Britain 1500–1750

The Break from

Rome

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Learning objectives
Learning objectives

Understand why monarchs felt it was

important to produce a male heir.
Follow the sequence of events that led
to the Act of Supremacy.
Analyse the reasons for the break
from Rome.
Understand the immediate
consequences of the Reformation.

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Producing an heir

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Henry VIII’s attempts to produce an heir

Henry VIII was a typical king – he desperately wanted a

son who would inherit the throne when he died.

In the next activity you are going to

piece together the story of Henry’s

© National Portrait Gallery, London

desperate attempts to produce a
male heir to the throne.

Heir: somebody who will

follow after a king when the
king dies. In Tudor times this
was supposed to be a son.
Henry VIII

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Henry VIII’s divorce

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Cause and effect

In the previous exercise you worked out a series of causes

and effects:

Henry wanted a son so he divorced Catherine of Aragon.

cause effect

A cause is something that makes

something else happen.
An effect is something that happens as
a result of a cause.

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Cause and effect

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The Act of Supremacy

In 1534 Henry passed the Act of Supremacy. This made

Henry (and future English monarchs) head of the Church of
England.
The English
Church was After
Before
thethe
Act
separated from Actof of
the Roman Supremacy,
Catholic Church 1534
and no longer
received
instructions from
the Pope in Rome.

The English Church

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Dividing up the reasons

Historians find it useful to group different types of reason

together. This makes it easier to analyse which factors were
most important.
Over the next slides you will be given a series of possible
reasons why Henry changed the English church.
Read each reason carefully before deciding whether it is
a religious, economic or political cause, and then
select the right category.

Religious Economic Political

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Dividing up the reasons

Henry wanted a son but his wife, Catherine of Aragon, had

only given him a daughter. Henry needed to divorce
Catherine so he could marry Anne Boleyn, who was pregnant
with his child, but the Pope refused. If Henry made himself
head of the Church in England then he could give himself a
divorce and marry Anne before she gave birth.
What
This is atype of reason
political cause.isAlthough
this? Choose
it does from the options
talk about the
Church (and so might seembelow.to be a religious reason), Henry
wants a son to make his own position as king stronger.

Religious Economic Political

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Dividing up the reasons

Henry was in the middle of fighting an expensive war with

France and he had run out of money. If he made himself
head of the Church in England then he would get all the
Church’s money.

This is an economic cause. It suggested that Henry may

What type of reason is this? Choose from the options
have changed the Church to try and get more money; a
below.
typical economic reason.

Religious Economic Political

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Dividing up the reasons

Whoever was in charge of the Church was in a position

of power: people tended to do what the Church told
them to do. Henry didn’t like the fact that the Pope might
tell people in Henry’s kingdom what to do.

This
Whatis atype
political reason.
of reason isOnce
this?again
Choose it seems, at first
from the options
glance, to be a religious reason. If you think about it a little
below.
more, it is clear that it is to do with power and so must be a
political reason.

Religious Economic Political

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Dividing up the reasons

Martin Luther and the Protestants thought that the Catholic

Church was run by greedy priests. They said that people
shouldn’t listen to the Pope but should read the Bible
instead. Maybe Henry agreed with them?

This is a religious cause. The Protestants are not trying to

What
take powertype of reason
from is but
anybody, this?
areChoose from
concerned the options
about the
state of the Church. below.

Religious Economic Political

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Dividing up the reasons

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Dividing up the reasons

Task
Write a plan for an essay entitled ‘Why did Henry
VIII break from the Roman Catholic Church?’

Remember to include…

an introduction

several clearly argued points

a conclusion

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What did Henry do next?

The first thing Henry did after

passing the Act of Supremacy

© National Portrait Gallery, London

was to give himself a divorce
from Catherine of Aragon.
He then married his pregnant
mistress, Anne Boleyn.

In 1536, Henry set about getting

money from the Church, which
he was now head of.
Anne Boleyn
Lack of money was another
important reason for Henry to change the Church.
What do Henry’s actions suggest about his
motives for passing the Act of Supremacy?
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Dissolution of the Monasteries

Henry began closing down the monasteries of England in

1536, starting with the smaller ones.
This process is known as the
Dissolution of the Monasteries.
These communities of
monks were often both
rich and powerful.
This pie chart shows an
estimate of the amount of
land in England owned by
the Church at the start of
Henry VIII's reign in 1509.

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Dissolution of the Monasteries

By closing the monasteries down, Henry could sell their

land to his followers to raise some much-needed money,
but he didn’t stop there.
Henry’s men stripped the
monasteries bare: they took
the stained-glass windows, the
statues and gold decorations.
They even pulled the valuable
lead off monastery roofs.
Once proud buildings
crumbled into ruins as local
people moved in to take
anything Henry’s men had left.
Tintern Abbey in Wales
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Dissolution of the Monasteries

This is a picture of the

ruined Fountains
Abbey, near Ripon.
The abbey buildings
and land were sold
during the Dissolution
of the Monasteries.

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Edward VI becomes king

Although Henry had changed who was head of the

English Church, and had closed down the monasteries,
he did little else to the Church.
In fact, in 1539, Henry banned the English translation of
the Bible that the Protestants wanted to introduce.
When Edward VI came to the throne,
all that changed. Edward had been
brought up as a Protestant and
wanted all of the Protestant beliefs
introduced into the English Church.
He set about making this happen
from 1547 onwards.
Edward VI
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