To what extent was criticism of the Catholic Church the main reason for the growth of Protestantism in England?

The Tudors – Religion and the Church, 1509-1603

In this course, Dr Jonathan Willis (University of Birmingham) explores religion and the church in Tudor England through six key questions: (1) To what extent was criticism of the Late Medieval Catholic Church the main reason for the growth of Protestantism in Tudor England?; (2) To what extent did religion in England change significantly during the reign of Henry VIII?; (3) To what extent did religion in England change significantly during the reign of Henry VIII?; (4) How far was religious change in England during the years 1547-63 driven by the personal religious beliefs of successive monarchs?; (5) What factors facilitated the survival of Catholicism during the reign of Elizabeth I?; and (6) Did the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 mark the end of the English Reformation?.

To what extent was criticism of the Catholic Church the main reason for the growth of Protestantism in England?

In this module, we consider the question ‘To what extent was criticism of the Late Medieval Catholic Church the main reason for the growth of Protestantism in Tudor England?’, focusing in particular on: (i) the historiography: the traditionalist, revisionist and post-revisionist interpretations of the English Reformation; (ii) criticism of the Catholic church before the 16th century, especially John Wycliffe (c.1320s-1384) and the Lollards; (iii) Christian Humanism and the figures of Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) and John Colet (1467-1519); (vi) Evangelicalism and the figures of Thomas Bilney (c.1495-1531) and William Tyndale (c.1494-1536); and (vii) the extent to which the growth of Protestantism in England can be attributed to the last of these groups.