Mumpsimus and Sumpsimus
Mumpsimus and Sumpsimus
This chapter examines the Act of Six Articles, passed in 1539 by Henry VIII to enforce under heavy penalties the fundamental doctrines of the Church of England. In many respects, the Six Articles were a disaster for the reformers, affirming a traditionalist line on all the propositions Norfolk placed before Parliament. For one, heresy and treason became thoroughly conflated. The Six Articles were a setback for evangelicals, and a shot in the arm for conservatives, but they did not signal any fundamental repudiation of the path Henry had followed since 1532. The chapter analyses the ways that the Act of Six Articles not only reinforced existing heresy laws and reasserted traditional Catholic doctrine as the basis of faith for the English Church, but also determined the political fate of Thomas Cromwell, archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, and the other reformist leaders.
Keywords: heresy, Act of Six Articles, Henry VIII, Church of England, reformers, Parliament, treason, evangelicals, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Cranmer
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