Before King Henry VIII established the Church of England, the country had been purely Catholic. But when he wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon, his wife, the Pope didn't allow it. Divorce was absolutely prohibited. The King wanted an annulment of the marriage because his wife couldn't give him a male son. He asked the Pope for a divorce several times but it wasn't granted. Until he and his ministers found the solution in establishing the Protestant Church of England, which was absolutely independent of the Papacy. Protestants didn't like the Pope, so Henry was free to manage the Church as he desired. Henry made himself "Head of the Church of England" and was free to marry Ann Boleyn. As the head of the Church , he was in charge of the Archbishops, Bishops and all the clergy that the English Church still retained.
The change of religion in England had enormous repercussions for the country. Monasteries and convents were all closed. His ministers declared that monks, nuns and friars were living immoral lives rather than godly lives. They used to live lives of luxury rather than humility, while the rest of common people lived poor lives.
As regards Queen Elizabeth, when she became Queen in 1558, it was said that she would restore the Protestant faith in England. The persecution to Protestants during the reign of her half-sister Queen Mary had done much damage to the country. Elizabeth's religious points of view were surprisingly tolerant for the age in which she lived. She had her own convictions and beliefs and respected other people's views.
During her reign , her main priority was to bring peace and stability to her people. She only adopted strict measures against Catholics when Catholic extremists threatened her government.
Unfortunately for the Queen, many of her contemporaries didn't share her views on toleration and she was forced to be harsher towards Catholics than she wanted. She wanted her Church to appeal to both Catholics and Protestants. She had little sympathy with extremists of both religions. She hoped that by keeping the church as it was, her people would slowly become accustom to it. She wanted Catholicism to die naturally as people turned to the religion she had established. By the year of her death, 1603, the English people were generally Protestant and Catholics were the minority.
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