House of Tudor the Tower of London saved him from the public humiliation and inevitable execution he would have suffered upon his arrival at the Tower. In order to allow Henry to divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn, the English parliament enacted laws breaking ties with Rome, and declaring the king Supreme Head of the Church of England (from Elizabeth I the monarch is known as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England), thus severing the ecclesiastical structure of England from the Catholic Church and the Pope. The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was then able to declare Henry's
Catholic societies of the Church of England Catholic societies of the Church of England The Catholic societies of the Church of England are associations within the Church of England which follow in the tradition of Anglo-Catholicism. Although many, especially the older ones, make specific reference to the Church of England in their foundation documents, the vast majority today extend their membership and influence to all member churches of the wider Anglican Communion, and often also to those non-Anglican churches that are in full communion with the See of Canterbury (for example, through the Porvoo Communion). The various societies were founded for many different reasons. Some have specific