The Protestant Reformation in England developed separately and differently from the Reformation that arose in Europe. One reason for this difference was geographical; England was separated from Europe by the English Channel. More significant, though, was the fact that England's "developing national identity centered in large part in their monarchy, would eventually develop a religious establishment that was unabashedly nationalistic, legally centered in the monarchy, and strongly anti-papal" (Heitzenrater 3). The Catholic Church had become corrupt, charging people to marry, to be baptized, or even to bury someone on their land(a necessity if the deceased were to go to heaven (Trueman). Although the same corruption existed in both the English church and that of Europe, the events that precipitated the Reformation differed in each place. In England, Henry VIII had a dilemma that was complicated by the Catholic Church. His wife Catherine was no longer of childbearing age and had given him no sons, only a daughter (Trueman). Henry "desperately needed a male heir" to prevent his daughter from ruling, fearing that "a throne held by a woman would never be secure" (Trueman). Henry wanted to divorce Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn, but the Catholic Church refused to recognize or support divorce, and Henry risked excommunication if he were to declare his own divorce against the Church's doctrine (Trueman). He requested a special Papal Dispensation that would allow him alone to get a divorce based on his position as king of England, but the Pope refused to grant it (Trueman). Finally, Henry persuaded the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant him a divorce and he subsequently married Anne Boleyn, but in the process, he broke away from the Catholic Church (Trueman).
Yale historian G.W. Bernard contends that Henry "saw himself as God's lieutenant...whose divinely ordained mission was to purify the church" and disagrees with th...