The English Reformation

King Henry VIII was not happy. He asked the Pope to be allowed to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon because she wasn't giving him any sons.

In the Catholic Church, people weren't allowed to divorce, but could ask the Pope for an exception to the rule. Sometimes, this was allowed, but most of the time it was not.

Henry had previously written the Defense of the Seven Sacraments, an anti-Protestant book for which Henry had been given the title "Defender of the Faith" by the previous Pope. This made Henry think that he would be allowed to divorce his wife, but the request was declined.

However, Henry was determined to divorce his wife, so he created the Act of Supremacy, in which he became the leader of a new church, the English Church. This new church was almost the same as the Catholic Church, with the same teachings and celebrations. The only things that were different was the dissolution of the abbeys and the tolerance of divorce.

So, in the end, King Henry VIII fulfilled his purpose of divorcing and remarrying and abolishing the Pope's power in England.

The English Reformation was accomplished in the 16th century by King Henry VIII through the Act of Supremacy.