What role did King Henry VIII play in Englands religious reformation?
Henry wanted a divorce as the thought his wife was too old to give him a son and he had fallen for Anne Boleyn. The pope would not give him one so he based on the bible not mentioning any popes but lots of kings he declared himself head of the church in England. He was still a catholic just not a roman catholic. IT was later when he found out how much wealth the english church had and that he was getting a lot of resistance from the various religious houses in England that he decided to disband the monasteries etc and take their land and wealth. At the time Martin Luther had started protesting against the corruption in the Roman Catholic church and started the Protestant movement. Henry was not a supporter of Luther in fact is wrote a book called Defending the Faith which was condemning Luther and his followers. The pope gave him a title Defender of the Faith which the Queen now holds..
