Edward was bore from Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and was the only ruler to not change the religion from the ruler before him. He became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. At the age of four he suffered a life threatening fever but overcame it and apart from having poor eyesight and occasional illnesses he generally enjoyed a good healthy life. He carried on his father’s politically motivated changes and made the church more protestant. He was influenced to make some changes by his advisors. Real changes in the services and beliefs of the church began to take place. Edward decided to change some religious policies. By 1547 chantries had been dissolved, this was an attack on the belief of purgatory and the practice of saying prayers for the dead and by 1552 a new protestant prayer book was introduced for the church, with services in English instead of Latin. In the same year mass was abolished and was replaced by the communion service which was only used as remembrance to Christ. Edward carried on his father’s religion because he knew no other and was too young to make choices for his own so listened to his Protestant advisors.
Next to the throne was Mary Tudor. After her brother Edward died in 1553, she became queen as a Catholic. She believed that unless thee Roman Catholic Church was brought back nobody in England would go to heaven when they died. She was desperate to bring Catholicism back to her country but she did not know how. She had some problems to face if she was to take England back to it’s original beliefs that even though many people would be glad to goo back to a familiar religion, all the monasteries had been closed down and the land sold off to rich people. Also, next in line to the throne was her sister Elizabeth who was a Protestant, she would certainly take England back to Protestantism but on the other hand four hundred of the most important Protestant leaders had fled to Europe in 1553.
Bearing all those thought to mind, in 1554 Mary married the Catholic King Philip of Spain. This provoked a rebellion in Kent. The rebels almost captured London, but were eventually defeated. Mary knew that Spain was a very powerful and Catholic country and if she got the support from the country’s leaders, she would make her plan a success. But as she soon came to find out some people were not willing to give up their religion for her and for that Mary made up her mind to persecute all the Protestants.
Between 1555 and 1558 Mary had 284 Protestants burnt at the steak. She was hoping that this would persuade other Protestants to return to Catholicism. Due to her merciless acts, Mary was nicknamed Bloody Queen Mary. Mary changed England back to Catholicism because she believed strongly in her faith.
The last Tudor to the throne was Queen Elizabeth I. When her sister and former Queen died in 1558 Elizabeth was to take on the leadership role. Even though she was not expected to become queen, England was relieved to get rid of Mary due to her cruel prosecution to Protestants. But Elizabeth had a very hard job being the ne queen of England and she knew she would have to need a miracle to sort out the mess her sister had left behind. With England in a battle against France and people not knowing their religion Elizabeth had to think of something, and quick. Then Elizabeth came up with two political ideas.
The act of supremacy made her the head of the English church. This helped her to gain religious power in order to make England a protestant country again. Elizabeth saw what the cause of Mary’s merciless acts had caused and she did not want the same to happen to her so she decided that she would be a fair queen and be a peace settler.
Elizabeth’s second act was the act of Uniformity, where she made church attendance and the Book of Common Prayer compulsory in order to practice Protestantism. But Elizabeth understood that there were Catholics who anted to practice their religion and she agreed for them to do so, but privately.
In 1558 King Phillip II of Spain proposed to Queen Elizabeth but she refused after acknowledging that her religion was Protestantism and his was Catholicism. If she was to run England as a good Queen and keep a good relationship with it, she would have to keep her ground and say no to Phillip. Also, Elizabeth did not think she needed a man to help her run a country. Elizabeth changed England one last time to Protestantism because she grew up with that faith and thought it was the most appropriate for her country.
In conclusion I think that the reasons for England changing from a Catholic to a Protestant country come under several categories. The first being power: Henry, Elizabeth and Edward all believed that by making themselves head of the church they could have more power over their country. The second category being love: Henry wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn and Mary loved her country to change England back to Catholicism to get them to heaven. The next category is faith and religion: Edward wanted to keep to his father’s religion of Protestantism, Mary believed strongly in Catholicism to bring it back to England and Elizabeth wanted to keep the religion she was taught to know and grew up with. And money: Henry gained a lot of money by taking over the church which helped pay for his soldiers.
All of these reasons are the answer to how England changed from a Catholic country to a Protestant country in the 16th Century when the Tudor monarchs ruled.
