Henry VIII (1509 - 1547) Flashcards
What was the issue with Henry VIII upon rising to the throne?
- He was not raised to be a King, he became Prince of Wales after the death of his older brother Arthur
- He therefore lacked government / public affairs experiences
- This can be argued that he disliked the business of government as he found it both tedious and painful
What did Henry inherit from his father? (4)
- Money
- Unpopular mechanism for extracting money
- Peaceful foreign policy
- Conciliar style of government
What were his 3 aims in the first years of his reign?
- Ensure status/recognition among European monarchs through marriage
- Establish himself as a warrior king through success in battle
- Re-establish the role of the nobility
Why were the nobility happy over the ascension of Henry VIII over Henry VII?
- Scrapped many bonds/recognizances
- Abolition of Council Learned in the Law
- Executions of Richard Empson and Edmond Dudley
- showed that Henry was distancing from his father’s regime and ensured his own popularity among the nobility as many felt victim of the previous regime
- Revival of an aggressive foreign policy mean that it would restore their traditional outlet of pursuing military glory by aiding the king through providing armies
Why were they disappointed over the French campaign?
Their political domination was not fulfilled as Henry decided to pursue the interests of Thomas Wolsey to organise the French campaign
How did Henry VIII’s reign leave an enduring mark on English history?
- Political transformation - broader use of statute law by Parliament increased its significance as well as reinforcing royal supremacy
- Religious transformation - England became a Protestant country, shifted away from Roman Catholicism
- Wealth transformation - Henry’s aggressive foreign policy diminished the Crown’s wealth as well as the dissolution of monasteries decreased the wealth of the Church
Why did Henry VIII end his father’s style of government (end of conciliar government)
- Henry did not like the lack of support of his father’s senior councillors who did not support a war with France
- Surrounded himself with likeminded young courtiers, reinforced suspicion over his father’s senior councillors
- Impressed by the organisational skills of Thomas Wolsey
Who did he appoint to conduct the business of government?
Thomas Wolsey - he became royal almoner upon his succession and then behaved more like a chief minister due to his exceptional organisational abilities
1514 - Archbishop of York and cardinal
1515 - Lord Chancellor
1518 - Papal legate (outranked the Archbishop of Canterbury and had control over religious orders in England)
What was Thomas Wolsey’s main concerns?
- Legal system - as Lord Chancellor he was in charge of overseeing the legal system (he had the right to preside over the chancery)
- Formulation of domestic policy
- Political decision making
What was the relationship like with the Privy Chamber?
The Privy Chamber collectively distrusted Wolsey
Wolsey sought to neutralise their influence
What was the issue with the Court of Chancery?
Wolsey used the courts to deal with problems relating to enclosure, contracts and land left to others in wills
The issue was that it was becoming too popular and justice was slow since it became clogged up with too many cases
What was Wolsey’s most distinctive legal contribution?
Court of Star Chamber - from 1516, he used it to increase cheap and fair justice
What did Wolsey do in terms of finance?
- He substantially changed the way in which subsidies were collected - instead of using local commissioners to access taxpayers’ wealth, he set up a national committee which he headed to avoid the risk of some being over-generous to the local nobility
This allowed him to have a fair assessment of nation’s revenue base which helped raise money to fund Henry’s war in France
What was the Amicable Grant?
1525 - attempt to raise more momey for war - in theory it was to be freely given gift to the king from his subjects - but in reality it was a heavy tax, levied without Parliament’s approval - this lead to widespread resistance and almost rebellion
What was the Eltham Ordinances?
1526 - Eltham Ordinances was introduced to reform the finances of the Privy Council - he also reduced the number of Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber for royal household expenditure purposes
What did the King’s Great Matter lead to?
In the short term - downfall of Wolsey as he couldn’t solve the divorce between Catherine and Henry
In the long term - establishment of the royal supremacy suggested by Thomas Cromwell
How did the Great Matter arise?
Henry’s fear over not producing a strong, male heir as Catherine was growing old
He was considering of legitimising his illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy but fell madly in love with Anne Boleyn and wanted to secure a papal dispensation for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine
What was the initial argument brought up by Henry to get his divorce + reaction of Catherine?
- Book of Leviticus contained a prohibition on a man marrying his brother’s widow - Henry claimed that therefore he was free to marry Anne
However Catherine argued that the marriage had not been formally consummated and therefore the biblical ban did not apply
What happened between the papacy and emperor
1527 - Pope Clement VII was essentially held captive / prisoner under Emperor Charles V who did not want to see his family insulted (he was Catherine’s nephew)
What happened at Wolsey’s first attempt in solving the Great Matter?
Being the personal representative of the Pope, he brought Henry before a fake court to “accuse” him of living in sin with Catherine - Catherine refused to accept the court’s verdict and in accordance with canon law (church law) appealed to the Pope
What happened in July 1529
After two years of fruitless diplomacy (1527 - 29), Pope sent Cardinal Campeggio to hear the case along with Wolsey
The hearing began in London in mid June and on 30th July he gave his verdict - he failed to give Henry his annulment
Was Wolsey’s fall sudden?
No - he was already unpopular following the 1523 subsidy and imposing the Amicable Grant
He was arrested on 4th November 1530 and was tried and executed found of being guilty of treason - but he died before being being axed
Who was Thomas Cromwell?
- principal secretary to Henry VIII
- suggested Henry to place himself as Supreme Head of the Church of England
- He was the mastermind behind the dissolution of the monasteries
- the role of royal households diminished
- By 1532, he was the king’s chief minister
How did Henry divorce Catherine and break with Rome?
The divorce and break with Rome were accomplished through:
The use of statute law (Acts of Parliaments), whose supremacy superseded to that of canon law (the laws of the Church)
How was Cromwell’s task made easier?
The Church began to experience weaknesses:
- Criticisms of humanism (Colet and Erasmus)
- The Church’s claims to supremacy was challenged in 1528 by lawyer who asserted the superiority of English law over canon law
- Thomas Cramner and Edward Foxe looked to justify the king’s divorce on the basis of historical and legal principles
- Henry received expert opinion from various continental universities, some of which were in his favour
Outline the timeline of Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn
William Warham was replaced by Thomas Cramner as Archbishop of Canterbury
25th January 1533 - secret marriage between Henry and Anne after Henry finds out that Anne is pregnant in December
May 1533 - Marriage to Catherine is annulled by Archbishop Cramner
7th September 1533 - Elizabeth is born, Henry is disappointed as it did not solve the problem of succession
What series of measures does Cromwell do to achieve the break from Rome and establish royal supremacy (5)
- The Act in Restraint of Appeals (April 1533) - declared that the monarch possessed an imperial jurisdiction which was not subject to any foreign power - this meant that Catherine could not appeal to Rome against her marriage annulment
- Act of Succession (April 1534) - declared marriage to Catherine as void, denial of validity of Henry’s marriage to Anne was treasonable, oath taken to affirm an individual’s acceptance of the new marriage
- Act of Supremacy (November 1534) - gave legislative force to the royal supremacy, King becomes Supreme Head of the Church of England, this act effectively achieved the break from Rome
- Treason Act (November 1534) - punishment by treason expanded where anyone found to negatively speak of the king would be punished
- Act Annexing First Fruits and Tenths to the Crown (November 1534) - increased the financial burden on the clergy and strengthened royal supremacy
What had happened by 1534?
The clergy had recognised the role of the king
Parliament’s role as law making body had been strengthened
Henry now had possessed full control over the Church and religious policies would be based around the monarch
What was the purpose of the Dissolution of Monasteries and when did it start and finish?
Increase the wealth and therefore power of the Church
This was mainly done to raise money to finance his aggressive foreign policy
It started in 1536 and was completed by 1542 - vast amounts of Church land was confiscated by the Crown where the property was either granted away or sold off
What caused the downfall of Anne Boleyn?
She was responsible for helping push the king for a more Protestant direction
Relations between Anne and Cromwell broke down - Cromwell felt insecure about his relationship with the king and left that his career was threatened
He therefore persuaded Henry that Anne’s flirtatious manner had let to adultery - causing her to be executed in May 1536
What caused the downfall of Cromwell?
By 1540, his influence was declining
The catalyst was his failure to manage the king’s martial affairs satisfactorily - Henry was left angry over the prospect of his marriage to Anne of Cleves as the marriage was quickly annulled
He was accused of treason and heresy at a Council meeting and was executed in July 1540
Why did Cromwell want Henry to marry Anne of Cleves
He tried to boost relationship with the League of Schmalkalden, an organisation of German princes and free cities within the Holy Roman Empire who advocated for reformer Martin Luther and rejected the Catholic church
What was the aftermath of Cromwell’s downfall
It helped to shift the balance of power as Henry’s government became more of a councillor style of government rather than dominated by one figure
Timeline of French invasion
1512 - First invasion of France, Henry sent 10,000 men to southwest France under Marquis of Dorset (failure as he was used as a diversionary tactic by Ferdinand while he successfully conquered Navarre)
1513 - Battle of Spurs, claimed in propaganda to be a stunning victory yet achieved little gains as well as capture of Tournai and Therouanne
What were the problems by 1513 in Henry’s military success?
September 1513 - Anglo-Scottish conflict (Battle of Flodden)
- very costly war (Henry was forced to liquidate assets inherited by father to pay for it)
- caused similar problems like in 1489 (Yorkshire rebellion) as people were forced to pay taxes
- French pension was lost
- Tournai was eventually sold back to French