The real story of how Anglicanism came about is far more complex than Henry and his many marriages! Read the ‘A is for Anglican’ series: The Anglican Story, by Rene Jamieson to find out more.

The Anglican Story, Part III:

Henry, the Married Man

One of Henry’s first acts when he ascended the throne was to marry Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and she had been shipped of to England to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry’s older brother.  Unfortunately, Arthur, ever a sickly boy, died of an inflammation of the lungs six months into the marriage, and Catherine remained in England, a widow largely ignored, except by young Harry, who loved her enough to marry her under a special dispensation from the Pope (Henry’s advisors and the Spanish ambassador felt it would be prudent to get the dispendation, even though Catherine swore that her marriage to Arthur had never been consummated and that she was, in her words,: “a widow who had never been a wife”).Henry was 18 and Catherine was 24.

Henry came to sincerely believe that God was punishing him for marrying his brother’s widow, and that no son would be borne by Catherine.

For the first ten years the marriage was reasonably happy, with one major drawback. Of her nine or eleven (no one seems to know for sure how many pregnancies Catherine had) she had been able to produce only one child who survived infancy, a daughter named Mary, who was born in 1516. As early as 1524,  Henry came to believe, and it was a sincere belief, that God was punishing him for marrying his brother’s widow, and that no son would be borne by Catherine, who was now 39 and in menopause. Henry knew that he could father sons. Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond (1519-1536), the son of Henry’s mistress Bessie Blount, was living proof of that. Henry reasoned, therefore, that the fault must lie with Catherine, and he began to cast about for ways and means to annul his marriage so that he might remarry and father a son to secure the succession.

Enter the catalyst. In 1522, Anne Boleyn returned to England from France and became one of Queen Catherine’s ladies in waiting. At that time, Henry was involved in a romantic liaison with Anne’s sister Mary, but by 1527 he had shifted his attentions to Anne, and she played her trump card. She let Henry know that she would not give herself to any man who was not her husband. Henry redoubled his efforts to secure a divorce from Catherine.

The real story of how Anglicanism came about is far more complex than Henry and his many marriages! Read the ‘A is for Anglican’ series: The Anglican Story, by Rene Jamieson to find out more.

The Anglican Story, Part II:

Henry, the Religious Man

It is unfortunate in my view that when people think of Henry VIII, they think of the playing-card king,(35 in the 16th century was the equivalent of 55 in the 21st century). It is too bad that no really good portraits of Henry as a young man survive. Contemporary accounts of the eighteen-year-old Henry who came to the throne in 1509  describe a golden prince, tall and handsome, an athlete, a poet, a musician, and a linguist; a man of culture who loved to dance, a man with a keen interest in architecture , a diplomat and here’s the surprise – a deeply religious man with a profound  knowledge of theology. It must be remembered that Henry had been destined for a career in the church before the untimely death of his brother made him the heir to the throne.

In 1521 Pope Leo X had bestowed on Henry the title of Defender of the Faith for his well-reasoned treatise ‘Defence of the Sacraments’, in which Henry challenged Martin Luther’s assertion that the only true sacraments were those instituted by Jesus Christ – Baptism and Holy Communion. Henry argued that the other five sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church – Confirmation, Confession/Absolution,  Ordination, Marriage and Unction (the anointing of the sick and dying) were equally valid. However, like Luther, he recognized that many of the practices of the church – the selling of indulgences being the main sticking point – were corrupt and he saw the need for reformation of the church.

The Henrician Reformation began in 1529 when Henry had his parliament pass several acts designed to remedy abuses in the church.

The Henrician Reformation began in 1529 when Henry had his parliament pass several acts designed to remedy abuses in the church. The fees to be charged by the church for probate and mortuary work were reduced, while the procedures for dealing with lawbreakers who sought sanctuary in the church were made more severe. The rents on lands leased out by the religious institutions were to be regulated, not by the church but by English law. The number of offices which could be held by any one priest was reduced to four. None of the measures found favour with the clergy in England, and certainly not with the Pope!

In December of 1530, the Pope summoned King Henry to Rome to state his case on the divorce. Henry, of course, did not go. The summons, however, served to increase Henry’s resentment. To make matters worse, the Pope followed up with a letter in January, 1531, informing Henry that he was to repudiate Anne,  that he was not free to marry again, and that if he defied the authority of Rome, any children of his liaison with Anne would be considered illegitimate by the church. That did it! In February, 1531 Henry demanded that his parliament pass an act that made Henry the Supreme Head and Sole Protector of the Church in England.

Not all members of parliament were happy about the idea, but the king prevailed, and the act was passed. The first major step in the break with Rome was accomplished.

In his personal life, Henry attended mass every day at 7:00 a.m., and when the aged king was too ill  to go to mass, Holy Communion was brought to him. Henry never repudiated the core teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, even after the break with Rome and remained a Catholic until his death in 1547.

The real story of how Anglicanism came about is far more complex than Henry and his many marriages! Read the ‘A is for Anglican’ series: The Anglican Story, by Rene Jamieson to find out more.

The Anglican Story, Part I:

A Brief Background

The tension between Rome and England did not erupt during the reign of Henry VIII. It had existed for centuries.

The tension between Rome and England did not erupt during the reign of Henry VIII. It had had existed for centuries.  More than one English king had severe disagreements with the Pope of his day, and the English monarchs were unhappy that the Pope had more power in their realm than they did. They also resented the fact that the Pope too often got involved in internal politics, and that clergy who strayed for whatever reason could not be tried in English courts, only in Rome.  Henry VIII and his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, were of the opinion that the Pope acted more like a secular prince than the head of a church.

The English people greatly resented the fact that at any given time only one Englishman would be appointed cardinal and it was highly unlikely that the other 49 cardinals (the majority of whom were Italians) would ever vote in an English Pope (actually, one Englishman did make the cut. That was Nicholas Breakspear back in 1154. He took the name Adrian with the regnal number IV, and he was Pope for four years. To date Adrian IV is the only Englishman ever to occupy the throne of Peter.) The English, especially those in the south where the majority of the population lived, were not happy about the use of Latin as the language of the church.

By the late 14th century the theologian John Wycliffe (the man who first translated the Bible into English), who headed a group of religious dissidents called the Lollards, was openly refuting the Catholic doctrine of transubstantation, voicing disgust that too often clergy – from bishops down to parish priests – were never in England attending to the spiritual needs of their flocks, but elsewhere, tending to their purses and their own advancement. Wycliffe died in 1384, but the seeds were sown. The English, to put it mildly, were ripe for The Henrician Reformation.

Theologian John Wycliffe and his group of religious dissidents, the Lollards, sowed the seeds for Henrician Reformation in England.

by Rene Jamieson

Introduction to the Series:

The Anglican Story

The real story of how the Anglican Church came about is far more complex than Henry and his many marriages!

One of the activities I enjoy most at the Cathedral is conducting tours. I take groups of visitors around the Cathedral and, if the weather is clement, the cemetery and relate our history to them. The visitors ask a lot of questions, but those questions are usually about our building and our history, and very seldom about Anglican doctrine, teaching and practice.

The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton seems to have sparked an interest in Anglicanism, and during the tours I have conducted since April 29th, 2011, I have been peppered with questions about the Anglican Church. Invariably, the subject of King Henry VIII comes up, because most people (including many Anglicans!) believe that Anglicanism came about because Henry wanted to divorce the wife who had failed to give him a male heir to secure the Tudor dynasty in order to marry a young, nubile Anne Boleyn and get him a son.

I love that kind of opening! It means I get to tell the real story. And the real story is far more complex than Henry and his many marriages!  The story is relatively long, so this ‘A is for Anglican’ information piece will be broken into several parts:

Part One: A Brief Background
Part Two: Henry, the Religious Man
Part Three: Henry, the Married Man