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SavannahYear 8
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HistoryChurch, state and society: 1066 to 174530 min★★★ difficulty

The English Reformation and its impact

A dispute about one king's marriage ended with England's monarch as head of the Church, monastic land redistributed and religious identity contested for over a century.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745, including the English Reformation and its impact

Key learning points

  • • Causes: money, marriage and ideas
  • • The dissolution of the monasteries
  • • Swinging back and forth
  • • Long-term impact

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

developmentchurchsocietybritainenglish

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

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Part 1 of 19

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The English Reformation and its impact

An English teaching video on this topic from The Northern Historian. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745, including the English Reformation and its impact

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know that the medieval Church was wealthy and answerable to the Pope.

Recap: Church, state and society in medieval Britain, 1066-1509
3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Reformation
The sixteenth-century break with papal authority and reform of the Church.
Dissolution
The closure of monasteries and seizure of their property.
Supremacy
The monarch's authority as head of the Church of England.
Recusant
Someone refusing to attend the established Church.
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Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

The break with Rome

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Causes: money, marriage and ideas

Henry VIII wanted his marriage annulled and the Pope refused. But the break also drew on genuine reforming ideas spreading from Europe, resentment of Church wealth and the Crown's need for money. Explaining the Reformation with only the marriage gives a story that cannot account for why the change lasted after Henry died.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

The dissolution of the monasteries

Between 1536 and 1541 monastic houses were closed and their land sold, mostly to gentry families. This transferred enormous wealth, destroyed centres of charity and learning, and created a class of landowners with a financial stake in the Reformation never being reversed. Ruined abbeys across the country are the physical evidence.

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Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

The dissolution transferred monastic land mainly to...

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Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Which was NOT a cause of the Reformation?

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Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

A century of consequences

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Swinging back and forth

Edward VI's reign pushed Protestant reform further, Mary I restored Catholicism and executed leading Protestants, and Elizabeth I established a settlement designed to be broad enough for most people to accept. Ordinary parishes had to change their worship repeatedly, which is why sources show both conformity and quiet resistance.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Long-term impact

The Reformation tied religion to loyalty: recusants were suspected politically as well as religiously. It strengthened the Crown, expanded the use of English in worship and reading, and left divisions that fed into the conflicts of the seventeenth century. Its effects were social and economic as much as spiritual.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Mary I's religious policy was to...

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Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

A recusant was someone who...

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Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • People often reduce the Reformation to Henry's divorce. Money, ideas and politics were also causes.
  • People often think the change was instant. Religious policy swung for decades after 1534.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

But the break also drew on genuine reforming ideas spreading from Europe, resentment of ____ wealth and the Crown's need for money.

It strengthened the Crown, expanded the use of ____ in worship and reading, and left divisions that fed into the conflicts of the seventeenth century.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: The English Reformation and its impact

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Royal supremacy meant the monarch was...

  2. 2. The dissolution took place mainly in the...

  3. 3. Elizabeth I's settlement aimed to be...

  4. 4. Religious change increased Crown power because it...

  5. 5. Ruined abbeys are evidence of...

  6. 6. The Reformation contributed to later conflict by...

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

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Points this lesson

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Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

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Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Source

A factory inspector's notebook, 1842

"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."

"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."

"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."

Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
  2. What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
  3. How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.

  • Source work

    Reading

    Read the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.

    2 paragraphs

  • Essay answer

    Writing

    Answer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.

    300–400 words

  • Timeline

    Diagram

    Draw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.

    6–8 events

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