8 - Henry VIII, Government and Parliament

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  • Henry VIII, Government and Parliament
    • Government in Henry VIII's early and middle years
      • Henry liked to have an overview of his government but let others do the work
        • Style of government therefore varied across the reign
        • Henry's concerns for a son caused a major overhaul between the Crown and Parliament
      • Before 1529 Henry only summoned Parliament 4 times
        • Henry regarded it in the same way as his father - 2 main functions for tax and laws
        • In the first part of his reign Parliament was used mainly to grant tax
          • Wolsey was reluctant to use Parliament
      • Cromwell exploited it's possibilities much more thoroughly
        • So in the 2nd half of his reign Parliament was used more
      • Governance via councils brokedown as Henry was impulsive + there were conservative councillors
        • Wolsey fixed this + provided effective government
      • Wolsey and the end of Government by councils
        • Conciliar approach to government was adopted but ended by 1514
          • Reluctance of Henry's fathers councillors for French war discouraged him from councils
          • Henry asserted his decision making role
          • Henry surrounded himself with like-minded young courtiers who confirmed his suspicions of the 'old guard'
          • Henry was impressed by Wlsey
        • Wolsey emerged as the dominant political figure
          • In his early years he could give the King exactly what he wanted
        • Wolsey complemented the King's 'hands-off' approach to ruling
          • Wolsey's main concerns were the Church, foreign policy, the legal system
      • The Privy Chamber
        • Before 1519 the privy Chamber was outside of Wolsey's control
        • It's role had been widened in Henry VIII's early years when the King's favourite young courtiers were invited in
          • These people distrusted Wolsey - he neutralised their influence
        • In 1519 Wolsey removed these 'minions' + replaced them with his supporters
          • Howeever most of the minions reclaimed their positions
    • Domestic Policies under Wolsey
      • Court of Chancery
        • As Lord Chancellor Wolsey oversaw the legal system
        • The main court of equality in justce
        • He presided over this court + attempted to secure 'fair' justice
        • Dealt with enclosure, contracts, land left in wills
        • The court became popular + justice was slow because it was busy
      • Court of Star Chamber
        • Esytablished by Act of Parliament in 1487
          • Was an offshoot of the King's Council
            • Became the centre of government and justice under Wolsey
        • He extended the Courts use in 1516 to increase cheap/fair justice
        • He encouraged the use of this court for private lawsuits
          • Wolsey had to set up 'overflow tribunals' because it became too popular
      • Finance
        • The 'Tudor Subsidy'
          • Tax payers were expected to provide extraordinary revenue
            • Mostly achieved through raising subsidies
          • Wolsey made substantial change to how subsisdies were collected
            • He set up a national committee which he headed
              • Realistically assessed the wealth of taxpayers, the nation's revenue became more realistic
          • How he raised revenue for Henry's war in France
            • But the amount was insufficient
              • Led to the 1525 Amicable Grant which led to discontentment
        • The 1523 Subsidy and Parliament's resistance to Wolsey
          • Some historians believe Wolsey failed to manage Parliament well
            • John Guy - Wolsey was 'arrogant and insensitive'
          • 1523 Parliament was called to grant the subsidy for French war
            • This Parliament disliked Wolsey's financial demands
              • He couldn't secure what he wanted
        • The Eltham Ordinances
          • Introduced by Wolsey in 1526 to reform the privy Council's finances
          • Whilst pretending to reduce royal household expenditure, Wolsey reduced the number of men in the privy Chamber
            • He replaced Henry's groom of the stool (Sir William Compton) with the more compliant Henry Norris
    • The Establishment of Royal Supremacy
      • The King's Great Matter
        • Mid 1520s Henry had no male heirs + Catherine could no longer produce children
          • He briefly considered legitimising his ******* Henry Fitzroy
        • He had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn (the niece of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk)
          • Anne refused to become his mistress
          • Henry ordered Wolsey to get him an annulment
        • The Book of Leviticus contained prohibition against a man marrying his brother's widow
          • Henry argued the papal dispensation was invalid
            • Catherine claimed her and Arthur's marriage had never been consummated - rendered Henry's argument invalid
        • May 1527 Wolsey brought Henry in front of a fake court to accuse him of living in sin with his wife
          • Henry admitted to it, but Catherine refused to accept the Court's verdict + she appealed to the Pope
      • The Fall of Wolsey
        • After 2 years of pointless diplomacy between the Pope and Wolsey, the Pope sent an envoy to England
          • Cardinal Campeggio heard the case in June/July 1529
            • Campeggio adjourned it at the end of July - sealing Wolsey's fate
        • Wolsey had already been unpopular for the 1523 subsidy + Amicable Grant
        • October 1529 he was charged with praemunire + surrendered himself + his possessions ot the King
          • He died at leicester Abbey on 19 Novermber without execution
    • Domestic Policies under Cromwell (1532-40)
      • Government continued for 3 years after Wolsey's death without solving the 'King's Great Matter'
      • He had advanced his career under Wolsey + suggested that the King break from Rome to achieve his annulment
        • The King would make himself head of the English Church
      • By 1532 he was the King's chief minister
        • He dominated royal government to the annoyance of the Duke of Norfolk who hated his religious reforms
      • 1529-36 the 'Reformation Parliament' was in session
        • Parliament's role in government developed
      • The divorce from Catherine of Aragon + its impact on the Church
        • The divorce + the break from Rome were achieved through statute law which had supremacy over canon law
        • Exploiting weaknesses in the Church
          • RCC had weakened due to humanist criticisms of Colet and Erasmus
          • 1528 the Church's claims to legal supremacy had been challenged by lawyer Christopher St German
            • He asserted superiority of English over canon law
          • Collectanea Satis Copiosa - collection of historical documents made by Cranmer and Foxe justifying the King's divorce
          • Henry received favourable opinions on his annulment from continental universities  made More present them to Parliament
      • Pressuring the Pope
        • Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn
          • Ane Boleyn finally consented to sexual relations with Henry
            • Gambled that becoming pregnant would force action
          • Archbishop of Canterbury (william Warham) died + was replaced by Cranmer
            • He was more compliant to the Reformation
          • December 1522 Anne was pregnant + January 1523 the 2 married secretly
            • The RCC said the marriage was invalid
          • May 1533 Henry + Catherine's marriage was annulled by Cranmer
            • 7 September Anne's child was born legitimately but it was Elizabeth, a girl
        • 1531 Clergy Collectively accused of praemunire + fined
          • Forced the clergy to acknowledge the King was 'Protector and Supreme head of the English Church'
        • 1532 Act in Conditional Restraint of Annates
          • Withheld the first year's income from the office of bishop which the papacy usually got
        • 1532 House of Commons Supplication against the Ordinaries
          • Increased anticlerical pressure within HofC
        • 1532 Formal Submission of the Cergy to Henry VIII
          • Provoked Thomas More's resignation as Lord Chancellor
      • Acts of Parliament (1533-34)
        • Cromwell passed measures to achieve the Break from Rome
          • April 1533 the Act in Restrant of Appeals
            • The monarch possessed imperial jurisdiction, appeals couldn't be made to Rome on court decisions
              • Meant Catherine couldn't appeal to the Pope
          • April 1534 The Act of Succession
            • Henry's marriage to Catherine was voi; denying the validity of his marriage to Anne was treasonable
          • November 1534 Act of Supremacy
            • Stated King was head of the English Church
          • November 1534 The Treason Act
            • Treason could be committed by spoken word
          • November 1534 The Act Annexing First Fruits and Tenths to the Crown
            • The Annates paid by a bishop went to the Crown
        • This use of statute strengthened Parliament as a law-making body
          • The dissolution of the monasteries (1536-42) confiscated church lands to the crown
      • The Fall of Anne Boleyn
        • Anne was seen as a reformist as she had been responsible for pushing the King in a Protestant direction
          • Cromwell felt threatened by Anne
        • He persuaded Henry Anne had cheated
          • 1536 Jan Catherine of Aragon died - made Anne more vulnerable
            • 19 May 1536 she was executed
              • Cromwell felt threatened by Anne
      • The Fall of Thomas Cromwell
        • By 1540 his influence was declining
        • 1537 Jane Seymour died, and in 1540 Cromwell tried to reconcile Henry with the League of Schmalkalden
          • An organisation of German princes + free cities within HRE
            • Arranged a marriage with Anne of Cleves
              • Both were unhappy so the marriage was quickly annulled
        • Norfolk's niece Catherine Howard married the King
          • Cromwell was accused of treason + heresy at a council meeting by Norfolk + his followers
        • He was executed 28 July 1540

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