Henry VIII and Wolsey up until 1529

Why did Henry break from his father?

He wanted to break from the rule of his father, whose latter years had been characterised by meanness and severity

How was Henry's accession was greeted?

Was greeted with joy by many

What were two clear demonstrations of change from Henry VII's reign?

- Dudley and Empson, who had implemented the harsh financial policies, were arrested and executed

- Henry married Cathrine of Aragon

What was the reaction to Dudley's execution and the marriage to Cathrine of Aragon?

With both actions Henry won popularity

Why was Henry's marriage to Catherine such a break from his father?

Henry's father had kept Catherine a virtual prisoner and refused to return her to Spain after Arthur's death. Henry's marriage was therefore seen as chivalrous. It also restored the valuable Spanish alliance and gave Henry an ally for his other major aim of building a reputation as a warrior king.

Did Henry desire war?

War was seen as a kingly activity so Henry wanted to prove himself. The title 'King of France' was a part of Henry's inheritance and he wanted to claim what he believed was rightly his. This would demonstrate a further break from his father, who avoided war.

Why was Henry's desire for war difficult?

Reality made it difficult as France was much stronger. Moreover, his ministers were against war because of the cost and advisors such as Bishop Fox and Archbishop Warham wanted to continue the policies of Henry VII.

What did Bishop Fox and Archbishop Warham trick Henry into doing?

In 1510 they tricked Henry into renewing the truce with France when he wanted to go to war. There were also difficulties with his allies, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, who were unreliable.

What did Henry's invasion on France in 1512 achieve?

Nothing

What did Henry's France expedition in 1513 achieve?

This focused on the area around Calais. The French avoided a full battle, but Henry took the unimportant down of Therouanne. He then lay siege to Tournai and its fall gave Henry the glory he desired.

Why was the Battle of Spurs significant?

Henry's victory over France became a great propaganda victory as some French nobles were captured

What were the successes of Henry's initial campaigns against the French?

- Henry achieved his aim of glory

- The French agreed to pay the arrears of the French pension

- Henry kept his conquests

- Henry's sister Mary married the aged Louis XII

What were the downsides of Henry's initial campaigns against France?

- They had exhausted England financial

- They were overshadowed by victory against the Scots at Flooded

How involved was Henry in domestic policy?

Henry showed little interest in the day to day running of affairs and this helped to bring prominence to Wolsey, who had organised supplies for the 1513 campaign. Wolsey supported Henry's war policy, realising the way to rise to power was to back the King. By 1514 Henry was referring nearly all matters of government to him.

How did Henry win back the support of the nobility?

Through his aggressive policies. His creation of new nobles won him support and was again in contrast to his father. This was further reinforced by his lavish spending and vibrant court.

Why was Henry's initial foreign policy more peaceful?

Henry wanted to assert himself, but the lack of financial resources meant this approach could not be sustained and for part of the period to 1529, he had to achieve his aims through treaties and meetings to establish his reputation instead.

What was Henry's foreign policy aims?

- Achieving military glory

- Asserting his claim to the French throne

- Securing the succession through his marriage to Catherine

- Securing the dynasty, aided by the marriage of Mary to Louis XII

- Achieving his imperial ambitions by uniting England and Scotland

- Subduing Scotland and protecting England from invasion

Who were the two young monarchs who came to the Spanish and French throne?

Charles I of Spain and Francis I of France

Who did Mary marry after Louis XII?

Duke of Suffolk

Why was Mary's marriage to Suffolk a loss for Henry?

Because it was done without permission and lost him the chance to use her in the European marriage market

Why was French and Spanish peace a threat to England?

French victory in Italy in Marignano and peace between France, Spain and the Emperor left England isolated and forced to change policy

What was the 1518 Treaty of London?

Wolsey hijaked a papal initiative to launch a crusade against the Turks and turned it into an international peace treaty, the Treaty of London.

What was the outcome of the Treaty of London?

Henry appeared to be the pivotal power and it brought him glory as England was at the centre of diplomatic activity. However, the gains were short lived and the balance of power changed with Charles I becoming Holy Roman Emperor.

What was the Field of Cloth of Gold?

The meeting continued the peaceful policy. First, Charles visited England in May 1920 and then Henry met Francis near Calais.

What was the significance of the Field of Cloth of Gold?

The meeting achieved nothing of significance but cost a years income. This was reinforced as England was at war with France in 1521 and when Henry met Charles again they agreed not to make a separate peace with France.

What was the outcome of war with France in 1523?

England sent an army into France in 1523 to aid Charles, but he soon abandoned Henry as he was more concerned with Italy. The English returned in disarray with the invasion costing a years income and England was forced to make peace.

What was the significant of the Battle of Pavia in 1525?

Charles captured Francis. Henry saw this as an opportunity to assert is claim to the French throne and ordered Wolsey to raise funds. However, previous financial demands meant money could not be raised. Moreover, Charles refused to attack France so Henry's plans collapsed

What did the failure to get Charles support lead to?

Led to England allying with France with the Treaty of the More. The League of Cognac was established to try and reverse Pavia and the alliance with France was reinforced by the Treaty of Westminster and the Treaty of Amiens.

How did war with Spain in 1528 show England as a minor power?

England declared war against Spain in 1528, but France soon made peace with Spain and England was invited to talks only at the last minute, suggesting it was still a minor power

What was the Kings great matter in 1528?

By this time, policy was influenced by Henry's desire to annul his marriage to Catherine. Catherine was Charles' aunt and a divorce was made more difficult as it would have required a military victory against him. Moreover, France made peace with Spain so England was now isolated.

What were the reasons for Wolsey's rise to power?

- Recognised opportunities for promotion and supported Henry's aggressive foreign policy

- He was a flatterer

- Was hard working and had talent

- King was less interest in domestic affairs

- Had been Henry VII's chaplain

- Showed organisational skills in the 1513 expedition to France

What were Wolsey's legal reforms?

- Civil law became more important than common law as there were fears that the latter led to unjust verdicts based on technicalities

- Wolsey heard a lot of cases and used the system for his own benefit against those who he had a grudge. He used the system to attack the nobility and gentry who because of his background, treated his with contempt.

- He ensured that courts dispensed cheap and impartial justice, and were available to the poor who could not afford high fees

- The star chamber was used to hear cases against the powerful and the Court of Chancery was set up to hear cases brought up by the poor. The number of cases was such that the courts could not cope.

What were Wolseys financial reforms?

- He introduced the subsidy which became the standard parliamentary tax and greatly increases the money brought in. However he still could not raise enough for Henry's foreign policy

- He tried to raise funds through the Amicable Grant, which led to massive unrest in East Anglia. Henry had to intervene, cancel the grant and force Wolsey had to apologise.

- Wolsey also tried to increase revenue from crown lands, but that had limited success. Although he raised £820,000 through taxes, by 1520 it did not meet the £1.7 million spent on war

What were Wolsey's social reforms?

He was considered a champion of the poor. Wolsey attacked the practice of enclosure, establishing an enquiry in 1517, with legal action taken against 264 landowners between 1518 and 1529. However, this had only a limited impact as in 1523 Wolsey accepted all existing enclosures in return for the parliamentary subsidy. Moreover, many of his actions were against the nobility and gentry, so might have been part of a vendetta against them.

What were Wolseys administrative reforms?

- Wolsey scarcely summoned parliament, calling it only twice, when funds were needed for war. However its argued whether it was because he disliked it or because he had a poor relationship with parliament

- Wolsey was also concerned about the Privy chamber and in 1526 introduced the Eltham Ordinances. These aimed to improve the finances and efficiency of the chamber. However, the main purpose may have been to corneal access to the King and increase Wolsey's influence. This would have been important as it followed the failure of the amicable grant, a time where Wolsey was under criticism

What position did Wolsey hold in the church?

Although not Archbishop of Canterbury, Wolsey, as legates a later, held the highest position in the English Church.

How did Wolsey use his position in the church?

Many have argued that he used the position to promote himself and his family. He appeared to personify everything that was wrong with the church as a plurality and absentee. Although not a mink, he was abbot of the richest abbey, St Albans and despite his vow of celibacy he fathered children.

However in the 1520s he did carry out some reform, dissolving twenty small monasteries and attempting to start educational reform

What are the arguments that the church had support?

- Little evidence the pope was unpopular, unlike in Germany

- Clergy at a local level was respected

- Little evidence of clerical misconduct

- Ordination rates remained high

- Only in the South east was there evidence of disquiet over paying tithes

- The church calendar supported rural activities

- Visitation evidence found few priests were ignorant

- Large amounts of literature were bought in urban areas

- Large scale building projects continued

- Most still left money in their wills to the church

- The founding of chantries to pray for the souls of the dead continued

- Parishioners contributed towards the purchase of images

- There was continued support for religious guilds

What were the concerns about the church?

- There were complaints in the South east and London coming from within the church. In 1511 the Dean of St Pauls preached a sermon attacking abuses, accusing the clergy of being greedy and ambitious.

- There were many absent, however many of those absent were on state business and suffragans carried out the work

- Pluralism was common, as seen in the case of Thomas Magnus

- Despite these issues, there was not the disquiet in the church as seen in Germany. Support for heretical movements was small suggesting there is little evidence the church was under attack

What were some reasons Henry wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon?

- Henry believed the marriage was against God's will, believing that the Pope did not have the power to issue the papal dispensation that allowed him to marry his dead brother's wife

- Henry wanted a legitimate heir to secure the dynasty. If his marriage to Catherine was illegitimate it meant their daughter, Mary Tudor, was illegitimate. This could cause unrest when he died.

- Catherine was unlikely to conceive as she was now over 40

- Henry was in love with Anne Boleyn and Anne refused to be his mistress until she was certain to be Queen

Why was it hard to obtain a divorce?

Wolsey assured Henry that obtaining a divorce would be easy as he would persuade the Pope the original dispensation was invalid. However, the foreign policy situation complicated things as Charles, Cathrine's nephew, had taken Rome in 1527 and held the Pope virtual prisoner

How did attempts to obtain divorce fail?

Attempts to persuade the Pope the original dispensation was invalid failed as it would have meant agreeing that the previous pope had made an error.

Henry then tried arguing there was an error in the original dispensation, but Catherine's advisors found a version that satisfied objections.

The third approach was to hear the case in England. Wolsey hoped he would therefore be able to decide the case, but a compromise followed whereby Wolsey was joined by Cardinal Campeggio. Campeggio refused to hurry and when he finally arrived he had no intention of reaching a verdict, suspending the court in July in 1529.

How did Wolsey's failure to get a divorce contribute to his fall from power?

He had resisted attacks on his position for fifteen years, but this issue was so important to Henry that he could not accept failure. Wolsey had promised it would be easy to obtain and, despite the foreign situation being out of his control, he was still seen as responsible.

How did the Boleyn factions contribute to Wolsey's fall from power?

The Boleyn faction also put pressure on Henry, arguing that Wolsey was being deliberately slow and they claimed that this was because he was hostile to them. There was possibly some truth in this accusation as Anne was more involved in politics than Catherine and therefore influence Henry. Wolsey might have hoped that delays would cool Henry's infatuation with Anne. However, once it became clear that this was nor the case, Wolsey's best interest was to obtain the divorce.

What were the actions taken against Wolsey by Henry?

The failure of the hearing in England led to Henry using the charge of praemunire against Wolsey. Wolsey's fall was not quick. Following his arrest he was released, but then rearrested and brought to London. However, Wolsey died in the way to Leicester on 29 November 1530 before his scheduled execution.