The Age of Reformation

The Reformation began in the later part of Henry VIII's reign and continued through the reigns of Edward IV and of Mary, Queen of Scots, till the accession of Queen Elizabeth. It was not merely a movement for church-reform. It was a great social, economic and religious revolution. It was an upheaval which shook the very foundations of English society, ended the domination of the Church, destroyed the monasteries and transformed England into a nation of free thinkers.

However, one of its immediate effects was to check and retard the growth of early English Humanism. The Renaissance in England was opposed and crossed by the religious reformation. There were a number of causes for Reformation. It was at once a political, religious and social event. The recognition of the king as the head of the church, the subjection of the clergy laity and the divisions of the estates and the social influence of the monasteries among laymen constitute a great social and religious revolution.

The Reformation led by Martin Luther was a successful heresy which stuck at the very foundations of the institutionalism of the Roman Catholic Church. The teachings of Martin Luther in Germany resulted in a religious revolt (1517) which spread like wildfire through Germany and which in course of time transformed the Reformation from merely an attack on the Church itself.

The Reformation no longer remained a purifying and modifying influence, it became increasingly Protestant in character. In the beginning of this great religious movement, Henry VIII supported the Pope and won from him the title of the “Defender of the Faith”. But later on, the king's passion for Anne and his desire for a male heir undermined his alliance with the Pope, and the rise of Protestantism in Germany encouraged him to defy the Pope and to act in flagrant violation of his orders.

Another factor that encouraged the King was the strong wave of anti-clergical sentiment that ran through his own country at the time. The Parliament, summoned in 1529, called the Reformation Parlament, began the great revolution. A number of acts were passed, severely curtailing the ancient privileges of the clergy. Cromwell, a ruthless and unserupulous politician, who had been deeply influenced by Machiavelli's “The Prince”, was appointed Lord Chancellor in place of Wolsey.

The king was proclaimed by the Act of Supremacy as the Supreme Head of the English Church, and thus the authority and supremacy of the Pope was repudiated. There were other aspects of the Reformation. Many of the early English humanists, like More and Fisher, and poets like Wyatt and Surry, were reformists and men of enlightened views.

The Reformation left its mark upon English literature. It produced the English Bible and “The Book of Common Prayer”. It also produced a number of tracts, treatises, sermons and books of devotion. It gave an impetus to the use of the vulgar tongue in worship.

Moreover, the Reformation made an end of medieval tradition of anonymous authorship. The Reformation began with medieval controversies: it ended, here, with, the English Bible and The English Prayer Book which are, in the best sense, popular, and as modern as any other great literature.