ABSTRACT
Between 1527 and 1534, by an act of sheer political will, KingHenry VIII compelled a proudly, loyally Catholic country to renounce the papacy, accept him as the Supreme Head of the Church, and join him in defying the man who was now only to be described as the ‘bishop of Rome’. This event permanently changed the religious, political and social history of all the British nations, and it remains mysterious.
