Act of Supremacy

1534 and 1559. Acts of Parliament that confirmed the supreme position of the monarch in the Church of England.

The first Act of Supremacy was passed in the reign of Henry VIII and stated that the king (and not the Pope) was the supreme head of the Church of England. An assembly approved Henry's new title, and it was declared that he and his successors ought to be the only supreme heads. The title was used by the young Protestant king, Edward VI, and, for some time, by his sister and successor, Mary I, who tried to re-catholicise the country. Paradoxically, she could only do so by using her authority as head of church until she could eventually restore the supremacy of the Pope.

In 1559, the year after Elizabeth I's accession to the throne, another Act of Supremacy was passed. It made the Queen the "Supreme Governor" of the Church of England, which is the title that is still in use today.

Sources

• Arnold-Baker, Charles. The Companion to British History. Tunbridge Wells: Longcross Press, 1996.
• Cannon, John. A Dictionary of British History. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.