The Bloody Horrors of the English Reformation

From The Catholic Herald:

In January, Henry bigamously married Anne Boleyn, his pregnant mistress. In March, on Passion Sunday, the relatively unknown Protestant-leaning Thomas Cranmer was consecrated 69th Archbishop of Canterbury. In April, Parliament passed the Act in Restraint of Appeals, cutting off all legal recourse to Rome. And in May, Cranmer pronounced the long-desired annulment of Henry’s marriage to Katherine, then presided over Anne’s coronation. Henry now had what he wanted. But his new wife had come at a high cost. He had changed the country’s religion to get her, and now he had to implement the new faith nationwide. What Henry needed were loyal lawyers and theologians to reshape the religion.

In Thomas Cromwell, he found the former. And in Cranmer the latter. Cromwell began enriching himself by pillaging and razing the monasteries. Cranmer legitimised Henry’s every move spiritually. Henry was secure in the knowledge he had ambitious fixers around him, but what about the response of the rest of the country? It quickly became apparent that despite passing the Act of Supremacy in 1534 making himself head of the English Church (Ecclesia Anglicana), legislation alone was not going to be sufficient to ensure the cooperation of the English people. Nor were Cranmer’s sermons and those of the other new bishops.

With little alternative, Henry resorted to the most basic tool of his power: violence. Burning people for heresy was an option, but it would raise a few eyebrows. The problem was that Henry largely believed in the same traditional theology that his people did. He had not changed his views from the time of writing the Assertio. This ruled out widespread heresy trials. The solution his circle came up with was more radical. (Read more.)

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