Anglican Church and the Monarchy

Religion was an ongoing cause of issues in history, and the perform building of England was no exception. Issues with the monarchy legal opinion the perform in Britain was the reason for numerous an(prenominal) debates, contends, civil issues and in effect(p)s to the throne. Initi ally the church was beneath apostolic rule, making the pope bewilder control over something the Throne did non. Hunger for king in the sixteenth carbon was non limited to land control and civil control it spread right wing up to the perform of England causing legion(predicate) problems for the monarchy and apostolic chest of drawers.The argument during this clipping was whether or non the monarch had the right to rule church and state, or if the church was meant to be slope by pontifical license. The perform of England has a deep history going back to the Roman Empire. An invasion in Britain in the fifth century by pagan Angles, Saxons and Jutes caused the church to neglect it s organization. Missionary work in the 6th Century by pope Gregory the Great, take by St Augustine of Canterbury led to the even outtual combination of three forms of Christianity.The natural Church of England amalgamated the Roman tradition of St Augustine, the old Romano-British church and the Celtic traditions from Scotland. As a result of this new formation the influence of the Church was wider spread and much organized. Traditions assimilated with the Western Christians such as liturgy, theology and church computer architecture. All of this also meant that until the sixteenth century the Church of England was under Papal rule and was considered a branch of the Roman Catholic Church.The Protestant reclamation began in 1517 when Martin Luther published his Ninety Five Theses. They opposed the Catholic Churches dogmas and utter that the teachings and sales of indulgences and the abuses of them showed corruption in the holiness. This was the jumping off point for many heap questioning the Catholic Church. In the sixteenth century the English monarchy began to question the fact that their church was nevertheless following the authority of the Pope. A master(prenominal) factor in this questioning came from King atomic number 1 VIII. hydrogen valued his marriage to Catherine annulled, and his marriage would normally be illegal under church law because Catherine was the widow of his familiar, that it had been allowed by special consideration from the Pope. enthalpy claimed that the Papal consideration contradicted church law and consequently the marriage was not legal. The pope upheld his choice and refused to annul the marriage. The underlying cause was the fact that many believed that the authority of the church should belong to the English monarchy not the Pope.Henry broke by from the Roman Catholic Church and decl ared himself the head of the Church of England (1534), removing the church from the authority of the Pope. During this time Henry also forced the Dissolution of the Monasteries, this was viewed as suppressing the catholic faith. He also started statutes, such as, Statute in rampart of Appeals, 1533, various Acts of Succession 1533-36, and the first Act of Supremacy in 1536. These acts all dealt with the blood in the midst of the King and the Pope and how the Church of England should be structured.Henrys belief in the independence of the Church was the dominant influence in making religious policy. Those who shut up worshipped Catholic rites during Henrys rule were quietly moved into secrecy. Henrys son Edward VI further reformed the church by puting that the Protestant renewal was more like what the Bibles teachings meant than that of the Pope. Edward was very young when he was in power so most decisions were ultimately steady downd by a regency council who were mostly Protestant, so of course the decision was make to salvage the church under monarch rule.Edward was the first King who had been raise P rotestant even though he was just nine when he was crowned his council did allow him to make decisions. By the age of eleven he had already written a treatise on the Pope as Antichrist and make educate notes on theological controversies. Edward wanted to keep the Church of England Protestant kind of than Catholic so instead of allowing his half sister Mary to excise the throne upon his death he left the crown to Lady Jane Grey. She was only on the throne for nine days before being put a itinerary after the council changed sides declaring Mary queen regnant.During the reign of Mary Tudor (Henrys daughter) the Church returned to the Popes authority. Throughout her fathers and her half brothers reign Mary had remained loyal to the Roman Catholic faith, she had even asked for a private chapel to worship in since everyone else in the family worshiped under the Church of England. Marys change in the Church did not last long when in 1558 Elizabeth I became ottoman, and made the Chu rch of England essentially what it is to this day. She removed it from the Popes authority, but she kept the catholic creeds, the architecture and aspects of the catholic liturgy.While keeping aspects of the Catholic Church she also incorporated Protestant insights of theology and the general shape of its liturgical practices. In the seventeenth century the Church of England had another crisis tensions over theological and liturgical issues were part of the reasons that led to the English Civil War. From 1649-1660 the Church of Englands bishops were abolished and the Book of Common collection was banned. During this time the church was under Papal rule but when the monarchy was restored in 1660 these decisions were over turned and once again the Church was returned to monarch authority.In 1689 the bankers acceptance Act was passed and Protestantism was legally accepted as long as they followed the doctrine of the Trinity. After this was passed the Church of England became the mot her church of the Anglican Communion. One of the main arguments throughout the formation of the Church of England was whether or not the monarchy had the right to decide how the church should be run, or if the church is meant to be run by the Pope. Most believed that since the Pope was not governmentally affiliated with anyone, it made him disinterested and made his rule of the church more pure.He was the representative of God therefore he could settle doctrinal disputes and help spread Christianity without influence from governmental leaders. Pope Paul III formed the Council of Trent (1545-49) which made the Papacy have power over rulers who wanted to reconcile with Protestants and who were opposed to Papal claims. The monarchy was besides powerful and eventually the Papal authority had to bring their focus to ghostlike issues as opposed to trying to get secular power (It was not until 1929 that the Lateran Treaty was passed that guaranteed papal independence from secular rule ).When the English monarchy say that the Pope was corrupt and Antichrist they pulled the Church of England out from under papal rule. The throne holds realized political authority in its own state, but the argument of whether this authority crosses over to religion as well was ongoing for many years. Henry VIII makes it easier for himself by having Parliament pass an act appointing him and his successors the head of the Church of England so that they could rule the church whatever way they please. This act caused more problems than solved because instantaneously every time the throne was changed the church was changed.The political side of the monarch caused more problems as well. By having political affiliations the monarchs chose rules of the church to follow that suited their political alliances. Affiliations with Scotland made them include Scottish traditions into the Church of England, but bad blood between the British and the Irish made them turn the church away from Cathol icism even more. There are arguments that the fact that the Irish worshiped under Papal rule it made the tensions between Britain and Ireland worse.The relationship between France and England was even worse Henry VIII went to war with France three times during his reign. The national religion of France was Catholicism and during this time though there was a large Protestant following, they were greatly persecuted. This was a study contributing factor to these wars with France under Papal rule and the Protestants being persecuted the British monarchy was livid, giving them plenty of cause to declare war. During this time Henry declared France to be Britains number one enemy. When Elizabeth was in power the repulsion towards Catholics was increased.While she was not as intense as Henry she did ban chaw and other Catholic practices, and also made her Parliament swear an fellow of supremacy threatening the charge of treason to anyone who refused. This threat made many Catholics run from England to avoid persecution. Many of these people were writers and went against Protestantism and implied that the Papal authority was superior, but also tried to not anger their Queen in their writings. This showed how the people were expressing their unhappiness in the choices made for them in religious aspects, but they still respected and honored their monarch.Elizabeths main fear was that the brash Catholics would exploit to have her taken out of power. Elizabeths fear was so arduous that in 1571 she passed The Treason Act which made it high treason to say that Elizabeth was not the true monarch. It also made it illegal to say that she was heretic, tyrant, gentile or usurper. This Act made catholics even angrier and made them criticize Elizabeth even more. These criticisms towards Elizabeth made her worries of being de-throned more relevant because now Catholic followers were trying to defend Mary Stuarts right to the English throne.They claimed that Elizabeth caused t ensions in foreign affairs because of her focus on religion. At the same time all of these writings that criticize Elizabeths choices for religion, they still spoke kindly of her as a person and a Queen in other aspects. Most respected her as a Queen but condemned her choices towards the Church of England. During this time many Catholic writers from France also condemned Elizabeths choices showing that the tensions between Britain and France were still very much active in her reign as in Henrys.The monarchies strive for complete power in the sixteenth century did them more harm than good. Instead of gaining the assert and fellowship of their people, they caused war, tensions, and general unrest among most of their people. With debates between the Papal authorities, who at the time the people viewed as a direct line to God, and the monarch caused distrust for the people against their leaders. With no right to their own choices in religion people that went against the crown were exil ed, imprisoned, or worse, executed for their thoughts and beliefs.With most of Britain being raised Catholic during this time a sudden switch by Henry VIII because of his unhappiness seemed ungodly. The choice to remove the church from the Papal authority was viewed as blasphemous, and it made the people view their King in a different light. Most of Britain lost faith in their Crown during these Reformations because of unorganised systems, and a constant change between monarch authority and Papal rule. Tensions between Britain and neighboring Countries did not help the monarchs relationship with their people either, as much of the cause of these tensions was from the monarch persecuting Catholics.The goal of derive power over the people, land and neighboring Countries by the monarch was not a success because there was no consistency in the way they chose to run their Parliament, church and state. The monarch may have believed that they had the right to run their church, but realis tically the political affiliations and personal wants caused more destruction than if they had allowed a more pure source to lead and make decisions for the church. Ultimately relationships in Western Europe could have drastically changed if the Church of England had remained under Papal authority.