The English Reformation

A lot of men and women thought there were things wrong in the Catholic Church. Some of them became Protestants, or reformers. Protestants were against the Pope. They were against rich bishops living in grand palaces. They thought that priests should pray in their own language, not Latin. They said that priests should be allowed to marry.

The Protestants were pleased when Henry VIII got Parliament to pass laws ending the power of the Pope. The laws said that the king was the head of the Church in England. Bishops had to swear to be loyal to him, not to the Pope. These changes were the start of the English Reformation.

Henry VIII was not a Protestant. (He did not want to change the Church service, and he did not want priests to marry.) But he allowed Thomas Cranmer to translate some prayers into English. And he agreed that there should be a copy of the Bible in English in every church.

The idea of closing the monasteries came from Thomas Cromwell, Henry's chief minister. His reason was that the monasteries had masses of silver and jewels, and great estates of land. If the king closed them down, he could take all that they owned. Like all kings, Henry was always short of money.

By 1539 the monasteries and nunneries were closed. The monks and nuns had to leave. The buildings either became parish churches or private houses, or they were left to fall down. The king sold most of the land, silver, and jewels. Then he wasted the money on a useless war.

Walter Robson: Crown, Parliament and People; Oxford University Press, 1992/2002, page 17