King Henry VIII broke from Rome, dissolved the monasteries, and declared himself Supreme Head of the Church in England, so he was a Protestant, wasn't he?
Not quite.
In this video, we explore:
- Why Henry VIII broke with the Pope, and it wasn't about theology
- His 1521 book defending the Catholic sacraments against Martin Luther
- The Act of Supremacy and what it really meant
- The Six Articles and the continued persecution of Protestants
- What changed under Henry—and what stayed Catholic
- The king’s final days and the beliefs he clung to on his deathbed
I agree with you, Claire. Henry VIII was not a Protestant. For him, the founding of the Church of England was more political (to grant him a divorce), than religious. If he had lived longer, I doubt that he would have embraced Protestantism.