<P> The political separation of the Church of England from Rome, beginning in 1529 and completed in 1536, brought England alongside this broad Reformed movement . However, religious changes in the English national church proceeded more conservatively than elsewhere in Europe . Reformers in the Church of England alternated for centuries between sympathies for Catholic traditions and Protestantism, progressively forging a stable compromise between adherence to ancient tradition and Protestantism, which is now sometimes called the via media . </P> <P> During the Reformation the teachings of Martin Luther led to the end of the monasteries, but a few Protestants followed monastic lives . Loccum Abbey and Amelungsborn Abbey have the longest traditions as Lutheran monasteries . Since the 19th century there have been a renewal in the monastic life among Protestants . </P> <P> Monastic life in England came to an abrupt end with Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII . The property and lands of the monasteries were confiscated and either retained by the king or given to loyal protestant nobility . Monks and nuns were forced to either flee for the continent or to abandon their vocations . For around 300 years, there were no monastic communities within any of the Anglican churches . </P> <P> All of Scandinavia ultimately adopted Lutheranism over the course of the 16th century, as the monarchs of Denmark (who also ruled Norway and Iceland) and Sweden (who also ruled Finland) converted to that faith . </P>

Christian religious branch that split from the roman catholic church