<P> The English Reformation was initially driven by the dynastic goals of Henry VIII , who , in his quest for a consort who would bear him a male heir , found it expedient to replace papal authority with the supremacy of the English crown . The early legislation focused primarily on questions of temporal and spiritual supremacy . The Institution of the Christian Man ( also called The Bishops ' Book ) of 1537 was written by a committee of 46 divines and bishops headed by Thomas Cranmer . The purpose of the work , along with the Ten Articles of the previous year , was to implement the reforms of Henry VIII in separating from the Roman Catholic Church and reforming the Ecclesia Anglicana . `` The work was a noble endeavor on the part of the bishops to promote unity , and to instruct the people in Church doctrine . '' The introduction of the Great Bible in 1538 brought a vernacular translation of the Scriptures into churches . The Dissolution of the Monasteries and the seizure of their assets by 1540 brought huge amounts of church land and property under the jurisdiction of the Crown , and ultimately into the hands of the English nobility . This simultaneously removed the greatest centres of loyalty to the pope and created vested interests which made a powerful material incentive to support a separate Christian church in England under the rule of the Crown . </P>
<P> The English Reformation was initially driven by the dynastic goals of Henry VIII , who , in his quest for a consort who would bear him a male heir , found it expedient to replace papal authority with the supremacy of the English crown . The early legislation focused primarily on questions of temporal and spiritual supremacy . The Institution of the Christian Man ( also called The Bishops ' Book ) of 1537 was written by a committee of 46 divines and bishops headed by Thomas Cranmer . The purpose of the work , along with the Ten Articles of the previous year , was to implement the reforms of Henry VIII in separating from the Roman Catholic Church and reforming the Ecclesia Anglicana . `` The work was a noble endeavor on the part of the bishops to promote unity , and to instruct the people in Church doctrine . '' The introduction of the Great Bible in 1538 brought a vernacular translation of the Scriptures into churches . The Dissolution of the Monasteries and the seizure of their assets by 1540 brought huge amounts of church land and property under the jurisdiction of the Crown , and ultimately into the hands of the English nobility . This simultaneously removed the greatest centres of loyalty to the pope and created vested interests which made a powerful material incentive to support a separate Christian church in England under the rule of the Crown . </P>
which monarch separated england from the catholic church
which monarch separated england from the catholic church
Henry VIII
Henry VIII