Henry VII : AQA Q5 – How did Religious Ideas Change and Develop?

Key Words: 

Catholic Church: 
  • Immensely powerful 
  • 35,000 ordained clergy, 10,000 monks and nuns.  
  • Own Legal system 
  • Plagued by corruption 
  • Power stemmed from people’s fears and beliefs 
Hierarchy of the Church: 

  • Pope – God’s representative on Earth 

  • Cardinals 

  • Archbishops 

  • Bishops 

  • Parish Priests 

 Heresy: 
  • Refusal to adhere to Catholic doctrine. 
  • 73 put on trial during Henry VII’s reign, 3 were burned alive. 
Lollards: 
  • Believed the Church should help people to live a life of evangelical poverty. 
  • Wanted the Bible translated into English. 
  • Denounced Papal authority.  
  • Rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation. 
Anticlericalism: 
  • Aware of the ‘proven abuses’ of the Church, and wished to reform the Church from within. 
  • Humanist approach. 
Humanism: 

  • Emerged in 14th century Italy, founded on the rediscovery of original Greek and Latin texts. 

  • Stressed the power of mankind, believed in the power of education. 

  • Never criticised Catholic principles,  but rather abusive Catholic practices such as over-reliance on ritual as opposed to worship and prayer, criticised indulgences – documents issued with the Pope’s authority, which cancelled out punishment in purgatory. 

  • Contradictory beliefs; Wolsey displayed humanist traits yet opposed the Vernacular Bible. 

 Printing Press: 

  • Brought to England from Germany in 1476 by William Caxton, established in 1478. 

  • Brought an increased number of literate Englishmen, standardisation of the English language and possible circulation of religious ideas such as humanism put forward by Erasmus. 

  • Also used as propaganda by Henry to denounce Richard III after BoB. 

  • 1504 – position of ‘King’s Printer’ was established. 

  • Market became larger in the 1520’s, due to the reformation. 

Key Religious Figures: 

Erasmus: 

  • Renowned Dutch scholar. 

  • Key figure in the humanist movement. 

  • 1499 – visited England for the first time.  

  • In great sympathy with scholars such as John Skelton, who was one of Henry VIII’s tutors. 

  • 1500 – published ‘Adages’, in which he took ancient Roman proverbs and made them relevant to his time, encouraging people to live a good life. 

Thomas More: 

  • Lawyer, Scholar, writer, MP and Lord Chancellor. 

  • Wrote ‘Utopia’, in which he criticised the practices of the Catholic Church. 

  • 1516- Moved into King’s government. 

  • 1518- Appointed to the Privy council. 

  • 1530- Replaced the fallen Wolsey as Chancellor.  

John Colet: 

  • Educated at Oxford. 

  • Translated and educated the New Testament. 

  • Rejected Catholic principle of ‘mystical’ scriptures. 

  • Founded St. Paul’s school, in which he taught humanities. 

  • 1504- Became Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral. 

  • Keen reformer, violated the Church’s ‘Latin only’ policy, was powerful enough to escape conviction.