'The English Reformation came about because Henry VIII needed a divorce and for no other reason'. Discuss.

To many people the subject of discussing the reasons for the English reformation can be a simple one and it can be narrowed down to a single event which is usually the marriage career of Henry VIII and his six wives which had a momentous change and with far reaching consequences on England and the rest of the world. It was famously called 'an act of state' which would indicate that it wasn't some sort of revolution that is brought about by the masses of the population riled by religious fever, but rather than a decision by a single powerful monarch who's authority is unquestionable. In essence it was a transfer of legal authority over the church in England from a distant papacy to a very present English crown. But there are still smaller events prior to the large causation of the English reformation that must be discussed, like the arrival of Lutheran literature to England in 1521 and John Wycliffe an Oxford academic whose writing inspired groups of the populous to become his followers and they were called the Lollards must also be considered. Schama (2000,pp.293323) John Wycliffe who was a scholar at Oxford lived almost 200 years before the events of Henry VIII and his theory's on the church matched other similar thinking theologians and pastors like Luther and Calvin but Wycliffe was an original thinking man and was way ahead in his theory's of the church which has led historians to call him "Morning star of the Reformation" a precursor to the English reformation. He was one of the very first scholars to criticise the Catholic church in the way it was teaching the people scripture and also Rome's view that they are the true church. Wycliffe disapproved of the churches wealth and believed that is should be redistributed to the people because the church is there to help people in need rather than to take money from an already impoverished population, he almost said that the people should rise up and take the wealth that the church has, when speaking to a gathering he said 'we should seize the clergys temporal possessions which belong to us and the kingdom as a whole'.(www.allempires.com) He thought that the church should be poor as in the times of the apostles, he believed that money should be the last concern that a man of the cloth should be concerned with as it dilutes their duties and probably because money corrupts as well. More importantly he disagreed with critical teachings of the church in regards to how they teach the people. Cameron(1991,p74) The general population could not read let alone read Latin. Wycliffe had a solution for this. Wycliffe and a number of his associates in 1382 translated the bible into English, this was a huge episode in the process allowing people to experience the word of god for themselves and interpret the teachings in a manner they saw fit. Wycliffe's followers spread throughout the country with the English bible and these people were known as the Lollards. This was the first European translation of the bible in over a thousand years. As his followers showed the people of England the translated bible at the same time Wycliffe was preaching his own take on the teachings of the holy sacrament. (Voltz,1997,pp.40)

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John Wyclif's teaching of the holy sacrament differed from that of the catholic church on certain core beliefs, one of which was the matter of transubstantiation. Wycliffe held the belief for a number of years that the Lords Supper or commonly known as the Last Supper was a very significant event, so his aspiration was to separate the church's idea of transubstantiation. The Catholic church taught that, upon consecration by a priest, the bread and wine changed into the essence of the body and blood of Christ. Wycliffe problem with this doctrine was based on a passage from the Gospel and Paul's writings and many others that related to this issue. This can been seen in John 15:1 when Jesus said, "I am

the true vine," he did not mean that he had become a literal vine, or that a literal vine had been changed into the body of Christ. Hence this was an example used to teach
an important truth. Therefore by using Gods Word, Wycliffe preached that the current teachings of the church in regards to transubstantiation was not in line with the early church. John Wycliffe also believed the concept of predestination, that is no one in the world could go to heaven or claim salvation merely on their deeds they have accomplished thorough out their lives, not even the pope could claim such a thing (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history). He did not want to form a new church but to reform the existing one to conform to the ideals of what he considered the true teachings. This brought him to the attention of Rome and the pope. The pope at the time was called Pope Gregory XI and he wanted to take immediate action against Wycliffe because he interpreted as heresy and wanted the crown to hand him over to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Fortunately for Wycliffe he was just warned by the bishops and sent on his way, but he continued with his public speaking on matters of the church and was arrested again and lost support from important people in the church, he was put on trial for heresy at the synod on Blackfriars in 1382. During this trial he was found guilty of 14 errors and 10 counts of heresies. No action was taken against him and he was let go, but due to his age and maybe ill heath he was let go, 2 years later he died. Although he died John Wycliffe's teachings had inspired people to question the church's teachings, one of which was Martin Luther of Germany (history-world.org). Martin Luther is by many people believed to have truly inspired the Protestant Reformation movement in Europe. Luther was born in 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. At around 1505 he joined a monastic order and became an Augustinian friar . In 1507 he joined the teaching staff at the University of Wittenberg where he was awarded a doctorate in Theology, then towards the end of 1510 was asked by the Augustine order to visit Rome to settle a matter for them, where he witnessed absolute corruption of the church. There were a number of reasons why he came to this conclusion and it began when he went to confession and was appalled by the shire incompetence of the priest, then the manner of the Italian priests masses truly shocked him as they were charging through seven of eight masses to his one. Another disturbing act he witnessed was members of the clergy selling indulgences to absolve people who believed that they would go to hell and to family members of someone who had died and were in purgatory. In light of these offences as Luther saw it he published his '95 Theses' in October 1517 attacking the papacy and the abuses he had witnessed. He believed that true salvation lied in a Christians faith and not any efforts they make during 2|Page

their lifetime, this theory went against the fundamental teachings of the Catholic church. Thanks to the invention of the printing press 80 years previously, his writings such as 'To the Christian Nobility', 'On Christian Liberty' and 'On the Freedom of a Christian Man' spread throughout Europe. This did not endear him to the papacy in Rome and resulted in direct action from the pope. Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther in 1521 and was ordered to attend the 'Diet of Worms' which was an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, he was then told to renounce the theory's he had put into words and had spread across the country but he refused and Emperor Charles V stated that he was a heretic, this made him flee the city and hold up in Wartburg Castle. Later on he relocated to Wittenberg and married a former nun and had 6 children. Later on in 1526 Martin Luther had completed a translation of the bible into German, keeping to the same belief as Wycliffe that the bible should be in the common peoples tongue and therefore the population can make their assumptions on the word of god. This helped the development of the German language and help it spread throughout nation as there were still a non uniformed language that consisted of many dialects. During his final years he carried on his writings until his death in 1546 and they continued to spread across northern Europe influencing Holland and England alike, although there was a very powerful monarch who didn't take to kindly to these writings, his name was Henry XIII. Henry XIII was not swayed by this new literature from Germany that criticises the Church in fact he was hostile to the writings of Martin Luther. When Luther published his pamphlet called Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Henry took matters into his own hands and responded in kind with a manuscript entitled 'Assertio Septem Sacramentorum adversus Martinum Luterum, or Defence of the Seven Sacraments against Martin Luther. Henrys work defended the 7 Sacraments unlike Luther and denied all but three and upheld two, which were the baptism and Mass. Henry thought that Martin Luther was a heretic and in response he dedicated his work to the very pope who had wanted Luther to go on trial, Pope Leo X. The pope was so happy of this reaction by a monarch he gave the Tudor king the title of 'Fidei Defensor' or in English 'Defender of the Faith', but was Henrys support of the Catholic Church all that it seemed? (http://www.colindsmith.com/) Henrys defence of Rome was not as staunch as it would appear as later events would show us. Through the history of the English monarchy we can see that they would serve the church in any way that they could as long as it served the political aspirations of the royal family and at his point Henry wanted away from the constraints of a papal state as it were. This presented itself in the form of succession and Henrys unwavering desire to have a male heir that would keep the Tudors family firmly in control of the throne. Elton (1979,pp.75) Could his wife Catherine who once married to his departed brother provide him with this valuable tool of control? Catherine had given birth to a daughter called Mary who later would go onto rule England and almost undue all the hard work that her father had achieved, but unfortunately Catherine could not produce a male heir or in fact any children what so ever as she continually miscarried well into her later years, this became a problem as Catherine was a good six years older than her husband and it came apparent to Henry that she was unlikely

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to produce a male heir Scarisbrick (1968,pp.163) . At the same time Henry had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn the second daughter of the Earl of Wiltshire, Henry had already had relations with the other Boleyn girl. So the king decided he needed to consult his advisor and Cardinal Tomas Wolsey on divorcing his queen. Wolsey was quick to find a possible 'legal' way out of the marriage which centred around that his wife Catherine had been made aware of the Kings affairs in 1527. The kings claim that she had never known his brother Arthur and this would negate the problem of affinity. But this made Wolsey position a very difficult one. At this time Wolsey was a papal legate which gave him huge powers which over shadowed that of the archbishopric of Canterbury, but only the pope could grant a divorce, this was never going to happen as Rome was controlled at that point by emperor Charles V who just happen to be Catherine's nephew so in effect the pope was powerless to make such a decision even if he agreed to it. The slow progress that was being made (if any) began to make Henry suspicious of Wolsey and he finally decided to dismiss him in 1529 and he died at Leicester Abby before he could be tried for treason Scarisbrick (1968, pp 205-207) . If Henry could not go through the church and legally get divorced what was his options? Dramatic Changes were needed. Henry made the decision in 1532 to pass through a number of legislative reforms in quick succession that made the power of the church transfer over to monarchy of England and thus made the king the Supreme Head of the Church Elton (1997,pp.136.) This was a huge landmark in the history of Europe. The power of the Rome over the royals and the people was over, this afforded Henry the opportunity to strip the wealth from the church's and thus wiping out all remains of the catholic church in England. Therefore bringing an end to Catholicism and as the momentum change was swift, so was the change in how people saw the teachings of the church thus bring about the English reformation.

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Reference List

Schama Simon, 2000. A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3500 B.C. - 1603 A.D.. 1 Edition. Talk Miramax Books by Hyperion. http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=john_wycliffe. 1995. John Wycliffe. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=john_wycliffe. [Accessed 24 January 12]. Volz, Carl A., The Medieval church: From the Dawn of the Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation. Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1997. Cameron, Euan, The European Reformation, Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1991. www.colindsmith.com. 2007. The Henrician Reformation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.colindsmith.com/papers/The%20Henrician%20Reformation.pdf. [Accessed 24 January 12] Elton, G. R, Reform and Reformation: England, 1509-1558. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 1979. Scarisbrick, J. J., Henry VIII. Berkeley, Ca: University of California Press, 1968. Elton, G. R., England under the Tudors. London, England: The Folio Society, 1997. http://history-world.org. 2006. THE REFORMATION: Europe's Search For Stability. [ONLINE] Available at: http://history-world.org/reformation.htm. [Accessed 24 January 12]. bbc.co.uk. 2009. THE English Reformation. [ONLINE] Available http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/english_reformation_01.shtml. [Accessed January 12]. at: 24

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