3) Henry VIII and Wolsey domestic policy

Question 1

Why did Henry VIII attempt to break from his father?

Answer 1

• Henry wanted to break from his father- whose later years were seen as mean and severe

Changes
- Dudely and Empson were arrested and executed for overbearing financial duties
- Henry married Catherine of Aragon- seen as chivalrous and restored the valuable Spanish alliance
- Henry VIII sought out foreign wars and dissolved the alliance with France that Henry VII had established
- Henry VIII spent lots more money that Henry VII ever did- All the money saved by Henry VII late in his reign was spent by Henry VIII to indulge in the personal life of being king
- Henry VIII spent lots more money on his nobility and entertained them more than Henry VII had ever.
- Henry VIII created lots of new members of nobility when he came to the throne.

Question 2

How did Henry VIII perceive war?

Answer 2

• War was seen as a chivalrous kingly activity and Henry wanted to prove himself as a warrior- inspired by King arthur and Henry V
• Desire for war and glory dominated the early years of his reign

Question 3

Why did Wolsey rise?

Answer 3

• Son of a butcher in Ipswich
• Hard-working and talented
• recognised oppurtunities for promotion and supported Henry’s aggressive foreign policy
• was a flatterer
• Had been Henry VII’s chaplain and was sent on diplomatic missions
• Shown organisational skills in the 1513 expenditure to France
• Rose as Chief Minister from 1514-1529

Question 4

What legal policies did Wolsey change, and was he a reformist or a careerist?

Answer 4

Access to justice for the poor:
- The Court of Star and Chamber: Increased in importance, from 1516 onwards Wolsey wanted to dispense cheap and impartial justice- corruption was to be rooted out. Wolsey also used it to challenge the power of the nobility
- The Court of Chancery: Wolsey made decisions here that created legal precedents. Cases were dealt with in property, wills, and contracts. Wolsey established a permanent judicial committee to deal with cases brought up by the poor

Control of abuses by wealthy:
- Act of Resumption 1515: Wolsey wanted to increase revenue from Crown Lands, but many had been granted away at the beginning of Henry VIII’s reign. Income had decreased to £25,000 per annum, returning some of the lands to the crowns
- The Subsidy: Wolsey wanted to replace the fifteenths and tenths tax. The subsidy was a more realistic tax because it was based on more accurate valuations of the taxpayer’s wealth
* The ‘amicable grant’: This was an additional tax that Wolsey demanded in 1525 to fund Henry’s expedition to France. It caused rebellion in East Anglia and widespread non-payment as it followed forced loans in 1522 and 1523, which had not been repaid, and the subsidy of 1923, which was still being collected.
* Balance Sheet: Wolsey raised £322,099 in subsidies, £240,000 in clerical taxation and £260,000 in forced loans. But government expenditure between 1509 and 1520 was £1.7 million.

Question 5

Were Wolsey’s legal reforms a success or failure?

Answer 5

SUCCESS
* Wolsey’s involvement in the law led to real revival and reinvigoration of the courts
* The poor had access to justice unlike before Wolsey. Overwhelmingly he seems to have been a force for good. Specifically impressive given the numerous other roles that Wolsey had in terms of domestic

FAILURE
- The changes he put in place in court were not “institutionalised” and were reliant on him to enforce them, and as a result when he fell from power the reforms fell back with him
- He sometimes used the system to further his own interests rather than to bring justice, and some of his interventions were seen as causing more harm than good.

Question 6

Did Wolsey’s legal reforms show him as a reformer or careerist overall?

Answer 6

REFORMER
* Appeared to go out of his way to antagonise the nobility
* Started a close monitoring of them in as soon as he was made Lord Chancellor and in 1516 publicly announced they were not above the law.
* Most notable he sent the Earl of Northumberland to prison for contempt. However, most famously he charged the Duke of Buckingham of treason (based on rumours) and had him convicted and executed.
* Interfered with the marriage arrangements of the nobility

CAREERIST
* Revisionist historians argue that Wolsey was more hostile to the nobility than the king himself
* Wolsey had a lot of power and offered rewards to those who were willing to work alongside him

Question 7

what is the context for Wolsey’s social policies?

Answer 7

• Long-term trend in some areas of England for landowners to replace “open-field” rotation system of small, unfenced plots of common land with larger, enclosed farms focusing often on sheep-farming (less labour-intensive than arable farming)
• Enclosure popular with poorer, landless peasants, who lost rights to graze their own animals on common land
• Led to migration of poor to towns, where inhabitants already suffering from food price inflation; led to serious urban disorder

Question 8

What social policies did Wolsey change, and was he a reformist or a careerist?

Answer 8

Enclousre:
- Wolsey was less concerned about the effects of enclosure on the poor than about acting against the landowners
* An inquiry in 1517 identified enclosed land and demolition of buildings
* Legal proceedings were begun against 263 landowners; 222 came to court with 188 clear verdicts
* Wolsey stirred more hatred up for the landowners

Food supplies:
There were significant challenges to food security throughout Henry VIII’s reign:
* Rising Prices: Food prices nearly doubled across the period, leading to urban poverty. Poorer families struggled to afford enough food due to the shortage and high costs
* Unemployment: The shift from arable farming to sheep farming by large landowners increased unemployment. The closure of monasteries in the 1530s, which had also provided food for the poor, made the problem much worse. Some unemployed people resorted to leaving their villages in search of work, but this was illegal, and they were labelled as vagabonds.

Wolsey played a significant role in addressing food supplies and related issues, including:
* Grain Storage and Distribution: Wolsey established granaries to store surplus grain during times of plenty. They acted as reserves to make sure a stable food supply during shortages or famines was available. Also, he facilitated the distribution of grain to areas facing who lacked grain.
* Price Regulation: To control rising food prices, Wolsey implemented price controls on essential commodities like bread and ale. He aimed to prevent profiteering by merchants and stabilize prices for the urban population.
* Charitable Initiatives: Wolsey supported charitable institutions, including alms-houses and hospitals, providing food and shelter to the poor. Wolsey tried to alleviate urban poverty and meet the basic food needs of the poor.
* Efforts to Combat Vagrancy: Wolsey recognized the challenges posed by vagrancy and unemployment. He encouraged the establishment of workhouses and enforced laws against vagabonds. These measures aimed to address social instability and provide relief to the destitute.

Question 9

Were Wolsey’s social policies reformist or careerist overall?

Answer 9

Enclosure:
REFORMER
* Wolsey attacked the practice of enclosure and as a result was seen as defending the poor who were being driven off common land. In 1517 Wolsey established an inquiry which identified enclosed land and buildings that had been demolished when land was converted from arable to pasture.
- This led to legal proceedings in the Court of Chancery against those who had ignored previous laws. Between 1518 and 1529 legal action was taken against 264 landowners, of which 222 were brought to court and 188 verdicts reached. Some were forced to rebuild houses they had knocked down and others to return land to arable farming- showed justice and improvement of farming conditions

CAREERIST
* However, the impact of this was small and Wolsey sacrificed the gains he had made, accepting all enclosures as part of the agreement for the subsidy.
* Wolsey had effectively sold out his social policy on enclosure to achieve his desired taxation system, showing he could have been considered more of a careerist than a reformist as all he did was done to enable what he truly wanted from his position

Overall:
Wolsey initially adopted a policy of resisting landowners approach to enclosure through the Courts as Lord Chancellor. However, when this had limited success he abandoned this approach in a pragmatic manner using enclosure as a bargaining chip to obtain his taxation model (the Subsidy) which was more progressive than the previous system.
* Wolsey also seems to have realised that the movement from the countryside to the towns was inevitable and with that issues with food supplies already under pressure were going to be more challenged. He then introduced reforms on distribution and price (among others) to aid to these issues
* Concluding, Wolsey could be described as a pragmatic reformist

Question 10

Were Wolsey’s social reforms an overall success or failure?

Answer 10

• Wolsey made genuine attempts at social reform. However, as in many other areas, he was a realist and gave this away when it wasn’t having much impact to achieve something else or when it wasn’t achieving enough (in this case as part of a wider agreement on taxation).
• It could be argued that the Subsidy was more progressive in nature than taxation (it more accurately reflected income and wealth) this loss on enclosure had a significant impact on social structures and the migration rate to towns.
• Wolsey worked to balance agricultural productivity, price stability, and social welfare to improve food. The issue of food security wasn’t solved, but was somewhat helped
• Wolsey’s social policies initially championed the poor but when they failed to turn back the tide of enclosure he could be seen as abandoning them (and hence a failure) but at a price (and therefore still something of a success).

Question 11

What is the context for Wolsey’s financial policies?

Answer 11

• Despite efforts of Henry VII, English monarchy still not wealthy; Parliament still thought king should “live of his own”
• Henry VIII’s more aggressive foreign policy put extra pressure on royal finances

Question 12

What financial changes did Wolsey make and was he a reformist or careerist?

Answer 12

Taxation:
- Reformist: Introduced a new approach to parliamentary tax (called the subsidy) which became the standard parliamentary tax, and which replaced the previous fifteenths and tenths system. The subsidy required taxpayers to give details of their property and income to local officials to determine how much they should pay. The subsidy effectively meant the more you earnt the more you paid and was reminiscent of modern taxation systems. Gave a realistic valuation of people’s wealth and was the first-time taxation had been raised on accurate assessments since 1334
- Careerist: As a result, Wolsey sought a non-parliamentary tax (the Amicable Grant) in 1525. However, this was controversial and followed two forced loans in 1522-23 that were still being repaid by the Crown to the clergy and laity. This taxation instrument then led to protest and close to a minor rebellion in East Anglia.
* Henry was forced to deny he knew anything about the Amicable Grant and Wolsey was made the scapegoat and forced to apologise

Amicable grant:
- Careerist: enacted the forced loans in 1522/3 and the Amicable Loan in 1525 (also a forced loan). These instruments were forced, simple and NOT to a reforming agenda. They can be seen as Wolsey adopting a pragmatic approach to raise money

Crown lands:
- Careerist: He seems to have reversed some of Henry’s previous policies in order to raise money. This just seems a pragmatic response, and there doesn’t seem to be any desire for reform behind these actions.

Question 13

What were the successes and failures of Wolsey’s financial policies?

Answer 13

• Introduced a modern and effective taxation structure and maintained higher levels of taxation than normal without provoking too serious (the most serious was the Amicable Grant) unrest
• There was, however, a large budget deficit. In total England spent far more (€1.7m mostly on war) than it raised (total of €820.000 from the subsidy, clerical taxation and forced loans) between 1509 and 1520.
• This was, however, driven by Henry’s desire for money, and led Wolsey to adopt more pragmatic and less structured approaches to raising finance which were less successful. In particular, the Amicable Grant was such a failure such that Henry was forced to deny he knew anything about it and Wolsey was made the scapegoat and forced to apologise

Question 14

What were the aims of Wolsey’s administrative policies?

Answer 14

• Improve solvency and efficiency of government
• Maintain Wolsey’s personal power

Question 15

what were Wolsey’s administrative policies?

Answer 15

Parliament:
- Careerist: Wolsey saw no role for Parliament. Whilst there was no obvious antagonism between Wolsey and its members, Parliament is portrayed as seeing limited benefit from Henry’s foreign policy and hence disagreed with his primary advisor Wolsey. As a result, Wolsey just ignored Parliament- only calling it twice, in 1515 and 1523

Privy Chamber:
* Careerist: Wolsey was concerned about the Privy chamber and aimed to improve its efficiency. Introduced the Eltham Ordinances in 1526 (aimed to improve the PC finances, promoting Sir William Compton to under-treasurer of the Exchequer). But the main purpose was to control access to the King and increase Wolsey’s influence (at the time of failed amicable grant)

Question 16

Were Wolsey’s administrative policies successful?

Answer 16

Could be argued that the weakness of Wolsey was his desire to control everything: he sought to control access to the King, even from important bodies such as Parliament and the Privy Council. Meaning the King’s council was more limited than it could (and perhaps should) have been. Henry may well have been better served by wider advice even though Wolsey was clearly a very talented advisor.
- But in furthering his own personal power Wolsey did well at making him the only person Henry needed even at great costs to the people

Question 17

What was the context for Wolsey’s religious policies?

Answer 17

• Wolsey’s most prominent achievement within the church was becoming Cardinal-legate.
• In practice he created a legatine despotism which allowed Henry’s ‘imperial’ authority over the church
• Wolsey was made papal legate in 1518, and granted to him for life in 1524- he was superior to William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Antipapalism was more prominent in the 1520s
• Humanism- an emerging philosophy, the idea of going back to centring your beliefs around people not systems.

Question 18

How did Wolsey’s personal relationships show him as a reformer or a careerist?

Answer 18

Reformer:
* William Warham (Archbishop of Canterbury) did not particularly oppose Wolsey. Wolsey was previously ranked second to Warham
* Wolsey used patronage to keep people deferential.
* According to his servant, Cavendish, Wolsey held to masses a day and always said the daily office.

Careerist:
* At the beginning of his reign as legate a latere Wolsey was a pluralist (holding more than one office as Archbishop of York and Bishop of Lincoln) and only cared about his career: He was preoccupied with state affairs and had 2 illegitimate children
* Bishops appointed during Wolsey’s reign: Tunstall, Veysey and Longland were well qualified
* Main interest was thought to be the financial rewards in office. Peter Gwyn, estimated that it might have increased his income by 8% (but due to his already prevalent wealth this was not a large change)
* Wolsey pressured the Pope to award him cardinal. 1518 Wolsey was able to persuade the Pope to appoint him legatus a latere after begging to be more powerful than William Warham

Question 19

How did Wolsey’s instutional reforms show him as a reformer or a careerist?

Answer 19

Reformer:
- As legate Wolsey could grant licenses and dispensations that were usually granted by the pope (so it didn’t have to go to Rome)
* The legate could take charge in matter of wills and granting of probate (which he usually sold back to the bishops)
* He attempted to inspect and regulate the Church which he was responsible for. In 1519 he called a meeting of the bishops, concerned on how to improve the clergy. In the same year the leaders of regular clergy were called for the same reason
* Wolsey organised official visitations for the more prestigious members of the church.
* Wolsey was concerned with improving education, his school in Ipswich and Cardinal College (in Oxford) were widely welcomed in humanist circles. Wolsey ensured that Cardinal College was supplied with texts, funded by the dissolution of the monasteries
* Wolsey funded public lectureships at Oxford
* One of the reasons the Pope awarded Wolsey the legate a latere was so that he could reform the English Church

Careerist:
* Wolsey did not take over the King’s right to nominate men for high church office. In 1518 Wolsey put forward William Bolton for the see of St Asaph in Wales, but Henry chose Henry Standish
* Meetings which called religious heads, only rewrote the existing rules, little change.
* In the 1520s Wolsey closed 29 religious houses to finance the Cardinal College at Oxford and his Ipswich school. These closures led to protests from the houses involved and Wolsey was accused of only caring for his needs.
* Wolsey appointed non-resident Italians to bishoprics and paid them a fraction of which he kept the surplus. Wolsey used the church to fund his lifestyle

Question 20

What other issues presented Wolsey as a careerist?

Answer 20

• Wolsey as humanist- Wolsey was not a fan of an English Bible and associated the vernacular Bible with Lollard heresy in England and Lutheran heresy in Germany (thought be other humanists). When William Tyndale produced an English New Testament in 1526. The illegal appearance of this work caused a raid to be organised.
• In 1521 Wolsey held a conference of Oxford and Cambridge theologians to speak out against Lutheran heresy. He attended a public bonfire of Luther’s books at St Paul’s Cross, where Bishop Fisher preached Luther’s errors.
• Wolsey persuaded the King to write against German heresy-(In defence of the seven sacraments)- Agreed with the Pope
• In the late 1520s Wolsey was negotiating with the Pope for permission to create new English bishoprics- which would come from closing down monasteries where inmate numbers had fallen below 12. (Wolsey’s fall meant this did not amount to anything)
• He was not celibate, he had 2 illegitimate children

Question 22

Were Wolsey’s religious policies a success or failure?

Answer 22

Wolsey succeeded in his endeavours of climbing the ladder of positions in the Church and overpowering William Warham by becoming legate a latere. But in terms of succeeding to reform the English Church like the pope wished, he failed. Wolsey only did things which either benefitted his position or were how he wanted things to be.
- E.g Wolsey ended up only funding Ipswich school and Cardinal College after dissolving 29 religious homes, which were conveniently the schools which he went to. Wolsey only did things to benefit him which in turn led him to success as he stayed in power until 1529 and had great influence over henry and the Church and the Pope.

Question 23

What is context for the condition of the pre-reformation church?

Answer 23

• Revisionists believed the “reformation from above”- the reformation happened due to Henry VIII wanting a divorce
• Traditionalists believed the “reformation from above”- ordinary Christians thought the Catholic church was rotten and needed to be reformed
• 1534 Act of Supremacy- made Henry head of the church of England
• 1536 Act of Ten Articles

Question 24

How is anticlericalism significant in the argument that the church was rotten?

opposed to religious authority

Answer 24

• Criticism of the personnel of the Church both high and low, criticism of lifestyles and criticism of clergy- as not seen fully committed
• John Colet, a humanist Dean, and scholar of St Paul’s preached a sermon before the assembled clergy in Convocation, where he attacked the major issues within the church. He believed that too many clergy who served the church were unduly ambitious, they strove to move up the ecclesiastical hierarchy, often guilty of moral laxity

Pluralism: Holding religious office in many different places at once:
- Also targeted by Colet was pluralism E.g Thomas Magnus was Archdeacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire and had canonries at Lincoln and Windsor simultaneously. He was also master of St Leonard’s Hospital in York, master of the college St Sepulchre and of Sibthorpe College, vicar of Kendal and rector of Kirby, Bedale and Sessay

Absenteeism:
- Wolsey did not visit York Minster until his fall from power, 14 years after his appointment as Archbishop
- Richard Fox, bishop of Exeter, then Winchester under Henry VII and Henry VIII, was often absent on state business in the King’s council. The see of Worcester, which was ‘not occupied’ by 4 Italians in succession between 1497 and 1534

Simony:
- Buying and selling of office in the government by clergy

Question 25

How is anticlericalism significant in the argument that the church was not rotten?

Answer 25

• Colet’s criticism was generalised and exaggerated- one churchman preaching to other churchmen. No serious reform of the clergy was attempted. It was not the Church’s fault if the king appointed men who were educated and able ministers rather than spiritually driven ministers

Absenteeism:
- It did not mean that the followers of that religious house went unattended. There was often an army of Church officials and clergy who got on with the daily business of ministering the believers.
- Absent bishops would appoint suffragan bishops as deputies to carry out their work.
- Not all bishops were absentees all the time: Bishop Fox and Archbishop Warham decided to retire from court to concentrate on episcopal (to do with bishops) matters.
- In 1517 Fox wrote to Wolsey that he was turning his back on ‘meddling with worldly matters, especially concerning the war or anything appertaining to it’
Absenteeism was a common feature of church life

Pluralism:
- Wolsey and Magnus were exceptions to this assumption. There was no shortage of church recruits, and all churches were tended to.
- But the work in each case was fairly nominal, he was a devoted servant to Henry VII and Henry VIII and worked in the King’s privy council and the Council of the North.

Simony:
- Most were good administrators and there were no notable scandals associated with Bishops apart from Wolsey’s illegitimate children.

Question 26

How is antipapalism significant in the argument that the church was rotten?

Answer 26

Views in Germany and England
- Germany: German princes and city-states felt that the Pope and papal agents were exploiting them. Luther referred to the Pope’s supporters as “Romists” and his first break from the church was the claim that the Pope was not the spiritual head of the church.
- England: Disputes between the King and Pope were over, and the King was victorious. The Duke of Suffolk (Henry’s brother-in-law) claimed “it was never merry in England while we had cardinals amongst us”
* Wolsey as papal legate: He was more superior than Archbishop Warham, argued that opposition to Wolsey was opposition to the Pope and therefore Antipapalism was more pronounced in the 1520s

• Erastianism: The state is superiour to the church on matters of clergy

Question 27

How is antipapalism significant in the argument that the church was not rotten?

Answer 27

• England: Antipapalism hard to detect, English church not as papal. No dramatic sense of Antipapalism as Pope was far away
• Wolsey’s leadership may have helped engender a greater sense of unity amongst the bishops. Wolsey did a better job than Warham who was old and feeble
• Opposition to Wolsey was uncommon and Warham was happy to give up his power
• Erastianism: The King should be head of church not the Pope

Question 28

How is heresy significant in the argument that the church was rotten?

Answer 28

• Reformation from below
• State of the monasteries
• Secularisation: Some believed monasteries played too much of a role in secular affairs
• The Lollards were a small-scale underground sect. Claimed the bible was only on the basis of belief being the word of God, and should be available to layman and churchman

Question 29

How is heresy significant in the argument that the church was not rotten?

Answer 29

• State of the monasteries: Martin Luther the author of heresy. Not widely spread in England
• Robert Barns was burnt as a Lutheran in 1540 was an Augustine friar, but he was the exception. The regular clergy attended to their rules.
• Secularisation: Monasteries could not ignore imput from worldly affairs.
• The Lollards had little to no power or hope of indenting the govt

Question 30

How is disengagement significant in the argument that the church was rotten?

Answer 30

• Not donating
• Not going to church
• Not signing up to be priests
• Not writing gifts in their will

Question 31

How is disengagement significant in the argument that the church was not rotten?

Answer 31

• “In several areas… there appear to have remained not only numerous but also active, prosperous and locally supported” (large wills granted to the church)

Question 32

Why did henry want a divorce from Catherine?

Answer 32

Need for a legitimate male heir:
- The Tudor succession was least likely to be challenged if Henry was able to pass on the crown to a legitimate, adult male heir. However, in May 1527 (when he secretly began negotiations with the pope for an annulment), his only acknowledged surviving children were: (a) Mary (born 1518), his legitimate daughter with Catherine of Aragon. (b) Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond (born 1519), his illegitimate son with Elizabeth Blount

A matter of conscience:
- Under canon (Church) law, Henry had required a dispensation from Pope Julius II to marry his brother Arthur’s widow, Catherine of Aragon, in 1509. However, the king became increasingly convinced that his lack of a legitimate male heir was God’s punishment for doing so. (Leviticus 20:21)

Love for Anne Boleyn:
- Anne was one of Catherine’s maids of honour. The king is thought to have begun wooing her in 1526. For six years she refused to sleep with him unless they married, although she finally relented in late 1532, and was known to be carrying his child by January 1533 (when they married in secret).
- Henry’s love letters to Anne reveal three stages in his growing infatuation:
- 1526-Easter 1527: Wanting Anne to be his mistress
- Easter-Summer 1527: Complaining of silence from Anne
- Summer 1527: Wanting Anne to be his wife

Act of Supremacy 1534: Henry officially breaks from Rome and makes himself head of the English church

Question 33

In Henry’s great matter why was his conscience key?

Answer 33

• Leviticus 20:21 “If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness, they shall be childless.” When followed the Hebrew translation which explicitly states sons, this then reigned upon Henry’s conscience, and he realised that Catherine was the cause of Henry’s incapability to have a son. Since Catherine was originally Arthur’s wife this concerned Henry.
• Henry very religious and offered title ‘Defender of the Faith’ by the Pope. Also wrote “In defence of the seven sacraments”.
• Henry feared God’s will so it is not improbable that a main reason for his divorce/ annulment was due to his fear of God.

Question 34

In Henry’s great matter why was his conscience not key?

Answer 34

• Took him 29 years to institute process. Stopped sleeping with Catherine 1524 but took 3 years before seeking an annulment- Soul morally troubled?
• Henry had had multiple mistresses before and during being with Anne

Question 35

In Henry’s great matter why was love key?

Answer 35

• Was in love with Anne Boleyn and she refused to sleep with Henry until she was his wife not just his mistress.
• June 1527 Anne and Henry agreed to marry after the annulment was final
• May 1533 Anne was crowned as Queen and was Henry’s only other wife (excluding Catherine of Aragon) to be given this honour- showing he loved her
• Henry’s love for Anne was ‘something amazing and in fact he sees nothing and think nothing but Anne. He cannot stay away from her for one hour”- Cardinal Campeggio February 1529. Difficult to see how without the infatuation described henry could have sustained the 5.5-year campaign for the marriage.
• Henry wrote lots of love letters to Anne, after famously hating writing letters.

Question 36

In Henry’s great matter why was the issue of succession key?

Answer 36

• December 1532 Anne became pregnant before they married in secret in January 1533
• If Henry’s marriage to Catherine was illegitimate then so was their daughter Mary, meaning he would need another child to ensure the safety of the throne for the Tudor dynasty. Even if she was legitimate questions about a female monarch were also asked
• Edward IV was still alive and could claim the throne if there wasn’t a sufficient, legitimate heir
• When Henry visited France in 1528 questions of Mary’s legitimacy were raised during marriage negotiations to the French heir.

Question 37

In Henry’s great matter why was the issue of succession not key?

Answer 37

• Waited 9 years after Catherine’s last pregnancy in 1518 at age 40. Happy enough to promote Henry Fitzroy (Fitzroy means King’s son) to Duke of Richmond in wake of June 1525 refection of Mary by Charles V
• Henry Fitzroy was sent to run the council of the North to gain experience of govt, suggesting that he could one day rule. Meaning Henry didn’t divorce Catherine for an heir because he already had one in which he thought could succeed him.

Question 38

What is the most compelling reason for Henry’s desire for an heir?

Answer 38

• Overall Henry needed an heir to succeed him. His need for an heir could be a reason he fell in love with Anne and the true meaning of why his conscience was under self-attack due to his marriage with Catherine.

Question 39

What are the events for Henry failing to secure an annulment?

Answer 39

Henry’s first secret overture to Pope Clement VII regarding the annulment was made on 21 May 1527. Over the next three years, Clement used a succession of ruses to delay or avoid deciding the issue, although he did suggest compromises including permitting Henry to commit bigamy by marrying Anne Boleyn as a second wife and legitimising any children of that union.

Wolsey’s last throw of the dice was to secure the pope’s agreement to a special ecclesiastical court, to sit at Blackfriars in London, with Wolsey and another papal legate (Cardinal Campeggio) sitting as joint judges. The court opened on 31 May 1529, but the pope’s secret instructions to Campeggio ensured that no progress was made. In July the court was adjourned, and the case recalled to Rome. This sealed Wolsey’s fate, and in October he was arrested, dismissed as Lord Chancellor, and sent into internal exile at York.

1518: Catherine’s last pregnancy
1524: King and queen stop sleeping together
1525: Pavia – Charles dominates Europe
1526: Henry becomes infatuated with Anne
1526-7: Henry decides on an annulment; possibly provoked by Francis I querying Mary’s legitimacy

1527:
- Easter: Henry pressing Anne to be his mistress
- May x 2: Secret negotiations with Pope begin; sack of Rome
- Jul: Henry and Anne agree to marry
- Sep: Application for annulment

1528:
- Oct: Campeggio arrives in England

1529:
- May: Legatine court opens
- Jul: Campeggio calls summer recess
- Oct: Wolsey charged with praemunire and appoints Thomas More as Lord Chancellor

Question 40

What were the main reasons for Henry failing to secure an annulment?

Answer 40

• The legal case- including the failings of Henry and opposition from the pope
• Wolsey’s handlings
• Catherine and Charles

Question 41

The legal case: How did Henry’s weak theological case fail to secure him an annulment?

Answer 41

• In focusing on the Hebrew text of Leviticus, Henry was conveniently ignoring another part of Scripture which flatly contradicted it. Deuteronomy 25:5 said that a man had a positive duty to marry his brother’s widow
• Henry’s argument was that he should never have been allowed to marry Catherine because of the “affinity” between them (theologically this referred to one sibling having sex with the other sibling’s sexual partner, rather than the issue of marriage). However, if this was true, then Anne Boleyn should not be allowed to marry/have sex with Henry, because her sister Mary had previously been the king’s mistress

Question 42

The legal case: How did Henry’s inflexible moral stance fail to secure him an annulment?

Answer 42

• Henry rejected the pope’s compromise suggestions, including the latter turning a blind eye to bigamy, and/or letting Wolsey quietly decide the matter within England without publicly seeking the pope’s approval.
• When his initial secret approaches were rebuffed, he upped the anti by commissioning favourable legal opinions from universities across Europe, and sponsoring an aggressive public propaganda campaign of pamphlets using the newly invented printed presses (doubled down preventing the Pope from sliding the whole issue under the carpet and forcing him to take a strong public stance against Henry)
• He also ignored Wolsey’s attempt to pragmatically recast the argument against Julius II’s dispensation as clearing up a clerical error (the original agreement for the marriage to resume)
• Wolsey argued that the dispensation had been granted on the basis that Catherine’s marriage to Arthur had been consummated so an alternative was to accept Catherine’s claim that the marriage was never consummated, meaning that the dispensation was invalid. However, Henry was determined to be vindicated on his own terms

Question 43

The legal case: Why did Pope Clement’s defence of papal authority fail to secure Henry an annulment?

Answer 43

• For as long as Henry persisted in his argument that Julius II had no right to overturn God’s law (as evidenced by Leviticus), he was asking Clement VII to agree that his predecessor had done something wrong. This went against the Church’s longstanding doctrine of “papal infallibility”- Pope can’t be wrong
• Whatever the legal technicalities, if Julius’ dispensation were held to have been granted improperly this would feed into allegations of papal corruption, at a time when the Reformation was placing the Church under increasing pressure

Question 44

Wolsey’s handlings: How did Wolsey’s over-optimism fail to secure Henry an annulment?

Answer 44

• Wolsey was dealt a weak hand by Henry, but made matters worse by initially promising the king that securing an annulment would be easy due to his influence with the papacy
• Although Wolsey’s primary strategy was to loyally advocate Henry’s central argument on the invalidity of Julius II’s dispensation, his secondary (marginally more realistic) strategy was to persuade the pope to transfer the case to England for Wolsey himself to decide as papal legate. However, this did not take into account the realities of European power politics, either within the Vatican or in terms of the wider Continental situation.

Question 45

Wolsey’s handlings: How did English diplomatic weakness in Rome fail to secure Henry an annulment?

Answer 45

• Unlike some other countries, England had no permanent diplomatic mission in the Vatican, or any established pro-English faction amongst the pope’s cardinals.
• Temporary English ambassadors such as Bishop Stephen Gardiner had only a limited understanding of the complex world of papal politics.

Question 46

Catherine and Charles: How did imperal pressure on Pope Clement fail to secure Henry an annulment?

Answer 46

• The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, was Catherine’s nephew, and family pride and the Tudors’ appalling treatment of Catherine, made it unlikely that he would go along with an annulment.
• On 6 May 1527, some of Charles’ troops in Italy mutinied and sacked Rome. The pope surrendered to imperial protection, thereby effectively becoming Charles V’s prisoner.
• Wolsey tried to get around this by declaring himself acting pope and was torpedoed by the French cardinals

Question 47

Catherine and Charles: How did Catherine’s position fail to secure Henry an annulment?

Answer 47

• Whilst Catherine had no veto on the pope’s deliberations, she went out of her way to frustrate Henry’s plans, defending both her own status and the legitimacy of Mary. In doing so, she attracted widespread public support as the “wronged” party.
• She appealed directly to pope against Henry’s plans, all the while choosing to believe that it was Wolsey rather than her husband who was the driving force behind the annulment.
• She rejected a proposal from the pope’s legate Cardinal Campeggio in 1528 that she should voluntarily enter a nunnery, which would have had the impact of ending her marriage.

Question 48

What do the different factions opposing Wolsey want and why did they oppose Wolsey?

Answer 48

1529- Factions:
* Boleyns - want marriage to King - Think Wolsey not actually trying to get annulment.
* Norfolk - Earl of Surrey (son of old EoS /new DoN) - 1527 father exiled from court.
* Suffolk - Charles Brandon (one who married H’s sister secretly) - (Wolsey supported him in court but CB annoyed at W’s power)- ambushed H at end of 1529, asking for fall of Wolsey as saw him as useless

Question 49

Describe Wolsey’s attempts to get an annulment and the challenges he faced

Answer 49

The Great Matter: Wolsey assured Henry that with his influence at Rome he would easily obtain a divorce.
First attempt:
- Wolsey requested Pope to declare original dispensation making Henry’s marriage to Catherine invalid, as it ignored Leviticus. Attempt failed, as it required present Pope to admit a previous Pope had made an error and deny papal infallacy
* Not helped by fact that Charles V of Spain (Catherine’s nephew) had taken Pope prisoner- Sack of Rome 1527
* Henry refused to abandon this approach: paid for treaties to be written arguing his case, which brought the matter to international attention & made it harder for Pope to give way.

Second attempt:
* Wolsey made the more technical claim that there was error in the dispensation.
* This line of argument was more promising: required Pope only to accept a clerical error.
* However, Catherine’s advisors found a differently worded version, which satisfied the objections.

Third attempt:
* Wolsey tried to persuade Pope to allow case to be heard in England.
* Wolsey hoped the power to decide would be delegated to a papal legate- meaning Wolsey would temporarily have the power of the Pope within England
* However, Pope believed he could accept or reject the decision – made this approach useless.

Legatine Court
* Eventually compromise- decision to be made by two legates, Wolsey & Cardinal Campeggio.
* Campeggio refused to hurry journey to England – coincided with Henry’s urgency to resolve matter. Delays blamed on Wolsey.
* When Campeggio arrived, clear Wolsey had been tricked: Campeggio had no intention of reaching verdict. July 1529, he suspended case for summer, arguing courts in Rome were on a summer break.

Growing dissatisfaction with Wolsey:
* Suspension frustrated Henry. Wolsey had promised quick verdict; now waited two years.
* By this point, a court faction had developed against Wolsey – that he was hated by the powerful Duke of Norfolk (Anne Boleyn’s uncle) & Duke of Suffolk (Charles Brandon, the husband of Henry’s sister, Mary).
* Boleyns (powerful family) argued Wolsey was deliberately slowing the divorce process: claimed Wolsey hostile to them.
* True that Wolsey had little to gain personally from the annulment:
- Anne more involved in politics than Catherine, so more likely to influence decision-making.
- Anne had grudge against Wolsey, who had stopped her marrying his page Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland in 1524.
* However, Wolsey would have realised best interests would be served by pleasing the king and obtaining divorce.

Fall of Wolsey:
* Henry had become desperate for divorce.
* Anne refused to be his mistress; every year that passed made it less likely he would leave male heir old enough to rule directly, exposing England to dangers of minority rule.
* Henry decided to use charge of praemunire against Wolsey (i.e. accusing him of upholding papal law without king’s permission); Wolsey allowed Henry to confiscate his property & imprison him.

Question 50

Why was the failure of the Great Matter key in causing the fall of Wolsey?

Answer 50

• Wolsey blamed for the failure losing Henry’s favour
• He was Legate a latere a representative of the pope who Henry at this point despised
• Had promised he would easily gain an annulment due to his great influence from Papacy, but failed
• Henry getting under time pressure – Sex ban from Anne and soon would be unable to have male heir due to her age

Question 51

Why was Wolsey’s foreign policy not key in causing his fall?

Answer 51

• Wolsey masterminded several significant treaties, such as the Treaty of London in 1518, aiming for universal peace in Europe and positioning England as a key power broker.
• His involvement in the intricate negotiations of the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 further underscores his central role in international politics.
• Henry relied almost entirely on Wolsey to further England’s position in Europe and keep good relations with the continent

Question 52

Why were factions key in the fall of Wolsey?

Answer 52

• Many nobles angry at Wolsey so formed factions
• e.g. the Boleyn Faction – convinced that Wolsey was actively delaying annulment as wanted H to stay with Catherine, fed lots of anti-Wolsey propaganda to public -> Henry came to believe this claim

Question 53

Was Wolsey an alter rex?: Wolsey’s background

Answer 53

• regarded by contemporaries and historians as an “alter rex” (another king) due to his immense influence and authority

Wealth and Titles:
* He held numerous influential positions, including Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of York, and Cardinal, giving him unprecedented control over both **church and state **
* Wolsey amassed significant wealth, with lavish residences such as Hampton Court, reflecting a lifestyle comparable to royalty.
* His control over church revenues and his manipulation of ecclesiastical appointments further augmented his financial and political power.
- However, his wealth and titles were granted by the king and could be rescinded, as evidenced by his dramatic fall from grace in 1529 when Henry VIII stripped him of his titles and properties. This dependency on royal favour highlights a crucial limitation: unlike a king, Wolsey’s power was neither hereditary nor independent.

Question 54

Why did Wolsey’s domestic policy show him to be an alter rex?

Answer 54

• In domestic policy, Wolsey effectively managed the day-to-day governance of England, often making decisions without Henry’s direct involvement.
• He implemented significant legal and administrative reforms, such as reorganizing the court system and enforcing more efficient tax collection methods.
• His management of the king’s finances and influence over royal policies further underscores his powerful role.

Question 55

Why did Wolsey’s domestic policy not show him as an alter rex?

Answer 55

• Wolsey’s authority in domestic affairs was subject to the king’s ultimate approval
• Henry VIII’s occasional interventions and overriding decisions, particularly in matters of personal and national importance, underscore the fact that Wolsey’s power, though substantial, was not autonomous
• His failure to secure the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon starkly revealed the limits of his influence and ultimately led to his downfall.

Question 56

Why did Wolsey’s foreign policy show him as an alter rex?

Answer 56

• Wolsey’s role in foreign diplomacy solidifies his image as an alter rex.
• He masterminded several significant treaties, such as the Treaty of London in 1518, aiming for universal peace in Europe and positioning England as a key power broker.
• His involvement in the intricate negotiations of the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 further underscores his central role in international politics. These activities, traditionally the domain of the monarch, were conducted by Wolsey with apparent autonomy, reinforcing his status as a quasi-royal figure.
• Henry wholly dependent on powers of Wolsey

Question 57

Why did Wolsey’s foreign policy not show him as an alter rex?

Answer 57

• His failures in foreign policy, including the inability to maintain England’s influence in European power dynamics and his eventual loss of the king’s favour, indicate the precariousness of his position.
• A true alter rex would have wielded more resilient power, not one so susceptible to the king’s shifting priorities and dissatisfaction.

Question 58

Overall conclusion- Was Wolsey an alter rex?

Answer 58

• In conclusion, while Cardinal Wolsey possessed extraordinary influence and operated with a level of authority that rivalled that of a king, he was not an alter rex in the truest sense.
• His power was immense, particularly in his accumulation of wealth and titles, domestic governance, and foreign diplomacy, but it was ultimately derived from and limited by Henry VIII’s favour.
• Wolsey’s status as an alter rex is more metaphorical than literal, reflecting his unique but fundamentally subordinate position in the Tudor court.
• His eventual downfall, precipitated by his failure to secure the annulment of Henry’s marriage and his loss of royal favour, underscores the essential difference between his power and that of a true monarch.