Mister Richardson’s
Church History Class


Chapter 28: The Reformation in England


A. William Tyndale
1. William Tyndale was born in 1494.
2. He attended Oxford, where earned his Master's degree in 1515.
3. He became chaplain for Sir John Walsh in 1521.
4. It was during this time that Tyndale became impressed with the need for the Bible in English.
5. He was forced to leave England in order to do translation work.
6. Tyndale's New Testament was published in 1526.
7. For this, he was called a heretic and his New Testament and other writings were ordered to be burned.
8. Tyndale was arrested in Antwerp in 1535.
9. He was tried and condemned as a heretic.
10. William Tyndale was strangled to death and then his body burned on October 6, 1536.

B. Henry VIII
1. Henry VIII regarded Martin Luther as a heretic.
2. The pope awarded Henry the title, Defender of the Faith for his writing against Luther.
3. However, Henry was more concerned with his own kingdom than the pope's.
4. When the pope would not grant Henry a divorce from his first wife (Catherine), Henry responded by naming himself head of the church in England, instead of the pope.
5. Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534, ratifying Henry's wishes.
6. Clergy who refused to follow Henry were executed.
7. All Roman church property was seized by the government and relics were destroyed.
8. In all, Henry had six wives, two daughters, and one son.
9. Henry died in 1547 and his son, Edward VI, became king at age 9.

C. Edward VI
1. The Reformation continued in the reign of Edward with Parliament passing laws that allowed the people to have both bread and wine in communion, banning images in churches, and allowing priests to marry.
2. The Book of Common Prayer substituted English in place of the Latin worship service.
3. Prayers for the dead were discontinued and Zwingli's view of the Lord's Supper was adopted.
4. The Forty-two Articles were adopted as the creed.
5. And then Edward died at age 16.

D. Bloody Mary
1. Mary I became queen in 1553.
2. She was a strong Catholic and wanted to take revenge for the wrongs against her mother (Catherine).
3. All of the reforms during Edward's reign were repealed.
4. Her sister, Elizabeth, was put under house arrest.
5. At least 280 people were burned as heretics during her reign, including prominent bishops and Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer.
6. Mary died November 17, 1558, at age 42.

E. Elizabeth I
1. Elizabeth became queen in 1558 and quickly re-introduced reforms made under Edward.
2. There were some changes made, notably a less harsh treatment of Catholics in the services of the Prayer Book and a change in the creed from Forty-two to Thirty-nine Articles.
3. This was called the Elizabethan Settlement.

LINKS
The Doctrine of the Leaders of the English Reformation


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