Church of England

The established Christian church in England, part of the Anglican Communion and governed through its own ecclesiastical structures. Its supreme governor is the British monarch.

English Reformation: The sixteenth-century religious and political transformation that established Protestant churches in England. The Church of England emerged through this wider break with Roman Catholic authority.
Anglican Communion: A worldwide fellowship of autonomous churches rooted in the Church of England’s traditions. The Church of England is the Communion’s historic mother church, not its central governing authority.
Supreme Governor of the Church of England: The title held by the British monarch as the formal head of the Church of England. The title defines the crown’s constitutional position without making the monarch its spiritual leader.
Roman Catholic Church: The worldwide Christian church in communion with the pope, based in Rome. The Church of England’s separation from papal authority defines a central historical contrast.
Henry VIII: King of England from 1509 to 1547, who broke with papal authority and became head of the English church. His royal supremacy initiated the institutional separation from Rome.
Archbishop of Canterbury: The senior bishop of the Church of England and a leading spiritual figure in the Anglican Communion. The office leads the province of Canterbury and convenes Anglican leaders internationally.
Established church: A religious body formally recognized and supported by a state. Establishment gives the Church of England a constitutional relationship with the state.
Church of Scotland: Scotland’s national Presbyterian church, governed through elders and assemblies rather than bishops. It is established in Scotland but follows a different polity from England’s episcopal church.
Act of Supremacy 1534: An English statute declaring Henry VIII supreme head of the Church of England. It gave statutory form to the monarch’s authority over the church.
Archbishop of York: The senior bishop of the Church of England’s northern province and its second-ranking archbishop. The office leads the province of York alongside Canterbury’s southern province.

Linked from 40 pages