Brief History of the Church of England
England, Church of, the established church in England and the mother church of
the Anglican Communion. Christianity, brought by the Romans, was established in
Britain by the 4th century, but it was nearly destroyed by invasions of pagan Anglo-Saxons
beginning in the 5th century The mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury began (597) the
reconversion of England and the reestablishment of its ties to the papacy.
Conflicts between church and state during the Middle Ages culminated with
Henry VIII's break with Rome. The pope's refusal to annul Henry's marriage to
Katherine of Aragon led Henry to issue the Act of Supremacy (1534), which declared the
king to be the head of the Church of England. Henry suppressed the monasteries
and authorized the Great Bible (1539). Under Archbishop Cranmer the
First Book OF Common Prayer was produced and adopted (1549). Mary I returned the
English church to communion with Rome, but with the accession of Elizabeth I, an
independent church was restored and steered along a middle ground between Roman
Catholicism and Calvinism. During the English Civil War the Long Parliament
established (1646) Presbytariasm, but with the Restoration (1660), the episcopacy
was restored and the Prayer Book was made the only legal service book by the Act of
Uniformity (1662). Since that time, despite internal controversies, e.g., the
Oxford Movement, the church has held firm. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief
leader (primate) of the church. In polity, the High Church party holds to ritual and
apostolic succession and is contravened by the Low Church party, which emphasizes the
Bible and preaching. Women were admitted to the diaconate in 1981 and to the priesthood
in 1994.