England’s Conversion and Reformation Compared; or, The Young Gentleman directed in the Choice of his Religion

1725

Shoults Lb 1725 M

Antwerp: Printed for RC and CF

In 1526, Henry began his relationship with Anne Boleyn. The King sought a Papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne. With no hope that Pope Clement VII would agree, Henry created a schism of his own. In 1533, the Ecclesiastical Appeals Act was passed, which forbade all appeals to the Pope in Rome on religious or other matters; Henry thus became the final legal authority. The First Act of Supremacy (1534) followed, making him ‘the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia’. This break of the Anglican Church from the control of Rome and the wider Catholic Church was the beginning of the English Reformation. Robert Manning (1655-1731), an English Roman Catholic priest, presents his polemic on the controversy.