uthority which was a direct result of its intervention in affairs of state. British author and historian A. G. Dickens states, “Standing on the summit of this huge pyramid, the medieval Popes, however unwillingly, became political rivals of emperors and kings. Thomas Hobbes must admittedly be accounted a hostile witness, yet he did no more than overstate a genuine historical insight when in 1651 he looked back on the Papacy and called it ‘the Ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof’. So long as the church maintained friendly contacts with the Empire and its powerful successor-states, it could normally call upon physical force to crush doctrinal dissenters, and usually, in the authentic Roman style, without permitting any two-way arguments”. So it was that the Pope, at the time of the conflict with Henry VIII, saw the wisdom in avoiding alienation of the Holy Roman Empire, and in particular, Charles V who was at its head, and also was directly related to Catherine, Henry’s first wife. Dickens also notes that, “Without question the English Reformation belonged to that far larger breakaway which detached half Europe from the Papacy”.
从更广泛的意义上讲，天主教会正在经受改革活动的冲击，这将使其在欧洲的影响力呈指数级下降。这在一定程度上是由于教皇对国家事务的干预直接导致了教皇权威的削弱。英国作家和历史学家A.G.Dickens说：“站在这座巨大金字塔的顶端，中世纪的教皇们，无论多么不情愿，都成为了皇帝和国王的政治对手。托马斯·霍布斯必须被公认为一个充满敌意的见证人，但他在1651年回顾教皇时，称之为‘已故罗马帝国的幽灵，加冕在其坟墓上’，这只不过夸大了他真正的历史洞察力。只要教会与帝国及其强大的继承国保持友好联系，它通常可以用武力镇压教条主义的持不同政见者，而且通常是以真正的罗马风格，不允许任何双向争论”。因此，本篇assignment指出在与亨利八世发生冲突时，教皇看到了避免与神圣罗马帝国疏远的智慧，尤其是与亨利的第一任妻子凯瑟琳有直接关系的查理五世。狄更斯还指出，“毫无疑问，英国宗教改革属于一个更大的分裂，它将半个欧洲从教皇手中分离出来”。
The Protestant Reformation in Tudor England 英国都铎王朝的新教改革
It seems that the Protestant Reformation was quite inevitable in 16th century England, given the winds of change blowing from the continent of Europe and bolstered by the teaching of Luther, Calvin and Zwingli. It was only a matter of time until the force of these teachings found its way into the heart of the people of Great Britain. However, the endeavor received impetus that was quite unexpected, in the form of the tenuous relationship that arose between the Pope and the Crown. Rosman states, “According to the laws of the land, England became a Protestant realm in 1559. This legislative definition of religion was more important that twentieth-century readers may appreciate. The nation-states that emerged in sixteenth-century Europe were validated by religion. People who adhered to alternative faiths in preference to the official one challenged the political as well as the religious order. In England citizenship and creed were inseparable, as they were in most other European states. To be an English person was to be a member of the Church of England”. This paradigm or way of thinking, serves to amplify the magnitude of what was taking place in Tudor England. Though there were many complex issues that constituted this irrevocable change, it must also be noted that the actions and influence wielded by certain individuals, close to the crown, played a decisive role in the events that would follow. These events would shape the Reformation, and it is here that we examine the four Thomas’s.
考虑到欧洲大陆刮起的变革之风，以及路德、加尔文和慈运理的教导，新教改革在16世纪的英格兰似乎是不可避免的。这些教义的力量进入英国人民的心中只是时间问题。然而，这一努力得到了意想不到的推动，教皇和王室之间出现了脆弱的关系。罗斯曼说：“根据当地法律，英格兰于1559年成为新教王国。这种对宗教的立法定义更为重要，二十世纪的读者可能会理解。16世纪欧洲出现的民族国家是由宗教所确认的。那些坚持替代信仰而非官方信仰的人挑战了政治和宗教秩序。在英国，公民身份和信仰是不可分割的，就像在大多数其他欧洲国家一样。成为一个英国人就是成为英国国教的一员”。这种范式或思维方式，有助于放大都铎王朝英格兰所发生的事情的规模。尽管有许多复杂的问题构成了这一不可逆转的变化，但也必须指出，与王室关系密切的某些个人的行动和影响力在随后的事件中发挥了决定性作用。这些事件将塑造宗教改革，正是在这里，我们来研究四个托马斯的。
The Influence of Four Contemporaries 四个时代的影响
Thomas Wolsey (1478-1530) 托马斯·沃尔西（1478-1530）
Thomas Wolsey served as the chief advisor to Henry the VIII in a position known as “Lord Chancellor”. He was born in humble surroundings, yet received a fine education and then becoming ordained as a priest in 1498. Through a series of advancements, he was appointed Royal Chaplain for Henry the VII, and it can clearly be seen that he would naturally have
