medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Can anyone clarify for me the historical origin of the term
"Church of England"? Hall's Chronicle, in narrating the
Parliament session of 1529, refers to "the churche of Englande,"
but that could be an anachronistic reference or merely
descriptive of the Church's organization, hierarchy, etc. *in*
England at that time. If not called, in English, "the church of
England" ca. 1529, did the English church have a formal
name--English or Latin--before the Reformation?
Or as an official term does "Church of England" date only to the
Act of Supremacy in 1534: "Be it enacted by authority of this
present Parliament that the King our sovereign lord, his heirs
and successors kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted and
reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England
called Anglicana Ecclesia..." (Statutes of the Realm; spelling
modernized)
Curiously, Henry VIII does not seem to have used it in his title
("...defender of the faith and of the Church of England and also
of Ireland on earth the supreme head") until 1543-44. (Handbook
of British Chronology, 1986)
Hall wrote the history in the early 1540s (published 1548 and
1550) and, like modern historians, sometimes uses terms
anachronistically.
Thanks,
Al Magary
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