Parliamentary activity during the English reformation (1529-1571)‎

Abstract EN

This article is an attempt to explore the work of the English Parliament during the English Reformation (1529-1571).

It highlights the contribution of this institution in the Reformation process at the legislative level.

In this regard, the parliamentary entity promulgated a flood of laws that carried out the Reformation process forward.

The role assumed by this institution in breaking with Rome and establishing thereafter the Anglican Church, was eminent from the beginning.

Under Henry VIII (1509-1547), the parliamentary body passed a sequence of laws between 1531 and 1539 for the sake of severing the links with papal authority.

The reign of both Edward VI (1547-1553) and Elizabeth I (1558-1603) saw the parliamentary apparatus speeding up the English Reformation through the passage of a fundamental legislation that established the doctrine and principles of Anglicanism.

Therefore, a thorough examination of the parliamentary activity under the three Kings will reveal parliament’s great commitment to the Reformation question.