Henry VIII - Reformation

Question 1

Henry - Defender of the faith

Answer 1

• Henry started his reign as a good Roman catholic
• He firmly believed in the doctrines and practices of the faith
• Henry wrote a book names ‘In Defence of the Seven Sacraments’
• For this, the Pope awarded him the title ‘Defender of the faith’
• Henry wrote his book to defend Catholicism against the reformation, protestantism and Martin Luther

Question 2

Features of a catholic church

Answer 2

• Altar, which is apart from the congregation
• Ornate robes
• Painted walls depicting Bible stories
• Stain glass windows
• Elaborate crucifix and statues of saints

Question 3

Features of a protestant church

Answer 3

• Plain table instead of altar
• Simple robes
• No ornate decoration
• Plain windows
• Royal crest instead of religious decoration

Question 4

Martin Luther

Answer 4

• Started the reformation process

- Luther wanted a religion that was based on Bible teachings not one central figure such and financial gain

Question 5

Features of the RCC

Answer 5

• Headed by the Pope
• The central function was to deliver the seven sacraments
• During the eucharist, it is believed that the bread and wine were actually turned into Jesus’ body and blood. This is called transubstantiation
• Church services and the Bible were in Latin
• Images of saints were worshipped
• Completing a pilgramige was seen as a good way of achieving God’s approval
• Priests had a special status in the Eucharist which was reflected in their ornate clothing

Question 6

Features of Protestantism

Answer 6

• No pope, monarch should be head
• The church was there to preach the word of God. Only three sacraments are mentioned as Jesus did each (Eucharist, baptism and penance)
• In the eucharist, bread and wine remained as bread and wine. The service is about remembering Jesus
• Services and the Bible were now in English making it more accessible
• Images and statues of saints were seen as superstitious
• Pilgramiges were seen as a waste of time
• Priests were ordinary men

Question 7

Indulgences

Answer 7

• Paying for a guaranteed access to heaven
• Catholics saw this as necessary to repent sin
• Luther and protestants saw this as corrupt

Question 8

Reasons for Henry’s campaign against Catholicism

Answer 8

• The succession
• New protestant ideas
• The state of the church
• Money

Question 9

Henry VIII and the succession

Answer 9

• Henry’s failed marriage to Catherine convinced him that God disapproved of the nature of the marriage
• Therefore, He punished Henry with his failure for a son
• Henry threatened to break with Rome for the annulment but Pope Clement VII was under the control of Charles V causing the annulment to stall

Question 10

The impact of protestantism

Answer 10

• Henry was heavily influenced by new protestant ideas as some of the most important people in his life were supporters of protestantism such as Cromwell and Cranmer
• William Tyndale was an English protestant and he wrote a book named Obedience of the Christian Man. In the book it states, God intended for kings to rule all of their kingdom and not the Pope, Henry agreed
• But Henry only believed in some parts of Protestantism and he still did not agree with Luther

Question 11

Anti-Clericalism

Answer 11

• Henry was partly concerned by he state of the catholic church in England
• ## Other people felt the same way such as merchants and lawyers as they felt let down

Question 12

Richard Hunne

Answer 12

• Richard Hunne summed up everything that was wrong with catholicism
• Hunne was a merchant whose baby son died in 1511
• He refused to pay high funeral fees and was sued by a local priest
• He was then arrested on charges of owning protestant literautre
• He was then found hanging in his prison cell, authorities claim it was suicide but there is a possibility he was murdered by a clergyman

Question 13

Money and the church

Answer 13

• Hnery had been involved in a lot of expensive wars in the early 1500s
• Henry needed to raise more money as taxes did not pay generate enough money
• The banning of annates to Rome showed Henry was interested in revenue but not enough money was generated from these

Question 14

The Act of Succession, 1534

Answer 14

• Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was declared invalid, instead Anne Boleyn was declared a lwaful and wedded queen
• Only children from the second marriage would therefore inherit the throne
• Princess Mary was therfore made illegitimate and removed from the line of succession

Question 15

The significance of the act of succession

Answer 15

• It completely changed the line of successikn
• It established Anne Boleyn’s position as queen by law
• It was a significant step towards a break from Rome. Henry now completely rejected the authority of Rome to decide the annulment
• Henry responded by ordering that the Pope’s name was to be struck out of all prayer books

Question 16

The Act of Supremacy, 1534

Answer 16

• Formal acknowledgement that England was no longer under papal control
• Henry was now head of the English church and he had all the powers of the Pope
• He now had the right to decide:
  — how the English church was to be organised
  — the central beliefs of the English church
  — who would be appointed in key positions in the English church

Question 17

The significance of the Act of Supremacy

Answer 17

• In reality, the Pope had originally played a small part of English affairs
• Although the pope did have the final say in the appointment of the swnior clergy members, he tended to agree witht the king
• Rome was rarely appealed to when a dispute was brought up in church courts
• The basic teachings of the church were already well established, so Rome did not tell the English church what to believe

Question 18

Cromwell’s role in enforcing the acts

Answer 18

• Henry and Cromwell knew the radical nature of the acts may cause a rebellion from violent Englishmen
• However Cromwell believed there would only be a small number that would have the courage to resist
• ## Many people privatley resisted but in these resistors were still considered dangerous in Henry’s England

Question 19

Cromwell’s role in enforcing the acts - oaths

Answer 19

• Cromwell turned the act of oath-making deadly
• In a clause in the Act of Succession, required individuals were to take an oath supporting Anne Boleyn’s marriage to Henry
• Refusal meant punishment on treason
• This was the oath of succession
• All religious leaders were required to take the oath

Question 20

Cromwell’s role in enforcing the acts - The Treason Act

Answer 20

• Cromwell realised the existing treason act of 1532 did not fully support the king’s needs as it did not punish those who spoke out against the divorce or the break with Rome
• Cromwell responded with the 1534 Treason act which promised death to anyone who denied royal supremacy.
• This marked a dramatic increase in the king’s power

Question 21

Heaven and Hell in Tudor life

Answer 21

• Heaven and hell played an important part in Tudor life
• They were used to make the right spiritual choices and avoid eternal damnation
• Henry’s decision to break from Rome was important to his subjects as they felt he was palying with the fate of their souls

Question 22

Opposition to the Reformation - Elizabeth Barton, the nun of Kent

Answer 22

• Elizabeth Bartonw as an ill 16 year old who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary and was then healed
• She entered a convent at Canterbury where her visions and reputation developed
• She was visited by nobility and gentry and she would enter trances, become disfigured, spoke without moving her lips and her voice took a terrifying tone whikst describing hell

Question 23

Elizabeth’s visions for Henry VIII

Answer 23

• Elizabeth started to attack Henry in her visions
• Her main topic was the annulment
• She spoke about the need to burn all English versions of the Bible and remain loyal to the Pope
• In a meeting with the king, she told him that if he married Anne Boleyn, he would die a villains’s death
• Henry ordered Cromwell to act in July 1533 as the visions were damaging his reputation

Question 24

The arrest and execution of Elizabeth Barton

Answer 24

• July 1533 - Barton is arrested, taken to the tower of London and interrogated. 700 copies of the Nun’s book which described her visions were burned
• 23 November 1533 - Barton was humiliated at St Pauls as she was forced to confess to lying about her visions
• 21 April 1534 - Barton is executed on the same day as the start of the Oath of Succession

Question 25

John Fisher

Answer 25

• Appointed Bishop of Rochester in 1504
• Gained a European wide reputation as a scholar and supported Henry in his early reign
• Supported Henry in his early reign
• After the annulment, Fisher found it impossible to support Henry
• He was against the split with Rome, he believed the powers of the Pope were given by God, with Henry claiming these powers, it was a moral sin

Question 26

Henry’s opinion about Fisher

Answer 26

• Henry grew to hate Fisher and he sent thrrats to him
• Fisher did not change his stance
• Fisher escaped lightly after Barton’s arrest
• He only had a fine of £300
• This made Fisher more determined as he secretly appealed to Charles V to j vade
• In April 1534, Henry demanded that Fisher take the oath of succesion, he refused and was sent to the Tower of Londo

Question 27

Execution of Fisher

Answer 27

• In May 1535, Fisher was made a cardinal by the pope
• The pope hoped that Henry would be more lenient because of this
• He was not and Fisher was executed in June 1535

Question 28

Thomas More’s opposition

Answer 28

• In 1527, Thomas More wrote that Martain Luther and his followers were criminals who ‘bespatter the most holy image of Christ crucified with the most foul excrement of their body’
• He believed Protestantism was a threat to the English people
• He was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1529 and following the fall of Wolsey he burned protestant literature and personally interrogated heretics

Question 29

Thomas More’s fall

Answer 29

• By 1532, More could no longer work for Henry as his Catholic principles were against Henry’s divorce and break from Rome
• More was loyal though and he did not want to oppose the king, so he resigned as chancellor
• He planned to retire from the public eye and stay silent but Henry did not allow this
• Because More did not offer his public support, Henry saw him as a threat

Question 30

Thomas More’s execution

Answer 30

• More refused to take the Oath of Succession in April 1534 which got him sent to the Tower of London
• Whilst More had no wish to betray his principles, he also had no wish to die, he placed his hopes on silence
• More repeatedly refused to say why he denied th oath

Question 31

Significanw of More’s execution

Answer 31

• The Pope threatened to excommunicate Henry
• The execuiton of one of Europe’s great scholars enraged many and discredited Henry
• More became a martyr for the Catholic cause
• It showed that you had to declare loyalty to Henry

Question 32

Impact of the reformation on the English church

Answer 32

• The act of Supremacy changed the struof the church by cutting links with Rome and establishing the king as its new leader, the pope however had been distant so it did change the worshipping of God
• Between 1534-40, there had been a struggle between conservative catholics and religious reformers

Question 33

Influence of Cromwell on reformation - Ten Articles July 1536

Answer 33

• People should only believe three of the seven sacraments

- This was the first attempt to set up Henry’s new church and its belief system

Question 34

Influence of Cromwell on reformation - August 1536 - First set of royal injunctions to clergy

Answer 34

• Clergy were ordered to speak in favour of royal supremacy and ten articles. Priests were ordered to discourage holy days of saints and pilgramiges
• Attempt to make sure the clergy delivered the same message

Question 35

Influence of Cromwell on reformation - July 1537 - Bishops book

Answer 35

• The other four sacraments were declared valid but of lesser significance
• It stated the main duty of priest was to preach
• Second attempt to redefine faith

Question 36

The work of Cranmer for the reformation

Answer 36

• Cranmer acted as a supporting figure to Cromwell
• Helped draft the Bishops book and the ten articles
• Originally lived in obscurity
• Took Henry’s attention when supporting him theough the annulment
• Cranmer was flexible with Henry and oversaw the burning of protestants with similar beliefs to him

Question 37

Henry VIII and a return to Catholicism

Answer 37

By the end of the decande, Henry decided the reformation had gone too far

• He returned to his catholic values and burned priest John Lambert for denying transubstantiation
• Henry passed the Six Articles to show a clear statement of Catholic doctrine
• It confirmed purgatory and transubstantiation and stated that priests should remain celibate
• Cranmer had to send his family abroad for safety

Question 38

Dissolution of the monasteries

Answer 38

• At the start of Henry’s reign, England was a land of Monasteries and Abbeys
• 800 religious houses served by 10,000 monks and nuns
• Monasteries had educational and social roles in communities
• By 1540, there were none left under the act of supremacy