We have surveyed in the ‘overview’ of Reformation London the sweeping changes in English church life and practices brought about by Henry VIII between the years 1527 and 1540. Five main factors, combined with Henry’s forceful personality, seem to lie behind these unprecedented moves:
First, it is a generally overlooked fact that the young king, whom history knows for the enormous faults and excesses of his later life, was a child of the New Learning himself—well taught in the ancient languages; well-read enough to write a book denouncing Luther; a champion in archery, tennis, riding and tilting in armour; and able both to compose music and to play well on all musical instruments. He gathered about him the learned men of the day, including the fearless John Colet, dean of St Paul’s, and the brilliant lawyer and theologian Thomas More. The anti-clerical spirit prevalent among these intellectuals planted in his mind a dislike of monks and image-andrelic worship, and a respect for the study of the Bible, which he somehow balanced off against his doctrinal orthodoxy on the matter of transubstantiation.
Secondly, we need to understand the circumstance of Henry VIII’s first marriage. Henry VII had arranged the marriages of his two daughters and his eldest son, Arthur, to his greatest political advantage. Arthur’s wife, Catherine, was the daughter of none other than Ferdinand and Isabella of Aragon, Spain’s great Catholic monarchs. However, Catherine was but sixteen at the time of the wedding, and Arthur fourteen. In a year and a half Arthur was dead, and Ferdinand demanded the dowry back. The problem remained unresolved until Henry VII died in 1509, at which time the new king, Henry VIII, married his brother’s widow who was seven years his senior. As such a union was against canon law, it was necessary for the pope to make a special dispensation. After a number of pregnancies produced only one living child, a girl, Henry VIII had good cause to wonder if he had not indeed violated one of God’s commandments.
Thirdly, in 1529 Henry was apparently deeply in love with Anne Boleyn, one of his wife’s ladies of honour, and wished to divorce Catherine so that he might marry Anne and produce the desired heir through her.
Fourthly, Henry VIII needed money. He saw no reason why he should not lay hands on the rich Roman Catholic properties in his realm that in many cases had outgrown their usefulness and that were controlled by a foreign power which had opposed his wishes.
Fifthly and finally, as we have already pointed out, the spectre of a disputed succession haunted Henry VIII, leading him to take extreme measures in order to better his chances for a male heir.
While we are inclined to hiss at Henry VIII as one of the great villains of English history, he is at the same time fascinating and charming. Unlike Stephen, John or James II, who brought to their reigns nothing but grief and chaos and whom we can merely despise, Henry VIII seems, for all his cruelty, like a man of destiny. So far as the history of Christianity is concerned, he set in motion for the church in England a much-needed Reformation, one that in the long run was considerably more moderate in terms of wars and violence than the Lutheran and Calvinistic Reformations on the Continent.