Henry was King of England and had been a Catholic since he was born. He was so good a Catholic that the Pope gave him a special title ‘Defender of the Faith. This is still on English coins today.
However
Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon(his dead brother’s wife!) They had
many children but only had one that survived; Mary. Henry wanted a male heir to
succeed him. He asked the pope to annul his marriage saying it was illegal to
marry his dead brothers wife!
The
Pope refused to annul the marriage. Henry didn’t care he had fallen in love
with Anne Boleyn and had decided to marry her.
He
appointed his friend Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury. He granted him
a divorce. Henry married Anne and the Pope excommunicated him.
How Henry changed the church
Henry
got the parliament to pass the Act of Supremacy
which made him head of the Church in England.
Anyone
who didn’t take this was beheaded.
Closure of the monasteries
One
of the first things Henry did was close the monasteries. He did this because he
wanted their wealth and didn’t like that they were loyal to the Pope.
He
closed over 350 monasteries in England.
However
Henry still liked a lot about the Catholic Church so the only other thing he
changed was that the Bible would be in English(vernacular)
Henry
had six wives and ended up fathering three children.
It
was his children who brought in more changes to the Church.
Edward
VI(his son) made sure Protestantism was developed fully in England.
He
introduced the Book of Common Prayer which was Protestant Prayers in English.Mary
Henry’s daughter tried to bring back the
Catholic religion.
Her
sister Elizabeth was next and she established the Church of England(Anglican
Church)
Anglicanism
This
was a mixture of Catholicism and Protestantism.
It
was now the official religion of England.
Results of Reformation in England
The
monarch(King or Queen) became head of the Church of England as well as the
ruler of the country.
The
Monasteries were closed down.
England
changed from being a Catholic country to a Protestant country.
Results of Reformation in Ireland
Elizabeth
established the Anglican Church in Ireland.
But
most Irish people did not convert to Protestantism because they saw it as the
English religion.
The
Monasteries in Ireland were closed.
There
was a new religion in Ireland.
