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Henry VIII (died 1547)
Henry VIII was the English king at the time that the Reformation was taking place in Europe. He was strongly opposed to the Protestant doctrine; he wrote a treatise against Luther for which the Pope rewarded him with the title 'Defender of the Faith'.
His motivation for the separation of the Church of England from Rome was political and personal in that he wanted a divorce in order to marry Anne Boleyn. He persuaded Parliament to make this separation legal. Henry VIII appointed Thomas Cranmer as the Archbishop of Canterbury and an Act of Parliament was which included the dissolution of the monasteries.
In 1538 Henry ordered a copy of the Scriptures in English to be placed in every parish church and that the churches were to be open for people to have access to the Bible.
Henry VIII died in 1547 and the Reformation in England and Wales proceeded rapidly. Cranmer replaced the Roman Catholic Missal with the English Prayer Book.
When Edward VI died he was replaced by Mary, his half-sister, who attempted to re-establish Roman Catholicism in England. The persecution of Protestants commenced. Nearly 300 men and women were burnt at the stake. John Foxe in his Book of Martyrs gives us many accounts of the people who were martyred for their faith in Christ. These people did not die for their principles, they went home willingly. There was no way that they could renounce the living witness of Christ within them.
England became a Protestant nation because of these martyrs and because English translations of the Bible became available to everyone. William Tyndale was paramount in this move of God.