Was Anne Boleyn or Thomas Cromwell the more influential in bringing religious reform in the 1530s?
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Was Anne Boleyn or Thomas Cromwell the more influential in bringing religious reform in the 1530s? The 1530s was perhaps the most important decade in the history of religion in England since the re-introduction of Christianity by St. Augustine. It saw the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the introduction of bibles in English, and the emergence of a Church governed not by a far-off Pope, but by the King of England, which undoubtedly made later, more religion-based reforms far easier. What is not immediately obvious at first glance is how much Henry VIII's failed 'divorce' from Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, in favour of his love for Anne Boleyn, caused these religious changes, and how far the Reformation's success depended on the brilliant administrative skills (and Lutheran leanings) of Thomas Cromwell, the King's Chief Minister, who first proposed the Break with Rome some time in 15311. Catherine of Aragon had...

