1534: The reformation

The English Reformation started during the reign of King Henry VIII. It was a change to the way religion was run in England. This change would have far reaching consequences for hundreds of years to come.

Henry VIII wanted to get rid of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, after she failed to give birth to a son. However, a divorce was not a simple issue at the time. In fact, it was a very complicated one. Henry VIII was a Roman Catholic and the head of this church was the Pope based in Rome.

The Pope and Roman Catholicism believed that marriage was for life. You got one and that was it. Divorce was not an option. Husbands could not simply decide that their marriage was not working, divorce their wife and remarry. The Roman Catholic Church simply did not allow it. The punishment for divorce was death.

This didn't suit Henry, and so in 1533 Henry made the decision to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and created the Church of England. Henry placed himself as the head of the church, and decided to make his divorce was perfectly legal.

This sowed the seeds for a future conflict that would rip through England after Henry’s death in 1547. It would be a conflict driven by religion. Of two different versions of Christianity; Catholicism and Protestantism.

"The word reformation means to change. And change would come to England and to the Church."

Martin Luther

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