ABSTRACT
Henry VIII was, as you know, a bit of an opportunist. In 1521, at a time when Henry had allied England with the Habsburgs against France and laid claim to the French crown to boot, he wrote a pamphlet against Martin Luther’s doctrines. For his efforts, the pope dubbed Henry Defender of the Faith. Churchmen began voicing doubts about that title, however, no later than 1525, when Henry levied a major tax on church property to pay for his wars with Catholic France. As the pope himself delayed in sanctioning Henry’s divorce from Catharine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn, Henry sacked his papal legate Cardinal Wolsey and, after some maneuvering, declared the English church independent of Rome. The break with the pope brought Henry substantial church revenues. In 1534, Henry rammed through the Act of Supremacy, which made him and his successors heads of an independent English church, while rendering refusal to take an oath of recognition a capital crime of high treason. Utopia author and former chancellor Thomas More lost his head for just such a refusal.
