DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55111#0042
34
flef of the Holy Seel). But when the streng liands of Edward III.
grasped the reins of government this yearly tribute came to
an end. From that date the papal influence in England began
to wane. It was not likely that the victor of Crecy, whose
valiant son with a chosen few bad subsisted in the heart of
France and won the splendid triumph of Poitiers, would bend
a knee to the Claims of the pope. When the threat of excom-
munication was borne from the Vatican to the palace of the
English king, the matter was at once laid before the “Good
Parliament” which unanimously sustained their sovereign in a
permanent refusal. But other influences were being brought to
bear upon the papal power. A learned scholar of Oxford appeared
upon the horizon as the morning star of the Great Reformation.
Wyclif2) began to preach that the scriptures did not teach the
supremacy of the pope. He translated the Bible into the English
language which penetrated among all classes of the people and
quietly prepared them for the great struggle which was to
come. His doctrines and writings found their way into far off
Bohemia where they induced Huss and Jerome of Prague to
attempt a similar reform of the Church.
The next great and decisive check given to the power of
the Holy See was by Henry VIII. Becoming troubled with serious
doubts concerning his marriage with his brother’s widow, he
appealed to Rome for a divorce which was refused. Henry then
declared himself the head of the Church in his own dominions,
put a stop to the payment of the large sums which were annu-
ally drawn from England by the pontiff, suppressed the monas-
teries and made it criminal to appeal to the pope or any person
outside the realm. Henry thus struck a decisive blow at the
connection between the English Church and Rome, and laid the
foundation of its complete independence from that power. Being
now the acknowledged head of church and state, the king
1) Hume’s History of England (Students Edition), p. 139.
Green’s History of the English People, vol. I. p. 236.
2) “It was he who brought the political and religious tendencies of the
age into the closest and most fruitful connection with the growth of the national
language and literature of England.” Ten Brink’s Eng. Lit. Vol. II. p. 5.
flef of the Holy Seel). But when the streng liands of Edward III.
grasped the reins of government this yearly tribute came to
an end. From that date the papal influence in England began
to wane. It was not likely that the victor of Crecy, whose
valiant son with a chosen few bad subsisted in the heart of
France and won the splendid triumph of Poitiers, would bend
a knee to the Claims of the pope. When the threat of excom-
munication was borne from the Vatican to the palace of the
English king, the matter was at once laid before the “Good
Parliament” which unanimously sustained their sovereign in a
permanent refusal. But other influences were being brought to
bear upon the papal power. A learned scholar of Oxford appeared
upon the horizon as the morning star of the Great Reformation.
Wyclif2) began to preach that the scriptures did not teach the
supremacy of the pope. He translated the Bible into the English
language which penetrated among all classes of the people and
quietly prepared them for the great struggle which was to
come. His doctrines and writings found their way into far off
Bohemia where they induced Huss and Jerome of Prague to
attempt a similar reform of the Church.
The next great and decisive check given to the power of
the Holy See was by Henry VIII. Becoming troubled with serious
doubts concerning his marriage with his brother’s widow, he
appealed to Rome for a divorce which was refused. Henry then
declared himself the head of the Church in his own dominions,
put a stop to the payment of the large sums which were annu-
ally drawn from England by the pontiff, suppressed the monas-
teries and made it criminal to appeal to the pope or any person
outside the realm. Henry thus struck a decisive blow at the
connection between the English Church and Rome, and laid the
foundation of its complete independence from that power. Being
now the acknowledged head of church and state, the king
1) Hume’s History of England (Students Edition), p. 139.
Green’s History of the English People, vol. I. p. 236.
2) “It was he who brought the political and religious tendencies of the
age into the closest and most fruitful connection with the growth of the national
language and literature of England.” Ten Brink’s Eng. Lit. Vol. II. p. 5.