Cromwell and Foreign Policy

Question 1

Propoganda

Answer 1

• Wives dead by 1536 (H can manoeuvre and return) but dissolutions show his enjoyment of powers
• Crom and Cram try to push Protestant Church
• Propaganda used on mass for first time (Protestant pamphlets not stopped)
• Becon calls Gardiner a “she bear” and “dumb images”
• Bale (client of Crom) wrote plays like “King John” and played in Cranmer’s household

Question 2

Extending Royal Power

Answer 2

• Ancient liberties for towns and nobles was disliked by H
• 1536 Crom begins to erode (ability to pardon treason etc being only from Crown and Crown appoints judges)
• Council of the North increased royal power
• Crom used contact with president of the Marches Council to make Marches courts inferior to English
• 1536 Wales incorporated into England (24 MPs) and Calais 2
• Lord Fitzgerald of Ireland rebellion of 1535 led to execution and H as King of Ireland in 1540
• Sanctuaries were attacked after 1540 act that allowed officials to enter in murder cases (no town sanctuaries, only church)

Question 3

Cromwell’s Administration

Answer 3

• Vast network of bureaucracy allowed idle monarch

- 6 new courts (e.g. Wards) with leader officials increased efficiency

Question 4

Constitutional Monarch

Answer 4

• Supremacy power not from Parliament but enforced by it
• 1529-36 Reformation Parliament underlined the understanding Parliament Laws had greater legitimacy than royal assent
• 1543 speech stands “at no time stand so highly”
• 1539 Act of Parliament states proclamations should be obeyed as if acts of Parliament (acknowledges inferiority)
• Freedom of speech for MPs (defending marriage and Crom on H’s wars)
• Act of Succession gave precedent to Parliament’s say in heirs
• 1539 act allowed only hereditary peers to sit

Question 5

Fall of Anne

Answer 5

• Carew and Exeter used Jane (H liked her) and Crom joined as Anne was lost
• Crom blamed conservatives on Mary’s obstinance
• H dismissed Carew and Exeter (Denny and Sadler replace as Crom allies)

Question 6

Exeter Conspiracy

Answer 6

• 1538
• Pole (Yorkist) chose exile in 1528 (oppose divorce)
• Cardinal in 1536
• Crom faked plot (Lord Montague, Exeter and Countess of Salisbury executed)

Question 7

Continental Bride

Answer 7

• Military union (Schmalkaldic League) protected religious and political interests against Imperial
• H was open to join (not at religious cost)
• Cleves was a non-league duchy but still anti-Imperial
• No English and confusion of H’s romantic gestures
• Jan 1540 marriage

Question 8

Excommunication

Answer 8

• Nov 1538 excommunication and Pole sent to arrange French+Spanish crusade
• 1529 to 1536 saw French+Spanish peace (Foxe, Heath and Barnes sent to negotiate German alliance)
• Wittenberg Articles from the Schmalkaldic League were too radical)
• Treaty of Nice (Ally against England)
• Lambert is burnt 1538 to show Orthodoxy
• Jan 1539 Treaty of Toledo (France and Spain agree not to ally with England and recall ambassadors)
• Largest programme of building commissioned since 1066 (30 new defensive structures)
• H soon exploited poor relations and gained treaty with Charles V