Causes of the Reformation under Henry VIII

Catholic to Protestant, but why!?

The Tudor family came to rule over England after the course of the Wars of the Roses. Under Henry VII, reform measures were taken to ensure dynastic rule. Henry VII’s son Henry VIII would continue his father’s legacy and cement English rule through beginning the English Reformation. Henry VIII sought to reform England in an effort to build English nationalism and provide unilateral rule over both the Church and the state.

Prior to the Reformation, England was a predominantly Catholic country. This included Henry VIII who held conservative and Catholic views. Under Catholicism, the Church was somewhat separate from the state with the Pope being head of the Church and the King being the head of England. It wasn’t that Henry VIII was seeking to convert England to Protestantism, but rather that he wanted to make himself head of the Church. By becoming head of the Church, Henry would be placed in charge of administrative authority and able to control religious doctrine and authority. Through this unilateral power, Henry would effectively have control over both the throne and the Church, and have the ability to further push his agenda.

To effectively crown himself as head of the Church, Henry VIII would need more than his word alone. To help back him Henry VIII devised help from Thomas Cromwell. With Cromwell’s assistance, Henry VIII was able to make his religious authority legally binding through parliamentary statutes. By doing this no member of the Church or the Privy Council could deny Henry’s religious authority because they would effectively be denying the law. Cromwell and Henry also justified his new position with the argument that Henry was preordained by God to be both the King and the head of the Church. If anyone denied his assertion, they would be denying not only the authority of the monarch, but the authority of God as well. This claim also cemented Henry’s status in the Great Chain of Being, which again meant that denial of his claim would mean denial, and disruption of the Great Chain of Being.

By becoming both the head of the state and the head of the Church Henry VIII gained unilateral power and effectively began to build a sense of English nationalism and identity. Henry had the power to both issue royal proclamations and religious proclamations. This meant that he could wield this power jointly. So, if he proclaimed one action through his royal authority he could proclaim it again, or proclaim it further, with his religious authority. Under Henry the Book of Common Prayer was also translated into English, which meant that the Bible was more accessible to all. By pursuing English nationalism, Henry also effectively achieved further reconciliation in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses, and also cemented his father’s as well as his own legacy.

Lastly, both Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boelyn were pro-Protestant. In the case of Boelyn, she firmly believed that the king should have authority over the Church instead of the clergy. With Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled and his new marriage to Anne Boelyn, it is likely that Henry believed it would benefit his marriage to pursue reforms through the Reformation.

The main causes of the English Reformation that occurred under Henry VIII were to build English nationalism and to cement his authority. To achieve this, Henry VIII pursued legislation with the assistance of Thomas Cromwell that would make him the head of the Church as well as king. By doing this, Henry had the power to control religious administration and manipulate religious doctrine to coincide with his own authority as king. This joint position of power served as an effective way to yield his own supremacy and build English nationalism through one rule.

Henry VIII looking as dashing (and wide!) as ever! Get in line, ladies!