Page 26 - Pilgrims in Georgia

1600’s - England dominates in colonizing North America!

but first a reformation must take place in England!

The English Reformation

Henry the VIII

The first Act of Supremacy was a decree of the English government that made
King Henry VIII of England the supreme head of the Church of England.

The 1534 Act is considered to be the beginning of the English Reformation,
although the movement for it had been growing for more than a century.
There were a number of reasons for this Act. The English who were a long way
from Rome were growing strong as island nation and many of them had growing
tensions with the idea of a distant religious ruler who may have seemed to them
more interested in the larger kingdoms nearer to him. However, the primarily
reasons were that Henry wanted to obtain an annulment of his marriage to his wife
Catherine of Aragon, because they had not been able together to have a male heir
to his throne and because of Henry's alleged misgivings about the legitimacy of his Henry VIII
marriage to his deceased brother's wife. The Roman Catholic Pope Clement VII
refused to grant an annulment to his marriage. So, he took advantage of the mood
of many of his people and pressed for independence from the Roman Catholic

Church for his own purposes. He died in 1547 only 13 years later.

Edward VI

But…the change of the English/Anglican Church into a Protestant church in teaching
and practice happened under Henry’s son Edward. Edward was very interested in and
involved with his faith. Although Henry had separated the Church of England from
Rome, he never allowed a change from Catholic teaching and practice. With guidance
from Thomas Cranmer, The Archbishop of Canterbury, it was while Edward’s was king

that Protestant reforms for the first time were practiced in England. However Edward
only ruled six years and died in 1553 and all his reforms would soon be challenged. Edward VI