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Supreme Head of the Church of England was the title applied to King Henry VIII of England by the 1534 Act of Supremacy which formed part of the legal process of putting an end to the exercise of papal authority in England and Wales and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The act recognized the Crown's full jurisdiction over the English Church which had been usurped by the Papacy, but left the right to preach, ordain and to administer the sacraments to the clergy. The title continued in use after his death in 1547 during the reign of his son and successor, Edward VI (1547-1553), and during the first years of Mary I's reign until the 1534 act was repealed in 1555 as part of the Marian program to restore papal jurisdiction. When Elizabeth I of England reversed Mary's policies and reintroduced Protestantism in 1558-9, the second act of supremacy did not revive the title but opted for that of Supreme Governor.

Historical background
Henry had married Catherine of Aragon, his dead brother Arthur's widow, in 1509 with a papal dispensation. Of their children only Mary Tudor (the future Mary I of England) lived to reach adulthood and by the late 1520's Catherine was unlikely to conceive again. Although legally Mary could succeed to the throne, it was generally felt that a male heir was necessary for the stability of the country. Henry interpreted the lack of a male heir as the judgement of God on an invalid marriage and applied to the Pope Clement VII for an annulment. Despite having a respectable case by the standards of the time, Henry's request was refused because the King of Spain (Catherine's uncle) wished to retain a strong Spanish influence at the English court and could exert considerable military pressure on the Papal States. Faced with this threat, the Pope procrastinated in the hope that the problem would go away, and while making a series of secondary concessions to Henry, resolutely blocked any decision as to the annulment itself.

In

By Henry VIII
Consulted Convocation, but legislated in Parliament

In the reign of Edward VI
Appointment of Bps by letters patent

By Mary I
Mary detested the title of "Supreme Head" and considered it a fiction but was forced by law to use its powers for the first 15 months of her reign to reorder the English Church as she began to restore papal jurisdiction. Only after the absolution of Parliament in November 1554 and further wrangles about the ownership of former monastic lands and properties was it possible for her to be rid of the title.

The change to Supreme Governor under Elizabeth I
The title of "Supreme Head" was not used in the second act of supremacy passed at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign. In an age of male chauvinism was a universally popular move and in addition it was offensive to both Catholics and committed Protestants. To the latter, the title only belonged to Christ himself. While strictly speaking this was not a substantial change, it pointed up the limitation of royal power to jurisdiction, that is administrative authority. While almost everyone who took up any office in Church or State was required to take the Oath of Supremacy as defined in the act which affirmed the title of "Supreme Governor", the nobility were exempted.