Agnese Sidoti Rossella Barbera Serena Lanza Irene Verzì 4BL

Henry VIII (1481-1547) Henry VIII was the son of Henry VII and he ascendend the throne in 1509. He was a scholar, musician, poet and sportsman. He is famous for his six wives. The most important event of his reign was the breach with Rome.

The reasons of the Reformation Personal reasons Political reasons

Personal reasons… Henry, after his brother Arthur’s death, with a special dispensation of the Pope married his brother’s widow, Catherine. She bore him a daughter: Mary. But Henry VIII wanted a male heir. Moreover he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn . So, on the pretext that his marriage was illegal according to Canon Law, he asked the Pope to declare it void, but the Pope Clement VII refused.

She was the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile king and queen of Spain.

Political reasons… The king didn’t accept the authority of the Pope and decided to solve the question through the english clergy and parliament. He made Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop declared that the king’s first marriage was void. In 1533 he married Anne Boleyn. England was declared a “National State”.

The three Acts The reformation began with the three Acts. They were passed by the parliament in 1534. The first was the “Act of Supremacy”. It declared the king “Only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England”. The second was the “Act of succession”. With this act people had to recognize Anna Boleyn and her children as legal heirs. The third was the “Treason act”. It declared that who didn’t accept the king’s divorce would have been imprisoned and executed.

The consequences of the Reformation The lands of the church, the convents, the monastries were confiscated to remove the traces of catholicism and catholic people were persecuted by Thomas Cromwell who was called the “hammer of the monks”. Later on,under the reign of Edward VI , the forms of worship and the furnishing of churches became much simpler and candles, statues were considered a distraction from the prayers. Moreover the Archbishop Cranmer wrote “the book of Common prayers“ that replaced the old latin missal.

She was the lady-in-waiting of the queen She was the lady-in-waiting of the queen. She gave him another daughter, Elizabeth.

The reformation was considered the “second Anticlericalism” The reformation was considered the “second Anticlericalism”. The first one was during the reign of Henry II: he wanted to prevail over the church and he wanted Thomas à Becket to sign “The Constitutions of Clarendon”. He refused and he was murdered. Music: Two compositions for recorders by Henry VIII. The end