Henry VIII and the English Reformation

A major reason King Henry VII originally split the Church of England from the Catholic Church

King Henry VIII had been married to Catherine of Aragon for twenty years and Catherine had not given Henry a male heir. He wanted to "annul" his marriage to her, but he needed the Pope to do this and the Pope said no. This caused him to split the Church of England from the Catholic Church

The English House of Commons

The lower house of Parliament

Annul

"To declare a marriage to have no legal existence", basically like saying this never happened.

The landed gentry

A class of people that existed only in England. People who owned land but were not nobles.

The Treasons Act

An act that King Henry VIII passed to secure his power, it made it so that he could execute anyone who rebelled against him being the head of the Church of England.

How Henry VIII's changed the Church's power in England

As Supreme Head of the Church of England, King Henry VIII wiped out all of the monasteries in England and took the land for himself. Then he gained power and money by selling the land to the landed gentry.

King Henry VIII's first wife

Catherine of Aragon, married from 1533-1536, their marriage was annulled.

Anne Boleyn

King Henry VIII's second (out of 6) wife, whom he fell in love with while still married to his first. She was executed after only giving Henry a daughter. Married from 1533-1536, executed.

The head of the new Church of England

King Henry VIII, was declared by Parliament the "Supreme Head" of the Church of England, in 1534, (the Act of Supremacy)

Why Henry VIII "reformation" was not put down

Other powerful people in England mistrusted the Catholic Church and did not like the Catholic Church having so much power over them.

Why the landed gentry having more land mattered

With more land, the landed gentry had more power, in fact, after this, the landed gentry seized control of the English House of Commons and kept it until the mid 1800s.