Why did Henry reform the Church of England?

Answer 1

In England, the Reformation had gained hold in certain areas. The Catholic monasteries in England were also corrupt and conning money out of the poor by claiming, for example, to have this relic or another relic from a long-dead saint - most of which were fake. The corruption of the monasteries was a threat to the very fabric of England and Henry was therefore compelled by his subjects to dissolve them - much to Pope's anger. Relations with the Pope were at straining point and the Pope's refusal to annul Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn (and not to grant a 'divorce') caused Henry to split from Rome and form his own Catholic Church with Christ at the head (and not the Pope) with himself as 'Supreme Governor' on earth. Since then every British monarch has had this position. The result of Henry's split was excommunication by the Pope.

Henry lived and died a Catholic, but Protestantism eventually became a way of life in England after the ruthless and bloody reign of his daughter Mary who attempted to restore Catholicism cruelly murdering hundreds of clergy and others who attempted to stand in her way. It wasn't until her death and her younger sister Elizabeth I's accession to the throne that Protestant England settled down to peace. Unlike the Protestants of Europe, The Church of England

• retained apostolic succession through the bishops, and
• retained other sacramental worship, baptisms, the Eucharist and so on.

However, thanks to the

• Book of Common Prayer and the
• King James Bible translated after Elizabeth's death,

the common man could understand services and read the scriptures for himself, instead on having to rely on a priest to tell him what to believe.

Answer 2

AnswerThese are the 3 main reasons!

Power was the main reason he was the kind of King who felt that he should have total power over his subjects but the power of the Catholic church in the 16th century outweighed that of even the most powerful King Henry saw a way to end that power in England and use it for his own purposes

The bi-product of this was that was able to secure a marriage anullment from Catherine without having to to go through the Pope who was making things difficult for him. he had to divorce Catherine because Anne was pregnant.

The Third advantage was that the looting of the churches and monasteries filled the royal coffers and paid for his wars in France

The fouth advantage was that the pope no longer had power over the people of Engladn as he could threaten people with hell but the king could only punish people with death.

All the above are very cynical views of Henrys motivations it is possible that he just believed it was the right thing to do but i doubt it.

he changed because the pope would not allow him to get a divorce even though he was king.

(Spam cleaned up)

Answer 3

Henry VIII did not reform the Church of England, he founded the Church of England from nothing by stealing everything from the Catholic Church.

Answer 4

So he could get divorced.

Answer 5

because he wasn't happy with it