The Acts of Supremacy are two acts passed by the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...

in the 16th century that established the English monarchs as the head of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

; two similar laws were passed by the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland () was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until the end of 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the Irish Hou ...

establishing the English monarchs as the head of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

. The 1534 act declared

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

and his successors as the Supreme Head of the Church, replacing the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. This first act was repealed during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I. The 1558 act declared

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

and her successors the Supreme Governor of the Church, a title that the British monarch still holds. Royal supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

of the king (i.e., civil law) over the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

of the Church in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

First Act of Supremacy 1534

The first Act of Supremacy, passed on 3 November 1534 ( 26 Hen. 8. c. 1) by the

was one of the first major events in the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

. It granted King

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

and subsequent monarchs royal supremacy and stated that the reigning monarch was the supreme head of the

. The act declared that the king was "the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England" and that

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity." The wording of the act made clear that Parliament was not granting the king the title (thereby suggesting that they had the right to withdraw it later); rather, it was acknowledging an established fact. In the Act of Supremacy, Henry VIII withdrew support for the authority of the pope and the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and asserted the independence of the '' Ecclesia Anglicana''. He appointed himself and his successors as the supreme rulers of the English church. Earlier, Henry VIII had been declared "Defender of the Faith" () in 1521 by Pope Leo X for his pamphlet accusing

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

of heresy. Parliament later conferred this title upon the king in 1544. Henry VIII was motivated to issue the act for multiple reasons. He desperately wanted a male heir to continue his line, and after wars and succession crises, aimed to ensure that his dynastic lineage would continue without challenge. When

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

did not bear a son, the king tried for years to annul his marriage to her, having convinced himself that God was punishing him for marrying his brother's widow. Despite his close alignment with the Catholic Church and other papal annulments,

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII (; ; born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate o ...

refused to grant Henry VIII an annulment. Roman Catholic doctrine viewed a marriage contract as indissoluble until death, and the papacy argued that a marriage could not simply be annulled because of a

canonical impediment In the canon law (Catholic Church), canon law of the Catholic Church, an impediment is a legal obstacle that prevents a sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament from being performed either Validity and liceity (Catholic Church), validly or lic ...

previously dispensed. Additionally, the emperor of the Habsburg empire at this time, Charles V, was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon, and for the Pope to declare that marriage invalid would be to separate the Church from the good favour of the emperor. Henry VIII subsequently passed the Treasons Act, which stated that to disavow the Act of Supremacy and to deprive the king of his "dignity, title, or name" was to be considered

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

. Thus, the king's control over the English religion was absolute and those who held to Catholic beliefs were swiftly punished. The most famous public figure to resist the Treasons Act was Sir Thomas More, who was convicted of treason and executed by beheading.

Irish Act of Supremacy 1537

In 1537, the (28 Hen. 8. c. 5 (I), ''An Act authorising the King, His Heirs and Successors, to be supreme Head of the Church of Ireland'') was passed by the

, establishing Henry VIII as the supreme head of the

, as had earlier been done in England.

Second Act of Supremacy 1558

Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy was repealed in 1554 during the reign of his staunchly Roman Catholic daughter, Queen

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

. Upon her death in November 1558, her Protestant half-sister

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

succeeded to the throne. The first Elizabethan Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy 1558 that declared Elizabeth the Supreme Governor of the

and instituted an Oath of Supremacy requiring anyone taking public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and state. Anyone refusing to take the oath could be charged with treason. The use of the term ''Supreme Governor'' as opposed to ''Supreme Head'' pacified some Catholics and those Protestants concerned about a female leader of the

. Elizabeth, who was a '' politique'', did not prosecute nonconformist laymen, or those who did not follow the established rules of the

unless their actions directly undermined the authority of the English monarch, as was the case in the

vestments controversy The vestments controversy or vestarian controversy arose in the English Reformation, ostensibly concerning vestments or clerical dress. Initiated by John Hooper (bishop), John Hooper's rejection of clergy, clerical vestments in the Church of En ...

. Thus, it was through the Second Act of Supremacy that Elizabeth I officially established the now reformed Church of England. This was a part of the

Elizabethan Religious Settlement The Elizabethan Religious Settlement is the name given to the religious and political arrangements made for England during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The settlement, implemented from 1559 to 1563, marked the end of the English Ref ...

. Historian

G. R. Elton Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton (born Gottfried Rudolf Otto Ehrenberg; 17 August 1921 – 4 December 1994) was a German-born British political and constitutional historian, specialising in the Tudor period. He taught at Clare College, Cambridge, and ...

has argued that, "in law and political theory the Elizabethan supremacy was essentially parliamentary, while Henry VIII's had been essentially personal." The royal supremacy was extinguished during the British Interregnum from 1649, but was restored in 1660. The Stuart kings used it as a justification for controlling the appointment of bishops. The conflation in the Crown of supreme lay authority over church and state made every secular subject of the Crown a spiritual subject of the Church as well; the Church was co-extensive with the State. Contemporary English theologian Richard Hooker described the situation thus:

Irish Act of Supremacy 1560

In 1560, the

passed "".

Notes

References

External links

Original text of the 1534 Act of Supremacy
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Image of the original 1534 Act of Supremacy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acts of Supremacy Acts of the Parliament of England 1534 Acts of the Parliament of England 1558 Acts of the Parliament of England 1560 Acts of the Parliament of England concerning religion Repealed English legislation Constitutional laws of England Parliamentary Acts of the English Reformation 1535 in Christianity