Zgodovina angleške reformacijske politike od Henrika VIII. do Elizabete I. : diplomsko delo

Podbersič, Klemen (author), Štuhec, Marko (mentor)

Pričujoče diplomsko delo si prizadeva pregledno prikazati reformacijsko politiko v angleškem kraljestvu od kralja Henrika VIII. do kraljice Elizabete I. Kot recimo v Skandinaviji je imela reformacija v Angliji znatno podporo vladajočih slojev, med drugim tudi zato, ker je verski razdor med Anglijo in Rimom koreninil v sporu Henrika VIII. s papežem Klemenom VII. po ločitvi prvega od Katarine Aragonske. V času Edvarda VI. je kraljevim svetovalcem in regentu, vojvodi Somersetu, uspelo konsolidirati potek državne reformacije in ustreči tistim, ki so bili naklonjeni nadaljnjim reformam znotraj angleške državne cerkve. K učinkovitosti vpeljanih reform je silno pripomogla močna centralizacija angleškega kraljestva, ki je dajala pečat angleški notranji politiki že vse od dni kralja Edvarda I. (v. 1272–1307) dalje. Vpletenost državnih veljakov v reformacijsko politiko je bila vidna tudi v načinu implementacije kraljevih odločb o »pravilni« verski praksi. Tisti, ki so bili obtoženi in obsojeni krivoverstva pred uradnimi cerkvenimi sodišči, so nedvomno čutili neznansko moč državnih oblasti. Pregovorno naj bi bilo to najbolj očitno v času »krvave« kraljice Marije I., ki je svojo kratko vladavino posvetila maščevalnemu preganjanju protestantov, kar je bilo nedvomno spodbujano s strani njenega španskega soproga. Po Marijini smrti so angleški protestantje hrepeneli po obnovi in nadaljevanju kraljevih prizadevanj po reformaciji vere. Namesto tega so bili v času kraljice Elizabete I. deležni sprejetja eklektične verske poravnave, ki se je sčasoma uveljavila kot oris uradne doktrine angleške državne cerkve. Torišče angleške reformacijske politike, zlasti v času Henrika VIII. in Elizabete I., je predstavljalo zaporedje političnih bojev o tem, komu in v kolikšni meri bo pripadla pravica po določanju verskih obveznosti, ki v Svetem pismu niso predpisane in o katerih se slednje ne izreka (ang. 'things indifferent'; gr. adiaphora). Razkol v sedemdesetih in osemdesetih letih 16. stoletja med verskimi konformisti in tistimi, ki se niso želeli podrediti zapovedim nove, s strani državnih oblasti normirane veroizpovedi (puritanci), je v svojih nasledkih vplival tudi na prihodnost evangeličanske skupnosti v Novem svetu. Potek reformacije v Angliji so skozinskoz zaznamovali artikulirani besedni dvoboji, ki so se uspeli do javnosti prebiti s pomočjo naglo razvijajoče se tiskarske dejavnosti.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Anglija, protestantizem, reformacija, država, nasledstvo, politika, adiaphora
• Work type: Bachelor thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.11 - Undergraduate Thesis
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Place of publishing: Gorica
• Publisher: K. Podbersič
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 31 str.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-171109
• UDC: 94(410.1)
• COBISS.SI-ID: 245827331
• Publication date in RUL: 06.08.2025

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: The history of english reformation politics from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I

Abstract

The following thesis attempts to provide an overview of the history of Reformation politics and their repercussions adopted in 16th-century England by successive monarchs of the latter Tudor dynasty. As, for instance, in Scandinavia, the Reformation in England had considerable support among the ruling classes, in part because England's break with Rome was triggered by Henry VIII's feud with Pope Clement VII following the former's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. During the reign of Edward VI, the councillors and the king's regent, the Duke of Somerset, managed to steady the course of the Reformation and pleased those well-disposed to calls for further reform within the Church of England. The effectiveness of enacted reforms was greatly aided by the strong centralization that had characterized the state of English internal affairs ever since the days of King Edward I (r. 1272-1307). The involvement of the officers of state in matters of religion was made plain by how royal decrees on the 'proper' observance of the Christian faith were effectively enforced. Those accused of heresy and sentenced under heresy laws by official church courts most assuredly trembled under the ever-watchful gaze of stately authority. Proverbially, this was most apparent during the time of the »bloody« Queen Mary I, who dedicated herself to pursuing a vengeful Counter-Reformation, no doubt egged on by her Spanish King Consort. Upon Mary's death, the Protestants of England hoped for a renewal and eventual furtherance of royal Reformation efforts. What they instead received during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I was the adoption of a Religious Settlement of an eclectic sort, which, with time, managed to establish itself as the lasting doctrinal outline of the Church of England. The focal points of English Reformation politics, especially during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, were successive clashes that arose over which 'things indifferent' to scriptural commandment (i.e., adiaphora) could be ordained solely by the monarch as part of official church liturgy and theological doctrine. The evolving rift between conformists and non-conformists (i.e., Puritans) in the Church of England during the 1570s and 80s consequently also influenced the future of evangelicalism in the New World. Throughout its course, England's Reformation was profoundly marked by vicious public spats, commonly acted out in the rapidly developing world of print.

• Keywords: England, protestantism, reformation, state, succession, politics, adiaphora