Henry VIII and Englands Break with the Catholic Church

Authors Avatar by jazzynicki (student)

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Catholic Church in England
  • King Henry VIII
  • Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII
  • Conclusion

Introduction

     The Catholic Church or Roman Catholic Church is the world’s largest Christian

church. The Church’s highest earthly authority in the matters of faith, morality, and

governance is the Pope. Since the year 100 the Church sought out Christian communities

to join. In its success, it had earned rule in most of Europe. The church ruled in England

until about 1534, until it discontinued communication under the rule of King Henry VIII.

Though unintentional, and a result of a series of events, mostly in the Kings personal life,

the break revolutionized England allowing it to create its own church and government.

Catholic Church in England

     The Church played a far greater role in England than the Church does today. In

England , the Church dominated everybody's life. All Medieval people, village peasants

or towns people believed that God, Heaven and Hell all existed. From the very earliest of

ages, the people were taught that the only way they could get to Heaven was if the

Roman Catholic Church let them. Everybody would have been terrified of Hell and the

people would have been told of the sheer horrors waited for them in Hell in the weekly

services they attended at Church.

     The control the Church had over the people was total. Peasants worked for free on

Church land. This proved difficult for peasants as the time they spent working on Church

land, could have been spent working on their own land producing food for their families.

     They paid 10% of what they earned in a year to the Church. This could be paid in

either money or in goods produced by the peasant farmers. As peasants had little money,

they almost always had to pay in seeds, harvested grain, or animals. This usually caused a

peasant a lot of hardship because seeds, for example, would be needed to feed a family

the following year. What the Church got from peasants was kept in huge barns; a lot of

Join now!

the stored grain would have been eaten by rats or poisoned by their urine. If a peasant

failed to pay, they were told by the Church, that it would lead to their souls going to Hell

after they had died. 

     This is one reason why the Church was so wealthy.  One of the reasons Henry VIII

wanted to reform the Church was get hold of the Catholic Church's money. People were

too scared not to pay the Church despite the difficulties it meant for them.

    You also had to pay for baptisms ,if you were not ...

This is a preview of the whole essay