What was the English Reformation?

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Question from Lucinda Sears

After Henry VIII’s demand for an annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon was refused by Pope Clement VII, the king and his ministers set about breaking ties with the Roman Catholic Church. This sparked the creation of The Church of England in 1534, with the king as its supreme head. However, there was little change to church practices or ceremony until the reign of his son, Edward VI. Henry’s daughter Mary I, who was a staunch Roman Catholic, reversed these Protestant reforms after her accession. It was Elizabeth I who more successfully reconciled the country’s need for both Catholic traditions and Protestant reforms


Answered by Jodie Tyley for Brain Dump in How It Works issue 121.

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