The short and unhappy reign of “Bloody Mary” resulted in the execution of about three hundred persons. She was disappointed in her marriage to Philip II of Spain and was disappointed in her hope of an heir. Her death after five years on the throne was celebrated in England and the people gladly welcomed her half-sister, Elizabeth.
The death of Henry in 1547 made it possible for Cranmer and King Edward VI to carry the ecclesiastical changes further. Cranmer directed the clergy to read the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer weekly in the churches, together with a chapter from the Old Testament and another from the New. A new edition of the Bible, known as the Great Bible, was placed in every church, and the priests were supplied with homilies for popular instruction. The organization of the church was left virtually unchanged, however. The two archbishops of Canterbury and York remained under the pope, and the Episcopal arrangement of bishops was not abolished. The king continued to be the head of the Church and made the appointments of bishops and archbishops.
The cumulative effect of these various influences prepared the public mind for Henry’s act of rebellion. Parliament was submissive enough to the king’s will to ratify his action and vote him the title of Supreme Head of the Church of England. It transferred to him the power of appointment of the higher clergy. Appeals to Rome were abolished and the dispensing power was given to the Archbishop of Canterbury. By these specific acts, the separation from Rome was made complete by 1535.
In general the Anabaptists were peaceful and drew disaffected persons of various sorts. Yet, while it was primarily a religious movement, it included some who were fanatical in their anticipation of the second coming of Christ and who were eager to hurry it along.
The most serious consequence of the uprising was the effect upon Luther. It drove him back upon his natural conservatism, made him fear the effects of radicalism upon his own movement, and turned him away from the principle of individual rights. From that time Luther was more disposed to give to the State the direction of religion.
Much of the history of the Reformation depends on the ideas of Martin Luther. Because of him, the revolt was more ecclesiastical than theological, except in the fundamental difference of Protestant dependence on faith for salvation and Catholic dependence on the sacraments of the Church. The basic principle on which Luther based his reconstruction of theology was that individual salvation from sin and its punishment was to be obtained by personal faith in Christ as a sufficient Savior rather than faith in the priest, the sacraments, and the whole system of Catholicism.
Luther’s contempt for injustice and oppression and his love for God’s Word and the freedom it offered launched the Protestant Reformation. It was the simple sale of indulgences, however, that inspired him to nail his written protest in a public forum.