Past Paper Planning sheets
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzA9F91DKfePb0lNN2JwSUZ3M3M
What was the Turning point of Henry's reign?
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/129670128/Lesson-2_3-timeline
Prep:
Week A
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TqqfjjildMYJkFYBnxAUn8KFot23KOhujkNWYCrlwCA/edit?usp=sharing
Overview of the Reign of Henry VIII
(THE VERY SHORT VERSION)
- Wolsey had failed to get the divorce that Henry wanted and paid the ultimate price.
- The short term result was the beginnings of the English Reformation
- By 1534 Papal authority would be denied and Henry VIII would be made the Supreme Head of the church in England – supreme over church and state.
- Henry became an autocrat – paradoxically created by Parliament
- First stages lasted effectively from 1529 –1536
- Significant role of Thomas Cromwell – chief minister
- Doctrine remained the same
- Stage 1 from 1529-32 aimed at removing clerical abuse.
The Breach with Rome
- 1532 – 33 saw the second stage and the actual breach with the Pope and Rome
- Anne Boleyn was expecting a child and the divorce was essential for the child to be a legitimate heir.
- Cromwell moved the change on.
- Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533).
- Thomas Cranmer became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533.
- Cranmer divorced Henry and married him to Anne Boleyn.
- Act of Supremacy passed in 1534 – ends Papal jurisdiction
- Treason act passed in the same year
- But it didn’t all go smoothly and saw the execution of Thomas More and John Fisher as the first martyrs of the Reformation.
The role of Thomas Cromwell
With Cromwell it is as much about questions as about answers
- How significant was his role in the reformation?
- Did he manage and manipulate Parliament?
- To what extent was he responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries?
G R Elton described Cromwell as a revolutionary because of his use of Parliament and his development of a new monarchy.
The Reformation Parliament
It was unique in its length of its sittings and in the importance of its legislation
It is important to realise that parliament did not make the royal supremacy –Cromwell and Henry did that; but they did use Parliament to give the sanction of the common law of England to their actions.
Parliament legalised the Reformation. Henry had little reason to fear an increase in the power of the Commons.
The state of the Church
Was the Church really that ‘decadent?’
Was it ready for reform?
Was it as corrupt and materialistic as it has been traditionally represented?
Was the anti-clericalism of the people and the nobility a reality or a myth?
The church was probably not as moribund as was once thought but it was ripe for reform.
The dissolution of the monasteries
What was the motivation behind this most famous (infamous) of events?
Was it financial or was it reforming? The crown was the chief beneficiary
of any change and the land transfer was the greatest since the Norman Conquest. Henry had to sell on the land (two-thirds) to meet debts and the needs of patronage. The results of this were to the benefit of the gentry and gave them a vested interest in sustaining the Reformation (as Mary I was to discover).
The Pilgrimage of Grace
A key event of Henry’s reign and possibly his greatest crisis. It was probably the most important insurrection of the common people between the Peasants’ revolt of 1381 and the Civil war of the 1640’s. Yet it was relatively easily dealt with. What were its aims? Was it about religion or enclosure or both? It is generally held to have been an amalgamation of protests; social, economic, political and religious. It was centred on Lincolnshire and the North and was a mix of gentry, clergy and the commons.
The execution of Anne Boleyn
Anne was executed in 1536. Henry married Jane Seymour who gave him the heir he wanted; Edward.
The fall of Thomas Cromwell
After helping Henry elevate his kingship to unparalleled status he was dispensed with. The victim of faction, particularly the growing power of the Howard family, Cromwell was executed in 1540. It is suggested that Cromwell was far more of a religious radical than Henry and that Henry once convinced of this would not protect him from the catholic/conservative opponents. His support for the marriage to Anne of Cleves was an error yet in retrospect a sound move. Significantly in Cromwell’s attainder it charges him with heresy as well as treason.
Henry VIII’s last years.
Threats to English stability would come from France and Spain, on the Pope’s behalf, provided they weren’t fighting each other. This is why Cromwell proposed the Cleves marriage. Faction focussed around the Protestant Cranmer and the Catholic Howard. Religious change was controlled by Henry. The Bible was translated into English, as was the liturgy. But Transubstantiation was a required doctrine under pain of death as contained in the Six Articles of 1539. Overall Henry remained a catholic and followed orthodox catholic teaching save on the papacy. Wisely he aimed to maintain religious unity throughout his realm
