21 Facts About English Reformation

1.

English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church.

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2.

Ideologically, the groundwork for the English Reformation was laid by Renaissance humanists who believed that the Scriptures were the only source of Christian faith and criticized religious practices which they considered superstitious.

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3.

The English Reformation began as more of a political affair than a theological dispute.

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4.

English Reformation is generally considered to have concluded during the reign of Elizabeth I, but scholars speak of a "Long Reformation" stretching into the 17th and 18th centuries.

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5.

Protestant English Reformation was initiated by a German monk named Martin Luther.

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6.

Nevertheless, English Reformation Catholicism was strong and popular in the early 1500s, and those who held Protestant sympathies remained a religious minority until political events intervened.

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7.

English Reformation was a woman of "charm, style and wit, with will and savagery which made her a match for Henry".

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8.

English Reformation was cultured and is the disputed author of several songs and poems.

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9.

English Reformation had not produced a male heir who survived longer than two months, and Henry wanted a son to secure the Tudor dynasty.

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10.

For centuries, kings had attempted to reduce the church's power, and the English Reformation was a continuation of this power struggle.

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11.

English Reformation Parliament sat from 1529 to 1536 and brought together those who wanted reform but who disagreed what form it should take.

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12.

English Reformation authored and presented to the Commons the Supplication Against the Ordinaries, which was a list of grievances against the church, including abuses of power and Convocation's independent legislative authority.

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13.

The King relied on Protestants, such as Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer, to carry out his religious programme and embraced the language of the continental English Reformation, while maintaining a middle way between religious extremes.

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14.

English Reformation persuaded Henry that safety from political alliances that Rome might attempt to bring together lay in negotiations with the German Lutheran princes of the Schmalkaldic League.

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15.

Shifts in Eucharistic theology between 1548 and 1552 made the prayer book unsatisfactory—during that time English Reformation Protestants achieved a consensus rejecting any real bodily presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

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16.

English Reformation restored six religious houses with her own money, notably Westminster Abbey for the Benedictines and Syon Abbey for the Bridgettines.

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17.

Recruitment to the English Reformation clergy began to rise after almost a decade of declining ordinations.

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18.

From 1557, the Pope refused to confirm English Reformation bishops, leading to vacancies and hurting the Marian religious program.

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19.

Religious forces unleashed by the English Reformation ultimately destroyed the possibility of religious uniformity.

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20.

Historiography of the English Reformation has seen vigorous clashes among dedicated protagonists and scholars for five centuries.

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21.

English Reformation historiography has seen many schools of interpretation with Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nonconformist historians using their own religious perspectives.

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