Protestant Reformation in a Catholic England

Teejay

Gone Fishin'
I often ask how the Protestant reformation would have affected England, if for some reason Henry VIII did not break England away from allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

My best guess is that England as a whole would have remained a very Roman Catholic country and this would have been reinforced if the Counter Reformation got established in England.

However even if the state remained Catholic, it would have been quite possible that a sizeable minority of the population (particularly among people in London and the South), including with a large proportion of the gentry and nobility becoming Protestant. They would be Protestants of the Calvinist Iconoclastic sort and seeing themselves as the heirs of the Lollards.

Protestant Reformation in OTL, the populace of North (to a lesser degree the Midlands and the West Country) remained strongly Catholic. While London and the South were much more supportive of the Reformation and in the 17th century became the strongholds of Puritanism. This North-South divide in England was reflected in the levels of support for Lollardy in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

This scenario above could have very well been a recipe for a religious civil war in England. Especially if the Monarchy decides to invade Scotland (probably by the invitation of Mary Stuart) in order to suppress the reformation which occurred there in the 16th century.
 
In 1532, after much debating (and a large sum of gold) Pope Clement VII, allows Henry VIII to divorce his first wife on the grounds that "thou shall not marry thy brother's wife. This means that Henry VIII does not break England away from allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

Like its Irish counterpart, England remains Roman Catholic with Mary ... AND ELIZABETH ...and Edward VI being raised as catholic and married off to foreign catholic royalty.

The gentry and nobility that turn Protestant will be treated the same way as the catholics were in our period, some who show signs of "treason" will be burnt at the stake, by the English Inquistion ... who really no one expects.
While the majority just stay quiet and get on with normal life, try to influence the court and most importantly stay alive.

This may well bring a first English Civil War Between the Catholic Royals and Loyalist vs Protestant Lords and Parliamentares

Mary is still married off to Philip II of Spain
Elizabeth is married off to either João Manuel, Prince of Portugal or Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Edward is married off to Elisabeth of Valois (Daughter of Henry II of France)
 
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