By the late 1520s Henry was starting to question not only his marriage, but the Church that had sanctioned it. According to Cardinal Campeggio, Henry VIII asked him to pressure Pope Clement VII to announce that the king's previous marriage to Catherine of Aragon was null and voice through the Divine Law1. .
When Pope Clement refused because Pope Julius II had granted King Henry VIII dispensation to marry Catherine in the first place, Henry contemplated splitting from the church solely to fulfill his matrimonial plans. He was so in love with Anne Boleyn that he was willingly to throw everything away just to be with her. This is obvious from a note King Henry VIII wrote to Anne Boleyn stating how after a busy day at Parliament he wishes to be "in [his] sweetheart's arms, whose pretty ducky's [dugs, breasts] [he] trust shortly to cusse [kiss]"2. King Henry's motives were purely selfish and were unrelated to religion. He was not inclined to Protestantism, but he renounced the authority of the pope. This gave the people a reason to rise and start pleading for a more Lutheran theological reform. Right after the Act of Supremacy in 1534, Edward Hall explains how in the Commons Lutherans started to come together in the nether house and began to make discussions about charging the ordinaries with a wide array of offenses3. The moment King Henry VIII became the head of the church, people started to summon together and start petitioning bigger change in the Church of England. Lutherans were waiting for the perfect time to start rebellions and the King's selfish actions became the perfect opportunity to start a church reform. .
The English reformation was dictated from above and below through the ruler's actions influenced by Parliament and through Luther's strong influence on the people's beliefs. Parliament's influence began with Thomas Cromwell becoming Henry's vice-gerent of the Church.