It is hard to think of a more important parliament in the history of this island than the so-called Reformation parliament, which met under Henry VIII. After the MPs convened in 1529, in the space of only a few years they did much more than do away with the Pope and approve of the King’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. They cut a thousand-year-old tie to the Continent – effecting a profound cultural and political as well as a religious shift whose consequences can be felt even today in the anguished debates on Britain’s place in Europe.
Reported by Independent 38 minutes ago.
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