Anglicanism – A third way

John Wyclif (1328–1384),
led a biblically motivated protest against the papal church.

King Henry VIII (1491–1547),
broke with Rome in 1532–34, establishing an Anglican state church, which at first held fast, for the most part, to Catholic faith and practice.
 
Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556),
Archbishop of Canterbury: pursued a more reformation-oriented course under Henry’s successor Edward VI, but retained the office of the bishop. He was executed for heresy under the short-lived Catholic restoration under Queen Mary.
 
Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603),
restored Protestantism, but did not go far enough for the so-called “Puritans”. Thus in England the Protestant Movement became split. After 1620, many Calvinist-minded Puritans migrated to America, where they established Presbyterian, Congregationalist and later Baptist churches. Such “free churches” arose in England as well. 

Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658),
The Puritan general Oliver Cromwell took control of England after 1648/49. Under his rule the Anglican Church was reformed in a Calvinist-Presbyterian direction. With the Restoration of the monarchy (1660) and the episcopate, the Anglican Church returned to the Elizabethan via media (“middle way”).