Did anybody want the English Reformation?
There were a small number of educated (and therefore rich) people amongst the aristocracy and landed gentry that agreed with Luther’s teachings;these included Anne Boleyn,and Thomas Cranmer,a lawyer and MP.Their was also a tradition of Lollardy amongst some English theologians and clerics.The Lollards had denounced Catholicism as corrupt, and Western Christendom in need of reform, as early as the 13th century.However, Lollardy had been persecuted and driven underground (but not destroyed) early in the 15th century. The English Reformation was driven by political rather than theological factors, and the general population gradually adapted itself to the situation.In form,presentation, and liturgy, there wasn’t much difference between Anglicanism and Catholicism, so the common people generally would not have noticed much change.Additionally, Henry VIII sold much of the land confiscated from the monasteries very cheaply to the English nobility,thus making them partners in his new religiou
