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Lesson 4
THE ENGLISH REFORMATION

Read the information then answer the questions in sentences.

King Henry V111 Catherine of Aragon

King Henry V111 wanted to divorce his first wife after 24 years of
marriage because he wanted a male heir to the throne. The Pope, the

head of the Catholic Church refused to grant permission for this so the
English parliament passed laws which separated the English Church from

the Catholic one. Henry was excommunicated. People who complained
about the Catholic Church were called ‘Protestants’.

Henry was given the role of the head of the Church of England. We read
in Colossians 1:18 that Jesus is the real Head of the Church. People who

did not agree with Henry being in this position were executed.

The Bible was translated from Latin into English by William
Tyndale around this time. A copy was placed in every church in

England. Thomas Cranmer was responsible for this. Everyone
could now have access to God’s Word.

William Tyndale
Monasteries - The monasteries owned one quarter of the

land in England. Some monks objected to Henry being head
of the church. Henry needed money for wars so he

closed some monasteries down and confiscated their
wealth. In 1536, 270 small monasteries were closed

and in 1570 645 large ones were shut. The monks had looked after
travellers, taught children, copied books, worshipped and prayed

and cared for the sick.

Robert Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace march from the north of

England to London in 1540 to ask Henry to leave the monasteries open.
Henry tricked them by saying that he would look into their complaints so

the pilgrims went home. Henry had Aske hanged in chains from a church
tower and the leaders were executed. The king sold the monastic

buildings and became rich at the expense of the religious life of the
country.

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