Thomas Cromwell: Successes & Failures

AQA A-Level Tudors

1534 - Act of Supremacy

• SUCCESS

• Made Henry VIII supreme Head of the Church of England

• 1534 Treason Act - Made it an act of treason to deny Henry’s position in the Church

Acts of Annates

• SUCCESS

• 1532 - First Act of Annates

• Suspended payments of annates to Rome

• 1534 - Second Act of Annates

• Allowed Henry to appoint bishops without approval from Rome

1533 - Act in Restraint of Appeals

• SUCCESS

• Recognised the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

• Forbade any appeals from going to Rome

Dissolution of the Monasteries

• SUCCESS

• 825 religious houses targeted - Catholic strongholds

• 1535 - Valor Ecclesiasticus - Surveyed the property and value of smaller monasteries - earning double the Crown’s income

• 1536 - Act for the Dissolution of Smaller Monasteries - monasteries valued under £200 per year

• 1539 - Act for the Dissolution of Larger Monasteries (except chantries)

1540 - Cromwell’s 4 courts

• SUCCESS

• Court of General Surveyors

• Court of Wards

• Court of First Fruits and Tenths - Allowed Henry to tax the Church

• Court of Augmentations - Dealt with income from the dissolution. Income increased from £150,000 to £300,000

1536 - Act of Union with Wales

• SUCCESS

• Centralised power of the Crown

• Reorganised local government

1536 - Act of Liberties and Franchises

• SUCCESS

• Removed power of regional nobles

• Ensured consistent laws from central government

1532 - Act of Submission of the Clergy

• SUCCESS

• Church gave up the power to make Church law without Henry’s permission

1540 - Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves

• FAILURE

• Married in January 1540, divorced in the summer

• Political marriage - relations with Germany fell through

• Led to his imprisonment and execution

Cromwell and the English Reformation

• Seen as a FAILURE

• Cromwell damaged England’s international reputation - seen as the architect of the English Reformation

• Reforms too much for Henry - Act of Six Articles 1539 passed to combat the Ten Articles

• Henry eventually excommunicated by the Pope in 1538