The English Reformation

Henry VIII and the Reformation in England

Who was Henry and why was he concerned about the throne?

• The Wars of the Roses between the royal houses of York and Lancaster resulted in much death. At the end, Henry Tudor, descended from Welch royalty marginally related to English royalty, defeated the others (Battle of Bosworth Fields) to take the throne.

Rights of the Crown Against the Pope• Late medieval England kings defended

British rights vs the papacy– Edward I (1272-1307) rejected Pope Boniface

VIII unum sanctum bull to prevent secular taxation of the clergy, denied Catholic access to court in retaliation.

– Parliament laws in the mid-14th century, curtailied payments and judicial appeals to Rome; also papal appointments in England.

– Wycliff, et al: Religious piety, humanism, and widespread anticlerical sentiment prepared the way religiously and intellectually for Protestant ideas in the early 16th century.

Marriage to Catherine of Aragon• In 1509, the future Henry VIII

married Catherine of Aragon– daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of

Spain– the aunt of Emperor Charles V– originally married to his older brother,

Arthur• Henry’s father, Henry VII, had betrothed

Catherine to Henry after Arthur’s untimely death in order to keep the English alliance with Spain intact.

• They were officially married a few days before Henry VIII received his crown.

• Because marriage to the wife of one’s brother was prohibited by both canon and biblical law (see Leviticus 18:16, 20:21), the marriage had required a special dispensation from Pope Julius II.

HOWEVER:• The couple produced no male heir to

the throne and only one surviving child, a daughter, Mary.

• Henry even came to believe that his union with Catherine, who had many miscarriages and stillbirths, had been cursed by God, because Catherine had first been the wife of his brother, Arthur.

• Henry was justifiably concerned about consequences of leaving only a female heir– People believed it unnatural for women

to rule over men– A woman ruler might mean a contested

reign, or at worst turmoil and revolution.

The King’s Affair• By 1527, Henry was thoroughly

enamored of Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine’s ladies in waiting.

• He determined to put Catherine aside and marry Anne.

• He could not in Catholic England, without papal annulment of the marriage to Catherine.

• However, the year 1527 was also the year when soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire mutinied and sacked Rome. The Medici Pope Clement VII was at the time a prisoner of Charles V, who happened also to be Catherine’s nephew.

The Reformation Parliament•The Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, logically could not obtain a papal annulment from Clement. •Wolsey’s opponents charged that Wolsey was deliberately postponing the divorce, so Henry had Wolsey stripped of office; he died age 60. Henry replaced him with Thomas More, humanist author of Utopia, and friend and intellectual mentor to Henry.• The English Parliament then declared the king supreme in English spiritual affairs as in temporal affairs. •In 1529, Parliament convened for a seven-year session now called the “Reformation Parliament.”• Parliament passed a flood of legislation that harassed, reined in the clergy, setting a legal precedent on religious questions (settled by both Parliament and the ruler).

Head of the Church of England• In January 1531, the Convocation (a

legislative assembly representing the English clergy) publicly recognized Henry as Head of the Church in England “as far as the law of Christ allows.”

• Parliament passed the Submission of the Clergy, which placed canon (church) law under royal control and the clergy under royal jurisdiction.

• In January 1533, Henry wed the pregnant Anne Boleyn, with Thomas Cranmer officiating.

• In March 1533. Cranmer became archbishop of Canterbury and led the Convocation in invalidating the King’s marriage to Catherine.

Acts of Succession & Supremacy• The Act of Succession the next year made

Anne Boleyn’s children legitimate heirs to the throne, declared his marriage to Catherine null, and labelled Mary illegitimate. The Act of Supremacy declared Henry “the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England.”

• When Thomas More refused to recognize the Act of Succession and the Act of Supremacy, Henry had him executed, making clear his determination to have his way regardless of the cost.

• He replaced Thomas More as Chancellor with Thomas Cromwell, a churchman who supported Henry’s actions.

Henry as head of the church• In 1538. Parliament dissolved England’s monasteries and convents.

• Henry, as head of the English church, confiscated much church property (as well as Wolsey’s beautiful residence) and treasure.

• However, Henry remained decidedly conservative in his religious beliefs. He declared the beliefs in the Six Articles of 1539, which, in spite of growing Protestant beliefs in England, these articles:

– Reaffirmed Transubstantiation.

– Denied the Eucharistic cup to the laity.

– Declared celibate vows inviolable.

– Provided for private masses.

– Ordered the continuation of confession.

• Despite his many wives and amorous adventures, Henry absolutely FORBADE THE ENGLISH CLERGY TO MARRY and threatened any clergy who were caught twice in concubinage with execution

OUTCOME: A CATHOLIC CHURCH WITHOUT CARDINALS OR POPES

Henry’s multiple wives

#1 Catherine of Aragon

• Offspring: Mary (Mary I)• This marriage ended with the

declaration of Archbishop Cranmer and later, Parliament, granting Henry a “dissolution” (divorce, sort of) of the marriage, with the result that Mary was declared illegitimate (until Henry decided succession much later).

#2 Ann Boleyn• Henry married Ann secretly

BEFORE his first marriage was dissolved because Ann was pregnant with who he hoped would be the son and heir he hoped for.

• Instead he was blessed with Elizabeth.

• After Ann suffered several miscarriages, Henry decided this marriage, too, was cursed, had Ann accused of infidelity with a number of men (including her brother) and had her executed.

#3 Jane Seymour

• Daughter of a prominent noble family, Jane finally gave Henry the son and heir he wanted: Edward

• However, she died in childbirth, ending hope for more heirs

• Unfortunately, Edward was never very healthy and died at 16, 5 years after Henry.

#4 Ann of Cleves• Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s

chancellor, took Holbein, the painter, to Germany to find a German princess for a politically advantageous marriage.

• They found Ann of Cleves: Henry liked the Holbein portrait and was married to her by proxy.

• When she arrived in England, she was fat, dirty and crude: Henry abhorred the marriage and had Cromwell executed, replaced with Thomas Cranmer as Chancellor.

• He dissolved the marriage and settled Ann with a large mansion and a larger yearly allowance. She lead a dissolute but merry life in England.

#5 Catherine Howard

• Henry next married a very young daughter of another noble English family.

• Catherine didn’t really like the aging, fat king with an open, pusy sore on his leg.

• She did like other men—lots of them.

• Henry had her charged with infidelity and executed.

#6 Catherine Parr

• Catherine Parr, though still young, was a widow with money and estates.

• From all reports she was gracious and kind and nursed Henry through his last years, in which he suffered very bad health and temper.

Young King Edward VI• When Henry died, his son and successor, Edward VI, was only

ten years old. Under the regencies of the duke of Somerset and the duke of Northumberland, England fully enacted the Protestant Reformation.– During Somerset’s regency, Henry’s Six Articles and laws against

heresy were repealed, allowing clerical marriage and communion with cup for all worshipers.

– In 1547, the chantries, places where endowed masses had traditionally been said for the dead, were dissolved.

– In 1549, the Act Of Uniformity imposed Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer on all English churches.

– Images and altars were removed from the churches in 1550.– A Forty-Two-Article Confession of Faith, also written by Thomas

Cranmer, was adopted, setting forth a moderate Protestant doctrine.:• It taught justification by faith alone and the Supremacy of Holy

Scripture.• It denied transubstantiation (although not real presence)—as Luther

believed.• It recognized only two sacraments