Act introduced by Henry VIII in England in
1539 to settle disputes over dogma in the
English Church. The articles affirmed belief
in transubstantiation, communion in one kind
only, auricular confession, monastic vows,
celibacy of the clergy, and private masses;
those who rejected transubstantiation were to
be burned at the stake. The act was repealed
in 1547, replaced by 42 articles in 1551, and
by an act of Thirty-Nine Articles in 1571.