I believe that Henry VIII created a separate dominion called Anglicanism in the early 1500s. Anglicanism can be described as being in-between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism regarding its values and beliefs (Doran & Durston, 2003). The Anglicanism dominion came to be after the Catholic church denied his divorce request from his then current wife, Katherine of Aragon (Bernard, 2016). Angry with the Catholic church, he decided to cut ties with Rome and start a new branch of Religion, thus Anglicanism was born (Shagan, 2017). In this essay, I will further outline the circumstances that led Henry VIII to create Anglicanism, how the Church of England worked, and how Anglicanism beliefs and traditions work in the modern world compared to the past. I believe that these three factors will help prove how and why Henry VIII created Anglicanism as well as how this legacy has transitioned into the modern world.
The first reason why I believe Henry VIII created Anglicanism is due to some circumstances that occurred with the Catholic Church regarding his personal life. In 1534, the starting point of Anglicanism began when Henry VIII was denied a divorce from his then wife, Katherine of Aragon (The Vatican Finally gets its Revenge on Henry VIII, 2009). The reason why Henry VIII wanted to divorce Katherine of Aragon was due to the fact that he wanted to marry another woman, Anne Boleyn (The Vatican Finally gets its Revenge on Henry VIII, 2009). This was due to the fact that Katherine of Aragon was unable to produce a male heir to further his lineage (Doran & Durston, 2003). After being denied his divorce, Henry VIII broke ties with Rome, resulting in him creating Anglicanism. Henry VIII felt as though the Pope had a certain control over his life which he felt was wrong as he was the crowned King at the time (Bernard, 2016). He thought that since he was King, circumstances regarding his marriage could only be handled where he was in power, which was England (Bernard, 2016). Another circumstance that led to the division of Rome and the start of Anglicanism was due to Henry VIII wanting to force his opinions on the Church (Bernard, 2016). Henry VIII’s mentality was that since he was King, his opinions/voice should be the most important (Bernard, 2016). This would have caused friction between Henry VIII and the Catholic Church because if they each had opposite opinions on certain issues there would have been arguments and tension created. Thus, Henry VIII decided to start his own subdivision of Catholicism resulting in the Church of England from commencing. Therefore, I believe these circumstances contributed to start of Anglicanism which I believe Henry VIII created.
After the above incidents occurred, the Church of England was officially born. The place of practice and worship was of course the church itself (Doran & Durston, 2003). The churches were of large proportion so that it could be used to accommodate many people as well as have the ability to hold multiple different functions (Doran & Durston, 2003). It is also mentioned that the majority of these churches were already built and scattered throughout England, but Henry VIII was responsible for building one of the major churches towards the end of his reign as King which was St Giles Cripplegate (Doran & Durston, 2003). The members of the church also were different post-split from Rome. Henry VIII took over being head of the church after the change, and had several hundred members of clergy available to work in the churches (Foster, 2017). For example, within the time frame that Henry VIII would have begun to spread Anglicanism in England, there would have been somewhere around two archbishops, nine-thousand parishes, and twenty-one bishops to name a few (Foster, 2017). Later on in Henry VIII’s reign, his children, Edward and Mary, also began to get involved with the Church as well and were all appointed at least one bishop of their own (Foster, 2017). The makeup and members of the new Anglican church also contribute to supporting my theory that Henry VIII did in fact create Anglicanism. With the King himself acting as the head of the church for a period of time it shows that he had a powerful role in making the church what it was during his reign (Shagan, 2017). The fact that he also helped create one of the largest churches of that time also supports the idea that he was a prominent person in regards to the creation of Anglicanism (Doran & Durston, 2003). Therefore, this is why I believe that Henry VIII created Anglicanism.
Finally, I will explain how Anglicanism has transitioned from being first created by Henry VIII in the 1500s, to the modern day. Based on the historical facts gathered above, Henry VIII wished to have more control and say in what decisions could or could not be made within the church (Shagan, 2017). As the leaders of England changed over time so did the story of Anglicanism. After Henry VIII’s death in 1547, his son became the predecessor of his role and participation in the church (Shagan, 2017). In 1549, a staple of the Anglican religion was also created, which is the Book of Common Prayer (Shagan, 2017). The Book of Common Prayer spread the beliefs and values of those who followed the Anglican Church, with the contents even becoming inscribed into the law (Shagan, 2017). Looking back, Anglicanism was strict and had many ups and downs as any new branch of religion would. If we fast forward to present day, Anglicanism is still around and is practiced in many places around the world whereas before it was mostly confined to England. A major change in Anglican religion that has happened in modern day that did not occur in history has been that women are now allowed to be priests (Folkins, 2017). This major change happened 40 years ago, which is not too long ago considering Henry VIII established the religion in the 1500s. A recent statistic in Canada states that 35.5% of active clergy are women (Folkins, 2017). This is a major move forward for the women in the Anglicanism religion and going forward the number will hopefully rise. This is just one of the major changes that has occurred in Anglicanism since Henry VIII established it in the 1500s.
In conclusion, this is why I believe Henry VIII created Anglicanism. There were many predecessors of Henry VIII that changed and added to the Anglican religion, but it was Henry VIII himself that established it in the first place. If it wasn’t for the first few incidents in his life that made him want to create a separate branch of Catholicism, Anglicanism would have never been created. He managed to keep the actual makeup of the church relatively similar to that of the Roman church but tried to expand and insert his own ideas and opinions in regards to decisions that he believed should have been made. Henry VIII created a religion that didn’t get lost or forgotten about in history but has made its way into the modern world as well. To conclude, I believe that Henry VIII did in fact, create Anglicanism.