Became Queen of England June 1533 through a secret marriage to King Henry VIII. His earlier marriage to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void by an English church court upon Henry's insistence. The explicit reason given was because that she was the widow of Henry's brother and was thus supposedly the recipient of a Levitical curse and thus bore Henry no male children. Upon Henry's marriage to Boleyn in January 1533 and the subsequent annulment of his former marriage to Catherine, Pope Clement VII excommunicated King Henry. In response Henry ordered English clergy to stop all relations with the roman Pope and declared the Act of Supremacy in 1534, making himself the head of the Anglican Church, thereby completely separating himself from Rome. The September following their marriage Anne bore him a daughter, Elizabeth. Henry later executed Boleyn on charges of adultery and then married Jane Seymour.

[tags]Anne-Boleyn, BlogRodent,

Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. First wife of King Henry VIII, she bore five children, but only one survived infancy, Mary. Catherine was previously the wife of King Henry's deceased brother, Arthur. Because she bore Henry no male children, he persuaded the English courts to annul their marriage. Her daughter eventually ascended the throne.

[tags]BlogRodent, Catherine-of-Aragon, church-history, ChurchRodent, Henry-VIII, history[/tags]

While other influences contributed to the break with Rome, succession to the throne was the primary constitutional factor in the transformation of the Church in England into the church of England.

For centuries the Church in England had been moving toward independence from Rome. by Luther's time, most patriotic Englishmen had a sense of the distinctive character of the faith in their fatherland.

The schism in the church came over a royal problem — not over theological conflicts. Henry VIII, King of England, revolted against the pope because he passionately desired Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting of the court. Henry and Catherine of Aragon had borne no male children and Pope Clement VII would not issue them an annulment for fear of offending Catherine's nephew, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V. When Henry secretly married Anne, he had an English church court declare his marriage to Catherine

An adviser to King Henry VIII, and eventually appointed to the post of Archbishop of Canterbury upon the formulation of the Anglican Church. His Book of Common Prayer in English replaced the old Latin service of worship. In 1553 Cranmer also produced the Forty-Two Articles which defined the faith of the Church of England along Protestant lines. When Mary ascended the throne she sent nearly 300 Protestants, including Archbishop Cranmer to the burning stake.

[tags]BlogRodent, Book-of-Common-Prayer, church-history, Church-of-England, ChurchRodent, Forty-Two-Articles, Henry-VIII, history, Thomas-Cranmer[/tags]

Novelist, quoted as describing King Henry VIII as "a most intolerable ruffian and a blot of blood and grease on the history of England", and was also quoted describing a typical English factory town in the early nineteenth century from his novel Hard Times.

[tags]BlogRodent, Charles-Dickens, church-history, ChurchRodent, Henry-VIII, history[/tags]

(1558-1603)

Daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Succeeded her half-sister Mary Tudor to the throne of England as Queen. Under her rule, the Anglican Church assumed its distinctive character, neither Roman, nor Reformed. Although it remained a state Church under her monarchy, she changed her title from Supreme Head to Supreme Governor. Wrote Thirty-Nine Articles in 1563. Although essentially Protestant, many articles were worded in a way that would satisfy both Catholics and Protestants.

[tags]Anne-Boleyn, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Elizabeth-I, Henry-VIII, history, Mary-Tudor, Thirty-Nine-Articles[/tags]

After King Henry VIII's break with England he seemed intent on creating an English Catholic Church, for instance the Statute of Six articles upheld many basic Catholic articles. Only two serious changes marked the new way within the Church of England. The first was the suppression of the monasteries; the second was the publication of the English Bible for use in the churches. In the latter years of William Tyndale's life he produced translated portions of the Old Testament (including the Pentateuch) and an improved edition of the New. In 1536 he died, burned at the stake. Yet, during his imprisonment Miles Coverdale published an edition of the Bible which was essentially Tyndale's work, supplemented by Latin and German versions. Then, a year after Tyndale's death, the Matthew Bible appeared. It was the work of another English reformer named John Rogers, it was virtually a well-edited compilation of Tyndale and

(See "Church of England")

In a sense England had two reformations, a constitutional one under King Henry VIII (1509-1547) and a theological one under the Puritans almost a century later. Under Henry nothing changed doctrinally. England simply rejected the authority of Rome. In this move, however, England forecast the future of Christianity in modern nations. She made Christian beliefs almost altogether a private affair and considered the practice of religion an instrument of the state. Later generations called it civil religion.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, Church-of-England, ChurchRodent, English-Reformation, Henry-VIII, history[/tags]

An Anglo-American denomination finding its seeds in the drama unfolding with England's separation from Rome under King Henry VIII.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Episcopalians, Henry-VIII, history[/tags]

(1553)

When King Henry VIII died, his son Edward VI followed him to the throne. During his brief years England saw the six Articles (from Henry's reign) repealed, priests allowed to marry, and the old Latin service of worship replaced by Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer in English. In 1553 Cranmer also produced the Forty-Two Articles which defined the faith of the Church of England along Protestant lines.

[tags]BlogRodent, Book-of-Common-Prayer, church-history, Church-of-England, ChurchRodent, Edward-VI, Forty-Two-Articles, Henry-VIII, history[/tags]

King of England from 1509-1547. Under King Henry, England rejected the authority of Rome. King Henry had no son born of his queen, Catherine of Aragon, who had delivered five children (the only survivor beyond infancy was the princess Mary). England was in no mood to accept a girl as heir to the throne because of the nation's only previous queen who had occasioned bloody wars of succession. As Catherine grew older, Henry grew more troubled. In 1525 the queen was forty and Henry pondered more and more the ways of God: "Am I under some curse of God?" (Catherine had been Henry's deceased brother Arthur's wife for several months.) In his mind was Le 10:21, "If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing, they shall be childless." The Church of Rome recognized the curse, but had granted the marriage for reasons of its own

The daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Spain. Succeeded her half-brother Edward VI to the English throne upon his death. Devoutly Catholic, she threatened England's newfound independence from Rome. She sent nearly 300 Protestants to the burning stake earning her the title "Bloody Mary". Although she may have been England's only pious monarch of the 16th century, her mistake was in marrying Phillip of Spain, seen as a betrayal of her people. She died a broken and dispirited Queen.

[tags]BlogRodent, Catherine-of-Aragon, church-history, ChurchRodent, Edward-VI, Henry-VIII, history, Mary-Tudor[/tags]

A year after Tyndale's burning at the stake, the Matthew Bible appeared. It was the work of another English reformer named John Rogers, who thought it wise to send forth his translation without his name attached. The Matthew Bible was virtually a well-edited compilation of Tyndale and Coverdale's work. At Thomas Cranmer's request, Henry VIII authorized this Bible, revised by Coverdale, to be bought and read throughout the realm.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Henry-VIII, history, John-Rogers, Matthew-Bible, Thomas, Tyndale, Reformation[/tags]

A year after Tyndales's death, English reformer John Rogers edited a compilation of Tyndale and Coverdale's translation work and published the Matthew Bible. At Thomas Cranmer's request, Henry VIII authorized that this Bible, revised by Coverdale and called the "Great Bible," be bought and read throughout the realm.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Henry-VIII, history, John-Rogers, Matthew-Bible, Thomas, Tyndale, Reformation[/tags]

The mother of King Edward VI. King Henry VIII married her after he had executed Anne Boleyn on charges of adultery.

[tags]Anne-Boleyn, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Edward-VI, Henry-VIII, history, Jane-Seymour[/tags]

(1539)

After King Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic church, England's orthodoxy remained intact. Henry continued to insist upon Catholic doctrine within the realm. Apparently, his goal was an English Catholic Church instead of a Roman Catholic one. The Statute of Six Articles in 1539 upheld such Catholic articles as clerical celibacy, the private mass, and confessions to a priest. Under King Edward VI's reign the Six Articles were repealed and Thomas Cranmer produced the Forty-Two Articles which defined the faith of the Church along Protestant lines.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Edward-VI, Forty-Two-Articles, Henry-VIII, history, Statute-of-Six-Articles, Thomas[/tags]

(1534)

In his move to cut the Roman Catholic Church off from England, King Henry VIII declared the Act of Supremacy in 1534, declaring "The king's majesty justly and rightly is and ought to be and shall be reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England called 'Anglicana Ecclesia'." Thus was the break with Rome complete.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, Church-of-England, ChurchRodent, Henry-VIII, history, Supremacy-Act[/tags]