<P> The English Reformation was a series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church . These events were , in part , associated with the wider process of the European Protestant Reformation , a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity across western and central Europe during this period . Many factors contributed to the process : the decline of feudalism and the rise of nationalism , the rise of the common law , the invention of the printing press and increased circulation of the Bible , and the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars , the upper and middle classes and readers in general . However , the various phases of the English Reformation , which also covered Wales and Ireland , were largely driven by changes in government policy , to which public opinion gradually accommodated itself . </P>
<P> The English Reformation was a series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church . These events were , in part , associated with the wider process of the European Protestant Reformation , a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity across western and central Europe during this period . Many factors contributed to the process : the decline of feudalism and the rise of nationalism , the rise of the common law , the invention of the printing press and increased circulation of the Bible , and the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars , the upper and middle classes and readers in general . However , the various phases of the English Reformation , which also covered Wales and Ireland , were largely driven by changes in government policy , to which public opinion gradually accommodated itself . </P>
when did england break away from the catholic church
when did england break away from the catholic church
16th century
16th century