1. Tudor England
- In the late 1520s and early 1530s, King of England sought to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, aunt of , because he did not have a male heir. Pope Clement VII, who was being held prisoner by , denied the annulment. Parliament, the king, and his Lutheran ministers Thomas Cranmer and gradually seized more power away from the pope. In 1533, the king married , and in 1534, Parliament named the king as head of the Church of England in the .
- King , who ruled England from 1509 to 1547, refused to implement policies like allowing clergy to marry or denying transubstantiation. His son, , imposed many Protestant reforms between 1547 and 1553. His successor and half-sister, , restored Catholicism and relations with the pope. Upon her death in 1558, took the throne and repealed her half-sister’s anti- laws in a compromise that tolerated Catholicism and encouraged the Protestant Church of England, but discouraged who sought to purge the Church of England of all Catholic traditions.
- In the 1570s, England signed a mutual defense agreement with and encouraged piracy against Elizabeth I’s decision to execute Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, a rival, was the final reason for the Kingdom of to attack England. The invasion Armada numbered ships, but English and Dutch ships were victorious and sank or captured more than one third of the fleet.