Doctrinal Division

Abstract

Whatever the doubts about the precise doctrinal affiliation of Henry VIII at different stages of his career, one thing is certain. He was as committed in 1547 as he had been in 1509 to maintaining religious uniformity within his domains. His efforts against Luther in 1521 earned him the title ‘Defender of the Faith’, and later, as supreme head, he assumed powers not merely to defend but in effect to define that faith. But for all his efforts, religious uniformity was never total. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that when he came to the throne in 1509, his territories were almost entirely Catholic. By 1547 these territories were still predominantly Catholic, but to the pockets of Lollardy, the native English heresy, which were still to be found in 1509 had been added new and more appealing heresies imported from abroad — Lutheranism, Zwinglianism (or ‘Sacramentarianism’), and Anabaptis. These had attracted recruits from beyond the limited social sphere of Lollardy, from the clergy, the gentry, the lawyers, the wealthy merchants, and above all the royal court. Doctrinal division was now an unavoidable fact of life, and this was reflected in the various official formulations and statements of religious belief published in England after the break with Rome.