| the established church in England, Catholic in faith and order, but incorporating many principles of the Protestant Reformation and independent of the papacy. |
| Church of England n. Abbr. C. of E. The episcopal and liturgical national church of England, which has its see in Canterbury. |
The established church in England. The Church of England is Protestant and is governed by bishops, with the king or queen as its official head. One of the primary results of the Reformation, it was founded in the early sixteenth century when King Henry VIII declared that he, not the pope, was the head of the Christian Church in England. The Church of England is the original church of the Anglican Communion.
