The Intellectual Preparation

We have noticed that, just as the Reformation on the continent of Europe didn’t just spring out of nowhere, that there were some activities and things which took place which led to that, the same thing can be said for the Reformation in Britain. We have mentioned previously in this study about the work of one named John Wycliffe. He was a 14^th Century scholar in Oxford, England. He would begin, even at that time, resisting the Roman Catholic Church, speaking out against the Roman Catholic Church, and in a very, very small way, in a fairly isolated way, begin something of a reformation. And there would be a group of followers that would follow after, and they became knows as “the Lollards.” And while Wycliffe would, of course, die, this movement that he had begin, and this people called the Lollards, even though they would be persecuted, they would continue their emphasis on the Bible, just as Wycliffe had done—going back to the Bible; looking at the Bible. This would continue; this was sort of a precursor to the major part of the Reformation.

There were some other things that were going on. As the 16^th Century opened, there was a good bit of intellectual and scholastic foment, some unrest—fervency, agitation—that was taking place in English universities—at Cambridge, for example, and especially Oxford, where just about 150 to 175 years before, Wycliffe had been there doing this very same thing. Individuals named John Colet and Thomas More, along with the Dutch scholar and reformer, Erasmus, who had been invited to come to England, were prominent leaders in this movement. William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale were active in translating the Bible into English during this period, and making attempts to distribute it—attempts that were resisted, in large measure, by the Catholic church, and even to some extent by the Church of England at this time.

Tyndale would be martyred for his efforts, but the work that he had aroused, the interest in an English translation of the Scriptures and going back to the Bible, like his predecessor, Wycliffe, would continue. And this would, of course, not escape the attention of the pope and other of the officials in Rome.

Henry VIII

The wives of the king and his desire for a son would serve as the occasion for the beginning of the English reform. Henry would eventually be excommunicated by the pope and he would become head to the Church of England.

The English Reformation really had its beginning in earnest with Henry VIII. He had a desire to divorce his wife, Catherine [of Aragon; married 1509 – 1533, divorced]. Of course, there would be some other women involved here. There would be the desire on his part for a male child. We want to spend a little time with this, because it is interesting history, and some that you may remember.

Catherine had been married to Arthur, and Arthur was Henry’s brother. But, Arthur had died just a short while following their marriage. Now, for political reasons Henry wanted to marry Catherine. But, it was a violation of the canon law for a man to marry his brother’s widow. So, Henry needed a papal dispensation in order to be able to marry her. Well, the dispensation was granted, and Henry eventually married Catherine. Several children were born to this couple, but only one of them, a daughter, would survive. Henry desperately desired to have a male heir, and because of the experience that he was having in the number of children, the number of attempts to have children, the number of children who died, and so on, he began to believe that God was disapproving of his marriage, and this was God’s way of showing him His disapproval of his marriage.

Well, the feeling intensified on the part of Henry, no doubt, though, because not only did he have this concern about the way God thought about the marriage, but another woman had caught his eye…oh, by the way…Anne Boleyn [married 1533 – 1536, executed], and he had a growing attraction to her. Thus, after twenty years of marriage to Catherine, Henry appealed to the pope to have his marriage to Catherine annulled. Well, had the political situation been different, Henry probably would have been able to gain this desired annulment. However, the pope could not afford to offend Catherine’s nephew, who…oh, by the way…was Emperor Charles V, who was the Holy Roman Emperor AND the King of Spain. The pope had a problem: Henry wanted an annulment, but he couldn’t offend the nephew of Catherine, and so, Henry loses out. Henry doesn’t get his annulment. So, for political reasons, the pope refused to annul Henry and Catherine’s marriage.

But Henry is not going to have his love unrequited [to not make retaliation for; to not avenge]. He will turn to other sources. And so, he turns to the English Parliament, which, in 1533, declared the Church of England to be the judge—the competent judge—in this matter. Henry was immediately granted a divorce by Archbishop Cranmer [Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury], the Archbishop of the Church of England and this, once again, by the decree of the English Parliament. As a result of this action, the pope excommunicated Henry. And then, to complete the breach between the Church of England and Rome, Parliament took steps to make Henry the head of the English church.

Well, this was the catalyst, or sort of the precursor, to the reform that would take place here in England. Now, some would protest Henry’s actions and a few so strenuously that Henry had them executed. That’s one way to get rid of your opposition, I suppose. Among those executed was Thomas More, who we had mentioned earlier. He was the humanist scholar whose work had, in many ways, anticipated the English Reformation. However, there were many who accepted the break with Rome with enthusiasm, and then after a few more were executed, many more fell in line and just accepted it. Imagine that.