THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE 339

Of English Protestantism, which must be more familiar
to the reader, we need write very little here. The ground
had no doubt been prepared by Wycliffe, "the morning
star of fhe Reformation." Erasmus too had lived in England
for a long time, and Tyndale had again translated the
Bible into English before he was burnt as a heretic in Flan-
ders. But the course of the Reformation in England, it is
well-known, was determined by Henry VIII's disgust to-
wards his first wife Catharine, and his love for Anne Boleyn.
For this, he summoned the Reformation Parliament (1529-
36), abolished appeals to the Papal court, confirmed the
divorce, and proclaimed by statute that the King of England
' justly is, and ought to be, the Supreme head of the Church
of England/ The Reformation in England was more poli-
tical than1 religious to begin with. Henry had won the title
of Defender of the Faith (which is still borne by His
Majesty) by his defence of the Catholic Church against the
Lutheran attacks. He also burnt Anabaptists and Lutherans
at the stake as heretics. But, at the same time, it is not to
be forgotten that he also executed Papalists like Sir Thomas
More (author of Utopia) and Bishop Fisher, and de-
spoiled and abolished monasteries, for the sake of their
riches. Under his successors, England staggered from the
Protestant extremism of Edward VI and Somerset to the
Catholic extremism of Mary, until she finally settled down
to the stabler compromise of the English Church under
Elizabeth. The only common feature between all these was
the burning of ' heretics/ We have a glimpse of the mind
of Tudor England in the following order for the execution
of Bishop Hooper:—

Whereas John Hooper, who of late was called bishop of Roches-
ter and Gloucester, by due order of the laws ecclesiastic, con-
demned and judged for a most obstinate, false, detestable heretic,