Passage of the Supremacy Act
November 3, 1534
While Henry VIII didn’t exactly invent what became the Church of England, his handling of marital and extramarital affairs was essentially the opening act of what became the English Reformation.
Henry’s frustration at not having a male heir from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow, is well known. Henry and Catherine had married in 1509, after their parents asked for and received from the pope a dispensation. Beginning in 1527, Henry tried various means to persuade Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage because it was “against God’s law” per Leviticus 20:21.
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James M. Kushiner is the Director of Publications for The Fellowship of St. James and the former Executive Editor of Touchstone.
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