APPENDIX 3
How the Roman Catholic, Church of England and Protestant Reformation
Versions of Christianity came to the British Isles
The British Isles are the lands of Mary Kay’s progenitors and my maternal ancestry
Index
- British Isles at the time of Jesus Christ
- The Roman Empire begins its conquest of Britannia
- Nicene Christianity becomes the state religion in Roman controlled Britannia – 380 AD
- The Roman military pulled out of Britannia and Germanic invaders filled the void
- Conversion of the Saxon King made all the difference
- State churches benefited both “prince and priest”
- The Rome Empire fell in 476 but the church survived and strengthened
- Eleventh century - the Catholic Church splits – England continues to report to Rome
- King Henry VIII (reign, 1509-1547) – expels Catholics, founds Church of England (1534)
- Nine-year-old Edward VI (reign 1547-1553) – succeeds his father as king
- Queen Mary (reign 1553-1558) - overthrows Church of England; reinstates Roman Catholicism
- Queen Elizabeth I (reign 1558-1603) - rescinds Mary’s actions – reinstates Church of England
- Spanish Armada – failed goal: Overthrow Elizabeth I, reinstate Roman Catholicism
- Protestant Reformation in England - Religious Toleration Act of 1689
British Isles at the time of Jesus Christ – The record is not clear about the make-up of the people, cultures and influences that inhabited the British Isles in the meridian of time. Many historians and archeologists believe it was principally made-up of various Celtic peoples that had sailed across the English Channel from Continental Europe and formed different independent kingdoms, fiefdoms or tribal communities.
The Roman Empire begins its Conquest of Britannia – 43 AD - Roman legions crossed the English Channel and began their conquest of the British Isles which they called Britannia in 43 AD. After gaining a foothold on the southern part of the Island, they started a slow but methodical conquest of the tribes and kingdoms that occupied the lands north and west.
Roman legions had conquered over half of Britannia by 122 AD. With expansion stymied, the Roman Army built a massive defensive wall across present day northern England to separate the lands they had subdued from those they had not. The wall was built on orders from then Roman Emperor Hadrian and is called “Hadrian’s Wall.” A small part of the wall still stands.
Hadrian’s Wall was likely in place when Roman Emperor Constantine the Great became the sole Emperor of the Roman Empire in 313. Constantine said he had a dream a year earlier wherein he was to told to conquer under the sign of the cross. He summarily had Christian symbols painted his military’s shields and sewed on their uniforms and banners. (Appendix 2, Constantine)
Commentary - There is no unbiased historical record that Christian missionaries came to the British Isles before the fourth century. Christianity was likely first taught in Britannia at the direction of Constantine when he had his military put Christian symbols on their shields, vests and banners. Christianity likely spread further when Roman Emperors made “Nicene Christianity” the empire’s state religion seven decades later.
Nicene Christianity becomes the state religion in Roman-controlled Britannia -380 AD - Roman Emperors Theodosius I, Gratian and Valentinian II issued the Edict of Thessalonica that made “Nicene Christianity” the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380. The Edict encouraged all subjects of the empire to “profess the faith of the Bishops of Rome (Italy) and Alexandria (Egypt).”
When the Roman Legions pulled out of Britannia in 410, Nicene Christianity had been the official religion of the Roman Empire for three decades. Enough time for the idea of Jesus Christ and his Gospel to find a place in the minds and hearts of many people living in Britannia.
The Roman military pulled out of Britannia and Germanic invaders filled the void – 410 AD – The Roman Empire’s armies which included large numbers of mercenaries were pulled from Britannia in 410 to defend Rome and face their barbarian opponents, such as the Goths on the European mainland. The Roman emperor’s efforts, however, was but a delaying action; Italy and Rome fell to invaders in 476.
Circa 500 AD, Germanic peoples who called themselves Angles conquered the southern parts of Britannia which they called “Angle land” – later England.
Centuries later, Saxons from central and northern Germany and Vikings from Scandinavia raided the British Isles. Many intermarried and settled Angle land. Descendants of people who converted to Nicene Christianity during Roman occupation likely moved west toward Wales.
Conversion of the Saxon King made all the difference – Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) in Rome sent missionaries to England. They were successful in converting a Saxon King who in turn encouraged his subjects, pagan and Christian Celts alike, to unify under the Catholic Church in Rome.
State churches benefited both “prince and priest” – Emperors and monarchies established state churches (An official government-endorsed religion.). For Christianity, the practice officially started with Roman Empire’s Edict of Thessalonica that made “Nicene Christianity” the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380; something Roman Emperor Constantine started on a de facto basis in 312.
State churches created a condition of mutual support between “prince and priest.” The clergy of the official religion performed the coronation of “royalty.” Essentially proclaiming that the monarchy had divine sanction and legitimacy. The “Divine right of Kings” had the effect of suppressing dissent. Any rebellion against the monarchy was essentially a sin against God.
Kings and queens reciprocated by providing financial support and legal-enforcement of the church’s decrees and punishing dissent and criticism of church practices and clergy. For example, European “royalty” generally supported the Roman Catholic Church’s six centuries of Inquisitions (1184-1808) where untold thousands were tried and executed for heresy. European “royalty” supported the Christian Crusades (nine crusades – 1096-1271); recruiting armies to fight Muslims who occupied the Holy Land and to block Islam’s military expansion.
The Rome Empire fell in 476 - but the church survived and strengthened – Italy and the city of Rome fell to conquering armies from the east in 476. The historical record is not clear why the conquering armies did not attack the church; however, the church was largely unaffected by the fall of Rome. By the tenth century, the Catholic Church was the preeminent state religion in most European countries.
Eleventh century - the Catholic Church splits – England continues to report to Rome - The Catholic Church was a single entity until the Great Schism of 1054. The western part of the church had Latin-speaking clergy and was headquartered in Rome. The eastern part of the church had its origins around 324 when Emperor Constantine established the eastern headquarters of the Roman Empire and church 1,100 miles east of Rome in Constantinople; previously the Greek city of Byzantium, now Istanbul. Constantine developed and named the city after himself and unofficially called it “New Rome.”
Conflict between the two branches of the Catholic Church developed over sharp differences of opinion on doctrine, authority and territory. The Great Schism of 1054 was so divisive that the leaders of both factions; Pope Leo IX (Roman Catholic Church) in Rome; and Patriarch Michael Cerularius (Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church) in Constantinople; excommunicated each other.
After the Great Schism of 1054, Christians living in England; who spoke neither Latin nor Greek, continued with church services spoken in Latin and reporting to the Pope in Rome.
The relationship between the two Catholic religions went from bad to worse when Pope Innocent III in Rome launched the 4th Crusade to the Holy Land (1202-1204). Traveling by ships, most of the 4th Crusade army diverted to Constantinople, successfully broke through its formidable defenses and sacked the wealthy and largely Eastern Orthodox Catholic city. They carried off everything of value and killed hundreds of thousands according to some estimates.
Commentary - There were nine Crusades. The Fourth Crusade occurred a century and a half after the Great Schism of 1054. A relatively small part of the Fourth-Crusade army continued to the Holy Land.
King Henry VIII (reign, 1509-1547) – expels Catholics, founds Church of England (1534) -
Henry VIII (1491-1547) and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (Spanish-English royalty) had a daughter they named Mary. Henry, already involved in an extramarital affair with Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting, said he wanted a male heir and appealed to Pope Clement VII in Rome circa 1530 to grant him a divorce from Catherine. The Pope refused.
Certain of Henry’s confidents advised him how he could get his divorce and profit from it. Henry invoked the “Divine right of kings” doctrine, expelled the Roman Catholic Church from Britain, created the Church of England with himself as the Supreme leader and appointed his advisor, Thomas Cranmer, to be the Church of England’s Archbishop of Canterbury who speedily granted Henry’s divorce.
Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534 affirming the King of England as the Supreme head of the Church of England. Henry VIII confiscated the vast real estate, treasury and other Roman Catholic holdings in England, that rivaled the King’s own wealth, for his monarchy.
In prosecuting his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII claimed their daughter, Mary, was illegitimate. When Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, had a daughter they named her Elizabeth I, but Henry had that marriage annulled.
Commentary – Even if Pope Clement VII wanted to grant Henry VIII’s request for a divorce he was politically hard-pressed to do so. King Charles V of Spain, Catherine of Aragon’s nephew, had recently conquered Italy and sacked Rome; Pope Clement was obliged to not offend King Charles V (Appendix 2).
Henry VIII’s action to expel the Roman Catholic Church from England and confiscate its property was similar to what happened in Sweden in 1527 and Denmark in 1536. (Appendix 4).
Although obviously not planned, Henry VIII’s actions essentially opened the way for the Protestant Reformation in England. Albeit, Henry VIII kept many Catholic practices in place including making possession or interpretation of the Bible the capital offense. Only “state-church” clergy could possess or interpret the (Latin) scriptures.
It is noteworthy that English scholar and Roman Catholic Priest, John Wycliffe (circa 1324-1384) spoke out against actions and policies of Roman Catholic Church hierarchy and translated the Holy Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate Bible circa 1380.
Translating the bible into another language and distributing copies to lay people was a capital crime; heresy. Scribes working with Wycliffe produced thousands of copies and smuggled them into England.
Wycliffe died from a stroke in 1384. Church leaders found Wycliffe guilty of heresy 44 years later; exhumed his bones from the church cemetery and burned them at the stake. They destroyed all of Wycliffe’s manuscript copies they could find and sought to arrest and punish those who assisted him.
William Tyndale (1494-1536) translated the Bible directly from Hebrew and Greek texts into English. He was arrested in Belgium where church-state authorities convicted him of heresy. They carried out the sentence of death by strangulation, then burning his dead body at the stake in 1536. His last words, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
As far as the “eyes of the King (or Queen) of England are concerned, it would take seven decades and five monarchs before it happened: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth I, and James VI.
James VI authorized the translation of the Holy Bible into the English language by 60 Church of England scholars. The Authorized King James Version of the Bible was published in 1611 and made available to everyone.
Nine-year-old Edward VI (reign 1547-1553) – succeeds his father as king - Jane Seymore, Henry VIII’s third wife (He would marry six times) bore a son, Edward VI. Upon Henry VIII’s death in 1547, 9-year-old Edward VI succeeded his father to the throne and maintained the laws established under his father’s reign. Edward died in 1553 at age 16, likely from tuberculosis. He was succeeded by his half-aunt Mary.
Queen Mary (reign 1553-1558) overthrows Church of England; reinstates Roman Catholicism - Mary (1516-1558), daughter of Catherine of Aragon and a devout Roman Catholic, succeeded her half-brother Edward VI to the throne. She promptly moved to defrock the Church of England clergy and replace them with Roman Catholic Church authority. She placed all Church of England property under Papal control and rounded-up all political and religious leaders that did not support the Roman Catholic Church.
She charged Church of England clergy with the capital crime of heresy and burned about 300 of them at the stake. Because of her massive purge, her adversaries nicknamed her, “Bloody Mary,” a moniker that is still used to describe her reign.
Three years into her reign, Mary married Philip of Spain in 1556, establishing an official alliance between the two countries. Mary died two years later, likely from influenza.
Queen Elizabeth I ( reign 1558-1603) – rescinds Mary’s actions – reinstates Church of England - Elizabeth I (1533–1603), succeeded her half-sister Mary, who was her senior by 17-years, as Queen of England and Ireland. Elizabeth caused Parliament to rescinded the laws established under Mary and pass the 1558 Act of Supremacy (similar to Henry VIII 1534 Act) that specified the Queen was the Supreme head of the Church of England. The “Act” essentially reinstated the Church of England as the country’s state church with Elizabeth I it’s Supreme leader. Albeit, Elisabeth I had fierce opponents within England, largely carryovers from Mary’s reign that wanted Roman Catholic authority back. There were many attempts on her life, including very elaborate plots, were blocked by her counterintelligence. Those caught were executed.
Parliament passed a Supremacy Oath law. This law required all people holding public or church office sign the oath or be removed from office; some were executed for “treason against the Crown.”
Spanish Armada – failed goal: Overthrow Elizabeth I, reinstate Roman Catholicism – When Elizabeth I came into power, she broke with the Roman Catholic Church and the alliance with Spain that Queen Mary’ established. She also authorized English privateers to attack and confiscate Spanish merchant ships and cargo.
King Phillip II of Spain attacked England in 1588. His principle objectives were to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I, crush Protestantism and reinstate the Roman Catholic Church as the state church of England under his military control.
King Phillip II’s war-plan was two-pronged; control the English Channel with an armada of warships and then invade and conquer the island nation with his overwhelming army.
Spain’s “invincible” armada consisted of 130 ships, including 20 galleons, smaller warships and troopships carrying 18,000 soldiers to be supported after they landed with 30,000 soldiers garrisoned across the channel ready to board barges and escorted by warships to a location near London. In addition to soldiers, the armada boasted 8,000 sailors, 1,500 brass and 1,000 iron cannons. On paper, it was more than enough force to neutralize England’s smaller navy and army and conquer England. The Spanish forces were led by the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, an experienced general on land; less so at sea.
For the Spanish, things went sour from the start. It took two days to get the armada organized and ready to sail. Once on the sea, a severe storm came up that damaged or sunk many of their vessels. As the storm subsided, England’s admiralty, Lord Charles Howard and privateer Sir Francis Drake attacked the damaged and disorganized armada with all the warships England could muster, about 100 ships that included war ships of English privateers who were experienced in navel battles and an unknown number of English Galleons whose cannons were heavier and had a longer range than the Spanish cannon. After 8-hours of battle, the decimated Spanish Armada broke-off and “limped” back to Spain.
Elizabeth’s success over Spain assured her position and reputation as the leader of England. Her 44-year reign, termed the “Elizabethan Era,” was, for the average citizen, a period of relative moderation and acceptance of Protestantism. Albeit, personally, her reign was marked with many foiled attempts on her life.
After Elizabeth I, the Church of England was the controlling religious influence in England until the Protestant Reformation started over a century later.
Commentary - Privateering was the practice of one country authorizing privately own ships to seize ships and cargo of another country’s merchant shipping – generally for a share of the spoils.
Protestant Reformation in England - Religious Toleration Act of 1689 - The English parliament passed The Act of Toleration which officially allowed conditional freedom of worship in 1689 to “Nonconformists;” protestants, such as Baptist, Congregational and Quaker religions which were allowed to teach their religion and have their own places of worship if they signed an oath to the crown. Intolerance and bigotry were still commonplace, but the Act was a beginning for greater religious freedom.
The Puritans, a movement within the Church of England, started immigrating to North America, in the early 1600s. They believed the Church of England was too similar to the Roman Catholic Church and should eliminate all practices, ceremonies and pageantry not rooted in the Bible.
While many colonists came to America seeking religious freedom, once they settled, some were duplicitous; intolerant of any religion except their own. For example, some Quakers in America were executed around 1660 because of their “different” religion. Those religious-motivated murders were condemned by the King of England.
Commentary – Passage of the 1689 Toleration Act and other laws made it possible for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church) to begin missionary work in England in 1837.
It was through the Church’s missionary efforts that my maternal grandparents, William Morton Harris and Jane Carter joined the Church in England with their parents circa 1855 and immigrated to America. They met and married in New York City and joined a hand cart company leaving Florence Nebraska (north of Omaha) on the arduous thousand-mile journey across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to Utah Territory.
My great-grandmother, Catherin Byatt Roe, a widow with three children that included my grandfather Thomas William Roe who was 14 at the time, joined the Church in 1882. Catherine’s husband and my great grandfather, John Roe, came from an affluent family. He was a minister in the Congressional Church when he died, likely from tuberculous contracted from one or more of his congregants.
When the widow Catherine announced her and her children’s religious conversion to the family, her brother-in-law, who was the legal administrator of John’s estate, threatened to disinherit her and her children unless they recanted. However, Catherine and her children said they knew the Church was true and courageously refused his ultimatum.
Parliament passed the Married Women’s Property Act (Act) in 1882, the same year Catherine and her children joined the Church. For reasons unknown, the law was not applied in Catherine’s case. Perhaps the effective date of the law came too late to help her; or she may have not known she could have legally contested her brother-in-law’s actions in court. It is unlikely that Catherine’s brother-in-law was ignorant of the law.
Regardless, certain facts are clear from Catherine’s recorded history. Her brother-in-law gave her an ultimatum; she refused, and he used his power to keep his deceased brother’s widow and minor children from receiving their rightful inheritance.
Largely destitute except for personal savings and 50 pounds their uncle gave each of the children out of their father’s estate, they booked passage to New York; then traveled by rail to Utah Territory. (Chapter 20).
The character and courage of Catherine Byatt Roe and her children is inspiring and remarkable. They put obedience to God above money and fortune; thus, God blessed them beyond measure.
There is no record of what Catherine’s brother-in-law did with her husband’s estate, presumably he kept it for himself. Therein is a lesson; “Pride goeth before destruction … and a fall.” (Proverbs 16: 18). “Pure religion and undefiled before God … is this. To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction …” (James 1: 27). “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones … better for him that a millstone was hanged about his neck and that he was drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18: 6).
Mary Kay’s English, Irish and Scottish progenitors immigrated to America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Most of her ancestors joined the Church after they arrived in America. (Chapter 23).
The Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869. Overland travel across the North American Continent was then reduced from about four months to less than a week.