Doran & Durston, Princes, Pastors, and People - The Church and Religion in England, 1529-1689

Abstract

In 1529 while the English church remained a part of the church of Rome, events were already undermining this union. Henry VIII was seeking the Pope's annulment of his marriage, and what would become known as the Reformation Parliament began meeting. The Pope's refusal of the Crown's demand culminated in the creation of a separate English church headed by the King. Over the next century-and-a-half, state actions and religious change led to ecclesiastical fragmentation that culminated in the Act of Toleration of 1689. This recognition and legalization of the many dissenting religious groups alongside the official state church has lasted to the present day.