A Roman Catholic England

What if Henry VIII actually backed down & accepted the fact that he couldn’t divorce his latest Queen. Consequentially the Roman Catholic Church presumably remains the only official church in England.

So how does English let alone European history change as a result?

Or does England still become Protestant, at some later date, under a "protector" Monarch?

If so, how does that change history if England become Protestant at a later date?

Anything else?
 

Philip

Donor
So how does English let alone European history change as a result?

Bad news for the Dutch. Also, this could lead to a smaller population in England's colonies.

Or does England still become Protestant, at some later date, under a "protector" Monarch?

The Reformation would definitely touch England. An English Civil War still seems likely.
 

HueyLong

Banned
Bad news for the Dutch. Also, this could lead to a smaller population in England's colonies.

How would it lead to a smaller population? Most colonists were Protestant and were pushed on the fringe of society less than they would be in a Catholic England.

Reformation would definitely touch England. An English Civil War still seems likely.

Maybe a parliamentary coup, but I doubt it would get the religious meaning of OTL.
 
How was succession laid down? Could women get the throne or not? Obviously they later did but would Henry be content with having only one daughter? First of all she was a woman and second of all it was only one child and seeing his brother die at relatively young age he might think this was too risky (which he did anyway). If Catherine would be unable to produce more living children he might be p/o anyway, even if Mary could get the throne without troubles.
 
If Catholic England becomes at some time Protestant, would it be Calvinist or Lutheran-Evangelical?
 
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Philip

Donor
How would it lead to a smaller population?

cf France and her colonies.

Most colonists were Protestant and were pushed on the fringe of society less than they would be in a Catholic England.

You assume that England will permit Protestants to move to the colonies. OTL they did, and they attracted French and German Protestants as well. If Protestantism is suppressed in the Colonies, there would not be such an influx and the population will be smaller.

Also, if England remains Catholic, there may not be a sizable English Protestant population that flees to the Colonies.
 
How about Henry VIII siring a bastard and designate him as his succesor overruling the Parliament? There were precedents... William I was a bastard... The founder of the Portuguese dynasty was a bastard...
 

HueyLong

Banned
cf France and her colonies.



You assume that England will permit Protestants to move to the colonies. OTL they did, and they attracted French and German Protestants as well. If Protestantism is suppressed in the Colonies, there would not be such an influx and the population will be smaller.

Also, if England remains Catholic, there may not be a sizable English Protestant population that flees to the Colonies.

But England even later made people swear to be good Anglicans when going to Virginia, for example. And the plantations in Ireland were, again, not strict on who came.

I think the English would let Protestants move about to the colonies.
 
If England stays Roman Catholic under Henry VIII I don't think that this would change English history all that much. The fact is that pretty much every state in northern Europe had a war(s) over what religion they were going to be. Henry VIII's move towards half-measure Protestantism allowed his country to avoid the bloody religious wars of Europe until the mid-17th century. The English Civil War was England version of Europe's religious wars.

In my view the religious wars were really cover for class war, basically Catholicism was supported by the landed aristocracy, while Protestantism was supported by the rising middle class, other known as the bourgeious (sp). In states where Protestantism won the middle class won, (North Germany, Netherlands, Britain) thus the "Protestant Work Ethic" while where Catholicism triumphed the old order of landed aristocracy continued (France, Italy, Spain, Austria).

So if England remains Catholic under the rule of the Tudors, a rule which may be rather short since Mary didn't appear to have children and Edward and Elizabeth won't get born, then I think that a Protestant reaction is inevitable. If Henry doesn't get a divorce, then our favorite Tudor bastard, Henry Fitzroy, gets a whole lot more important, cause Henry VIII isn't having any more kids . . .
 
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