The English Reformation was initiated by King Henry VIII for political, not theological, reasons.

The primary trigger was Henry's desire for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, as she had not produced a male heir.

Pope Clement VII refused to grant the annulment, partly due to pressure from the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Catherine's nephew.

In response, Henry used Parliament to pass a series of laws severing ties with the Catholic Church.

The Act of Supremacy in 1534 declared the English monarch, not the Pope, as the supreme head of the Church of England.

Henry's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, oversaw the dissolution of the monasteries, seizing their immense wealth and land for the Crown.

Despite the political break with Rome, the doctrine of the Church of England remained largely Catholic during Henry's reign.

The religious direction shifted towards Protestantism under his son, Edward VI, and then briefly back to Catholicism under his daughter, Mary I.

The final 'Elizabethan Settlement' under Queen Elizabeth I established a moderate Protestant Church of England.

This top-down reformation fundamentally altered the political and religious landscape of England.