RELIGIOUS CHANGES IN GREAT BRITAIN FROM KING HENRY VIII (1509-1547) TO MODERN BRITAIN

RELIGIOUS CHANGES IN GREAT BRITAIN FROM
KING HENRY VIII (1509-1547) TO MODERN BRITAIN

Introduction

Religion can be defined as people’s beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of God, a god, or gods, and divine involvement in the universe and human life. From this Encarta definition, we can agree that there are several religions and among these religions we have Christianity. Christianity, which is revealed to Jesus of Nazareth in the 1st century AD, is among the largest religion in the world. This religion, early at its beginning, forbade the believers to worship many gods then its monotheist characteristic. Its sacred books are the Bible, the old and new testament. The largest groups within the Christianity are the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox churches and the protestant churches. The fact that Christianity goes from a persecuted religion to a worldwide one is an extraordinary and providential story of faith at a time when people worship many divinities depending on the localities. Great Britain, in the meantime, has its own set of religious icons as its people especially the Celts adopted many gods. They were polytheists as not to be outdone. In the course of its expansion and with the permanent wars between tribes, Europeans mainly the Roman adopted the Christianity as a modern religion. They started to invade other countries in order to convert them to Christianity. Britain did not escape to the roman invasion. This started with the roman artisans and traders who spread in Britain the story of Jesus along with stories of pagan deities. It is in this context that Christianity was introduced in Great Britain early since the second century AD. Considering Christianity as a sincere, a modern and a civilized religion that demands the faithful not to worship many divinities but one, the roman decided to assign themselves a mission of civilizing and baptizing all nations they believed uncivilized and idolatrous. And as a result, these nations were under duress to give up their belief and meet and worship one God. It was in this context that the roman Emperor request to the practice of a single religion with a single God. Over the years and with roman missions Christianity settled and became more visible in Britain during the fourth century, but it was not all the population who were Christians. The 2 British people submitted to Christianity but the faith did not penetrate their heart. As a result other practices such as paganism one still remained and Christianity was not the majority faith. When the Romans draw back from Britain, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived. It was the era of new conquerors. They were fortunately converted to Christianity by the Celts and the Pope Gregory who baptized them. They managed to conquest all the Great Britain progressively. One can argue that it was thanks to these new invaders that Christianity remained distinctly an active cult on the western edges of Britain. In parallel, the remarkable missionary activities continued in other parts as in Wales, Ireland and in western Scotland where Saint Colombia helped to build a distinctly Irish land of Christianity compare to Britain mainland. Missionaries managed to bring and to maintain many British in the Christianity. The continuous history of the Church of England dates from its foundation by ST Augustine in 597. Augustine was a monk sent by the Pope to convert English people and TO create a strong alliance between the church and the king. Continuing their mission up to northern England, they succeeded in baptizing king Edwin of Northumbria and all his noble men. At last, it was the Sussex, the last part of England to be converted to Christianity. It was during the passage of Wilfred in 680. Finally by the end of the seventh century all England was at least nominally Christians.1 The missionaries successfully began to introduce the Roman Catholic Church in England and by the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Roman Catholic Church was universally accepted in England. The sixteenth century was in fact particularly remarkable in England because it was characterized by the reign of the Tudor dynasty. One of the most important events was the succession of Henry VII to the throne in 1485. There was a change in the English civilization and he was seen as the first king of a new world. The period was also characterized by the reformation and the renaissance. People were very religious and were prepared to die for their belief. It must have been very difficult for them during the reign of the Tudor because they were more often forced to change their religion depending on the religion of the monarch heading the Anglican Church. Thus the change from Catholicism to Protestantism in the country is due to the disagreement between the Pope Clement VII and the King Henry VIII. The Pope refused to 1 Http://www.org.christian.html,Tim Lambert, A brief history of Christianity: Christianity in roman Britain (2013-08-14) 3 grant Henry VIII a divorce because the Roman Catholic faith believed in marriage for life. In fact, it is difficult to know whether King Henry VIII has planned the break with Rome. Henry VIII believed that a mere pressure on the Pope would be sufficient for him to get his marriage with Catherine of Aragon annulled. The displacement of the Pope’s authority within England and Wales and replacing it with the King’s power greatly appealed to Henry’s ego. He then had the power of a King and the power of a Pope. The Act in Restraint of Annates in 1532 was the start of the process that removed the papal authority in England and Wales. Annates were the main source of income in Rome from England and this act all but banned them. It was initially suspended in terms of its introduction as this was one of the measures Henry wanted to use to put pressure on the Papacy to give him his annulment. Britain entered undoubtedly a very remarkable period of its history. In fact, during that sixteenth century many important changes occurred in almost all the sectors of life. In England, Catholicism was dethroned by Protestantism. The Anglican Church headed by King Henry VIII(1509-1547) son of King Henry VII (1485-1509) of the Tudors Dynasty broke all the ties with the Pope Clement VII of Rome in 1534 and acknowledging the King of England (himself) as the supreme Head of the Church of England. The divorce between Rome and Britain was then effective regardless of the fact that he was honored in 1521 by Pope Leo X with the title of Defender of the Faith, because of his support for the roman Church, and also of his devotion. The Anglican Church became then independent of roman Church. Protestantism started to gain ground in the kingdom. As a fervent catholic, King Henry VIII did not establish the Protestant church in England but it was because of him that the Protestantism fully developed in England. But before his Act of disobedience, Catholicism was the main religion in England. During that period, the Anglican Church was not taken into high consideration by the English people. It was losing its spiritual power and was looked as a temporary institution. The Church at that time was seen negatively by some because of its conservative attitude and support of injustice done in the country. The political, religious and social situation was so tense and precarious that it deeply influenced the life of the English people. The population was so perturbed by these religious changes that they were unprepared to face the impeding threat of social rebellion and the political instability as well. 4 Consequently their whole life, their religious beliefs, their ideas in terms of policy and social opinions were strongly shaken, ignored and sometimes completely transformed. In fact Edward VI ascended the throne of England after his father’s death. Edward, the son of Jane Seymour the late King’s third wife, was a protestant. Edward was replaced later on by Henry’s daughter Mary Tudor. She was different from her father and brother because she was fanatically Catholic and she tried to restore the union with Rome. The desertion by her husband and the loss of her hope of a child had produced a keenness of suffering that had driven her almost beside herself. She died on November 17, 1558. Then Elizabeth came, the last of the Tudors to reign over Britain. Three monarchs had followed one another to the throne and they had ragged the country for twenty years of wars, persecutions and rebellion. Catholics were persecuted during Henry’s reign and Edward’s reign. Protestants were massacred and sometimes burnt, hung under Mary I. As a consequence people were tired of that endless situation and they longed for the restoration of the country stability. When Queen Elizabeth came to power, imminent signs of political changes appeared. In fact Elizabeth I’s initial order was to re-order the peace and the stability by finding an arrangement in the England’s church. The stability of the country was one of her first preoccupation. Protestant by faith, Elizabeth I turn England to Protestantism. Her first imperative stage was to expand Protestantism in Europe. She helped the Protestants in Scotland, in the Netherlands and in France, in their fight against Catholicism and to be free to practice the religion of their choice. This excessive tolerance in the manner of reigning of Elizabeth let a difficult religious heir to the later monarchs with again religious changes. In fact, the building of a new consciously national Church determined a Britain longlasting contradictory to roman policies in the Church. This contradictory brought in England many religious changes and the development of a specifically Protestant belief in the Church, more often than the numerous theologies within the Anglican Church and each one with its own way. In these conditions, an explicit intimate relationship was established between the Church and the state. The Monarch was then seen as the supreme governor of the Church. However, that era was full of topics that is may be why this study interested historians, scholars and many students. As a matter of fact, many people are still writing about religious changes in the Church of England after King Henry VIII (1509-1547).  

 Historical background 

In Great Britain Christianity had been settled in the third century. Furthermore, three English bishops were present in the council of Arles in 314; others assisted in the council of Sardica in 347 and in Ariminum council in 360. But it is in the end of the eleventh century that Christianity became more visible in Great Britain. We can argue that its settlement took place progressively within the time with the help of missionaries. Then, around the fourteenth century Christianity became the first religion in Britain. In the North, Scotland, Christianity was introduced even if it was not deeply settled as in the other parts. Though, the Christ followers encountered difficulties to continue the spreading of Christianity especially when the Romans left the country early in the beginning of the fifth century. Conflict burst between the Celt and the Scottish pagans and the state became once more again agitated. But in 428 the Angels, the Saxons and the Jutes, all Germanic tribes, invaded Britain and immediately they conquered the country. The paganism seemed then to prosper with these new invaders but it did not last as they were finally Christianized by the Celts and Roman Catholics under Saint Augustine and his companions. Christianity could be found in the west mainly in Wales and Cornwall. As they are isolated from the mainland, they continued to practice some different religious rituals and worships introduced by the Celts in their territories. These practices did not resist the Roman influence and in the seventh century they left to adopt the roman practices. This was possible with the influence that missionaries had on the populations. Although Christianity was not accepted by all the British people, it continued to gain ground in the other parts as in Ireland and in Wales. Things became more important with Saint Augustine. He was sent to England by Gregory the great in the year 596. The pope, Gregory did not send only Augustine but he also sent forty missionaries with him. Their mission was then facilitated by Ethelbert the king of Kent and supreme head of the Anglo-Saxons. The Episcopal seat was found in 597 by Saint Augustine of Canterbury at Kent and the Christening of Ethelbert at the church of Saint Martin placed Canterbury as the center of Christianity in England. It was argued that Ethelbert attitude could be justified by the fact that his wife was a Christian. She might have played an important role. The king went further, he allowed preaches and many of his entourage were then baptized in that same year. Saint Augustine stayed then at Canterbury at the Episcopal seat and transformed many temples into 7 churches and many pagan feasts were no longer heard. Since then the Celts and Roman cult became the substrate of new Christian cults, particularly as far as method of calculation of Easter was concerned, the organization of monasteries and the power of clergy. Within the following centuries, the Church of England knew a development similar to that of the other churches. After the Norman’s conquest with William the conqueror in 1066, the continental influence increased in England reinforcing the links between the church and the Pope and played a prominent role in the mission assigned to Rome’s missionaries. Among the last kingdoms to submit to the religion of Jesus there was the Anglo-saxon kingdom of Northumbria. It was in the seventh century. The reign of Saint Edwin (616-633) was determinant in the evangelization of the kingdom. After his marriage with Ethelburge, a catholic princess, Edwin was converted to Christianity with many of his people by the roman monk Paulin who became later bishop at York. During his reign, the Gospel became strong. People adherent to the Roman Catholic Church recognized the supreme authority of the Pope. They also started attending certain activities of the Church of Rome. In this very seventh century, the kingdom adopted the uses of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical worships. The Church saw its faithful increasing every year and was seen as unifying force among the other Churches. Furthermore, Rome’s decline in the fifth century changed the relationship. The Church became a relatively independent authority in the West, from a temporal and a spiritual point of view. As a result of a western Christian tradition, an ecclesiastical structure was treating with states and different political structures. The Popes’ powers extended progressively. Many controversies followed over the influence and the clerical’s privilege and the extent of papal authority, its intrusion into British both secular ecclesiastical affairs. Many people among whom John Wycliffe rose to denounce these abuses. The kings tried to limit the Church power in vain and the application of the canonic law till the accession of King Henry VIII 1509.

 Britain before the reformation

 The development of Christianity in Great Britain did not stop since its settlement. Next to this development there were reproaches in the way Rome behaved toward the other churches. In the course of the centuries following the establishment of Christianity in England, the climate was not so tense between the power holders in the country so to predict a conflict. It is nevertheless certain that even King Edward the confessor, with all his saintliness, had not been able to repair the damage caused partly by the anarchy of the last ten years of the Danish rule and by the disorders which had existed at the centre of Christendom. There is no room for doubt of a scandalous and widespread neglect of the canons enjoining clerical celibacy and of a general subordination of the ecclesiastical order to secular influences. These evils were at that time almost universal. After the death of Edward in 1065, things did not change but the forces which were to purify and renovate the Church were already at work. The monastic reform begun in the tenth century at Cluny had spread to many houses of France and among other places had been cordially taken up in the Norman Abbey of Fécamp, and later at Bec. Under the auspices of Leo IV and St Gregory a new era dawned for the Church. Effective action was at last taken to restrain clerical incontinence and avarice, while a great struggle began to rescue the bishops from the imminent danger of becoming mere feudatories to the emperor and other secular princes. When William the Conqueror came to England, He established strong relationship with the Holy See. In the eyes of many earnest men, his expedition was identified with the cause of ecclesiastical reform. Taken as a whole, the Conqueror’s dealings with the English Church were worthy of a great mission. He retained and supported all the best elements in the Saxon hierarchy. St. Wulstan was confirmed in the possession of the See of Worcester. Leofric of Exeter and Siward of Rochester, both Englishmen, as well as some half-dozen prelates of foreign birth who had been appointed in Edward’s reign, were not interfered with. On the other hand, Stigand, the intriguing Archbishop of Canterbury, and one or two other Bishops, 9 probably his supporters, were removed from office. What is remarkable in his action was that William made a success in this deposition without any indecent haste. All was done taking into account to the good of the Church. It was done at the great council of Winchester in 1070. At the council there were tree papal legates. Shortly after the deposition of the two bishops, the vacant sees were filled up. William chose the very best prelates that existed for the kingdom: Lanfranc was sent to Canterbury and Thomas of Bayeux was sent to York. The results of these changes were very beneficial to the Church and the King himself enjoined the separation of the civil and the ecclesiastical courts. In the past, it was difficult to distinguish these two jurisdictions. At the council of Winchester, a strong legislation was also adopted to secure celibacy among the clergy, though not without some temporary mitigation for the old rural priests. Such mitigation may block any sudden and complete reform for the existing generation. The drafting of Lanfranc new constitution for the Christ Church monks, which were not perhaps the least changes, were all significant of the improvement introduced by the new ecclesiastical regime. In the eyes of Rome, William respected the Holy See and nothing like a breach with the pope took place during his lifetime. He was respectful towards the pope’s spiritual supremacy. In 1078, when a demand was made through the papal legate, Hubert, for the payment of arrears of Peter’s-pence, the claim was admitted, and the contribution was duly sent. However, after this contribution, Rome persisted in asking more to the kingdom. But for this time, The Conqueror did not seem to conform and he replied in this terms: « One claim [Peter’s pence] I admit, » He wrote, « the other I do not admit. To do fealty I have not been willing in the past, nor am I willing now, inasmuch as I have never promised it, nor do I discover that my predecessors ever did it to your predecessors. »2 But we have to bear in mind that this clear answer to the Holy See had nothing to do with the recognition of the pope’s supremacy over the other realm and the King concluded his letter and said “Pray for us and for the good estate of our realm, for we have loved your predecessors and desire to love you sincerely and to hear you obediently before all” 3 . This incident led to some slight coolness, reflected, for example, in the rather negative attitude of Lanfranc towards the antipope Wibert at a later date. But it is also likely that William and his archbishop were only careful not to get entangled in the strife between Gregory and the Emperor Henry IV.

Table des matières

DEDICATION
ACKNOWLODGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1-BRITAIN BEFORE THE REFORMATION
2-THE RELIGIOUSTROUBLES UNDER HENRY VIII’S REIGN
3-THE ADVENT OF ANGLICANISM
CHAPTERII: THE IMPACT OF THE RELIGIOUS CHANGES
1-THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM
2-THE RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM
3-THE PERSECUTION OF CATHOLICS AND THE RE-STABLISMENT OF PROTESTANTISM
CHAPTER III: THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGIONAFTER THE TUDORS
1-THE RISE OF PURITANISM AND CONSEQUENCES
2-THE GROWTH OF ANTICONFORMISM
3- THE PERSECUTION OF THE PURITANS
CHAPTER IV: RELIGION IN MODERN BRITAIN
1-THE RELATION BETWEEN CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM TODAY 2-THE ADVENT OF ISLAM AS A SECOND RELIGION AND THE EVOLUTION OF OTHER RELIGIONS
3-THE IMPACT OF CONTROVERSIAL RELIGIOUS ISSUES TODAY
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPH

 

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