Friday, August 10, 2012

The Queen's Chaplains

How Henry VIII went after Catholics and Protestants alike.
On July 30, 1540, two different sets of martyrs set off for Smithfield for execution. There were three Catholics, who had refused to swear Henry VIII's Oaths of Succession and Supremacy, and there were three Protestants--more properly, Zwinglians--who refused to accept the definition of Christian sacramental doctrine outlined in Henry VIII's Six Articles. The three Catholics were what I call Supremacy Martyrs, since the immediate cause of their execution/martyrdom was their refusal to accept Henry VIII as the Supreme Head and Governor of the Church of England, the Ecclesia Anglicana. (Read entire post.)
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2 comments:

julygirl said...

That is what I found puzzling when I watched the mini-series on the Tudors, that he first started murdering Catholics who opposed him, then when he realized he was at heart still a Catholic, he started murdering Protestants.

Stephanie A. Mann said...

julygirl, we just have to remember that Henry VIII took the title of Supreme Head and Governor of the Church of England very, very seriously--he thought he really was the arbiter of Faith!