The Protestant Reformation, or, as it is more commonly known, simply, “the Reformation” started with Martin Luther, in Germany, in 1517. This is true despite the fact that earlier attempts had been being made to “reform” the Roman Catholic Church for close to a hundred years. With the exception of the “Radical Reformation”, which resulted in the formation of such bodies as the Moravians and the Hussites, anabaptist groups that withdrew almost completely from secular life, none of the earlier attempts had proven successful. Luther, though, and later Calvin, were able to call on support from at least some of the nobility, and thus were able to gain state support for their reforms, thus starting the second and third waves of reform. In England, though, reform was initiated by a political figure; that is, by the King, himself!
In thinking about the Reformation, we must always keep the political situation also in mind. Remember: the very word “protestant” originally meant a political protest, not a religious one. As Lutheranism spread through northern Germany and Scandinavia, Calvinism spread from Switzerland into France, Holland and Scotland, and the Roman Church continued to dominate Spain, Italy and southern Germany. Much of Europe was convulsed in a long-running war, as a result: the Thirty Years War. Mixed in with all of this was an attempt by a series of Popes to dominate the entire political continent through a series of engineered marriages and alliances designed to keep the Holy Roman Emperors at bay. Spain and Portugal, to further complicate things, had discovered alternate routes to India and even discovered a whole New World, which was to become America. Riches poured into those countries, and eventually, the King of Spain even became Holy Roman Emperor, previously a stronghold of German princes.
As a part of this ongoing intrigue, the Pope, Leo X, had married the daughter of the Spanish king to the crown prince of England, Arthur Tudor. When Arthur died childless, shortly after becoming king, the Pope and his supporters in England hurriedly re-married the girl to Arthur’s younger brother, Henry. Henry then came to the throne and remained for many years. In terms of religion, Henry was a loyal Roman Catholic, and as a scholar, wrote strong criticisms of Luther and of Reform. The Pope named him “defender of the faith”, a title that English royalty still wears.
Unfortunately, the twice-wed Queen, while she proved quite fertile, bore no sons. Henry, religious scholar that he was, consulted the Bible to find an explanation. He found it in Leviticus: Men who marry their brother’s widow will remain childless. Henry took “childless” to mean “without an heir”, which he seemed to be. He petitioned the Pope to grant him a divorce. Pope Leo, by this time, was dead, and Pope Clement III was in even more trouble than Leo had been politically, so he said “no”. That’s how the King of England became the leader of the fourth great stream of Reform: the Anglican Church.