Henry VIII

Henry VIII's coming to the throne

Henry VIII was 'spare not the heir' - not first in line: Arthur was in front of him, but when Arthur died in 1502, that meant that Henry VIII was next in line

this meant that in 1509, upon the death of Henry VII, Henry VIII inherited the English crown

Personality and upbringing

Because Henry wasn't expected to become king, he wasn't raised with the position of king in mind

He did however, live a very privileged and rounded childhood: he was highly educated in languages: learnt French and Latin, educated also in history, astronomy, arithmetic

He was also sporty: did jousting, hunting, archery, tennis, was musical: could play several instruments and sung

Confident, short tempered, impulsive, extroverted, charming,

attitude to rule

- Profound dislike for business of gov't

- Lacked work ethic

- Strongly convicted in divine right of kings - to question him would be to question God

- Could intervene suddenly and decisively

- Relied hugely on Thomas Wolsey and Cromwell

- His rule was mainly orientated around military success and reputation abroad

aims

Henry VIII, was largely different to his father, in terms of aims and approaches to rule:

Foreign policy: Henry VII sought peaceful relations with surrounding European countries: aware of his weak position on the English throne, Henry VIII on the other hand, was obsessed with a warrior like reputation, like that of Henry V, mainly interested in campaigns in France

Domestic policy: Henry VII was seeking to control the nobility: by 1509, had over ¾ of the nobility held by bonds and recognisances, Henry VIII on the other hand saw himself as one of the nobles: was far more popular - his execution of Empson and Dudley in 1510 showed this

Legacy of Henry VII

Financially stable kingdom: left Henry VIII with approx. £300,000

Politically stable crown, had some degree of authority: had neutralised Yorkist threats: John De La Pole, Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck

In terms of foreign policy: had developed good relations with other countries: France, Spain, etc.

However, was also extremely unpopular with certain individuals: Council Learned - Empson and Dudley was massively unpopular, especially with the nobility

Left religion alone; Erastian relationship; and established a conciliar form of gov't to help Henry VIII govern effectively

Henry VIII ultimately dismantled much of his fathers legacy

Henry VIII: government; phase 1 - council

Phase 1: council (1509 - 1514)

- Put in place by Henry VII, as Henry was 17 when he came to the throne; couldn't rule by himself, trusted members of Henry's council e.g. Richard Fox, William Warham

- End of conciliar form of government came from:

- Emergence of Wolsey

- Disagreement over foreign policy:

- Henry more able to rule

phase 2 - Wolsey (religious signiifcance and role)

Phase 2: Wolsey (1515 - 1529)

- Wolsey and Henry worked very well together because: Henry hated the admin side of his position on the throne, while Wolsey was very effective at administrative tasks

- Was considered a 'new man' - rose to power through ability, not birth

- His education and administrative ability made him useful to the crown

- Became royal almoner in 1509; gained reputation for efficiency and hardwork

- From there, his rise was rapid:

- Wolsey impressed Henry with his administrative ability, and his work in organising the campaigns in France in 1513 and 1514.

- Wolsey also helped organise the treaty of Tournai in 1514, ending hostilities temporarily between England and France

- Henry VIII admired this admistrative ability to get things done by Wolsey, and he simply gained more and more influence, not only in governmental affairs (Lord Chancellor in 1515) but also within the church:

Wolsey's religious titles / significance

- Royal Almoner (1509) - Shortly after Henry VIII became king, Wolsey was appointed Royal Almoner, giving him regular access to the king.

- Bishop of Lincoln (1514) - He was promoted within the Church.

- Archbishop of York (1514) - This made him the second most senior churchman in England.

- Cardinal (1515) - Pope Leo X made him a cardinal, giving him authority and status above other English clergy.

- Papal Legate (1518) - The pope appointed him as his representative in England, allowing Wolsey to exercise special authority over the English Church, even

surpassing the Archbishop of Canterbury in influence; following the pope's admiration from Wolsey's diplomatic skill in the treaty of London, 1518

Wolsey - significance abroad

- Helped Henry VIII organise numerous campaigns abroad:

- Wolsey helped Henry VIII with the logistics of his invasion of France, in 1512, impressing him massively

- Also the treaty of London, 1518; a peace agreement between all of the major powers in Europe; France, Spain, Burgundy, holy Roman empire, against the Ottoman threat

- Hugely impressed the pope; made papal legate soon after; pope's representative in England

- Also helped to organise the field of the cloth of Gold: huge display of wealth, and friendship between Henry VIII and Francis I. 1520

Wolsey's domestic significance

- Wolsey was chief minister 1514 - 1529

- Wolsey heavily reduced the power of the privy council; bypassing them and increasingly building government around himself

- Had a number of key achievements within the governmental side of affairs:

- As lord chancellor, he had to oversee the legal system, so he instigated reform, to tackle the inefficient, slow and often unfair nature of the legal system at this time

- Introduced the star chamber, often taking those higher in society to court, in attempt to widen justice (Wolsey trying to take down rivals?: Duke of Buckingham, 1521 - accused of treason) - massively increased number of cases going through the star chamber - 12 cases a year pre - Wolsey and 120 per year during his time in power

- Also promoted the court of chancery, which dealt with more everyday cases

Wolsey's economic significance

- The introduction of the subsidy (1513) was arguably Wolsey's greatest economic achievement:

- Movement from the 'fifteenths and tenths' form of taxation, to a form where each person is taxed based on their annual income

- This became standard form of parliamentary tax for decades; emphasising the long term nature of the success of this by Wolsey.

- This almost doubled the income into the crown from ordinary revenue:

- £300,000 was raised between 1513-1523.

- Amicable grant, 1525 was Wolsey's biggest failure:

- Because of Henry VIII's excessive spending on campaigns abroad, Wolsey was forced to acquire even more money to try and keep up, the introduction of the subsidy wasn't sufficient in covering Henry VIII's foreign campaigns, attempted to raise £800,000

- So Wolsey decided to introduce the amicable grant, requesting even more money

- This tax, which would normally go through parliament, as extraordinary revenue, bypassed that system so it was seen as unlawful, at the very least politically questionable

- Open resistance: - 10,000 protestors turned up in Suffolk; Wolsey forced to back down, humiliatingly - Henry VIII claimed to have no knowledge of the tax:

- Weakened Wolsey, showed limits of royal taxation

fall of Wolsey: the king's great matter

Henry had grown desperate for a male heir, and Catherine had only produced one surviving child: Mary

Henry feared a disputed succession if he died without a son

Henry believed that he was being punished for having married his brother's wife: Leviticus 20:21, so he had a biblical right to seek an annulment

He had also become obsessed with Anne Boleyn

Henry asked Wolsey to try and secure an annulment, and he attempted to do so through:

Scriptural arguments

Ecclesiastes 20:21 - anyone who marries the spouse of his brother 'shall be childless':

Henry believed his marriage was cursed by God

Wolsey claimed that the idea that Arthur's marriage was not consummated solely relied on the word of Catherine

Diplomatic manoeuvres

2nd line of attack was against emperor Charles V.

As catherine's nephew, he was unlikely to support a divorce

Wolsey tried to free the pope from Charles' influence, with an alliance with France and the renewal of war in Italy, leverage on the pope; Sack on Rome 1525

This failed however

Legal efforts

Finally, he thought that he could avoid the issue of Charles V and the pope by holding the divorce hearings in England

The pope sent cardinal Campeggio to England with instructions to delay the court hearing

Took him ages to get there,

When the court finally met in June 1529 at Blackfriars; Cardinal Campeggio, Catherine immediately refused to recognise the divorce and requested it be moved to Rome, the pope agreed

Wolsey was no longer of use to Henry

Henry increasingly blamed Wolsey for this failure: in 1529, Henry charged Wolsey with Praemunire

other reasons for Wolsey's fall

However, his fall was also due to his enemies at court:

The Boleyn faction, i.e. the family of Anne Boleyn, who were eager for the marriage between Anne Boleyn and Henry to commence as soon as possible, especially Thomas Boleyn, who encouraged Henry's growing dissatisfaction with Wolsey

Wolsey was also already on thin ice with the king, because of his failure with the amicable grant, 1525, where Wolsey tried to impose a further tax on the people of England

Cromwell

1532 - 1540

1532, Cromwell made chief minister

- Starts drawing up acts to remove jurisdiction of the pope: severing of all links between England and Rome;

- Used the reformation parliament extensively (1529 - 1536)

- Act of restraint of appeals - stops Catherine from appealing to Rome - 1533

- Act of supremacy - places Henry as the supreme head of the English church 1534

- Treason act - makes it treason to question Henry's authority as head of the church 1534

- Succession act, 1534 cancels out Mary - declares any children between Henry and Anne Boleyn valid

- First fruits and tenths act - taxes originally paid to Rome, now went to the English throne 1534

- Catherine effectively annulled by this stage: 1533

- Dissolution of the monasteries - resulted in pilgrimage of Grace, 1536

- Further act dissolution of monasteries: 1539

- Act of 6 articles - reaffirmed a number of Catholic doctrines, for example transubstantiation - limiting Cromwell's reformist religious ambitions,1539

fall of Cromwell

- Anne of Cleves fiasco, Cromwell takes rap for that: trying to align protestants within Europe

- Also have the Howard faction in court, who are trying to discredit Cromwell, pushing for the marriage between Catherine Howard and Henry

- Cromwell was pushing for more protestant reform, but Henry wanted to keep things generally Catholic

- Executed in 1540

concilliar gov't

1540 - 1547

- Now a fight between Conservatives and Reformists factions amongst court

- At the start: conservatives on top - Cromwell death, marriage to Catherine Howard

- Act of 6 articles, 1539

- After 1540, reform faction takes over:

- Fall of Catherine Howard, and so the howard faction - discredited: she was cheating on him

- Marriage to Catherine Parr, 1543

- Split Henry and Cramner - fails, by conservative faction - Cramner was reformist

Henry VIII dies in 1547, with reformist faction on top.

the wives

- Marriage to Anne Boleyn short lived; 1533 to 1536: suffered from cheating allegations, executed, further act of succession, removing Elizabeth

- Some suggest it was Cromwell that influenced the fall of Anne Boleyn, because of their religious differences; Anne - more conservative

- Later, finds Jane Seymour (1536 - 1537), who gives him a boy, but dies in childbirth

- Then marriage to Anne of Cleves is annulled 1540; contributed to Cromwell's downfall

- Catherine Howard, 1540 - 1542, executed for cheating on Henry, when she was executed, this weakened conservative factions

- Catherine Parr 1543 - 1547, stabilised succession and encouraged protestant ideas.

Henry VIII foreign policy; 4 phases; phase 1 - 1509 - 1514

- 1510: renegotiation of treaty of Etaples - Henry keen to pursue peace?

- 1511 - holy league formed - joined holy roman empire, Spain and papacy against France

- 1512, Henry, wanting to be seen as an equal, and eager to pursue territory in France, sent 10,000 men to support Ferdinand of Spain in his conquest against France, however this results in failure, as Ferdinand uses the English army as a diversion while he conquered Navarre; no land conquered for the English

- 1513, Henry leads army into France himself, victory at battle of Spurs - portrayed as great victory, no more than a skirmish - captures Tournai and Therouanne, expensive to maintain - no strategic significance, peace negotiated with Louis XII in 1514; marital alliance between Louis and Henry's sister, Mary

- While Henry was in France, James IV launched an invasion of England of 30,000 men (1513), the battle of Flodden took place and James IV, along with a number of Scottish nobility were killed - organised by Catherine of Aragon

phase 2 - 1514 - 1526

- Louis XII dies in 1515, leaving crown to Francis I, Ferdinand dies 1516, leaving Spain to Charles, Maximilian dies, 1519, leaves Holy roman empire to Charles V

- Henry seeks alliance with Charles I against France, but Charles seals alliance with the French instead, aswell as emperor Maximilian, treaty of Cambrai - England are dangerously isolated (1516)

- Treaty of London, 1518, conducted by Wolsey: perpetual peace between all of the main powers in Europe - against Ottoman threat - had pope on side, gave Wolsey papal legate title, 1518.

- 1520 - field of the cloth of gold; meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, show of wealth - peaceful

- Treaty of Bruges, 1521 sided Henry VIII with Charles V, against the French

- French invasions, 1522 and 1523 - gained little, were very costly; cost £400,000; annual income was about £150,000

- Battle of Pavia; 1525 Charles V defeated France, Francis I was captured, Henry proposed a joint invasion of France, Charles refused: dispute within England - Wolsey - amicable grant - lack of appetite for more foreign adventures; no more money, tried to raise £800,000 but fails

phase 3; 1527 - 1547

- Pro France 1527 - 1529, because of England's weak position - isolated; treaty of Amiens, 1527

- Schmalkaldic league: Protestant league, in modern day Germany, protecting them from conversion, should Catholic Charles V inavde, pushes England toward enemies of Charles, France

- After break with Rome, 1534 Henry feared Catholic invasion. Pope Paul III, sought alliance of France and spain against Enlgand; 1536 treaty of Nice - England even more isolated vs Catholicism, Anne of Cleves, 1540

- 1542, Henry invaded Scotland, defeated them at battle of Solway moss; James V dies of shock

- Negotiates treaty of Greenwich, 1542; forcing marriage alliance between Edward and Mary

- Scotland ignores treaty: included rejection of Auld alliance, Scotland essentially refuses

- Henry launches brutal invasions: 1544 - 1545: only for revenge, burns Edinburgh

- Henry invades France, 1544; captures Boulogne, treaty of Crepy, 1544