Henry VIII (Re: GRGR(4): Episode 12)

[JL]

jeremy o :
>What whim prompted 'Ennery the Eighth to abscond with its roof?

Well, ' as evry English skuleboy kno : '

The peculiarly English route to Reformation was started
by Henry's spat with Rome over his first marriage.
The Pope had agreed a dubious dispensation to allow
H to marry his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon.  
However, when she failed to produce a male heir, H asked 
for a divorce which was refused by the Pope.
Henry enlisted the Protestant reformers of Europe to
his cause, declared himself divorced on the grounds that
the marriage should never have been allowed, and was  
promptly excommunicated. 
His retaliation was to Establish an independant national 
Church of England with the sovereign as its perpetual 
leader; then (the 'manic' bit, I guess) to suppress 
Catholicism (partly) through the siezure, dissolution
and demolition of monasteries etc.
{He had a go at the Guilds' cartels as well, incidentally,
and recent threads on Calvinism might also bring more P-
content to this).

But hey, it's a long time since I went to skule; please 
don't take this as Gospel.  I have been known to confuse
Thomas Cranmer with Thomas a Becket. Or was it Cromwell?

JL, a man for no season.