Henry VIII and his Reformation of the Church in England Essay -- Paper

Henry VIII and his Reformation of the Church in England Henry VIII, in his Reformation of the English Church, was driven mostly by political factors, but also partially by a belief that he was one of the Kings of the Old Testament. Although the initial break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries seem to be the work of a monarch who has changed his religious colours, and turned from Catholicism to Protestantism, they were in fact only a means for gaining money and divorce. By 1547, England was still essentially Catholic. Many traditional historians, such as G. R. Elton and A. G. Dickens, believe that the Church originally came under attack in 1529 because the laity were not satisfied with its work. According to Elton, 'If one thing can be said of the English people early in the sixteenth century it is that they thought little of priests.' People were resentful of the wealth of the Church, (it owned approximately one third of all the land, and the incomes of some of the great abbeys exceeded the revenues of the greatest temporal lords), as they felt that they could make better use of it. They were also aggrieved by the Church courts, and more specifically the rights of benefit of clergy and clerical sanctuary, especially after the Hunne case. This view also seems to be supported by contemporary opinion. Evangelicals, such as Simon Fish, had new ideas, and believed that the Church was wrong, while even members of the clergy, like John Colet, seemed to be dissatisfied with the work of the Church. Christian Humanists, for instance Erasmus, wanted a better and more accurate version of the Bible, and even totally devout ... ... noble progenitors of right ought to have been, a full king, that is, a rule, and not rule in his kingdom as others were.' Bibliography Belloc, Hilaire. Characters of the Reformation TAN Books, October 3, 1992 Elton, Geoffrey Rudolph. Reform and Reformation:  England, 1509-1558. Harvard University Press,  Jan 1, 1977 Haigh, Christopher. English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors   Oxford University Press, June 24, 1993. Lotherington, John. The Tudor Years. Hodder Education, 7 July 1994. Randell, Keith. Henry VIII and the Government of England, Hodder Education; 2nd Revised edition edition 1 Jun 2001. Rex, Richard. Henry VIII. Gloucestershire: Amberly Publishing Plc, 2009 Lucas, Henry S. The Renaissance and the Reformation Second Edition   New York: Harper Brothers, 1960.