Review: Henry VIII and Martin Luther

As part of my process for review, i thought i'd like to talk a bit about the answer to this question, "Compare and contrast the motives and actions of Martin Luther in the German States and King Henry VIII in England in bringing about religious change during the Reformation." I believe that Henry VIII was acting for his own selfish reasons and motivations of producing an heir and trying to gain power and reputation, whereas Martin Luther was strictly motivated by his cause and his need for justice of God. Martin Luther was able to gain the support of the German peasants (who believed religion would free them from their lords) and many German princes and towns (who thought religion would allow them to consolidate their political independence). Martin Luther’s motives did not have anything to do with trying to gain power or money of any sort- if anything he just wanted to deal with the problem of the justice of god. Martin believed that indulgences represented “the sin of selling grace in return for cash,” in the priesthood of all believers, salvation by faith alone, and that the bible was the word of God. Martin Luther took strong action through his writings of his 99 Theses in 1517. The printing press helped spread his word and it helped gain him “passionate popular support.” Luther did not back down off of his beliefs in Protestantism and showed his courage at the Diet of the Worms when he was proclaimed a heretic. Luther made a big impact on the german states because when individual princes took up Protestantism instead of following the catholic HRE it created unrest.
Whereas Henry VIII's actions were extremely selfish since he was having problems producing and heir to his throne and therefore he wanted to “divorce” his current wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn but the Pope wouldn’t allow the divorce because the Bible said it was “an unclean thing” for a man to take his brother’s wife and curse such a marriage with childlessness. The Pope also didn’t want to annul the marriage because it would look bad for the papacy. So Henry VIII in 1531, declared himself the “protector and only supreme head” of the church in England. Henry VIII broke from Rome and basically established the new Anglican Church, he also wrote the Six Articles, which conveyed that the English church still remained overwhelmingly Catholic in organization, doctrine, ritual, and language.

Therefore Henry VIII and Martin Luther, both advocated and made change happen in Europe, but they had different motivations.