ABSTRACT
Richard Rex, Crisis of obedience: God's word and Henry's Reformation', Historical Journal. The Glasse of the Truth was followed by several important printed works, which outlined official policy on the Divorce and provided the theoretical foundations of the Royal Supremacy, supplementing the legal changes wrought by Parliament. By the mid-1530s Henry's government was aware that it needed to produce works for continental consumption and take control of the dissemination of English polemic and statements on the Church. Henry's policies were so controversial that the need to commission works such as Gardiner's De vera obedientia was keenly felt and Cromwell encouraged the production of tracts for use in the international context. Stephen Gardiner or Edward Foxe might have had no difficulty in defending Henry's rediscovered authority over the English Church and would have been at ease rehearsing the arguments underpinning the provincial jurisdiction that allowed Henry VIII to settle his marital affairs without reference to the papacy.
