Henry. Henry’s son Edward died in childhood and Henry was left without his male heir despite his six wives.

The Church of England (Anglican Church)Between 1536 and 1540, royal officials began to investigate the spending patterns of convents and monasteries in England. Claiming that they were centers of immorality and worldliness, Henry ordered them closed. He then confiscated their lands and wealth. Henry shrewdly granted the claimed property to his favorite nobles. He thus secured support for the new Anglican Church in what was a very Catholic country. Despite these actions, Henry was not a religious radical. He rejected most of the Protestant doctrines and the only real difference between the

Anglican Church and the Catholic Church was that the Pope was no longer the head of the Church in England and Henry allowed the use of the English Bible.

Religious Turmoil in EnglandWhen Henry died in 1547, his 10-year-old son Edward VI inherited the throne. The young king’s advisors were devout Protestants. Under Edward, Parliament passed new laws that brought more Protestant reforms to England. Thomas Cranmer drew up the Book of Common Prayer. It imposed for Protestant reforms in the church service. Many revolts occurred because of these changes. When Edward VI died at the age of sixteen from tuberculosis, his half-sister Mary (daughter of Henry and Catherine of Aragon) became queen. She was a strict Catholic like her mother and was determined to return England to the Catholic faith. Under Queen Mary, thousands of Protestants were burned at the stake thus giving her the name “Bloody Mary.”

The Anabaptists Reformers such as Luther accepted that the state had an important, even dominant (controlling), role in church affairs. However, some people strongly disliked giving the state so much power. These people were radicals called Anabaptists. Most Anabaptists believed in the complete separation of Church and State. For them, government had no power over religion. In fact, government had no political authority over “real” Christians. Anabaptists refused to hold political office, and they refused to use guns or other weapons or to join the army. They took literally (understood according to the actual meaning of the words) the biblical commandment “Thou shall not kill.”

To Anabaptists, the true Christian church was a community of believers. These believers freely choose their religious faith as adults, and they were then baptized. In this way, they were different from both Catholics and Protestants, who baptized new members into their church as babies.

Anabaptists also believed in the practices and spirit of early Christianity. They considered all believers to be equal. Many of their ideas came from New Testament stories about life in early Christian communities. Each Anabaptist church chose its own minister, or spiritual leader. Because all Christians were considered priests, any member of the community could be a minister. (However, women were often excluded (not allowed) from becoming ministers.)

Because of both their political and their religious beliefs, Anabaptists were considered dangerous radicals. They were seen as a threat to sixteenth-century society. In fact, the main thing other Protestants and Catholics agreed on was the need to persecute (to act in bad or cruel way toward people because of their beliefs) Anabaptists.

The beliefs of the Anabaptists were frightening to many in Europe because the Anabaptists did not accept the power of the upper classes and government leaders. At this time, the nobility and the rich held a great deal of power. Their power was supported by the various religions and by religious leaders. The Anabaptists’ believed that everyone was equal and that the state had no power over churches or their members. These beliefs threatened the most basic ideas of the existing system.

Many Anabaptists moved to Münster, a city in Westphalia, (modern-day Germany) in the 1530s because they were persecuted in other places. Münster became a safe place for Anabaptists under their leader John of Leiden. In 1534, an army of Catholics and other Protestants surrounded the city. In 1535, they captured it. They tortured and killed the Anabaptist leaders.

1.

Name: _______________________________________ Date: ________________________Period:______

1. Why would monarchs support eliminating the Pope?

2. Who was the Protestant reformer in England? Why did he want to break from the Church?

3. How did Ferdinand and Isabella change Spain?

4. Why did Henry VIII want an annulment?

5. Why did the Pope refuse Henry’s request?

6. What did the Act of Supremacy decide?

7. How did Henry win support for his new church?

8. Was Henry a Protestant radical? Explain.

9. How did Mary earn her nickname?

10. Why were Anabaptists seen as “radical”? What did they refuse to do?

11. What beliefs did the Anabaptists have that alarmed the other Protestants and Catholics?

Summary: What were the causes and effects of the English Reformation?

Causes Effects