Luther and Henry VIII’s motives for reform sprung from entirely different sources. Luther disagreed with the Catholic church over the doctrine that allowed the selling of indulgences to lay people. After study of the Scriptures, Luther decided that salvation was achieved not by indulgences or even good works, but only by faith alone. Henry VIII’s reasons for his break with the church came from his desire to divorce his wife at the time, Catherine, and marry Anne Boleyn. He asked Pope Clement VII to announce that the king’s previous marriage to Catherine of Aragon was invalid.
One of the reasons why Henry broke from the Roman Church was because he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn but was married to Catherine of Aragon. The Catholic Church would not allow him to divorce her, so Henry had to think of how to divorce her without the Pope’s help. He decided that so that he could divorce Catherine of Aragon he would have to make himself the head of the Catholic Church. An act of Parliament was passed in 1534 explaining why he should be Head of the Church of England rather than the current Pope. Henry also came to believe that the Kings of England should have always been head of the Church rather than the Pope because England was an Empire.
The cause of the English civil war The title ‘The cause of the English civil war’ means, what happened to make the civil war start. A civil war is when a country fights against itself with different beliefs. In 1625 King James died and Charles I came to the throne. James had strongly believed in the divine right of kings he had thought that monarchs got their power and the right to rule from God and that because of this they must be obeyed, the people of England were not very happy with this because it meant that the king could do whatever he wanted and claim that God had told him to. England for a long time had been told to hate Catholics and when James came from Scotland and became king he decided to marry Henrietta Maria, a Catholic, the people became unhappy because they did not know if their heir would be Protestant or Catholic.
Robert Bolt’s “A Man For All Seasons” A Man For All Seasons is a great movie which mainly focuses on the life of Sir Thomas More from England and the current king at the time King Henry VIII. The time period was during King Henry the VIII's period of reigning. King Henry wanted to marry his brother's widow, and eventually received a special dispensation from the Pope. After learning that his new wife Catherine whom he married was not able to have children, he started to search again for another wife. It was thought that since King Henry VIII had married his brother’s wife that he was cursed in regards to Catherine not being able to have any children.
Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector Eventually Oliver Cromwell's Parliament, which was made of his most faithful supporters, sent him a petition urging him to become King and name his successor. On one hand the idea appealed to Oliver Cromwell; he hoped to find some way to guarantee that his son, Richard Cromwell, could succeed him as Lord Protector. But he knew the idea was unpopular with his army, which had already fought to depose one King and had no desire to see another take his place. Furthermore, many of them were opposed to a monarchy on religious grounds,
Monasteries were destroyed, their contents and wealth confiscated (& given to the king ) & those who opposed this were hanged. Henry did this to try to reduce the power of the pope. At the time Henry thought he was right to do this. However, many people opposed Henry’s actions due to there religious beliefs. Looking back it is clear there was evidence supporting & opposing the decision to close the monasteries.
As well as trying to claim that Henry’s marriage was a sin, he tried to persuade the pope that the previous pope was wrong to marry Henry and Catherine because Catherine and Arthur had consummated their marriage. If the pope was to admit this we would be a heretic as he would have gone against papal powers. This failure once again influenced Henry to strip Wolsey of his powers. Another approach that Wolsey tried was working with Cardinal Campeggio to
There were no more sources to receive money from. In the 1630s Charles made changes to the Catholic Church. He decorated them and he told the clergy not to preach sermons about the Bible. These ideas upset the Puritans (extreme Protestants). Many thought he was attempting to bring back the Catholic Church.
But that’s not the only reason religion caused the civil war, King Charles believed in the divine right. It was when the king/queen believes that god put them on the throne. So Charles took all the power because of this and Parliament didn’t want to go with his decision which contributes to the civil war. Also he made Scottish churches uses English prayer books which caused riots and England went to battle with Scotland. England lost.
He reduced clerical privileges and, by charging the clergy with Praemunire, he undermined their power as representatives of the Pope in order to strengthen his own. Henry set about introducing the Bible in the vernacular and reducing the number of holy sacraments, having declared himself head of the Church, he began to make England a Protestant country. However, historians are divided over the extent of Henry’s influence and his motives. Some believe that the reformation was a ‘grassroots’ and progressive change caused either by anticlericalism and corruption in the church or by opposing movements like Lollardy and Lutherism. Even those who believe that the reformation came from above, like Haigh and Scarisbrick, disagree over Henry’s motives, whether he was persuaded by his desire for Anne or his pressure for an heir or by the influential factions in court or even by the financial or political advantages a break with Rome would offer.