England becomes Protestant: When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, he was a devout Catholic.Henry wrote a stinging attack on Luther’s ideas. In recognition of Henry’s support, the pope gave him the title “Defender of the Faith.” Henry feared that a civil war would start if he died without a son as his heir. He and his wife, Catherine of Aragon, had one living child—a daughter,Mary—but no woman had ever successfully claimed the English throne. But in 1527, Henry asked the pope to annul, or set aside, his marriage. The pope turned him down. In 1529, he called Parliament into session and asked it to pass a set of laws that ended the pope’s power in England. This Parliament is known as the
Reformation Parliament.
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