Excerpt from History of the Church in England

"Opposition to papal authority was familiar to men, but a spiritual supremacy, an ecclesiastical headship, as it separated Henry VIII. from all his predecessors by an immeasurable interval, so was it without precedent and at variance with all tradition." The causes which led to this spiritual supremacy were in Henry himself, whilst they were developed by peculiar circumstances. The young king, who in April, 1509, succeeded a cool, calculating, unattractive father, found England, in fact, recovering from a crisis. Every word and act of Henry VII. had contributed to strengthen the royal hand, whether for good or evil, and a situation singular in the annals of English history favoured his policy. The Wars of the Roses had produced little short of a revolution, whilst practically they had not affected moneyed interests. Neither famine, pestilence, nor high prices had followed in their wake. Their results as "wars of a class" were apparent all through the Tudor reign.

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