Impact of the Reformation

Was society undermined by Henry VIII's religious reforms?

• They left a confused situation
• Sacraments were untouched
• Clerical marriage forbidden
• The old mass was still in use
• Monastic orders were gone
• Royal supremacy replaced papal authority
• Vernacular Bible and services in English gave access to the word of God
• The changes undermined Church authority
• Sacrificial role of parish priest had been reduced
• Destruction of rood screens lessened their elevated status
• Growth in the belief in justification by faith challenged their role as the link between man and God
• Peasantry were being taught that charity and good works did not reduce time in purgatory
• Dissolution of monasteries implied purgatory might not even exist
• Traditional religious practices that still satisfied the majority of the population had been undermined
• Importantly for the government the religious changes had removed an element of traditional authority
• The Church had traditionally helped to underpin the social hierarchy but the attack on the role of priests, monks and nuns left a void in local society and removed one of the ties that bound society together
• With the decline in the role of the priest he lost much respect and could no longer be relied on to impose order from the pulpit
• Result – one of the long-standing pillars of the state had been called into question
• Religious innovations also caused changes in people's perspective and in communal activities
• Access to the Bible had made new ideas available to the people and further challenged fundamental acceptance about the role of the individual within society