Henry VIII Separates from the Catholic Church
Renown for his many wives and supremacy as the head of the Church of England, Henry VIII was a powerful yet controversial king. Coming to the throne at age eighteen, Henry (1491–1547 CE) was pushed into a marriage with Catherine of Aragon (his dead brother’s former wife) and presumed to be an advocate for Catholicism in England. Desperate to produce a male heir (and in love with another woman), Henry VIII took steps to free himself from the former matrimonial arrangement set up by heads of the English state for mainly political reasons.
When Pope Clement VII refused to affirm his annulment of his marriage to Catherine, Henry split from the Catholic Church and created the Church of England, which was Catholic-like in liturgy but Protestant in theology. He spent the rest of his life reforming (or dictating) religion in England, dissolving the Catholic monasteries, shutting down Catholic revolts in the land, establishing common English religious tenets through Parliamentary articles (1536, 1538, 1539), utilizing English Bibles (such as the 1535 Coverdale Bible) to be used instead of the Catholic Vulgate version.
After his death (and with no legitimate male heirs), daughter Mary Tudor Started her reign as Queen of England at age thirty-seven. Mary I (1516–58 CE) was a staunch Catholic despite earlier affirming the Oath of Supremacy to Henry VIII. Determined to make things right once again, she tried to return religious authority to the papacy while ironically remaining head of the Church of England. She wanted England to be without heresy, doubt, or discord. An unloved and unliked regent, she repealed much of the legislation pushed through Parliament under her Protestant half-brother Edward VI’s reign in England. Mary is most infamous for her open persecutions, imprisonment, and executions of over 300 dissenters, giving her the title, “Bloody Mary.”
Elizabeth I and the Via Media
The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, after Mary Tudor's death, Elizabeth (1533–1603 CE) became Queen of England and promoted Protestant practices that were uniform—thus uniting the kingdom in common worship while permitting greater “comprehension” of the people and a stabilizing the political scene. Never marrying, she received the nickname, “The Virgin Queen.”
Religious life had been violent and unstable for some time when Elizabeth I took the throne of England. With counselors on both side of the religious aisles whispering advice and admonitions in her ear as a young regent, Elizabeth decided to take a more pragmatic and personal approach to solving the political and religious problems surrounding the Church of England. Unlike some of her peers and predecessors who sought to enforce a strict religious belief system in their land, Elizabeth I chose a more diplomatic and encompassing approach to satisfy her religious desires along with her political aspirations—the Via Media or “Middle Way.”
In a time when rulers often set a steadfast religious standard that many of their subjects could not follow for personal or ethical reasons, Elizabeth attempted to provide as “comprehensive” a religion as possible to unite her country under one main faith. This stabilized her country and took the wind out of the sails of many religious factions. True, there were still some on the fringe who took a rigid posture, but the majority of her subjects were able to join under a common bond of worship and faith.
The compromise that she offered was basically a reformed Catholic Church, which followed Protestant doctrine but in an episcopal structure. Thus, she was able to throw off the authority of the Pope over her while at the same time not dissolving the hierarchy that provided power and stability to the religion and country. This may not have set well with the Catholic Church or men like John Calvin, but for a ruler more interested in political gain than theology, the Via Media suited Elizabeth’s purposes rather well.
The Dissenters
Although most branches of Protestantism in this era agreed upon main principles such as salvation by grace through faith alone and the ultimate authority of scripture, several sub-groups emerged who disagreed (or dissented) with the Church of England's religious authoritarianism. These "nonconformists" were striving for a true, full reformation of the church. To wit, they thought the continental reformers had become too political but the English reformers were too washed out.
As most advocated for religious liberty, they were also condemned as radical elements in society by the state and were eventually made illegal especially after the act of uniformity in 1548, –52, –58, and –62. These sub-groups included the Puritans, Presbyterians, Lollards, Quakers, Congregationalists, Levellers, Methodists, Unitarians, the Baptists, among others. To escape religious persecution in England (and in the Continent), many adherents of these sub-groups emigrated to America, including the Pietists.
The Lollards were a movement who closely followed the teachings of John Wycliffe. They pushed for more pious reform of the church, saying that true priests were pious people and that even pious laymen could perform the sacraments. They believed that religious authority came from piety. They upheld scriptural authority over church hierarchy. They also believed that the real church was the "church of the faithful" and definitely not the corrupt Church of Rome. They also believed in predestination and consubstantiation in the Eucharist (but not transubstantiation).
The Puritans were English Calvinists who wished to purify the church by a return to biblical religion. Even within the group, there was no complete agreement on their methods and so some sects of Puritanism were more separatist and violent than others. Still, all were opposed to many traditional elements of the Church of England. They forbid crucifixes and priestly outfits. They thought there should be no bishops but elders were allowed (based on biblical precedent). Socially, they encouraged a sober life, emphasis on Scripture, simple lifestyles, and honoring the Sabbath.
Another famous nonconformist group in England (and in America) were the Quakers. Led by leaders like George Fox and Margaret Fell, this was a mystical Christian purist movement often mockingly called, "Quakers, " because as George Fox said, "They called us Quakers because we bid them tremble at the word of God." They had no universal set of doctrines; instead, an inner light was the guiding force for members of this group. They believe in the primacy of the Holy Spirit, who had inspired Holy Scripture. A hallmark of Quaker meetings, they regularly waited in silence for God to speak to them and had no official pastor or minister but sought spiritual judgment through consensus. Over the years, they've been called many different names: Seekers, Friends, Children of Light, the Saints, and so on.