CHAPTER VI

HENRY VIII (ii), 1509-1532--BIRTH OF THE REFORMATION The Reformation in England--Its true Character--Religious Decadence--The Scholar- Reformers--Ecclesiastical Demoralisation--Monastic Corruption--The Proofs--Corruption of Doctrine--Evidence from Colet and More--Later Evidence--Dean Colet--His Sermon: 1512--Erasmus--The Utopia: 1516-- Exaggerated attacks--Clerical Privileges--Tentative Reforms--The Educational Movement--Wolsey and the Reformation--The Lutheran Revolt: 1517--Luther's Defiance--The Diet of Worms; 1521--The German Peasants' Revolt; 1524--Its Effect in England--1525. The Empire and the Papacy--The Sack of Rome, 1527--Diet of Augsburg, 1530-The Swiss Reformers; 1520-1530--English Heretics Abroad--Contrasted Aims.