Six Articles
The Six Articles of 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.
The articles reaffirmed Catholic doctrine on issues such as:
- transubstantiation,
- the reasonableness of withholding of the cup from the laity,
- clerical celibacy,
- observance of vows of chastity,
- permission for private masses,
- the importance of auricular confession.
The Catholic emphasis of such doctrine 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. After Henry's death, they were repealed and replaced by his son Edward VI.