Six Articles

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The Six Articles of June 1539 (short title 31 Henry VIII, c. 14), also called the Bloody Statute and the Bloody Whip with Six Strings, was an Act of the Parliament of England which reaffirmed Henry VIII's leaning towards theological conservatism. Although Henry wrested control over the English church from Rome, he did not alter the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, which remained until the adoption of Protestantism under the work of Archbishop Cranmer and the regents of Henry's son and successor, Edward VI.

The articles reaffirmed Catholic doctrine on issues such as:

transubstantiation,
the reasonableness of withholding of the cup from the laity during communion,
clerical celibacy,
observance of vows of chastity,
permission for private masses,
the importance of auricular confession.

Penalties under the act ranged from imprisonment and fine to death. However, its severity was reduced by an act of 1540 which retained the death penalty only for denial of transubstantiation, and a further act limited its arbitrariness. The Catholic emphasis of the doctrine commended in the articles is not matched by the ecclesiastical reforms Henry undertook in the following years, such as the enforcement of the necessity of the English Bible and the insistence upon the abolition of all shrines (both 1541).

The Six Articles were opposed by the covertly married Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer; the reforming bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Shaxton resigned their sees in response to the act and thereafter spent time in custody. After Henry's death, the articles were repealed and replaced by his son, the protestant Edward VI.