In May the English Parliament passed the Acts of Six Articles which detailed the fundamental Catholic doctrines the king wished to retain in the Church of England. Among these were transubstantiation, clerical celibacy, and auricular confession. Faced with this threat Thomas Cranmer is rumoured to have sent his wife and children abroad for safety. 

This was also the year that the Great Bible, an entire translation of the Bible produced by Myles Coverdale was placed in every church in the land by command of the king. Six English Bibles were placed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. People flocked to it, hungry to hear the word of God. Often one literate person would read the Bible to a throng of those who could not read right there in the church. 

Almost overnight the Bible became a feature of public reading. The illiterate learned to read so they could access the Bible. Butchers and bakers were challenging priests who preached contrary to Scripture demanding to know the Biblical basis for what they were saying. It was a turning point in both the English Reformation and the intellectual culture of the Kingdom. 

However, despite the growing trend towards Protestantism at a grass-roots level, the King’s fundamental ideology was still firmly Catholic. In July of 1540, six men were executed at the king’s command. Three Catholics were hanged for treason because they refused to acknowledge the king as the supreme head of the church. Three Protestants were burned for heresy because they refused to accept transubstantiation. The executions highlight the greater issue of religious liberty within Europe which the Reformation raised.