The Act of Settlement

When last we left our British Monarchs in the midst of the Reformation, they had a new Protestant Church in the Church of England and a new spiritual leader in Henry VIII, the Supreme Head of the Church of England thanks to a piece of legislation in 1533 known as the Act of Supremacy. As Supreme Head of the Church of England owing no allegiance to the pope Henry wanted to ensure that his ministers did not either. To this end, the Act of Submission and the Act of Succession very soon followed. In his book "Reformation" Will Durant tells of Sir Thomas More who said of Henry when he took the throne, 'he makes every man feel he is enjoying his special favor'; "…More was committed to the Tower for refusing to take Oath to the Act of Succession, which as presented to him, involved a repudiation of papal supremacy over the Church in England." Now Henry VII had the power of the Church and the sworn loyalty of his ministers, but empty coiffeurs.

In 1535 Henry VIII made Cromwell "vice-regent of the King in all his ecclesiastical jurisdiction" in addition to his responsibilities for foreign policy, domestic legislation, the higher judiciary, the Privy Council, the intelligence service, and the Star Chamber. In February 1536 Cromwell's handpicked Parliament consented to the closing of all Monasteries and Convents with yearly income of less than 200 pounds. There was a revolt by the people that was overcome giving Cromwell reason to close all Monasteries and Convents thereby displacing thousands of monks and nuns. The money that was raised from the sale of the lands, the rental of properties, the sale of the precious metals, works of art, etc. not only rescued Henry VIII from bankruptcy, they solidified his control over the religious life of his subjects and created a larger chasm between the people and the papal authority in Rome.

Henry VIII continued on in his life of six wives in the manner of the rhyme, "divorced, beheaded, died; beheaded, divorced, survived." Henry died in 1547 leaving the throne to his sickly, young son, Edward VI, who was a devout Protestant determined the Church of England should thrive. This determination is what lead to his naming his Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, and her husband, Guilford Dudley, as his successors upon his death in 1553. This succession lasted only nine days before his Catholic sister, Mary, was placed on the throne causing a counter-reformation, which was further fueled by her marriage in 1554 to Philip of Spain - also a Catholic. It is said that under his influence she burned almost 300 men and women for the crime of heresy from the date of her marriage to the date of her death in 1558.

Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, took the throne in 1558 and kept it until her death in 1603. She worked surreptitiously on keeping the Catholics in check by sending money to Holland so the Dutch could overthrow their Catholic occupiers. When forced to fight her navy defeated the Spanish Armada thus earning England respect as a force to be reckoned with. As the last of Henry VIII's children, none of whom produced an heir, she was forced to give her throne to her cousin's, Queen Mary of Scotland, son, James VI of Scotland. James VI was a Presbyterian whose reign as James I of England saw a merging of the two countries though this was not made official until almost 100 years later when in 1707 Parliament passed the Act of Union with Scotland naming the newly formed nation Great Britain.

Though James I knew of the Catholic/Protestant friction he was tolerant of religious expression. That is until November 5, 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a Catholic, was found in the basement of Parliament with 35 barrels of gunpowder. It was his plan to blow up the building during the opening of Parliament in hopes to effectively wipe out the government. If he had succeeded he would not only have blown up the House of Parliament, but would have destroyed White Hall Palace, the King's nearby residence, Westminster Abbey, and the rest of the government center housing such office as that of the Exchequer. He oversaw a translation of the bible that became known as "The King James Version" that is still used today. He was 59 when he died in 1625 leaving his throne to his son, Charles I.

Charles I saw his authority as supreme and granted by God. He dissolved Parliament in 1629 and reigned for 11 years without it. Parliament finally ruled that he could not continue in power without restraint and enacted legislation stating that Parliament could not be dissolved without their own consent. This infuriated Charles who took up arms against them starting a civil war. He was captured but escaped to Scotland where, with another army, he was soundly defeated by Oliver Cromwell. Charles I was tried and convicted of treason. His punishment was 'death by the severing of his head from his body.' He died in 1649 and England had no monarch until Charles I's son, Charles II, returned dramatically from exile on a wave of pro-monarchy sentiments that followed the death of Oliver Cromwell who had left his son, Richard, as the Protector upon his death. The year was 1660 and Charles II had issued a statement granting amnesty to all those involved in his father's demise. His reign was marked by some of his countries greatest crisis - the great plague (1665) and the great fire (1666) - as well as many of man's great achievements such as Sir Isaac Newton's gravity discoveries and the observatory at Greenwich. He professed himself a Catholic on his deathbed leaving no legitimate heir to the throne, which was next occupied by his younger brother, James II.

James II took the throne in 1685 determined to reestablish Catholicism as the primary religion. Because of this fanaticism he was deposed by an act of Parliament in 1689 and lived the rest of his life in exile. Parliament had asked William of Orange and his wife, Mary, who was the daughter of Charles I, to rule. Their joint reign ended in 1694 with Mary's death. Mary was beloved and greatly mourned by her subjects. Parliament passed the Act of Settlement in 1701, which was designed to ensure the Protestant succession by stating that the monarchs must be members of the Church of England. This seemed important as neither Mary nor James II had any legitimate heir. Parliament put Anne, a daughter of James II and a Protestant, on the throne in 1702 upon the death of William III / William of Orange.

It was a bumpy road for the Church of England from its establishment back in Henry's day to the passing of legislation designed to ensure its continuation in 1701. It was this act that brought George I from Germany upon the death of Queen Anne in 1714. This leg of the journey of the House of Windsor is certainly a colorful one - though I think they all are. It seems to me the monarchy was exposed to a great deal of danger by its members who were pre-occupied with power or having things their own way. I'm anxious to see how the life of Prince Charles, current Prince of Wales, affects the Church of England. Will divorce laws be updated to ensure his marriage to Camilla Parker-Bowles is not a morganatic one? Will he decline the title of Supreme Head of the Church of England? We'll have to wait and see.