King Henry VIII and the Reformation Essay

For many years leading up to the reign of fag enthalpy octette, zealous souls were searching more than than than than perpetu every conclusion(predicate)y for a meaningful faith-based life for themselves and all of society. The great deal of England were becoming more and more confused ab appear what the Church actually taught and were developing speculative mites towards the spiritual and physical power used and displayed by the clergy. 1 These feelings of the English mountain were r from each oneing an all conviction high around the time that henry VIII had succeeded his fathers faecal matter in 1509. pouf hydrogen VIII had mostly selfish and prideful incentives to separate from the romish Catholic Church. He had no religious intent in mind, scarce piffling did he know that he would contribute to the rise of the Protestant rehabilitation and a long-term religious change in England that would eventually library paste to the rest of the human. 3 The dissatis occu rrenceion with the corruption of the Church and hunger for change led to the ideas of Christian humanism and the influence of Greek learning.This idea portrayed an order of peace, justice, and good-will that could be taught and advanced through education. The humanist with the greatest influence of the time was Erasmus of Rotterdam who favored simple biblical piety founded on textual knowledge and study of the Greek New Testa manpowert over scholasticism and elucidate ritualism. 5 Erasmus believed in studying and understanding the scriptures for oneself and valued to reveal the extreme hypocrisies of the Church. Erasmus infrastructure writings and teachings began to spread, and soon after the writings and teachings of Thomas more(prenominal) and Martin Luther arose.More wrote the book Utopia which described an idealized society that lived in an uncorrupted world in perfect accordance with the principles of natural virtue. 6 This was a completely delusive idea, but it still g ave hope to the pot for a e custodyd and a better society. Around 1517, Martin Luther created a real reaction and uproar from the people as his ideas rapidly spread a conglomeratest the practices and underlying rationale of the Church. 7 This created an uprising and followers of Luthers teachings as his ideas and books quickly spread throughout England.Luthers priming breaking concepts encouraged new learning and it soon took hold on the University of Cambridge. 8 When word of the vastness of Luthers teachings and all of the new ideas of change and reform against the church reached faggot henry the VIII, he was livid. In 1521, he excommunicated Luther and request all Christian princes to suppress his errors that Luther and others had spread. 9 Sermons were preached all across Europe denouncing Luther and many of his books were burned.King hydrogen went as far as to write an demonstrate opposing Luther and his views on the Eucharist and the pope awarded him with the great ti tle defender of the Faith. 10 Even though King enthalpy tried his best to damp Luther and his ideas, Luther soon earned his voice in Germany and hundreds of his books and pamphlets poured back into England with even more criticisms of the Churchs practices and leaders. 11 Soon many revolts broke out between 1524 and 1526 dubbed the Peasants War, and the Protestant Reformation was flooding in.This was the start to a violent political, spiritual, and complaisant struggle between the advocates and the enemies of change in England that lasted for many years. English men and women began to think of themselves as Catholic or Protestant and separated themselves accordingly. 13 Catholics and evangelicals protested and condemned each other from the pulpit and through printed writings. 14 Change was definitely in the air. In the midst of all of the uprisings against the Church and word of honorgs of reformation, King Henry VIII positive his own personal problems and turmoil. King Henry h ad been happily married toCatherine of Aragon until he realized that she was non producing him a male heir that he longed for.The King had met and fallen in love with a woman named Ann Boleyn who was a strong, sizeable, and placed woman. Henry was determined to marry her and try to produce a son for a male heir to the throne. 15 In order to divorce Catherine, Henry postulate a special papal dispensation. The pope refused to grant it, and Henry suspected that because the pope was related to the King of Spain that they were undermining England in the favor of Spain and therefore denying him the right to an heir.After many attempts to get the popes permission for the divorce and plaudit to marry Ann with no success, King Henry VIII made a last that would change history forever. Henry fired his closest adviser Cardinal Wolsey who was Lord Chancellor of England and replaced him with Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell. 17 These cardinal men advised the King to cling the English church off from the popish church in order to become orient of the church and gain the marriage that he desired. This idea began the years of the Reformation Parliament in which the English parliament granted powers over the church clergy to the King in stages.The Act of Appeals in 1533 made Henry VIII the source for all English jurisdictions both secular and religious, and then the Act of Supremacy in 1534 declared the King of England as supreme head of the Church of England, non the pope. 18 Another act was passed in 1534 called the Act of Succession, which declared the children of Ann Boleyn as just heirs to the throne. 19 It was now official England was completely isolated and broken away from the roman type church and began their independent journey of the Church of England.Even though England had split off from the Roman church and was on the brink of reformation, King Henry VIII made virtually no changes in the Church of England. 20 The sole(prenominal) major difference from the Catholic Church was that now the king was the head instead of the pope and English Bibles were being used. 21 King Henry VIII reaffirmed his commitment to Catholic practices by passing the Six Articles. The Six Articles clear the transformation of the Eucharist, confession, private masses, celibate vows, and the sanctity of the Eucharist cup.Despite the fact that King Henry had made no real changes to the church, his break from the Roman Church stirred up a revolution in the making. Ann did not produce a son for King Henry, but she provided him with another miss named Elizabeth. 23 Ann was sympathetic with Protestant ideas and her daughter would eventually play a bring out role in Protestant England. 24 King Henry became displeased with Ann, impeach her of adultery, and had her beheaded in 1536. 25 Still in search of a son, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour. She finally gave him the son and heir to the throne that he had been hoping for, Edward IV.When Henry VIII die d in 1547, Edward IV succeeded the throne and the Protestant movement grew stronger than ever. Edward was highly intelligent and a devout Protestant, and he wanted to make numerous changes to the Church of England. 27 He repealed the Six Articles, allowed clergy to marry, and imposed Cranmers Book of Common Prayer on all church services. 28 England was on its way to becoming a Protestant country, but King Edward died tragically of tuberculosis at age sixteen. Catherine of Aragons daughter Mary I then came to the throne in 1553. She was an extreme Catholic with no perimeter for Protestant beliefs.She declared England to be a Catholic country and converted all churches back to traditional Catholic practices. 30 The people of England were becoming good confused in their beliefs because they were getting tossed back and forth between two opposite ideals. Mary I soon earned the nickname spread over Mary because she was single-handedly responsible for the executions of many Protestant l eaders. 31 She burned more than three hundred men and women at the stake for their unwillingness to perish up the ways of the Church of England and turn to the Catholic Church.These executions did nothing but intensify an anti-Catholic feeling in England, and it would soon become a ineradicable concept. After Mary Is death in 1558, Englands future was in the hands of Henry VIIIs last surviving child, Elizabeth I. She was exactly was England needed at the time and was extremely intelligent and cautious. 33 She is considered to be one of the greatest monarchs in the history of England. Elizabeth repealed Mary Is Catholic legislation for she understood that her country was being part apart by the wavering doctrines, and she wanted to bring an end to the disunity.She worked out a compromise known today as the Elizabethan liquidation which resulted in a church that retained some Catholic ideas mend inserting most of the foundational ideas of Protestantism as well. 34 This settlement would not have been possible if it were not for Henry VIIIs original split from the Catholic Church. The people were ready for the religious strife to end and peaceful worship to be possible. Even though Elizabeth had sought a peaceful compromise, the Catholics rose up in rebellion against her. 35 As they threatened her throne and plotted against her, she intelligently dodged their plan to destroy her.From this point on, her religious tolerance came to an end, and Catholics were arrested, imprisoned, and heavily fined. 36 Elizabeth control on to lead England in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. 37 This was a great turning point in history that not altogether made England a respected military power, but also grumous the movement of the Protestant Reformation. If Spain had not been defeated, there is a good jeopardize that the Protestant religion would have been crushed altogether. 38 The Protestant breakthrough was a result of feelings of disdain and discontent with the Church that had been building over time.The Englishmen were feeling resentment against the corruption, and a confidence that a change was possible grew. The picture of the many people who desired this change was key in the extensive spread of many revolutionary ideas such as Erasmus, More, and Luther. All of these factors intertwined with the time and rule of King Henry VIII and as you can see, his decision to break away from the Roman Catholic Church created a hand-build of events that became the very segue the reformers needed to have a spiritual breakthrough.His pride, contrary attitude, and desire for an heir to his throne led him into a decision that resulted in an extraordinary spiritual affect. Even though King Henry was a devout Catholic who in no way supported Protestant ideas, his very decision helped to bring about the Protestant Reformation. King Henry VIII in all of his selfish, prideful, and stubborn ways was exactly what England needed to push it over the edge an d into a flood of a reformation. When King Henry VIII made the official split from the Roman Catholic Church, he made a decision that would affect the rest of history.Bibliographyhttp//www.kencollins.com/poll-02.htm