Henry VIII, 1509-1529

Question 1

Failures of Henry’s foreign policy in the period 1509-1529:

Answer 1

1512 - disaster as used by Ferdinand

1513 - used by HRE Maximillium

1519 - Charles became HRE and King of France

1519 - Treaty of London

1524 - French campaign fails

1527 - Charles captures the Pope

1529 - no divorce and France and Spain reconcile meaning Henry was excluded

Question 2

Why did Henry VIII want a divorce from Catherine of Aragon:

Answer 2

Religious reasons - Henry had come to believe that marrying his dead brothers widow he was committing a sin for which God was punishing him by not giving him a son

Need for a male heir - by 1527 Catherine had entered the menopause and had not given Henry the son needed to secure the succession

Love for Anne Boleyn - Henry had become infatuated with Anne and she had told Henry that she would not sleep with him until they married

Question 3

Successes of Henry’s foreign policy in the period 1509-1529:

Answer 3

1513 - Therouanne and Tournai

1513 - Field of Spurs

1513 - Battle of Flodden

1518 - Treaty of London

1520 - Field of the Cloth of Gold

Question 4

Attempt to get an annulment:

Answer 4

1527 - Henry gathers leading scholars under Wolsey’s leadership to discuss legitimacy of his marriage and ways in which a divorce could be obtained

1527 - formal negotiations between Henry VIII and the papacy means he begins to obtain a divorce

1528 - Cardinal campeggio arrived to hear the case for the annulment

1529 - Blackfriars Court open to hear case for annulment

1529 - Campeggio adjourns the court declaring that the decision will be taken back to Rome

1529 - no decision regarding annulment is made, Wolsey dismissed as Chancellor

Question 5

Fall of Wolsey:

Answer 5

Sacked in 1529 and died in 1530 without ever regaining Royal favour

Question 6

Reasons for the failure of the fall of Wolsey:

Answer 6

Unpopularity - supporters of Anne Boleyn hostile to Wolsey because of his failure to secure annulment and supporters of Catherine of Aragon hostile because he tried to secure annulment

Failure to get the annulment - became Henry’s main aim, as it would enable him to have an heir and create a dynasty as well as the fact he had called in love with Anne Boleyn

Question 7

Assess the reasons for Wolsey’s rise to power:

Answer 7

Rose through sheer ability, both intellectual + administrative + an extraordinary capacity for hard work

For a poor boy with academic ability the Church offered a valuable career ladder

Unlike his father H was bored by detailed financial + administrative work and was happy for W to take care of this for him

W’s appointment as Almoner at the start of H’s reign gave him a seat on the Royal Council

Recognising what H wanted, W argued in favour of war with France against more cautious councillors like Warham - W replaced Warham as L Chancellor in 1515

Introduction of the subsidy in 1513 significantly boosted tax revenue + made it possible for H to win military glory in France

W’s diplomatic skill enabled H to pose as the peacemaker of Europe in the Treaty of London in 1513

Question 8

Successes of Wolsey’s domestic policy:

Answer 8

H obviously regarded him as a success b/c he gave him so much wealth and power - kept him as Chief Minister for 14 years

Gwyn argues that he had a good relationship with the nobility

As Lord Chancellor Wolsey improved the legal system, increasing the number of cases heard in Star Chamber, Chancery + Requests and therefore the availability of justice for all

W policy towards enclosures + engrossing showed a genuine desire to help the poor

Subsidy led to a significant increase in tax revenue, enabling H to win a prestigious victory in France

Policy of dissolving small, unviable monasteries to fund his college at Oxford + school at Ipswich showed his commitment to education and church reform

Question 9

Failures of Wolsey’s domestic policy:

Answer 9

His power + wealth inevitably attracted the jealousy of the nobility

Amicable Grant provoked so much resistance that it had to be abandoned + Wolsey was blamed for failure

In general W could not raise enough money to enable H to win any significant victories in France

W’s policy towards enclosure achieved no lasting success and had to be abandoned b/c of lack of money

Courts could not cope with the increase in their caseload

W’s dissolution of a few small monasteries to fund his pet education projects was on too small a scale

As a wealthy absentee pluralist who exploited the Church for financial + political gain, W exemplified everything which was wrong with the pre-Reformation Church

Failure to secure the annulment resulted in him being seen as a failure by everyone + led to his rapid fall from power

Question 10

When was Wolsey sacked?

Answer 10

Wolsey was sacked in 1529 and died in 1530 without ever regaining royal favour

Question 11

Reasons for Wolsey’s Unpopularity:

Answer 11

Supporters of Ann Boleyn were hostile to Wolsey because of his failure to secure the annulment

Supporters of Catherine of Aragon were hostile because he had tried to secure the annulment

Failed to gain support of the nobles

Wolsey was hated for the high taxes he imposed, especially the Amicable Grant

As a wealthy + corrupt churchman he attracted anticlerical resentment

In the House of Commons the gentry hated his prosecution of enclosures

Common lawyers resented his encouragement of civil as opposed to common law which threatened their business

Question 12

Reasons why Wolsey failed to get the annulment:

Answer 12

Failure to secure the annulment meant the king lost patience with him as Henry’s main aim was to secure the annulment as it would enable him to get a male heir + create a dynasty

After the Sack of Rome in 1527, Pope was under the control of Charles, who was Catherine of Aragon’s nephew. For this reason, he would not allow the annulment to happen, as it would make his cousin illegitimate and dishonour his family name

As a Cardinal + Papal Legate W was responsible for securing the annulment because it was a church matter + he had connections with the Pope

Before 1529, most nobles co-operated wit Wolsey; it was only after he lost H’s favour because of his failure to secure the annulment that everyone turned against him

His unpopularity with both Catherine + Anne supporters was obviously connected with the Annulment

Question 13

Successes of Henry’s foreign policy in 1509-29:

Answer 13

Henry did make his mark on Europe and the defeat of the French at the Battle of the Spurs did give him glory + led to the capture of Tournai + Therouanne

Forced the French King Louis XII to pay him a pension and marry his sister Mary in 1514

Achieved a decisive victory at Flodden in 1513; James IV was killed. H’s sister Margaret became Regent of Scotland and there was no further threat from Scotland until the 1540s

H showed his desire to be seen as a Renaissance King by favouring Erasmus + posing as the peacemaker of Europe in the Treaty of London in 1518

H secured the appointment of Wolsey as a cardinal in 1518

H achieved his glory through the peace conferences that Wolsey organised, especially the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520

Question 14

Failures of Henry’s foreign policy in 1509-29:

Answer 14

H never achieved any significant or lasting gains in France despite spending vast sums of money

Let down by Ferdinand in 1512, leading to the failure of his invasion of France that year

Glory he got from the Battle of the Spurs was exaggerated and Tournai and Therouanne had to be sold back after only 5 years for much less than it cost to capture and fortify them

Neither the Treaty of London 1518 nor the Field of the Cloth of Gold produced any lasting results

Appointment of Wolsey as Cardinal had little effect + H never succeeded in securing his election as Pope, which showed his lack of influence in Europe + contributed to his failure to obtain the annulment

Treaty of Cambrai showed how isolated + lacking in influence England truly was at the end of this period

Question 15

Domestic Successes of Henry VIII as king 1509-29:

Answer 15

H showed that he was a very different king to his father through the execution of Empson + Dudley

His anti-French foreign policy and generosity with patronage won the allegiance of the nobility

The executions of Suffolk in 1513 + Buckingham in 1521 showed that he would not tolerate threats to his throne

Introduction of the subsidy in 1513 was a significant boost to royal revenue

Question 16

Domestic Failures of Henry VIII as king 1509-29:

Answer 16

Amicable Grant in 1525 provoked so much opposition that it had to be abandoned

H’s marriage was a failure, endangering the succession: Catherine produced only a daughter + H’s only son was illegitimate

Question 17

Foreign Successes of Henry VIII as king 1509-29:

Answer 17

H showed his desire to be seen as a Renaissance King by favouring Erasmus + posing as the peacemaker of Europe in the Treaty of London in 1518

H secured the appointment of Wolsey as Cardinal in 1518

Defeat of the French at the Battle of the Spurs did give him glory and led to the capture of Tournai + Therouanne - victory for his policy of allying with Maximillian against France

H forced the French King Louis XII to pay him a pension + marry his sister Mary

H achieved a decisive victory at Flodden in 1513

Question 18

Foreign Policy Failures of Henry VIII as king 1509-29:

Answer 18

He never achieved any lasting gains in France despite spending vast sums of money

Let down by Ferdinand in 1512, leading to failed invasion of France

Glory he got from the Battle of the Spurs was exaggerated

Question 19

Arguments the Church in England was in need of reform in 1529:

Answer 19

Hunne Case in 1514 provoked anticlericalism b/c Hunne was burnt as a heretic without being tried (his only offence was to refuse to pay burial fees to his local priest + no one was prosecuted for his murder despite him being found hanged in a church prison

Individuals like Wolsey were guilty of abuses like pluralism, non-residence and nepotism

Monastic life seems to have been stagnating, with a decline in the number of monks + nuns and in foundations of new monasteries + nunneries

Little enthusiasm for the papal supremacy even amongst bishops with conservative religious views like Gardiner

Question 20

Arguments the Church in England was not in need of reform in 1529:

Answer 20

People still volunteered money to the Church, for example in wills, and this allowed church building to continue up to the eve of the Reformation

Evidence from wills show increased lay investment in chantries + prayers for the deal in the early 16th century

Payment of Tithes was not unpopular generally

Attendance at church courts was not unpopular + lay people used them voluntarily

Agricultural year was supported by the church calendar through events such as Regationtide or Harvest Festival

In urban communities the number of guilds and the production of devolution literature shows that the church was still flourishing

No consistent evidence of a decline in clerical recruitment in the early 16th century

Complaints about the behaviour of the clergy were few and the situation was no worse than it had been

No evidence of clerical standards declining: an inspection of 260 parishes in Kent in 1511-12 concluded that only 4 clergy were ignorant

Anti-papalism was not strong as it was in Germany

Hunne case was exceptional and did not provoke any serious unrest at the time

Question 21

Assess the reasons for the Break with Rome:

Answer 21

Break with Rome happened Henry wanted it, not because the people of England did.

Changes 1529-34 affected the power + wealth of the church, but not its religious doctrine; it became a “Catholic Church without the Pope”, not a Protestant Church

Henry’s desire for an annulment

By 1527, he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn

H recognised that one of his main duties as King was to secure the succession by having a legitimate son; he would never have contemplated marrying Anne’s pregnancy in 1532

Was arguably decisive in provoking the annulment + remarriage of H early in 1533 which in turn led to the Act of Supremacy in 1534

Henry had a powerful ego and therefore the break with Rome was caused by his desire for supremacy in all matters

Money could have been motivated: H demanded that the clergy pay a £118,000 fine in return for being pardoned for the Praemunire in 1531 + the Act of First Fruits + Tenths hugely increased the revenue H received from the clerical taxation

H broke from Rome only with reluctance, shown by the attempts at pressure that were put on the papacy, through the French alliance 1526-29, the legatine court in 1529, the anticlerical legislation of 1529 + the conditional nature of the First Act in Restraint of Annates in 1532

Foreign situation that prevented the Pope granting a divorce: the Pope had been under the Control of Catherine’s nephew Charles V since 1527

Thomas Cranmer who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532, and Thomas Cromwell, who emerged as the king’s chief minister by 1532, were both Protestant sympathisers with agenda of their own, and between them these two men were able to offer Henry a means of getting what he wanted - an annulment

Question 22

Arguments Thomas Cromwell was important in influencing religious policy in the 1530s:

Answer 22

Crom showed H how to break with Rome by passing acts through Parliament like he Acts of Appeals, Supremacy, Succession and Treason 1533-34

Crom drafted the acts which separated England from Rome and passed them through Parliament

Crom combatted opposition to the changes by imposing the oath in the Succession Act which led to the Treason Act which redefined opposition to the royal supremacy as treason

First English statesman to organise a government propaganda campaign, in his case in support of the religious changes

Argued for an alliance with the German Prot princes against Charles V, leading to the Cleves marriage in 1539

Cromwell’s more radical beliefs were important in influencing the King to dissolve the monasteries and introduce some more Protestant views

Question 23

Arguments Thomas Cromwell was not important in influencing religious policy in the 1530s:

Answer 23

Cromwell was less committed to Protestantism than his reputation suggested + like his former master, Wolsey, had no choice but to put the King’s interests first

H never shared Crom’s Protestant sympathies and the burning of Lambert in 1538 + the passing of the Act of the 6 Articles in 1539 showed that he, not Crom, controlled religious policy

More important factors and issues such as H’s desire for power over the Church, money and the Foreign situation, especially the threat of a Catholic crusade by Francis I + Charles V against Henry VIII to restore England to the Papal Supremacy

Pilgrims of Grace, Norfolk + Gardiner had no choice but to blame Crom for the changes they disliked b/c the only alternative was to blame H

Question 24

Arguments the religious changes in Henry VIII’s reign did make England Protestant:

Answer 24

Break with Rome, confirmed by the Act of Supremacy in 1534, laid the foundations for later changes

Dissolution of the Monasteries + the publication of the English Bible indicate that by 1540 the Church of England was more than just a “Catholic Church without the Pope”

Fundamental Catholic beliefs had been undermined

Henry appointed Protestant tutors like John Cheke for Edward VI and it was a Protestant dominated Regency Council that would emerge at the end of his reign

Henry did support Cranmer

Influence of Protestant ideas from continental Europe had an impact of London + Kent, especially amongst merchants, scholars and the young

Question 25

Arguments the religious changes in Henry VIII’s reign did not make England Protestant:

Answer 25

H never accepted most Protestant beliefs, as shown by the burning of Lambert in 1538 + Askew in 1546 for denying transubstantiation

H believed so strongly in Clerical Celibacy that monks and nuns still had to observe their vows of chastity despite the Dissolution

Progress towards Protestantism was halted 1539-40 by the Act of the Six Articles followed by Cromwell’s execution

Doctrine + worship of the Church of England was still fundamentally Catholic, with the Latin mass, communion in one kind for the laity, transubstantiation, clerical celibacy and confession to priests still being upheld

Although the monasteries were dissolved, parish churches had barely been touched

Changes were mainly legal in character with little impact on religion at grassroots level

Pilgrimage of Grace, only serious rebellion H ever faced, shows how strong opposition to the Reformation was in the North

Question 26

Arguments opposition to Henry VIII’s religious changes were serious:

Answer 26

Catherine of Aragon refused to go to a nunnery, forcing H to break with Rome to get annulment

Opposition from the clergy delayed the break with Rome until 1534

Elizabeth Barton had a significant following in Kent + her direct defiance of H could not be ignored

Rebel army at Doncaster during the Pilgrimage of Grace numbered about 30,000, outnumbering the Royal Army by perhaps 5:1

Some abbotts, like those of Reading, Colchester + Glastonbury, rejected both H’s threats + attempts to buy them off + refused to surrender their abbeys

Burning’s of Lambert + Askew for denying transubstantiation shows that opposition to H’s policies came from Prots as well as Caths

Question 27

Arguments opposition to Henry VIII’s religious changes was not serious:

Answer 27

There was very little opposition in Parliament to the religious changes

Apart from the Carthusians + Franciscans, opposition to the Royal Supremacy came only from individuals like More + Fisher

Combination of fear, loyalty + ambition persuaded all the bishops except Fisher to accept the Royal Supremacy

Imposition of the oath in the Succession Act + the Treason Act were highly effective in intimidating potential opponents: 308 people were executed 1532-40 for opposing the religious changes - took only about 300 executions out of a population of 2.5 million to deter opposition suggests not much opposition

H was able to crush the Pilgrimage of Grace easily b/c of the rebels’ naïve willingness to trust his promises rather than march on London + their eagerness to go home

Vast majority of abbots, monks + nuns took their pensions and accepted the dissolution without resistance

In the South, there was little opposition to the Dissolution b/c lay people were generally either indifferent to the monasteries or in some cases perhaps even hostile to them

Question 28

Reasons for opposition to the religious changes during the reign of Henry VIII:

Answer 28

Fisher, More, the Carthusians + the Franciscans were strong supporters of the papal supremacy

Clergy resisted the royal supremacy b/c they rightly feared it would lead to an increase in clerical taxation

Merchants in the House of Commons showed reluctance to pass the Act of Appeals in 1533 b/c they feared it might damage trade with Flanders

Pilgrimage of Grace was motivated mainly by the dissolution of the Monasteries

Dissolution provoked more opposition than royal supremacy b/c it had potential to affect people’s everyday lives much more directly

Pontefract Articles show that the dissolution of the lesser monasteries was seen as an attack on Catholic belief more generally

Strong public support for prayers for the dead b/c they found it emotionally comforting to pray for the souls of their loved ones

For many simply the fear of the unknown in a world where there was little certainty may have been enough to cause uncertainty and even resistance

Parish churches were also the focus of community activities like guilds, church ales

Question 29

Evidence that Henry VIII’s government was effective at overcoming opposition to its religious changes:

Answer 29

Cromwell “managed” Parliament - influenced elections + persuaded key MPs to support govt policy

Imposition of the oath in the Succession Act + The Treason Act were highly effective in intimidating potential opponents

The fact that it took only about 300 executions out of a population of 2.5 million to deter opposition shows how effective govt. policy was

Cromwell organised the first ever govt. organised propaganda campaign, through sermons + pamphlets, to persuade people that H was the rightful Head of the Church, that the monasteries deserved to be dissolved

H was able to crush the Pilgrimage of Grace easily by making false promises of pardon

Piecemeal nature of the changes helped to overcome opposition

Through a combination of intimidation + the offering of reasonably generous pensions, govt. policy succeeded in persuading the great majority of monasteries to surrender themselves “voluntarily”

Question 30

Evidence that Henry VIII’s government was not effective at overcoming opposition to its religious changes:

Answer 30

Opposition from the clergy delayed the break with Rome until 1534

Fact that some of the Carthusians were starved to death rather than publicaly executed suggests that H realised executing people so renowned for their holiness was damaging to his reputation

Govt. failed to prevent the Pilgrimage of Grace, by far the most serious rebellion H ever faced

Some abbots, like those of Reading, Colchester + Glastonbury, rejected both H’s threats + attempts to buy them off + refused to surrender their abbeys

Question 31

Reasons why Henry VIII’s government didn’t face much opposition to its religious changes:

Answer 31

Many thought that once Henry had his annulment and heir there would be a return to the Catholic fold and therefore the changes would be short-lived

Early changes would have made little difference to religious life

In the South, there was little opposition to the Dissolution b/c lay people were generally either indifferent to the monasteries or in some cases even hostile to them

Gentry may have voted for the dissolution of the lesser monasteries in the hope of buying monastic land