Chapter 8 - Henry VIII, government and parliament Flashcards
what was Henry’s attitude to parliament like during the early years of his reign?
similar to his fathers, to grant extraordinary revenue and to pass laws.
when did Henry call Parliament before 1529?
1510, 1512, 1515 and 1523
how did wolsey view parliament?
with some distaste
how many times was parliament called during Wolsey’s period of dominance?
just once, in 1523
what did the parliament in 1510 do?
abolished the council learned in the law
what did the parliament in 1514 do?
provided extraordinary revenue for invasions of France and Scotland; Anticlerical act restricting benefit of clergy
what did the parliament in 1515 do?
act restricting benefit of clergy not renewed despite an apparently anticlerical atmosphere in the House of Commons
what did the parliament in 1523 do?
provided extraordinary revenue for invasion of France; speaker of the House of Commons, sir Thomas more, made the first known plea for freedom of speech for MPs. the level of anticlericalism seemed reduced, despite parliaments ill-temper.
what was the parliament called between 1529 and 1536 known as?
reformation parliament
what did the parliament in June and July 1536 do?
called to enact a new succession act following the fall of Anne boleyn.
what did the parliament called between 1539 and 1540 do?
called to provide extraordinary revenue with invasion threatened; produced divergent religious legislation, for example the dissolution of the greater monasteries and the six articles act.
what did the parliament called between 1542 and 1544 do?
provided extraordinary revenue for invasions of Scotland and France; dealt once more with the issue of succession.
what did the parliament called between 1545 and 1547 do?
provided extraordinary revenue
how many parliaments did Henry call during his reign?
9
why was parliament used more frequently in the second half of henry’s reign?
Cromwell exploited the legislative possibilities of parliament more thoroughly.
how long did conciliar government last at the start of Henry’s reign?
1509-1514
what factors combined to bring conciliar government to an end?
- Henry became disenchanted with the reluctance of some his father’s senior councillors to support a war with France.
- he became increasingly his own man by asserting his undoubted right to control decision making.
- Henry surrounded himself with like-minded young courtiers who reinforced his suspicions of the ‘old guard’
- he became impressed by the organisational skills of wolsey.
why was wolsey useful to Henry?
Henry didn’t like the day to day business of governance so wolsey complement his hands off approach to the details of policy making.
who were the king’s minions?
a group of young courtiers who enjoyed Henry’s personal favour.
why was the role of the privy chamber extended during the early years of Henry’s reign?
the king’s minions became gentleman of the privy chamber.
when did wolsey secure the removal of the minions from the privy chamber?
1519
what happened after wolsey removed the minions?
he replaced them with his own supporters but most of the minions managed to recover their positions.
what was the one part of government outside of Wolsey’s immediate control?
the privy chamber because of the minions
what was the court of chancery?
the main court of equity in the kingdom; in such courts justice was based on applying the principle of equity, i.e. fairness, rather than a strict reading of the common law.
why was Wolsey responsible for overseeing the legal system?
he was lord chancellor
how did wolsey use the courts?
he used the courts to deal with problems relating to enclosure, contracts and land left to others in wills.
what was the main problem with the chancery court?
it became too popular and justice was slow since it became clogged up with too many cases.
what was Wolsey’s most distinctive legal contribution?
the operation of the court of star chamber.
what did the court of star chamber become under Wolsey?
the centre of both government and justice
what was Wolsey’s motive in extending the use of the court of star chamber from 1516?
to increase cheap and fair justice
what did wolsey also encourage the court of star chamber to be used for?
for private lawsuits
what did wolsey do after the settlement of private lawsuits in the court of star chamber became too successful?
he was forced to set up a series of ‘overflow tribunals’ to deal with the pressure of business. a permanent committee which he set up in 1519 became the ancestor of the later court of requests, whose job it was to deal with cases involving the poor.
what does subsidy mean?
historically, this refers to a grant issued by parliament to the sovereign for state needs
what did the 1523 subsidy do?
imposed a tax of one shilling in the pound for land worth £50, and one shilling in the pound on personal savings and goods.
what change did wolsey make to the way subsidies were collected?
instead of using local commissioners to assess taxpayer’s wealth (with the risk they could be over generous to the nobility), Wolsey set up a national committee which he himself headed. with direct and realistic assessment of the wealth of taxpayers, the nation’s revenue base consequently became much more realistic.
how did Wolsey try and raise money for Henry’s war with France?
he attempted to raise unparliamentary taxation, through the so called ‘amicable grant’ of 1525.
what was the amicable grant?
in 1525 Wolsey ordered the implementation of the ‘amicable grant’ to raise more money for war; in theory it was to be a freely given gift from his subjects to the king, but in reality it was a heavy tax, levied without parliament’s approval.
how did John Guy describe wolsey in relation to his management of parliament?
‘arrogant and insensitive’
how was Wolsey’s insensitivity towards parliament shown?
the 1523 parliament, which had been called to finance the renewal of war against France. this parliament seems to have spent its time grumbling about Wolsey’s financial demands, so much so that he proved unable to secure all he wanted.
what shows just how charged the atmosphere was at the 1523 parliament?
the speaker of the House of Commons, sir Thomas more, felt obliged to ask the king’s forgiveness for the boisterousness of some of the members, while at the same time defending their right to express critical opinions.
who was the groom of the stool?
the most intimate of an English monarch’s courtiers, who became a man in whom much confidence was placed and royal secrets were shared as a matter of course.
when did Wolsey introduce the Eltham ordinances?
1526
what were the eltham ordinances?
in the guise of pushing forward proposals for a reduction of royal household expenditure, wolsey secured a reduction in the number of the gentleman of the privy chamber, the one area of the government he didn’t have control. he also removed Henry’s groom of the stool, Sir William Compton, replacing him with the more compliant Henry Norris.
what was the King’s great matter?
concerned the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and his desire to marry Anne Boleyn; this was a complex situation which would ultimately lead to England’s break from the catholic church.
what were the short term consequences of the King’s great matter?
the downfall of wolsey
what were the long term consequences of the King’s great matter?
the establishment of royal supremacy
what is an annulment?
declaring something, in this case a marriage, legally invalid; it was generally accepted that only the pope could authorise such a measure.
what was one of Henry’s desperate ideas to solve his issue with needing a male heir?
legitimising his illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy
what role did Anne Boleyn have in Henry’s desire to end his marriage with Catherine?
Henry had fallen in love with her but she refused to become his mistress so he needed to get an annulment.
what did Henry need Wolsey to do?
secure a papal dispensation for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine.
what religious argument did Henry use when trying to get an annulment?
he found a biblical justification, the book of Leviticus contained a prohibition on a man marrying his brother’s widow. as Catherine had briefly been married to Henry’s brother Arthur, Henry claimed that therefore the papal dispensation given by Julius II was invalid. he claimed that in god’s eyes the marriage was illegal so he was free to marry Anne.
what was the problem with Henry’s religious argument for the annulment?
Catherine claimed that her marriage to Arthur had never been consummated and that therefore the biblical ban did not apply.
what argument did Henry make wolsey use?
the levitican argument
who was Catherine’s nephew?
Charles V, holy roman emperor
why was the pope not in a position to issue a papal dispensation even if he wanted to?
Charles V had sacked Rome so the pope was under the control of Charles, because he was Catherine’s nephew he was not prepared to see his family insulted.
what did wolsey do in May 1527?
he used his power as the pope’s personal representative to bring Henry before a fake court to ‘accuse’ him of living in sin with his supposed wife, a fault which Henry readily admitted. Catherine refused to accept the court’s verdict and, in accordance with canon law, appealed to the pope.
what does praemunire mean?
a parliamentary statute enacted in 1393 to prevent papal interference in the rights of the crown to make appointments to church office.
what did the pope eventually do with regards to the annulment?
he sent an envoy, cardinal campeggio to England to hear the case along with wolsey
what happened during the hearing with cardinal campeggio?
the hearing opened in London on 15 June 1529, but campeggio adjourned it on 30 July, thereby sealing Wolsey’s fate.
why was Wolsey’s sudden fall not entirely unexpected?
he was already unpopular for forcing the 1523 subsidy through parliament and imposing the amicable grant.
when was Wolsey charged with praemunire?
October 1529, he surrendered himself and all of his possessions to the king.
when was Wolsey arrested?
4 November 1530.
when did Wolsey die?
29 November 1530
what did the poet John Skelton claim and what is the significance of this?
‘Hampton Court hath the pre-eminence’.
in other words it was more important than the king’s court and a monument to his arrogance
what was Wolsey’s nickname?
altar rex (other king)
how long did conciliar government continue after Wolsey’s fall and what brought it to an end?
3 years, the emergence of Thomas Cromwell brought this phase of conciliar government to an end.
what did Cromwell suggest to try and secure the annulment?
he suggested that Henry should break with Rome and place himself as head of the English church.
when did Cromwell become the King’s chief minister?
1532
what was Cromwell’s background?
he rose from a humble background to become a lawyer
how did Geoffrey Elton describe Cromwell’s impact?
a ‘Tudor revolution in government’
what happened under Cromwell?
- the role of the royal household diminished.
- his own status as a secretary within the household was given a new importance and status as Cromwell placed himself at the head of a developing state bureaucracy.
- the privy council assumed a significant role in managing government and parliament grew in importance.
what changes did Cromwell make to the privy council?
he made it more bureaucratic and reduced it to around 20 men, mainly professional lawyers seeking to work efficiently rather than just progress their own careers.
what was established with regards to law under Cromwell?
statute law’s supremacy over canon law was firmly established
what did statute law achieve under Cromwell?
the divorce and the break with Rome.
how had the church becoming weaker made Cromwell’s task easier?
- the Catholic Church as an institution had been weakened by the humanist criticisms of Colet and Erasmus and the anticlerical satire of Simon Fish.
- the church’s claims to legal supremacy had been challenged in 1528 by the lawyer Christopher St German.
- Henry had been supplied with more intellectual justifications.
- Henry had sought expert opinions on his marital situation from a number of continental universities.
what was the Collectanea Satis Copiosa?
a collection of legal documents compiled by two cambridge theologians, Thomas Cranmer and Edward Foxe, which looked to justify the king’s divorce on the basis of legal and historical principles.
what did Cranmer and Foxe do by compiling Collectanea Satis Copiosa according to John Guy?
‘redefined the boundaries between royal and ecclesiastical power’ by asserting that Kings of England had always enjoyed both a secular and spiritual authority over the church.
what were annates?
revenue paid to the Pope by a bishop or other cleric on his appointment; they were effectively church taxes collected in England and sent to Rome and were also known as the ‘First fruits’ (primitiae in latin), a concept which dates back to earlier greek, roman and Hebrew religions.
what was supplication against the ordinaries?
a supplication was a form of petition; in this case it was addressed to the king by the House of Commons and directed against alleged abuses of ordinary jurisdiction, i.e. the jurisdiction exercised in church law by archbishops and bishops.
what was the submission of the clergy?
this was the formal surrender of the church’s independent law-making function.
when were the clergy collectively accused of praemunire and fined?
1531
what is the significance of the clergy being collectively accused of praemunire and fined?
this began a sustained attack on the clergy and forced from the clergy an acknowledgement that the king was ‘protector and supreme head of the English church’ so far as ‘the law of Christ allowed’.
when was the act in conditional restraint of annates?
1532
what was the significance of the act in conditional restraint of annates?
this was designed to increase the pressure on the papacy by withholding conditionally the first year’s income from the office of bishop which the papacy had traditionally enjoyed.
when was the House of Commons supplication against the ordinaries?
1532
what was the significance of the House of Commons supplication against the ordinaries?
this was designed to increase anticlerical pressure within the house of commons.
when was the formal submission of the clergy to Henry VIII?
1532
what was the significance of the formal submission of the clergy to Henry VIII?
this provoked the resignation of Sir Thomas More as Lord Chancellor
from when was it known that Anne Boleyn was pregnant?
December 1532
why did Anne Boleyn’s pregnancy hurry up the need for an annulment?
Henry needed to ensure he was married to Anne when the child was born so that it would be legitimate.
who replaced William Warham as the Archbishop of Canterbury?
Thomas Cranmer
when did Henry marry Anne Boleyn in a secret ceremony?
25 January 1533
what did the catholic church say about Henry’s marriage to Anne?
the catholic church said it was invalid.
when was Henry’s marriage with catherine annulled by Cranmer?
May 1533
how did Cromwell achieve the break from Rome and the establishment of royal supremacy?
he passed a series of measures in parliament
what was the Act in Restraint of Appeals?
it was drafted expertly by Cromwell in April 1533 and founded on the evidence in the Collectanea. The preamble to the act declared that the monarch possessed an imperial jurisdiction which was not subject to any foreign power (i.e. the papacy).
what did the Act in Restraint of Appeals state?
it declared that appeals could not be made to Rome regarding church court decisions ‘in causes matrimonial’ and other areas. the Act meant that Catherine could not appeal to Rome against her marriage annulment.
when was the act in Restraint of appeals?
April 1533
what does imperial jurisdiction mean?
official powers to make legal decisions and judgements belonged to the King and could not be challenged by the Church or any other power.
what did the act of succession declare?
- Henry’s marriage to Catherine was void
- the succession should be vested in the children of his marriage to Anne
- to deny the validity of Henry’s marriage to Anne was treasonable.
- an oath should be taken to affirm an individual’s acceptance of the new marriage.
when was the Act of Succession?
April 1534
what was the act of supremacy?
it gave legislative force to the royal supremacy. it stated that ‘the King’s majesty justly and rightfully is and oweth to be Supreme Head of the church of england’. this act effectively accomplished the break from Rome.
when was the act of supremacy?
November 1534
what was the treason act?
it was tightened so that treason could be committed by the spoken word as well as by deed or writing and so that it was treasonable to describe the king as ‘heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel or usurper of the crown.’
when was the treason act ?
November 1534
who was one of the most high profile victims of the treason act?
Sir Thomas More
what was the Act annexing first fruits and tenths to the crown?
the annates paid by a bishop, which had been ‘intolerable’ when paid to the pope, were now to be paid to the crown and this was seen as perfectly acceptable in henry’s and Cromwell’s eyes.
what had happened by 1534?
the relationship between England and Rome had been smashed to pieces
what had happened in the process of the king’s supremacy being achieved by statute law?
parliament’s position as a law making body had been strengthened.
what did Eric Ives point out about Anne Boleyn?
she had been responsible for pushing the king in a more Protestant direction.
what did Cromwell do to bring down Anne boleyn?
he allied with conservatives within the court and persuaded Henry that Anne’s flirtatious manner had led to adultery.
when was Anne boleyn executed?
19 May 1536
what marital issues led to Cromwell’s downfall?
in 1540 Cromwell tried to reconcile Henry with the league of Schmalkalden, by arranging a marriage with a German protestant princes, Anne of cleves. this was an unhappy parternship on multiple levels: Anne proved unsuitable to Henry personally, and the match had become unwelcome politically. the marriage was quickly annulled, destroying Cromwell’s credibility with the king.
what did the issues with Anne of cleves give to Cromwell’s enemies?
the chance to bring about his downfall. the duke of Norfolk had a niece at court who was free to wed the king, Cromwell was accused of treason and heresy and executed.
when was Cromwell executed?
28 July 1540, Henry married Catherine the same day
what happened two days after Cromwell’s execution?
the message that the protestant reformation cause was in tatters was reinforced by the burning for heresy of three protestant theologians. Henry, however, demonstrated his even-handedness by ensuring the execution on the same day of three catholic priests who had rejected the royal supremacy.
what more subtle view of Cromwell has emerged?
Cromwell as an effective, though occasionally unscrupulous, administrator and skilful lawyer who was a convinced religious reformer.
what was the major political implication of the conservative revival of 1539 to 1540?
a form of conciliar government was restored.
what did the fall of Cromwell see with regards to the privy council?
a privy council with a fixed membership, supported by a secretary who kept a formal record of proceedings
why was Catherine Howard executed?
Henry was devastated by the fact that she was already sexually experienced and there were rumours of an affair between Catherine and her distant cousin, Thomas Culpepper.
when was Catherine Howard executed?
13 February 1542
what religion was Katherine parr?
protestant
what did the amicable grant demand?
that priests pay one third of their income and that everyone else pay one sixth of their income, with only 10 weeks to pay up.
