The first Act of Supremacy granted King Henry VIII of England Royal Supremacy which is still the legal authority of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Royal Supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal sovereignty of the civil laws over the laws of the Church in England.
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The Act of Supremacy November 1534 (26 Hen. 8, c. 1) was an Act of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII declaring that he was 'the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England' and that the English crown shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity."[1]. By the wording of the Act, it was made clear that Parliament was not granting the King the title (thereby suggesting that they had the right to later withdraw them) but rather it was stated as a recognised fact.
Henry was declared "Defender of the Faith" (Fidei Defensor) in 1521 by Pope Leo X for his pamphlet accusing Martin Luther of heresy.[2] Parliament later conferred this title upon Henry in 1544.[3] The 1534 Act made official the English Reformation that had been brewing since 1527. The main purpose of this act was so that Henry could get an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, because Henry had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, however Pope Clement VII still refused to grant the annulment, due to the familial relations Catherine had with the Holy Roman Emperor at the time. The Treasons Act was later issued saying that to disavow the Act of Supremacy and to deprive the King of his "dignity, title, or name" was to be considered treason.[4]
This act was repealed in 1554 by king Henry's oldest daughter, Queen Mary I.[5]
Henry's Act of Supremacy was repealed (1554) in the reign of his staunchly Catholic daughter, Mary I. Equally unsurprisingly, it was reinstated by Mary's Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth I, when she ascended the throne. Elizabeth declared herself Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and instituted an Oath of Supremacy, requiring anyone taking public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and state. Anyone refusing to take the Oath could be charged with treason." [6] The use of the term Supreme Governor as opposed to Supreme Head pacified Catholics and those Protestants concerned about a female leader of the Church of England. Elizabeth, who was a politique, did not prosecute layman nonconformists, or those who did not follow the established rules of the Church of England unless their actions directly undermined the authority of the English monarch, as was the case in the vestments controversy.
The consolidation of church and state under Royal Supremacy, as established by the Tudors, instigated political and religious strife in the succeeding centuries. This strife, along with similar struggles in Europe, is one reason there is a constitutional separation of church and state in many jurisdictions now. In the United Kingdom, however, the Crown, through the government, still retains a significant involvement in the established Church of England.
"Defender
of the Faith" in the 1911
Encyclopædia Britannica.THE ACT OF SUPREMACY (1559). [1]
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The Acts of Supremacy was passed by Elizabeth I in 1534. This act stated that the king, not the pope was the head of the Church of England.
When this act was passed by Henry VIII he had been the ‘Head of the Church in England’ but under Elizabeth’s reign, she was “Supreme Governor of the Church in England”.
The change may have been made to appease Catholics who could not accept the monarch as "Head of the Church", seeing the church as the Pope's domain, or it may have been made because Elizabeth was a woman. In the sixteenth century, women were regarded as inferior to men in spiritual matters, and many were uncomfortable with the idea of a woman being in charge. This act also included an oath of loyalty to the Queen that the clergy were expected to take. If they did not take it, then they would lose their office. A High Commission was established to ensure that the oath was taken.
   | Original text of the 1534 Act of Supremacy. - The Act of Supremacy original text |
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