I am now well into John Schofield's excellent biography of Thomas Cromwell and two things have leapt out at me. First is the insidious and unstoppable erosion of the Catholic faith following the writings and preachings of that very naughty German, Martin Luther. It is no wonder that all the great dictatorships of modern times always seize control of the means of communication. Alas for the Church of that time, the invention of the printing press and its rapid extension round Europe made control of communications almost impossible. However, what has surprised me somewhat, is the speed at which Luther's message was picked up and absorbed by so many.
It is one of the great ironies of all time, that the steady encroachment of 'Lutherism' into England occurred at a time when 'our 'Enery' was eager, nay slavering, to be rid of wife #1, Catherine of Aragon, and hot to marry wife #2, Anne Boleyn. Even the best legal minds in the realm could not wriggle their way through the Papal strictures forbidding such an act, so that was all the encouragement 'our 'Enery' needed to be rid off this European entanglement. Thus, the first 'Brexit' was a 'Royal Brexit' - God bless yer Majesty!
I suspect that my next history book is going to be on the subject of Luther and his 'revolutionary' movement!
Our current political masters are doing their best to control the new media, of course, but their failure to do so may well be our salvation. Governments can no longer dictate the flow of news; gaffes and promises stick around on the internet forever; and informed pundits (like us here!!) can freely exchange ideas. It is only recently that we have seen what a comprehensively useless set of pillocks are in positions of power. Freedom beckons, if only we have the courage.
Posted by: Whyaxye | Thursday, 16 May 2019 at 18:40
A kind of Proto Protestantism existed as far back as the Peasants' Revolt, 1387(?)Chaucer, living during that time, had some rude words for Bishops and other clergy who grew fat on the People's substance, and and, conversely, had kind words for the simple country priests who lived no better than the peasants in their congregations.
Contemporaneously, Wycliffe and his Lollards were early rebels against the authority of the Roman Church. He also translated much of the Bible into English, and let people read it for themselves, even before there were printing presses.
Certainly there were men, like Thomas More, who worried that a monarch without the restraining hand of the Church would become a tyrant, as Henry turned out to be. Yes, indeed, there are some fine people who worry now about a Government free of the restraints imposed by the EU. They may be wrong, but their reasoning is sound. It's just that life is not always reasonable nor logical.
Whatever, freedom did not begin with Henry, but it did have its origins in the Bible.
Posted by: Michael F Adams | Thursday, 16 May 2019 at 21:56
Luther did a good job in exposing the the mad dogma of the Catholic Church however he like the Catholic Church was unfriendly towards Jews.
Posted by: Jimmy Glesga | Thursday, 16 May 2019 at 22:44
For a synopsis of Luther's anti-semitism see
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/luthers-jewish-problem/
What's more it is a Christian publication.
Posted by: AussieD | Friday, 17 May 2019 at 00:12