The early English Reformation craeated an Anglican Church even more politically oriented than Lutheranism.

The leader of the Reformation in England was not a dissenting priest but rather the reigning monarch, Henry VIII (1504-1547). His primary motive was securing his Tudor dynasty, although access to the wealth of the English Catholic Church was also a major consideration. Protestant ideas concerning theology and ritual did not much interest him, as was demonstrated by his persecution of dissident Protestants as well as Catholics. While Henry lived, the English Church reflected his will, but after his death, the country was nearly torn apart by corrupt politics and religious fanaticism. The Annulment Issue Henry's immediate problem in the 1520s was the lack of a male heir. After eighteen years of marriage, he had only a sickly daughter and an illegitimate son. His queen, Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), after four earlier pregnancies, gave birth to a stillborn son in 1518, and by 1527, when she was 42, Henry had concluded that she would have no more children. His only hope for the future of his dynasty seemed to be a new marriage with another queen. This, of course, would require an annulment of his marriage to Catherine. In 1527, he appealed to the pope, asking for the annulment. Normally, the request would probably have been granted; the situation, however, was not normal. Catherine had first been the wife of Henry's deceased brother Arthur. Her marriage to Henry had required a papal dispensation, based on her oath that the first marriage had never been consummated. Now Henry professed concern for his soul, tainted by living in sin with Catherine for eighteen years. He also claimed that he was being punished, citing a passage in the Book of Leviticus, which predicted childlessness for the man who married his dead brother's wife. The pope was sympathetic and certainly aware of an obligation to Henry, who for his verbal attacks against Luther had been named "Defender of the Faith" by a grateful earlier pontiff; but granting the annulment would have been admission of papal error, perhaps even corruption, in issuing the dispensation. Added to the Lutheran problem, this would have been doubly damaging to the papacy. A more formidable problem for Henry was Catherine. She was a cultured Spanish woman a respected consort, and a devoted wife, who had had successfully conducted a war against Scotland while Henry was campaigning in France. Henry recognized her strong character in their daughter, Mary, whom he appointed Princess of Wales and heir apparent, in the absence of a prince. As late as the mid-1520s, he sought Catherine's counsel and her companionship. Henry soon learned that Catherine would never accept an annulment, and he was afraid she might lead rebellion against him. As the aunt of Charles v, whose armies occupied Rome in 1527, she also exerted considerable pressure on the

pope. Despite these difficulties, Henry could hope for success in his appeal to the pope. Any conflict with Rome was in accord with national pride, often expressed in traditional resentment against Roman domination. Late medieval English kings had challenged the popes over Church appointments and revenues. More than a century and a half before Luther, an Oxford professor named John Wycliffe had denounced the false claims of popes and bishops. In more recent times, English Christian humanists, such as Sir Thomas More, had criticized the artificialities of Catholic worship. Thus when the pope delayed making a decision, Henry was relatively secure in his support at home. The English Reformation And Reaction During the three years after 1531, when Catherine saw him for the last time, Henry took control of affairs. Lodging his daughter and his banished wife in separate castles, he forbade them from seeing each other. He also intimidated the clergy into proclaiming him head of the English Church "as far as the law of Christ allows," extracted from Parliament the authority to appoint bishops, and designated his willing tool, Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), as Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1533, Cranmer pronounced Henry's marriage to Catherine invalid, at the same time legalizing the king's union with Ann Boleyn, a lady of the court who was already carrying his unborn child. Parliament also ended all payments of revenues to Rome. Now, having little choice, the pope excommunicated Henry, making the breach official on both sides. Amid a marked anti-Catholic campaign in the 1530s, Henry secured the Anglican establishment, which became an engine for furthering royal policies, with the king's henchmen controlling every function, from the building of chapels to the wording of the liturgy. Former church revenues, including more than 40,000 a year from religious fees alone, poured into the royal treasury. In 1539, Parliament completed its seizure of monastery lands, selling some for revenue and dispensing others to secure the loyalties of crown supporters. Meanwhile, Catholics suffered. Dispossessed nuns, unlike monks and priests, could find no place in the new church and were often reduced to despair. One, the famous "holy maid of Kent," who dared to rebuke the king publicly, was executed, as were other Catholic dissidents, including the king's former chancellor, Sir Thomas More, and the saintly Bishop Fisher of Rochester. Henry even forced his daughter, Mary, to accept him as head of the church and admit the illegality of her parents' marriage. The new English Church, however, brought little change in doctrine or ritual. The "Six Articles," Parliament's declaration of the new creed and ceremonies in 1539, reaffirmed most Catholic theology, except papal supremacy. Henry, in his later years after the execution of Anne in 1536, grew

increasingly suspicious of popular Protestantism, which was spreading into England and Scotland from the Continent. He refused to legalize clerical marriage, which caused great hardships among many Anglican clergymen, including some bishops, and their wives. Henry's sixth wife, the former Catherine Parr, who was sympathetic to the reformers, narrowly escaped the king's displeasure by humbly appealing to his vanity. Others were not so lucky. Perhaps the most notable among many Protestant martyrs was Anne Askew, a woman of Lincolnshire, who was tried before a church court for heresy and so confounded her judges that she became a legend. She was nevertheless burned in 1546, a year before Henry died.

UNIVERSITY OF PERPETUAL HELP SYSTEM-ISABELA CAMPUS COLLEGE OF NURSING

MANANTE I, CAUAYAN, ISABELA

ADVOCACY OF KING HENRY VIII