Well, let us talk a while about the Protestant Reformation. I'll limit myself, for the start, to England, where the subject is, I think, well defined and rather simple. In the 1500's there were stirrings of dissent. Bohemian influence (originally from John Hus) and Wycliffe and others let to theological protests -- but the key was the King Henry VIII illegal marriage to his brother's (Arthur) widow Catherine of Aragon. They were within prohibited degrees if relationship as well. C. failed to produce a male heir, and Henry was in love with Anne Boleyn who would not sleep with him unless they were wed. So Henry pushed Cardinal Wolsey to get his divorce, and Wolsey failed. Henry got the English church, under threat, to grant him his divorce, and Anne bore him Elizabeth, and committed adultery and was offed. Henry married Jane Seymour who bore him Edward VI (on her death bed). Her family and Edwards guardians were ardent Protestants. During Edward's reign the Protestants took over the church, and on his death, (after the brief sad episode of Lady Jane Grey) Mary came to the throne, restored Catholicism and married Philip II of Spain. Many religious executions on either side. On death of Mary without heirs, Elizabeth, took the throne and supported the Protestant cause in the Netherlands against the Spanish and the English church took its middle way separate from both Catholicism and extreme protestantism. The next century was wrapped in a Protestant revolt against the crown and the episcopal church.
It is hard to find real theological or spiritau;l issues in this mess. It is dynastic, social, class, international, balance-of-power politics. There are similar disputes in most of the European countries (except perhaps Spain and Italy), and even there there were repercussions. |
