1500-1599

1532 - Annates Bill: If the court of Rome tried to make any process compulsory in England, sacrament and services should continue to be administered, and the interdict should not be carried out by any minister. If anyone named by the king to a bishopric were restrained by bulls from Rome from accepting office, he should be consecrated by the archbishop. The Annates, a mainstay of Papal finances, were limited to five per cent of their former amount.
1533 - Act of Appeals: The Archbishop of Canterbury was invested with the power to hear and determine all the appeals from the ecclesiastical courts in England. Future attempts to use any foreign process would invoke the penalties of Praemunire. The judgments of the English courts were not to be affected by any papal verdict. Any priest who would not perform his service would be liable to imprisonment.
1533 - Dispensations Act: It cut off all payments, including Peter's Pence, to Rome. No licences issued in Rome were henceforth to be recognized in England.
1533 - Act for the Submission of the Clergy: It stated in precise form the promises given earlier defining the rights of Convocation.
1533 - Treason Act: It sustained all the previous acts concerning the Church. It included the making of any statement against the king.
1534 - Act of Supremacy: It affirmed that the king was the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
1536 - ?? Act: It extinguished the authority of the Bishop of Rome.
1536 - ?? Act: Wales was incorporated into England. Four new counties were added. The earldom of Pembroke and the lordship of Glamorgan were converted into counties.
1543 - Succession Act: The heir to the throne after Edward VI would be Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
1549 - Act of Uniformity: It instructed the clergy to use the first Book of Common Prayer and no other on penalty of fine, deprivation, or imprisonment.
1552 - Second Act of Uniformity: It authorized the use of the Second Book of Common Prayer. It permitted the ecclesiastical punishment of the laity for not attending church services and imposed punishments for the performance of unauthorized services.
1563 - Statute of Apprentices: It required everyone to do work suited to their training and ability. All crafts and professions were arranged in order of their national importance. Farm work was at the bottom, and trade was at the top. All who could not produce a certificate showing qualification for a trade or profession were ordered to go to work on a farm. Single women were directed into domestic service. Wages were fixed by Justices of the Peace.