When the church in England was reorganized in the reign of Henry VIII the canon law immediately became one of the major concerns of both the monarch and the bishops since it lay at the very foundation of the nature and structure of the church. From the earliest centuries England had participated in the full life of the church and there was no intention now to separate itself from that heritage. English bishops had participated in the conciliar procedures of the church as early as 314 at the Synod of Arles; other early synods were convened in England and the canon law of the church was known and observed there.