Source details: (URL)

Image of Oath of allegiance to Henry VIII and his successors, 1534

The National Archives ( 1534)

During the 1530s immense changes in the relationship between church and state took place. The marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon had not produced a male heir, but an annulment had not been forthcoming from the pope. As a result Henry embarked upon the process of breaking with papal authority, and in 1533 he married Anne Boleyn. The fifth session of the 'Reformation Parliament', which ended on 30 March 1534, is recorded on these two pages of the journal of the House of Lords. In accordance with the Act of Succession - which ratified Henry's marriage with Anne and established the succession - arrangements were put in place for the swearing of an oath by the king's subjects, to affirm the Act. Refusal to swear the oath was treated as treason.