How Did The Religion Of England Change During The Tudor Period, and What Were The Reasons?
Uploaded by vupd on Oct 02, 2012
How Did The Religion Of England Change During The Tudor Period, and What Were The Reasons?
Most of England were Roman Catholic and accepted the Pope as the Head of the Church, but in the 16th century, Christians worshipped God in many different ways. A breakaway from the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings and its customs, in 1517, by a German monk called Martin Luther; lead to a new Christian Religion - Protestant; and during the Tudor Reign, the throne was changed from Catholic to Protestant, then back to Catholic, then Protestant again; and so the people in the 16th century were forced to change their religion depending on the reigning monarch.
Henry VIII – Catholic
Henry VIII was a devout Catholic King, therefore his country was too. He disagreed with all Protestant views, and defended the Catholic Church. However, that all changed...
When Henry VIII asked the Pope for a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, the Pope refused, because the Catholics did not believe in divorce; because of this, Henry VIII broke from The Roman Catholic Church in 1527, and became a Protestant. He claimed the title of Head of The Church of England, so now the Pope had no power over him, and he could divorce Catherine of Aragon.
He wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon for several reasons. The main one being that she did not produce a male heir to the throne of England, and that according to a curse in the bible, ‘if a man should take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing… they will be childless’; and because Catherine had previously been married to Arthur, Henry’s brother, this might come true. Another reason was that Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, because she was young and beautiful, and Catherine was old and fat. This meant that Henry had to break from the church to allow himself a divorce.
Henry got the Bible translated into English, because he wanted the Bible in his Mother Tongue. In 1535 all Catholic Buildings (monasteries, etc.) in England, Wales and Scotland were closed down, because another of his problems was that he was bankrupt, and if he took over the monasteries, he would be rich. He was on the road to making England Protestant.
A lot of money was given to the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope, for chapels to be built and other Catholic ornaments, so the priests could...