Why did king Henry start a fight between catholics and protestants?

Answer 1

He didn't. There were many rifts between the 'Catholic' Church - especially the Great schism between the Church in the East and the West - long before Henry VIII. As for the Protestant Church , even this had little to do with Henry, but began long before Henry mostly by Martin Luther, a German monk, who quarrelled with the Church over corrupt practices, especially the doctrine of purgatory and the selling of indulgences. This culminated in his publishing his 'theses' against the Church by nailing them to a church door at Wittenberg. As a result Martin Luther was excommunicated but he, Calvin and Zwingli between them began the Reformation and the formation of the Protestant Church - so called as it 'protested' against Rome. As for Henry, there was already a great sympathy for the Protestant movement in England not least because of the corruption and power wielded by the monasteries. The refusal of the Pope to grant an annulment of the marriage between Anne Boleyn and Henry (for political reasons as far as Henry was concerned) was the last straw and resulted in Henry yielding to public pressure and forming the Church of England, with Christ (not the Pope) as head of the Church, with Henry himself (and subsequent monarchs) as 'supreme governor' on earth, and the Archbishop of Canterbury as spiritual leader. He subsequently dissolved the monasteries in England, seizing their treasures, allowed The Bible and Prayer Book to be written in English and not solely in Latin, and tried to ensure that the Protestant line would continue through his descendents, an effort in which, with the exception of Mary I, he was successful. Henry VIII is regarded as somewhat of a tyrant king by modern historians, but this is a little unfair. While there is no doubt that, when riled, he was not to be argued with (after all he did arrange the execution of two of his six wives), he was generally liked by the populace as a whole, was a clever and astute ruler, and a first class musician (he wrote the tune 'Greensleeves' among many others), and it is a shame that he is remembered solely for 'starting a fight' between Catholics and Protestants, when he was not to blame for such a rift or arguement.