World Religions › Early modern › Protestant Reformation
Anglicanism and the Church of England
Break with Rome 1534 – today· Religion or tradition· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
The Church of England, which broke from Rome under Henry VIII, and the worldwide Anglican Communion that grew from it.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
When Pope Clement VII refused to annul Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Parliament declared the king Supreme Head of the Church of England in 1534. Monasteries were dissolved. Under Edward VI, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer (1549). After Mary I's Catholic restoration, Elizabeth I set a 'middle way' in 1559: Protestant doctrine with bishops and much traditional ritual. The monarch is still its Supreme Governor. The Anglican Communion counts about 85 million members.
Why it matters
Its prayer book and the King James Bible (1611) shaped the English language. It spread with the British Empire, and Methodism and the American Episcopal Church grew from it.
Sources and history
Acts of Parliament such as the Act of Supremacy; successive editions of the Book of Common Prayer; royal and church records; and the ruins of dissolved abbeys.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether England's Reformation was driven from above by Henry's politics or reflected real popular Protestant feeling.
Connections (2)
▸Anglicanism and the Church of England was England's version of Protestant ReformationHistorical record
The connection
England's break with Rome was triggered by Henry VIII's marriage, not theology, but Protestant ideas from Luther and the Swiss reformers then entered through Cranmer's prayer book and the Thirty-Nine Articles. The result was a church that kept bishops and much Catholic ritual while holding largely Protestant doctrine.
When and where
England, 1534–1571; Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer, Edward VI and Elizabeth I; the Thirty-Nine Articles were finalized in 1571.
Historical evidence
Acts of Parliament, editions of the Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles, whose wording borrows from Lutheran and Reformed confessions.
Questions and debates
Anglicans themselves debate whether their church is essentially Protestant, Catholic or a 'middle way', a question that still divides wings of the Communion.
▸Evangelicalism and the Great Awakenings began partly within Anglicanism and the Church of EnglandHistorical record
The connection
John and Charles Wesley were Church of England priests who began Methodism as a renewal movement within it, and George Whitefield was Anglican too. Shut out of many parish pulpits, they preached outdoors. Methodists separated after John Wesley's death in 1791, while an evangelical wing stayed inside Anglicanism, including abolitionist William Wilberforce.
When and where
England, 1730s–1790s; Oxford's 'Holy Club', the Wesleys and Whitefield; John Wesley's conversion experience at Aldersgate, London, in 1738.
Historical evidence
Wesley's journals, Methodist conference minutes, and Anglican records of ordinations and the eventual split.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether Wesley intended a separate church; his ordaining of ministers for America in 1784 is seen by many as the decisive break.