Final answer:
Tom's meeting with King Henry VIII was instrumental in developing strategies for Henry's annulment from Catherine of Aragon and the creation of the Church of England, ending the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in England.
Step-by-step explanation:
Tom arranged a meeting with King Henry VIII for pivotal reasons related to the monarch's urgent desire to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, who had failed to produce a male heir, and to establish a religious hierarchy within England that would break away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. A devout Catholic, Henry initially opposed the Reformation, earning the title "Defender of the Faith" from Pope Leo X. However, his inability to secure a male heir and the Pope's refusal to annul his marriage led Henry to establish the Church of England, appointing himself as its head, thus freeing him to annul his marriage to Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn.
With the counsel of Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII initiated the separation of the English church from the Roman Catholic Church. Legislative acts such as the Act in Restraint of Appeals and the Act of Submission of the Clergy were passed, consolidating the king's religious authority and requiring clergy's allegiance to the Anglican Church, which retained many Catholic doctrines but broke from papal authority.