At first Henry tried to secure the pope's consent to the
divorce. The pope did not like to set aside the dispensation granted by his
predecessor, nor did he wish to offend the mighty emperor Charles V. Failing to
get the papal sanction, Henry obtained his divorce from an English court
presided over by Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury. Anne Boleyn was then
proclaimed queen, in defiance of the papal bull of excommunication.
ACT OF SUPREMACY, 1534 A.D.
Henry's next step was to procure from his subservient
Parliament a series of laws which abolished the pope's authority in England. Of
these, the most important was the Act of Supremacy. It declared the English
king to be "the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England."
At the same time a new treason act imposed the death penalty on anyone who
called the king a "heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper."
The great majority of the English people seem to have accepted this new
legislation without much objection; those who refused to do so perished on the
scaffold. The most eminent victim was Sir Thomas More, formerly Henry's
Lord Chancellor and distinguished for eloquence and profound learning. His
execution sent a thrill of horror through Christendom.
