At the start of Henry VIIIs reign, most of England were Roman Catholic and accepted the Pope as the Head of the Church, but in the 16th century, and so was he until he split off the English Church from the Roman church When the Pope refused to grant Henry VIII a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He then went on to make himself the spiritual head of the English church rather than the Pope. Henry VIII declared himself supreme head of a new Church of England. (The Act of Supremacy and reformation). The voices of statesmen and of priests extolled his wisdom and power as more than human.
The impact of this conversion to Christianity would finally take its toll on Rome in 312 CE when Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity legal. After the Edict, Roman high officials couldn’t falsely accuse the Christians and make them a scapegoat for any situations. In 380 CE, the journey of converting the Roman Empire to Christianity was finally achieved when Emperor Theodosius made all other religions illegal in the Empire. Today Christianity is the most practiced religion in the world, and it all started in Ancient Rome with Jesus and his
Puritans wanted further reform of the Anglican Church, specifically a move towards a more Protestant Church. In 1603 James was presented with a Millenary Petition, this was a list of requests given to James by Puritans when he was travelling to London in order to claim the English throne, it is believed that it had a thousand signatures of Puritan ministers, The Petition was careful not to challenge the royal supremacy in the Church of England. The document expressed Puritan distaste regarding the state of Anglican Church, basically Puritan’s felt was that, despite Elizabeth's best efforts and the introduction of the new Book of Common Prayer, the Anglican Church still remained too popish. The Demands of the Millenary Petition where the signing of the cross during baptism, Confirmation, the administration of baptism by women, use of the ring in marriage, bowing at the name of Jesus, dress of the ministers and priests living in the church. They also disagreed with popish terms such as ‘Priest’ and ‘Absolution’, and rejected popish garments the clergy were obliged to wear at service.
Third, Germanic tribes with their barbaric invasions weakened the Roman Empire which led to disappearance of Roman ways. Although there were a lot of changes within this time period, the Mediterranean region had much continuity such as keeping Christianity as their dominant religion, continued to keep German as their dominant language, and lastly keeping Greco-Roman laws and ideas which shaped the Byzantine Empire political attitude. Religious practices drastically changed during the 300 c.e. period. During Constantine’s reign, the introduction of state-sponsored Christianity drastically converted many people from Roman polytheism to monotheistic Christianity.
Even a quick scan of their speeches and correspondences one can find many allusions to God. The Founders understood that theocracy was tyranny, but they did not feel they could or should try to banish religion from public life altogether. George Washington, the first President of the United States, improvised “So help me, God” at the end of the first presidential oath and kissed the Bible on which he had sworn it. This act itself would be a violation of church and state according to the interpretation by the ACLU. According to "The University Of Oklahoma College Of Law" (2009.)
They sold indulgences to Christians – a payment due for committing sins. In 1517 Luther wrote his Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, otherwise known as The 95 Theses. He sent the document and a letter to his Bishop, Albert of Mainz against the sale of Indulgences. “Thesis 86, asks: "Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?" This and the other theses challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic religion and the Pope.
As Calvinists the Puritans believed in divine sovereignty. They felt that God’s plan was to reform church and society to conform to John Calvin’s theological ideas. In their eyes the English government went directly against the divine plan of purity and social order by allowing and participating in such things as drunkenness, gambling, public swearing and Sabbath breaking. The Government also allowed celebrations based on pagan customs such as maypole dancing and celebrating Christmas and saints’ days. 2 1 Davidson, James West et al, U.S. A Narrative History, Volume One, (New York: McGraw Hill, 2012), p.65.
Martin Luther, the most significant figure in the early development of Protestantism, took hold of the reformation during this period and popularised its beliefs, basing them on his interpretation of the scriptures. Although the responses from the majority of the leaders within the Catholic Church were political attacks aimed at clinging onto power and restricting the reformists’ influence, Luther’s motivation was religious and a product of a devotion to God, after being struck by lightning in 1505. Through this enlightenment, he sought to highlight the widespread abuses imposed by the Catholic Church, which were regularly authorised by the Pope. The resistance to Luther had been rife from the start; however as Luther’s support base grew and his beliefs became a threat to those in power, the counter-attacks increased in significance. Nevertheless, it could be argued that people misjudged Luther’s intentions as he never intended to reshape the power structure of the church just address the abuses.
To what extent were the rebellions of Henry VII’s reign caused by religion? There were four main rebellions, Simnel, Warbeck, Yorkshire and Cornwall, which can be grouped into two sets of Simnel and Warbeck the pretenders, and Yorkshire and Cornwall the regional uprisings. Religion, whilst a major influence on the late medieval society, was not a contributing factor to the rebellions of Henry VII’s reign. For there to be reason to rebel, there needs to be an incentive, in the form of some disagreement. However, considering that almost all of England, and Europe for that matter, was Roman Catholic at the time (bar a few smaller Christian religions, which did not affect the country on a national level), it is not the case that religion, or religious disagreements, caused rebellion against the king.
How did Constantine attempt to appeal to various groups within the Roman Empire? Discuss the evidence for change in Constantine's projection of his image during the course of his reign. Constantine at or just before the battle of the Milvian Bridge had some element of a Christian divine revelation, though it is often said that Constantine favored the Christian religion on the basis of political power and influence, it does appear this was not so due to the fact that the Christians were a very small minority in the empire. After a long period of sporadic and severe persecutions of the Christians in the Roman Empire, Constantine appealed to them in different ways. First he decreed an edict of toleration, which in essence greatly appealed to the Christians who were a minority in his empire, as it allowed them to practice their faith without government persecution.