Acts of Supremacy
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The first Act of Supremacy granted King Henry VIII of England Royal Supremacy which is still the legal authority of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Royal Supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal sovereignty of the civil laws over the laws of the Church in England.
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The Act of Supremacy November 1534 (26 Hen. 8, c. 1) was an Act of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII declaring that he was 'the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England' and that the English crown shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity."
Henry, who had been declared "Defender of the Faith" (Fidei Defensor) for his pamphlet accusing Martin Luther of heresy, was now confirmed as head of the Church in England. This made official the English Reformation that had been brewing since 1527, and caused a long-lasting distrust between England and the Roman Catholic Church. The act was a result of Henry's desire for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which Pope Leo X had refused to grant. Another act caused any act of allegiance to the Pope (or any other non-Anglican religion, for that matter) to be considered treason.
This act was repealed in 1554 by Henry's daughter, Queen Mary I, who was a staunch Roman Catholic.
The second Act of Supremacy was the reinstatement of the original Act of Supremacy 1534. However, Queen Elizabeth I was labeled Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The use of the term Supreme Governor as opposed to Supreme Head pacified Catholics and those Protestants concerned about a female leader of the Church of England. Anyone who took public or church office was forced to take the Oath of Supremacy, and there were penalties for violating that oath. However, Elizabeth, who was a politique, did not prosecute layman nonconformists, or those who did not follow the established rules of the Church of England unless their actions directly undermined the authority of the English monarch, as was the case in the vestments controversy.
As established by the Tudors, the consolidation of church and state under Royal Supremacy instigated political and religious strife in the succeeding centuries. This strife, along with similar struggles in Europe, was one reason why in many jurisdictions there is now a constitutional separation of church and state. In the United Kingdom, however, the Crown, through the government, still retains a significant involvement in the established Church of England.
- Supreme Governor of the Church of England
- Religion in the United Kingdom
- State religion
- Separation of church and state
- Original text of the 1534 Act of Supremacy.
- Official text of the Act of Supremacy 1558 as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database