Henry VIII Break from Rome

Blackfriars

1529

• Held at Blackfriars, London

• Tried Henry VIII’s request to annul marriage to Catherine of Aragon

• Presided over by Thomas Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio

• Legatine court - case referred to Rome - no verdict, request revoked

• Led to Wolsey’s downfall and pushed Henry towards the Reformation

Issues with Pre-reformation church

Simony - the buying and selling of Church offices

Pluralism - the holding of more than one ecclesiastical positions by one person

Absenteeism - often the result of pluralism, when a churchman did not carry out his office in person or even reside in the appropriate diocese

Nepotism - where preferment in the Church was given to friends and families rather than well-qualified candidates

Date Sir Thomas More appointed as Chancellor

1529

Upper clergy accused of Praemunire

1530 - putting Pope above the King

Date Thomas Cromwell appointed as one of the King’s Advisors

1532

Date Thomas Cranmer appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury

1532

First Act of Annates

1532 - banned any payments to Rome - all money from the Church goes to Henry

Submission of the Clergy

1532 - clergy accepted the King as the main law-maker

Appeals in ecclesiastical matters were now to be handled by the King’s Court of Chancery and not by the Archbishops court

Date and reason of the resignation of Thomas More

1532 + he could not accept Henry as Head of the Church

Bible passage used to religiously justify the English Reformation

Leviticus 20:21
"If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing...they shall be childless."

Bible passage that counters the justification

Deuteronomy 25:5

Commands a man to take to wife his deceased brother’s widow, if there had been no child

Act in Restrain of Appeals to Rome

1533 - prohibited Papal control of the Church in England

Secret marriage to Anne Boleyn

1533 - Cranmer married them in Whitehall Palace

Second Act of Annates

Confirmed the First Act, and future abbots and bishops to be appointed by the King, not the Pope

Date when Submission of the Clergy ratified by parliament

1534

First Act of Succession

1534

Registered marriage to C of A invalid, marriage to Anne Boleyn legitimate

Mary considered illegitimate

The Crown will be inherited by H + A’s children

Nation required to take an oath upholding their marriage - denying this would be treason - prevented civil war after Henry’s death as to who would succeed

Execution of Elizabeth Barton ‘Holy Maid of Kent’

A nun had visions of church reforms.

Prophesised Henry’s downfall, if continued with annulment

Hated Anne Boleyn - executed for heresy

Evidence of Henry's lack of toleration of religious diversity

Act of Supremacy

1534 - King was now ‘Supreme Head of the Church of England’

All clergy must take an oath acknowledge this

This made opponents visible to attack

Treason Act

1534 - treasonable to disavow the Act of Supremacy, punishable by death

Phase 1 (1532-4)

Jurisdictional reforms - political break from Rome

Mainly carried out by Cromwell

Not much effect on doctrinal affairs

Why did Cromwell use Parliament to pass all these reforms?

Make each act more legitimate

Make opponents visible

Ensures loyalty - have to legally say ‘yes’ for each

Cromwell appointed viceregent of spirituals

1535

Cromwell in charge of spiritual

He is a devout protestant - will create protestant reforms

Valor Ecclesiasticus

1535 - book compiled on value of each monastery, deciding which monasteries to dissolve first

Compendium Compertorum

1535

• Ordered by Thomas Cromwell under Henry VIII

• Summarised alleged corruption and moral failings in monasteries

• Based on 1535 royal visitations

• Used to justify the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Execution of Carthusian monks, Bishop Fisher, Thomas More

1535 - refused to accept the Break from Rome - treason act

Eliminated principal opposition to protestant reforms

Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries

1536 - smaller monasteries closed down, income must be under £200

Received money

Reduced Catholic influence

Evaluate the extent of opposition

Date of AB’s beheading

1536

Act of Ten Articles

1536 - 7 sacraments of Catholicism rejected (baptism, Eucharist and penance)

Rejected transubstantiation and relics

Actively refused the fundamental beliefs of Catholicism, deconstructing centuries of Catholic authority

Royal Injunctions to the clergy

1536 - subjected clergy to support Henry as new head of the Church, banned pilgrimages

Bishop’s Book

1537 - theological framework for C of E + practical textbook for protestants

Accepted some sacraments

Publication of the ‘Matthew Bible’

1537 - First official Bible in English - published by Thomas Matthew

Accessible to ordinary people with royal permission

Protestant teachings wanted translation into English

Phase 2 (1535-7)

Doctrinal changes authorised by Cromwell and Cranmer

Why - they were protestant + Henry diverted his attention elsewhere

Occupied with Anne Boleyn execution + marriage to Jane Seymour

Churches in England now mostly under Protestantism

Truce of Nice - Charles V + Francis I

1538 - ended war between HRE + France

Created possibility of invasion of England - Pope excommunicated Henry

Execution of John Lambert

1538 - rejection of transubstantiation

Displays Henry’s loyalty to Catholicism

Lambert merely repeating what Cranmer and Cromwell proclaiming

Act of Six Articles

1539 - Reaccepted 7 sacraments: transubstantiation, confession etc.

Why - conservatist court faction against Cromwell

Act for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries

1539 - Provided Henry an extra £140,000 a year (1536-47)

Abbots lost their seats in parliament

7000 monks gained pensions - by 1551, £44,000 a year

Resulted in reduction of hospitals, schools and alms (donations to the poor)

Date and reason of Cromwell execution

1540 + failure of arranged marriage between Henry + Anne of Cleves

Phase 3 (1538-40)

Henry partially reverts on protestant reforms

Scared of foreign invasion - Truce of Nice between HRE + France

Publication of the King’s Book

1543 - revised Bishop’s Book (1537)

Encouraged protestant doctrine but defended transubstantiation

Marriage to Catherine Parr

1543 - protestant + swayed her husband

Big influence over him - persuaded him not to execute Cranmer + put Elizabeth and Mary back into succession

Sir John Cheke appointed tutor to Prince Edward

1544 - he was a protestant humanist, meaning heir to the throne = protestant

Henry drafts his last will

1546 - last will confirmed line of succession

Phase 4 (1543-7)

Transition back towards Protestantism

Why - Catherine Parr (protestant)

When + what was the Pilgrimage of Grace

1536-7 - largest Tudor rebellion, involving 30,000 rebels

Collapsing royal authority

How + where did the rebellion begin

Oct 1536 - Louth, Lincolnshire

Sparked by rumours that royal commissioners would seize church valuables

What happened in the Lincolnshire rising

1536 - 10,000 men assembled

Rebellion collapsed after Henry VIII threatened treason + Duke of Suffolk advanced

Why was Yorkshire rising more dangerous

Led by Robert Aske

Seized Pontefract Castle

Outnumbered royal forces 30,000 vs 8,000 (no royal cavalry)

Who led the Pilgrimage of Grace

Robert Aske (“Grand Captain”) with monks and priests encouraging participation

Pontefract Articles

1536 - rebel demands including restoration of monasteries

Removal of Cromwell

Lower taxes

Princess Mary restored to succession

Diffusion of the rebellion

Duke of Norfolk offered free pardons

Parliament in York created

Bigod’s Rebellion

1537 - failed uprising by Sir Francis Bigod

Gave Henry excuse to crush rebels - 178 executions (including Aske and Lord Darcy)

Main cause of the rebellions

Opposition to the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Defence of traditional Catholic practices

Number of monasteries dissolved

800 monasteries, transferring land and wealth to the crown

Main reason Henry VIII dissolved

Enforce religious change

Raise revenue for costly foreign wars