To What Extent Was England A Protestant Country By 1547?

Henry’s preparation for a Protestant successor following his death in the form of Edward VI suggests that either he had converted to Protestantism and wished for the religion to remain prominent within England for years to come, or that he was being completely controlled by Reformers such as Cranmer.  If Henry had genuine Catholic beliefs he could have quite easily arranged proceedings so that either a Catholic successor was ensured, or even converted Edward to follow traditional Catholic beliefs.  This was not the case though, and Henry made great efforts to ensure both that his son held strong Protestant beliefs and that he would take the throne following his own death.

Following the Faction struggles of the 1530s and 1540s, it had become evident that the Reformers had won.  This meant that they had control of a vast majority of the prominent positions within the Court and Council, and this would enable them to make the changes that they had been aiming to put into place for many years.  Despite the fluctuations that occurred during this period, Thomas Cromwell during the 1930s and Thomas Cranmer throughout can be seen as two of the leading individuals at the time, along with the increasingly important Edward Seymour.  All keen Reformers, they were two of the King’s leading men.  If Henry had not had sympathies with their reforming beliefs then it is highly unlikely that they would have been able to reach positions of such power.  This culminated in the Reformers gaining leading positions in the Privy Council, and then using the Regency Council to their advantage following the death of the King.  This all meant that they were able to gradually take greater and greater control over prominent positions, therefore ensuring that they would have a good chance of asserting control following the King’s death.

The final piece of evidence that can be used to argue that England was in fact Protestant is the publication of the Ten Articles in 1536.  With just three of the original seven sacraments referenced to, these being baptism, penance and the Eucharist, the Articles can be seen as evidence that England was becoming, or had become, a Protestant country.  For England to have been identified as Protestant it would have been essential for the remaining four Sacraments to have been disregarded.  These articles would appear to do this, but the extent to which it was effective is again questionable.  It is believed with all probability that Thomas Cranmer was the one who wrote them, and with such strong reformatory beliefs it was always probable that the document would have been heavily Protestant.  This means that it is extremely difficult to argue that it was not only Henry’s own beliefs, but the beliefs of the entire nation.  With these Articles now in place, it is difficult to tell whether or not the ideas were followed throughout the country, or if people continued the way they always had done.  These discrepancies can be seen as a very important aspect when analysing the extent to which England was Protestant by 1547, and they build a solid foundation for the argument that England was not in fact Protestant by Henry’s death.

In contrast with this initial evidence, there is substantial evidence that despite the efforts of all of those who desired a shift to Protestantism England was still a Catholic country.  Following the break with Rome, there were very few changes to the way the Church actually functioned.  This runs parallel with the theory that Henry’s break with Rome was not due to religious reasons, as there were few religious changes following this, but because he had “no legitimate male heir: [meaning] the Tudor dynasty was at risk”, due to his desire to gain extra power within England and his requirements for extra finance to fund his expensive tastes and grand foreign policy.  Many historians argue that throughout his life Henry had devout Catholic beliefs, but required the split to make his personal objectives a reality.  This meant that once he was head of the Church, he did not feel that it was necessary to make any radical theological or doctrinal changes.  All of this evidence would suggest that England did not actually change its beliefs to Protestantism, but was just no longer a part of the Roman Catholic Church.  It is important to make this distinction, as many other countries in Europe were shifting to Protestantism due to their religious beliefs, and not for other non-religious reasons which were present within England.

Despite the fact that the Bible was now being translated into the vernacular, there was little change in the personnel of the clergy or the way in which they went about their services.  The traditional Roman Catholic procedures were still being undertaken, and yet for England to be classified as Protestant it would be necessary for these to end and the new Protestant actions that had become present in the Holy Roman Empire to come to the fore.  If the Clergy were genuinely perform teachings of the new religion.  This was not required, as very few changes to the way that religious beliefs were spread and therefore a change in personnel was not required.  There is evidence to suggest that the clergy were neither corrupt nor failing, notably Peter Servini’s view that “a few extreme cases were built up to provide a general picture that is very misleading”.  This would suggest that despite what is widely claimed, the members of the Church were actually fulfilling their duties to the necessary standard, again meaning that it was unnecessary for extreme reformatory measures.

        One other factor, and on that is possibly the most important of all, surrounds the way in which a country can be classified as Protestant.  It may have been the case that the Reforming faction was greatly growing in prominence within Henry’s court, but was this enough to claim that the whole country had transferred to Protestantism?  Regardless of what was happening within the political sphere of a country, the extent to which the vast majority of occupants followed any new belief can be used to determine whether a country had truly reformed.  England’s beliefs cannot be defined as those felt by a small number of leading individuals – to gain a true reflection it is necessary to analyse the wider perspective, and this tells a different story.  Without the media that is present in modern day society, ideas and beliefs that were being introduced in England’s Capital city London could not possibly spread to the far corners of the country as quickly as they do today.  Events and beliefs took place on a much more local scale than they do today, and so to quickly transfer a country away from a belief that had been present for such a long period of time to one that had relatively recently been introduced was always going to prove difficult.  Many people were not overly concerned by the way the country was managed, and “it would be naïve to argue that the reformation statues represented the positive will of the nation.”  It has been established that there is evidence to suggest that people were not unduly displeased with the original religious state of England and so had no reason to immediately change to Protestantism. The final piece of evidence which suggests that people remained Catholic believers were events such as the Pilgrimage of Grace.  Combined with the social and economic problems of the time, a large number of people from Northern England felt it was necessary to fight to prevent the changes that were taking place within the Church.  Christopher Haigh argues that “just because state religion changes doesn’t mean everyone agreed”, which would accompany the theory that many were generally satisfied with the way the Church operated and therefore felt that there was no need for this to change.

        One of the final factors, which links in very closely with the previous issue, is the variations that occurred within different regions of the country.  For example, counties such as Kent which are located on the coast in the South East would have had much greater connections with other European countries than counties such as Lancashire.  The growing trade that had started to take place within Late Medieval Europe meant that these South Easterly counties encountered a great deal more of mainland Europe’s influence.  This ensured that Reformatory views that were becoming increasingly prominent following Martin Luther’s reformation actions were being filtered into these counties’ culture.  With the lack of prominence within the European society, counties located away from the main trading locations received little of the influence that counties such as Kent received.  With news of these events and views taking long periods of time to firstly spread and then become accepted, it becomes clear why certain areas of the country became more Protestant than others.  This then leads back on to the argument over whether England was a Protestant country by Henry’s death.  It would definitely be arguable that certain parts of the country could be classified as Protestant, but to make a generalisation that England as a whole was Protestant is evidently disputable. 

Further evidence that England had not become Protestant by 1547 can be found in the form of the Six Articles (an Act of Parliament) which was passed in June 1539.  This act attempted to reverse much of the work that had been done by those aiming to bring about the reformation.  By reinforcing the prominence of transubstantiation, clerical celibacy and the importance of confession to a priest, and combined with the execution of his main advisor Cromwell “because he had advanced the Reformation beyond the point Henry VIII had decided was expedient”, it had become clear that Henry’s true feelings were now being released.  Without the reformer Cromwell’s influence, the Act of Six Articles went against many of the changes made in the Act of Ten Articles, and so therefore was aimed to reintroduce the Catholic ideologies that had previously been present within England.  This again demonstrates that there were only a small amount of people that were genuinely Protestant in England and that they were trying to turn England towards their way of thinking.  These believers were in the minority, and therefore it is difficult for the whole country to be classified by their beliefs.  With this in mind, it is certainly starting to become clear that England could not be called a Protestant country in 1547.

        On balance, the evidence would suggest that although in certain aspects England was becoming a Protestant country, it is difficult to argue that as a country England was Protestant by 1547.  Although it is true to say that England was no longer a Roman Catholic country, it is best to say that England was in a state of Limbo, in other words England was no longer Catholic, yet had not fully introduced the ideas of Protestantism.  It was certainly the case that following Henry’s death the Reformers were able to take advantage of their increasingly strengthened position to convert England to a Protestant country, but it can not be said that England had been fully converted by 1547.