English Reformation

The English Reformation is a series of events in sixteenth-century England by which the Church of England breaks away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

These events are, in part, associated with the wider process of the European Protestant Reformation, a religious and political movement that affects the practice of Christianity across all of Europe during this period.

Many factors contribute to the process: the decline of feudalism and the rise of nationalism, the rise of the common law, the invention of the printing press and increased circulation of the Bible, the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars, the upper and middle classes and readers in general.

However, the various phases of the English Reformation, which also cover Wales and Ireland, are largely driven by changes in government policy, to which public opinion gradually accommodate itself.Based on Henry VIII's desire for an annulment of his marriage (first requested of Pope Clement VII in 1527), the English Reformation is at the outset more of a political affair than a theological dispute.

The reality of political differences between Rome and England allow growing theological disputes to come to the fore Until the break with Rome, it is the Pope and general councils of the Church that decide doctrine.

Church law is governed by the code of canon law with final jurisdiction in Rome.

Church taxes are paid straight to Rome, and the Pope has the final word in the appointment of bishops.The break with Rome is effected by a series of acts of Parliament passed between 1532 and 1534, among them the 1534 Act of Supremacy, which declares that Henry is the "Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England".

(This title is renounced by Mary I in 1553 in the process of restoring papal jurisdiction; when Elizabeth I reasserts the royal supremacy in 1559 her title is Supreme Governor.)

Final authority in doctrinal and legal disputes now rests with the monarch, and the papacy is deprived of revenue and the final say on the appointment of bishops.The theology and liturgy of the Church of England becomes markedly Protestant during the reign of Henry's son Edward VI largely along lines laid down by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.

Under Mary, the whole process is reversed and the Church of England is again placed under papal jurisdiction.

Soon after, Elizabeth reintroduces the Protestant faith but in a more moderate manner.

The structure and theology of the church is a matter of fierce dispute for generations.The violent aspect of these disputes, manifested in the English Civil Wars, ends when the last Roman Catholic monarch, James II, is deposed, and Parliament asks William and Mary to rule jointly in conjunction with the English Bill of Rights in (the "Glorious Revolution") in 1688, from which emerges a church polity with an established church and a number of non-conformist churches whose members at first suffer various civil disabilities but which are removed over time.

The legacy of the past Roman Catholic Establishment remains an issue for some time, and still exists today.

A substantial minority remain Roman Catholic in England, and in an effort to disestablish it from British systems, their church organization remains illegal until the nineteenth century.

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