Henry 8 1509 - 1547 Flashcards
Henry 8 aims
Ensure succession
Consolidation of power
Warrior king
Extend personal power
Legacy of h7
Strong gov
Strong and peaceful foreign policy
Lots of money (around 400000)
H8 first decisions
Empson and Dudley of council learned were executed in 1510
Attempted invasions in France 1512 and 1513
Marriage to Catherine of Aragon
Henry 8 Character
Welcomed well
Good relations with nobility
Disliked business of government
Wanted to be a chivalrous king
Crown and parliament
Inherited strong gov and key councillors such as Heron
Henry 8 much preferred hiring ministers to run gov in his behalf (Wolsey and Cromwell)
Parliament called 9 times
Early gov under Wolsey
Established Eltham Ordinances (reorganise crown admin and finances) in 1526
Boosted Wolsey popularity
Wolsey, 1512 -1529
Most powerful minister under Henry
Majority of promotion through Church
Appointed bishop of York 1514, cardinal 1515 and papal legate in 1518
‘Altar Rex’
Downfall after failing to secure divorce
Cromwell, 1536 - 1540
Legal background not religious
Able to secure king’s annulment and engineer marriage to Boleyn
Failed in Anne of Cleaves marriage
The kings great matter, 1527 - 1534
Catherine of Aragon failed to birth male heir, and henry liked Anne Boleyn
Wanted to annul marriage with Catherine
Led to Wolsey’s downfall
The royal supremacy
1531 Clergy charged with Praemunire to pay £100,000
1532 Supplication against the ordinaries about Church’s abuses
1533 - 34 Series of laws passed by parliament between eng and Rome
1534 Henry supreme head of Church of England, solve great matter
Wolsey and government reforms
Wolsey reluctant to rely on parliament for governance, Cromwell relied upon it more heavily
Wolsey became responsible for overseeing the court of chancery - the main court of equity and was a very popular means of seeking justice
Wolsey utilised the court of the star chamber first introduced in 1487
Early conciliar gov
Lasted form 1509 to 1514
Ended because a number of councillors were reluctant to support conflicts with France so Henry chose to surround himself with like-minded people instead of his older councillors
Also ended due to the rise of Thomas Wolsey who organised the campaign in France in 1513
Finance under Wolsey
Relied on extraordinary revenue for conflict
Unique in utilising the method of subsidies, he established a new committee dealing with tax payers wealth. This led to a more in-depth assessment of wealth
Wolsey attempted to raise revenue through the ‘amicable grant’ of 1525 which nearly led to a rebellion
Fall of Wolsey
Failure in causing the Kings Great Matter, Henry form of a divorce by 1527
Amicable Grant crisis
As soon as Wolsey was useless, he was dropped
Very unpopular in court, especially with growth of Boleyn court
Accused of praemunire in 1529
Died 1530
Break from Rome
Break from Rome as a method of securing the kings great matter
Also slow progress under Thomas More from 1529 -1531 who had replaced Wolsey as Chancellor
More was key for the persecution of church reformers in 1528, this persecution was also something that happened in 1530 - 1531
Motive of church reform
Achieve divorce and fulfil kings desires
Securing the divorce 1529 to 1532
Henry put pressure on the clergy into supporting his divorce
Both Henry and the church reformers wanted radical changes to the religious system for different reasons
In the 1520s Henry was opposed to the idea of church reform but this attitude changed as his relationship with the pope decreased
The influence in parliament of securing the break from Rome 29- 30
In 1529, Cromwell was elected as a member of parliament and he spent a considerable amount of time attacking the abuses form within the church
In the 1530s they revived the medieval law of praemunire
In 1531 Henry pardoned the clergy for crimes against him but in return demanded that they recognise him as the supreme head of the Church of England
The influence in parliament of securing the break from Rome 32
In 1532 an act of parliament was passed which prevented the payment of annates (a tax payed to Rome by members of the clergy)
March 32 supplication against the ordinaries - a petition to take on the abuses of the clergy
May 32 Henry demand the submission of the clergy
The influence in parliament of securing the break from Rome 1533
33 Parliament passes the act in restraint of appeals a law that denied the people of England the right to appeal decisions against the Pope ( useful in preventing COA from seeking help from pope)
Act of Supremacy
Formally acknowledge Henry as the head of the Church of England
1534
Religion
Most major change was the reformation and the break from Rome
Most visible changes were the dissolution of the monasteries
How many monasteries were there at the time of closure
800
Change in religious ideas
Mostly led by Cromwell and Cranmer who were both sympathetic to Protestant ideas, both followed Martin Luther
Another major change was the translation of the bible into English
