The Reformation in England was a much more prolonged, gradual and inconsistent process than it was in most German and Scandinavian countries, mostly because it was orchestrated as top-down policy rather than a genuine grass-roots movement. Though King Henry VIII (r. 1509-47) had broken with Rome over the issue of annulling his marriage to Catherine, he was not a Lutheran (which is what Protestants were called at the time) by any means, and was in his heart still a Catholic. Henry agreed with almost every Catholic doctrine and practice, with the exception of the Pope being the head of the Church. In the wake of Luther’s 95 Theses Henry had written personally an extensive rebuttal to all of his points, which was published around Europe and received much acclaim, including by the Pope, who awarded him the title “Defender of the Faith”. Even after breaking with Rome and being excommunicated Henry has dozens of outspoken Lutherans arrested, imprisoned and executed, many by burning at the stake.

The most prominent Lutherans during the reign of Henry were all nobles or senior clergy, most notably Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Cranmer, and Anne Boleyn, who were respectively the king’s prime minister, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and his second wife. These three were in regular contact with German Lutherans and their written works, though very discreetly due to the king’s open hostility to Lutheranism. They were very careful and subtle in promoting Luther’s ideas, and knew which arguments to press and which to not even bother with. Henry was more open to some ideas than others, and because he was a very egotistical and controlling man, he was most open to ideas of strengthening his own authority. Cromwell gradually managed to conflate several Lutheran principles with seamless increases of Henry’s own power, such as removing the Pope as the head of the Church, abolishing the monasteries (giving Henry an enormous boost in wealth) and declaring any Catholics - or “papists” as they were called) to be traitors against the king, not on religious grounds but on political ones. Henry saw these changes not as pro-Protestant but merely as anti-Pope, and as a strengthening of his own power.

That said, there were definite limits to Henry’s openness to Protestant ideas, and he angrily rejected even the mention of many of them. He was a deeply conflicted man and reportedly confessed his guilt at having broken with Rome and abandoned some of the ways of the Church. But politically he’d already ‘crossed the Rubicon’, as it were, and he was not willing to go back.

The death of Henry VIII and the ascension of his young son Edward VI was a godsend for Protestants in England. Edward had been raised from birth in a pro-Protestant environment, and had none of the misgivings or hesitations of his father. Since he was too young to rule in his own right, the government was passed to a regency council, which was made up almost entirely of Protestants or Protestant sympathisers, most notably Thomas Cranmer. He led the charge in enforcing Protestantism vigorously throughout England, and also had the first English-language Bibles printed and distributed officially. The six years of Edward VI’s short reign (r. 1547-53) saw a dramatic upsurge in not just Protestant acceptance but also widespread conversions. England had been a predominantly Catholic country when Henry VIII died, but when his son died six years later it was more evenly split in terms of demographics.

The ascension of Queen Mary I (r. 1553-58) threatened to change all of that. As the daughter of the devoutly Catholic and Spanish-born Catherine of Aragon, Mary was not just a staunch Catholic but had a deep hatred of anything Protestant and anti-Catholic. She’s earned the nickname “Bloody Mary”, and for good reason. Her reign saw the executions of thousands of Protestants, both high-and low-born, usually by burning at the stake. She executed Thomas Cranmer, even after he recanted his Protestantism. She went so far in her revenge/persecution that even her equally devout Catholic husband, King Philip II of Spain, urged her to moderate her policies, since he feared they would lead to widespread revolt. She did no such thing, and any possible revolts were only avoided by her early death due to sickness.

Mary was succeeded by Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603), daughter of Henry VIII and the devoutly Protestant but deceased Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth immediately overturned all of her half-sister’s anti-Protestant policies, and returned things to how they were during the reign of her half-brother Edward VI, although with a somewhat less hostile attitude to Catholics. Catholicism was still outlawed and punishable by fines or imprisonment (at least for the more outspoken, public Catholics, usually preachers), but they were very rarely if ever executed. Elizabeth’s long reign (45 years) gave ample time for her pro-Protestant policies to take effect and become deeply rooted in English society. By the time that she died and the Tudor dynasty was replaced by the Protestant Scottish Stuart dynasty, England had a large Protestant majority.

King James I (r. 1603-25) had arguably the greatest contribution to ensuring that Protestantism continued to thrive in England, due to the foiling of the anti-Protestant Gunpowder Plot, his printing of the King James Bible, his neutrality during the Thirty Years War, and the establishment of British (and thus Protestant) colonies in North America. His reign saw the last vestiges of pro-Catholicism on any large-scale disappear. The massive and violent retaliation against the small Catholic minority in response to the failed Gunpowder Plot shows this more clearly than anything else.