Henry VIII's key reason for the reformation

... s made. Henry needed to secure the dynasty. He felt that Catherine would bear no more children and therefore he needed to divorce her and marry Anne Boleyn who was pregnant. As the Pope would not grant this, Henry had to 'divorce' the Pope in order to obtain it.

It can be argued that Henry's desire, encouraged probably by Cromwell and Crammer to take over the church as an institution and use it to extend his power both at home and abroad, played a pivotal role in the Reformation. Henry wished to curtail the Pope's influence in England. The Pope was, for example, the sole arbiter of the beliefs of the new Church of England. After the Reformation, Henry became sole arbiter and immediately concerned that the Catholic Church in England had developed into a 'state within a state' due to its tax privileges, won courts. Henry wished to control this 'state' as he wanted sole power on everything within his country.

Henry wanted this cesaropapism - the power over both the state and the church - to increase his own power. He eventually gained this in 1534 due to the Act of Supremacy. This meant that Henry's full claims over the church were placed on the statute book. The whole independent power of the church became largely a thing of the past and was no longer a state within a state. He could only have achieved this by breaking from Rome.

Henry also wanted to run the church so he could oversee the development of education. The educational role of the church was in decline. Church schools were often of poor quality and in many areas simply did not exist. This was important to Henry, as a literate population would be essential in helping the Tudor dynasty to run the country.

The wealth of the church was another political reason for Henry's decision to break from Rome. The crown was always in desperate need for money and Henry himself was always short of money. The wealth and land of the church were therefore obvious targets, particularly when Thomas Cromwell reminded Henry of them. The church owned between 4 and 2 of all land in England. Henry knew that if he could become head of the church then he would own this. Consequently he could sell this land or rent it providing a steady income of money to the crown. This was important as the number of country gentlemen increased by several thousand, therefore helping the stability of the realm. Becoming Head churchman meant that Henry could pass acts such as the Act of First Fruits and Tenths in 1534, which meant the transferring of these payments from the Pope to the king. Also the Act of Annates was passed through parliament, which ended the payment of a third of a Bishop's first year's income to Rome and instead it went to the king.

Henry could also close down monastic institutions and strip them of their belongings. Ornaments, statues, windows and roofing were all taken and sold with the proceeds going straight to the king. In some cases he sold the entire monastery to wealthy landowners to convert into homes. There was also a large lump sum gained from the sale of bullion, plate, jewelle ...