The Reformation Continues Under Edward I

Next, we will see the Reformation continuing under Edward I. Well, who was Edward I? Back to Henry. Henry did not solve his marital problems by disposing of Catherine and marrying Anne Boleyn. Anne bore him a daughter, Elizabeth. But, Henry soon tired of Anne, and she was executed for infidelity. History is not clear on the charge, but many, if not most, historians believe that she was not unfaithful at all, that this was a trumped- up charge by Henry.

And so, along comes Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour. And Jane Seymour would bear him the son that he wanted so desperately. The son’s name would be Edward I, and he would come to the throne upon Henry’s death in 1547. Edward I, though, was a frail child—he was not well. And he would be around ten years old at the time of Henry’s death in 1547—at the time he assumed the throne. Since he was a minor, the actual decisions of state were made by a series of regents.

Now, these regents reflected Protestant sympathies, and as a result of that, England moved toward a more definitely Protestant position. The “Catholic-flavored” Six Articles that we mentioned before were rescinded. Images were removed from churches, and restrictions on circulating the Bible were also removed. Under the Archbishop—remember Archbishop Cranmer? He is the one who issued the divorce decree for Henry so that he could divorce Catherine—under this Archbishop, the Book of Common Prayer was issued. The Prayer Book, and its later revisions, which turned definitely away from many of the practices and the terms of the Roman Catholic Church…. Interestingly enough, this Common Prayer Book, which was written and prepared in the middle part of the 16^th Century, is still the guide for worship today for the Church of England.

Well, the Archbishop was also largely responsible for formulating what would become The Forty-Two Articles, later to be revised downward to The Thirty-Nine Articles. And, this would set forth the doctrinal position of the Church of England.

All of these actions served to bring the English Reformation closer to the position that was occupied by the continental reformers, such men as Luther and Calvin and Zwingli—those ones we have already spoken about. On the whole, the English people seemed ready to follow their monarch in these moves.