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Before Henry VIII quarreled with the Pope
and established the Church of England, England had been a faithful Catholic
country for centuries. In the days before the annulling of his first marriage
became such a political issue throughout Europe, Henry too had been a faithful
Catholic, and had earned the title of "Defender of the Faith" for writing
a piece of work against the new Protestant religion. But when it became
clear to Henry that he would not have a son by Catherine of Aragon, he
was determined to have his marriage to her annulled, so that he could re-marry
and father a son to succeed him. |
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| What Henry had to do
to secure this, changed the course of English history forever. Catherine
of Aragon would not agree to an annulment, which would make her daughter,
Mary, illegitimate and unable to succeed to the throne, arguing that she
was Henry's true wife, and had always been so. In Tudor times, there was
no divorce as such - that is the dissolving of a legally valid marriage
- and couples who wanted to part had to seek an annulment, which would
be the acceptance that they were never truly married in the first place.
An annulment could only be granted in certain circumstances - such as one
or both of the partners had been too young to marry, or the marriage was
not properly conducted, or the couple were too closely related by blood.
It was the latter that Henry initially
used to try and obtain the annulment. Catherine had been the wife of his
brother, Arthur, and after his premature death, married Henry. It
said in the Bible that it was wrong for a man to marry his brother's wife,
and if he did, they would have no children, and Henry interpreted this
as the reason for his lack of sons. Henry put his case to the Pope who
was in charge of annulling marriages, but did not get the response that
he desired. Catherine was the aunt of the great Emperor Charles V, the
most influential man in Europe, and knowing how Catherine felt about the
annulment, the Pope could not afford to offend her great nephew. |
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| Henry tried to secure
an annulment from the Pope for a number of years, but the Pope was unrelenting.
Henry realized that if he wanted to re-marry, he would have to find another
way of annulling the marriage. He and his ministers found the solution
in establishing a Church of England which would be totally independent
of the Papacy. Protestants did not recognize the power of the Pope, and
so Henry as King would be free to mould the church in whatever way he desired.
Henry made himself "Supreme Head of the Church in England", and got
his annulment, making him free to marry Anne Boleyn. |
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| As head of the Church,
Henry was effectively in charge of the Archbishops, Bishops and all the
clergy that the English Church still retained. In fact, in many ways, the
new English Church was very similar to the old Catholic Church. Henry was
arguably a Catholic at heart, and changed the beliefs of the Church very
little. But in other ways, the change of religion in England had enormous
repercussions for the country. The monasteries and convents of the land,
which had grown rich over the centuries, fell prey to Henry and his ministers,
and were all closed. Henry was covetous of their wealth, and his ministers
declared publicly that monks, nuns and friars were living immoral
rather than godly lives, living lives of luxury rather than of humility
and poverty that was expected of them, eating good food, drinking good
wines, and even keeping mistresses and lovers. This was probably untrue
in the majority of cases, and simply a propaganda tool by the government
to justify their action against them.
Towards the end of his life, Henry began
to turn once again to Catholicism, and his apprehension over the way he
had treated the monks, nuns and friars, is reflected in his dying words,
"monks, monks, monks". |
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Elizabethan
Church
Contents
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