TheActs of Supremacy are two acts passed by theParliament of England in the 16th century that established the English monarchs as the head of theChurch of England; two similar laws were passed by theParliament of Ireland establishing the English monarchs as the head of theChurch of Ireland. The 1534 Act declaredKing Henry VIII and his successors as the Supreme Head of the Church, replacing thePope. This first Act was repealed during the reign of the CatholicQueen Mary I. The 1558 Act declaredQueen Elizabeth I and her successors the Supreme Governor of the Church, a title that theBritish monarch still holds.
Royal supremacy is specifically used to describe the legalsovereignty of the king (i.e., civil law) over thelaw of theChurch inEngland.[citation needed][1]
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act concerning the King's Highness to be Supreme Head of the Church of England, and to have Authority to reform and redress all Errors, Heresies and Abuses in the same. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 26 Hen. 8. c. 1 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 18 December 1534 |
| Commencement | 3 November 1534[a] |
| Repealed | 12 November 1554 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | See of Rome Act 1554 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The first Act of Supremacy, passed on 3 November 1534 (26 Hen. 8. c. 1) by theParliament of England[2] was one of the first major events in theEnglish Reformation. It granted KingHenry VIII of England and subsequent monarchs royal supremacy and stated that the reigning monarch was thesupreme head of theChurch of England.
The act declared that the king was "the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England" and thatthe Crown shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity."[3] The wording of the act made clear that Parliament was not granting the king the title (thereby suggesting that they had the right to withdraw it later); rather, it was acknowledging an established fact. In the Act of Supremacy, Henry VIII withdrew support for the authority of the pope and theRoman Catholic Church and asserted the independence of theEcclesia Anglicana. He appointed himself and his successors as the supreme rulers of the English church. Earlier, Henry VIII had been declared "Defender of the Faith" (Fidei defensor) in 1521 byPope Leo X for his pamphlet accusingMartin Luther of heresy.[4] Parliament later conferred this title upon the king in 1544.[5]
Henry VIII was motivated to issue the act for multiple reasons. He desperately wanted a male heir to continue his line, and after wars and succession crises, aimed to ensure that his dynastic lineage would continue without challenge. WhenCatherine of Aragon did not bear a son, the king tried for years toannul his marriage to her, having convinced himself that God was punishing him for marrying his brother's widow.[6]
Despite his close alignment with the Catholic Church and other papal annulments,[citation needed]Pope Clement VII refused to grant Henry VIII an annulment. Roman Catholic doctrine viewed a marriage contract as indissoluble until death, and the papacy argued that a marriage could not simply be annulled because of acanonical impediment previouslydispensed.[7] Additionally, the emperor of theHapsburg empire at this time,Charles V, was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon, and for the Pope to declare that marriage invalid would be to separate the Church from the good favour of the emperor.[citation needed]
Henry VIII subsequently passed theTreasons Act, which stated that to disavow the Act of Supremacy and to deprive the king of his "dignity, title, or name" was to be consideredtreason.[8] Thus, the king's control over the English religion was absolute and those who held to Catholic beliefs were swiftly punished. The most famous public figure to resist the Treasons Act wasSir Thomas More, who was convicted of treason and executed by beheading.[9]
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act authorizing the King, His Heirs, and Successors, to be supreme Head of the Church of Ireland. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 26 Hen. 8. c. 5 (I) |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1950 |
Status: Repealed | |
In 1537, theAct of Supremacy (Ireland) 1537 (28 Hen. 8. c. 5 (I),An Act authorising the King, His Heirs and Successors, to be supreme Head of the Church of Ireland) was passed by theParliament of Ireland, establishing Henry VIII as the supreme head of theChurch of Ireland, as had earlier been done in England.[10]
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Acte restoring to the Crowne thauncyent Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall, and abolyshing all Forreine Power repugnaunt to the same. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 1 Eliz. 1. c. 1 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repeals/revokes | Suppression of Heresy Act 1400 |
Status: Amended | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy was repealed in 1554 during the reign of his staunchly Roman Catholic daughter, QueenMary I. Upon her death in November 1558, her Protestant half-sisterElizabeth I succeeded to the throne. The first Elizabethan Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy 1558[nb 1] that declared Elizabeth theSupreme Governor of theChurch of England and instituted anOath of Supremacy requiring anyone taking public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and state. Anyone refusing to take the oath could be charged with treason.[13]
The use of the termSupreme Governor as opposed toSupreme Head pacified some Catholics and those Protestants concerned about a female leader of theChurch of England. Elizabeth, who was apolitique,[citation needed][14] did not prosecutenonconformist laymen, or those who did not follow the established rules of theChurch of England unless their actions directly undermined the authority of the English monarch, as was the case in thevestments controversy. Thus, it was through the Second Act of Supremacy that Elizabeth I officially established the now reformed Church of England. This was a part of theElizabethan Religious Settlement.[14]
HistorianG. R. Elton has argued that, "in law and political theory the Elizabethan supremacy was essentially parliamentary, while Henry VIII's had been essentially personal."[15] The royal supremacy was extinguished during theBritish Interregnum from 1649, but was restored in 1660. The Stuart kings used it as a justification for controlling the appointment of bishops.[citation needed]
The conflation in the Crown of supreme lay authority over church and state made every secular subject of the Crown a spiritual subject of the Church as well; the Church was co-extensive with the State. Contemporary English theologianRichard Hooker described the situation thus:
There is not any man of the Church of England but the same man is a member of the Commonwealth, nor a member of the Commonwealth which is not also a member of the Church of England.[16][17]
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act restoring to the Crown, the auncient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall, and abolishing all forreine Power repugnant to the same. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2 Eliz. 1. c. 1 (I) |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of the Act of Supremacy (Ireland) 1560 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, fromlegislation.gov.uk. | |
In 1560, theParliament of Ireland passed "An Act restoring to the Crown, the auncient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall, and abolishing all forreine Power repugnant to the same.".[18][19]
