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Henry VIII: Catholicism without the Pope?

Henry VIII: Catholicism without the Pope?
Henry VIII: Catholicism without the Pope?


That Henry VIII's religious policy after the break with Rome was ‘catholicism without the pope’ is a common characterization. Yet while it is fair to insist that he consistently rejected the teachings of Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli and never considered introducing a protestant reformation, Henry's attitudes to purgatory, to pilgrimage, to the intercession of saints, and to the monasteries were nonetheless a significant departure from straightforwardly orthodox catholicism. Desiderius Erasmus's ideas were the greatest influence on Henry whose reservations about aspects of ‘traditional religion’ were sharpened by his difficulties in securing his divorce and by the rebellions in 1536. The Church he then remade amounted not to ‘catholicism without the pope’ but was an idiosyncratic hybrid. If there were few committed Henricians, nonetheless the legacy of Henry's reformation would be felt in Elizabeth's reign and beyond.
201-221
Bernard, G.W.
86619262-dc67-4599-95ee-3f7929efd741
Bernard, G.W.
86619262-dc67-4599-95ee-3f7929efd741

Bernard, G.W. (2016) Henry VIII: Catholicism without the Pope? History, 101 (345), 201-221. (doi:10.1111/1468-229X.12230).

Record type: Article

Abstract



That Henry VIII's religious policy after the break with Rome was ‘catholicism without the pope’ is a common characterization. Yet while it is fair to insist that he consistently rejected the teachings of Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli and never considered introducing a protestant reformation, Henry's attitudes to purgatory, to pilgrimage, to the intercession of saints, and to the monasteries were nonetheless a significant departure from straightforwardly orthodox catholicism. Desiderius Erasmus's ideas were the greatest influence on Henry whose reservations about aspects of ‘traditional religion’ were sharpened by his difficulties in securing his divorce and by the rebellions in 1536. The Church he then remade amounted not to ‘catholicism without the pope’ but was an idiosyncratic hybrid. If there were few committed Henricians, nonetheless the legacy of Henry's reformation would be felt in Elizabeth's reign and beyond.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 21 March 2016
Published date: April 2016
Organisations: History

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Local EPrints ID: 410704
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/410704
PURE UUID: c129c757-1f7b-45f4-885b-ee35f7117f26

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Date deposited: 09 Jun 2017 09:23
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 13:34

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