12 - Religion, Ideas and Reform under Henry VIII

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  • Religion, Ideas and Reform under Henry VIII
    • Renaissance Ideas
      • Renaissance ideas began to flourish
        • Henry encouraged thinkers like Erasmus and More
          • Renaissance influence was shown through his parents' tombs
      • Humanism and Education
        • Most significant humanist in education was John Colet
          • In St Paul's school he.....
            • Appointed governors as guild members rather than clergymen
            • The curriculum was devised from Erasmus and some humanist ideas
            • The head was William Lily, a humanist
        • Platonist educational principles grew
          • Humanist principles gained a lot influence by Henry's death
        • Erasmus was liked by English intellectual circles
          • However Erasmian humanism's influence was still limited
            • Change came from religion rather than humanism
      • Renaissance Ideas and English Culture
        • During Henry VIII's reign:
          • Classical learning increased among elites
          • more schools were influenced by humanist education
          • Henry VIII saw himself as a promoter of humanism and new ideas
          • the crown needed diplomats who could keep up with humanism and fashions abroad
        • Thomas More was the most important English unmaist writer
        • Henry commissioned an Italian sculptor to make tombs for Margaret Beaufort and his parents in Renaissance style
          • Varied greatly to the gothic style of the Chapel
        • Richard Marks has argued that Gothic remained the dominant cultural form
          • The dominant painters in court were 'northern renaissance' which had more Gothic influences
            • Tapestries kept medieval themes
            • Fleming Lucas
              • Tapestries kept medieval themes
        • Henry was more conservative in building ideas than Wolsey
          • Henry's Nonsuch Palace was Gothic whilst Wolsey's Hampton Court was classical
          • Henry + Wolsey were music patrons
            • Fleming also had the largest musical influence
    • Reform of the Church
      • 1532-40 Henry withdrew England from the papacy
        • Henry established the monarch as the head of the church
        • Monasteries were dissolved
        • Church doctrine and practices were altered
      • Weaknesses of the Church
        • Corruption
          • Pluralism - receiving profits from more than one parish
          • Simony - the purchase of Church office
          • Non-residence - receiving profits from a post without performing the duties
          • Wolsey was accused of many of tehse things
          • Mnay clergymen were guilty as the crown used clergy offices to reward officials
        • Anticlericalism
          • Opposition to the political and social importance of the clergy
            • Some lawyers opposed canon law + the legal privileges of the clergy
          • Christopher Haigh argued that anticlericalism was a consequence rather than a cause of the reformation
        • Decline of monasticism
          • Criticism of the operation of religious houses
            • Some argue that larger monasteries were businesses
          • Wolsey dissolved 20 houses in the 1520s to fund Cardinal College (Oxford)
          • The moasteries were dissolved quickly and easily
            • However some orders (Franciscans) were flourishing up until their dissolution
      • Evidence of Early Protestantism
        • Little substantial evidence towards a movement towards Protestantism after Martin Luther's attack on the RCC in 1517
        • 1520s there was a nucleus of reformers in Cambridge
          • Some were burned later in Henry's reign
          • Cranmer was a part of this group
      • Erasmianism and the Reformation
        • James McConica argued that from 1529 there was a group of humanists shaping royal policy based on Erasmus' ideas
          • Seems unlikely as only More and Fisher were influential humanists at court
        • Cranmer also had humanist connections
          • But not all reformers were humanists; nor were all humanists reformers
            • Gardiner went along with reform to stay alive
        • In Henry's final years humanist reform persisted
          • The humnaist John Cheke was Edward's Tutor
            • The humanist Roger Ascham was Elizabeth's tutor
          • Katherine Parr had a humanist circle around her
            • She was a patron of the arts and literature
      • Changes to the Churches Structure
        • 1534 Act of Supremacy - King became head of the Church
        • Cromwell was appointed Vicegerent in Spirituals 1534 - he had considerable power and was 2nd to the King
        • 6 new dioceses to improve Church administration
        • Spritiual jurisdiction remained in the hands of bishops
      • Dissolution of the Monasteries
        • Valor Ecclesiasticus 1535 - survey by Cromwell on how wealthy the Church was
        • Four visitors were sent to assess all monastic institutions
          • They found evidence of corruption + weakness
        • Cromwell had evidence to pass an Act of Parliament in 1536 to dissolve smaller monasteries
          • They had under £200 income per year
            • Disguised as preserving the quality of monasteries
        • After the Pilgrimage of Grace dissolution of the monasteries increased
          • The heads of monasteries involved in the rebellion surrendered to the Crown
        • 1539 an Act dissolving the rest of the monasteries was passed
          • By march 1540 all monasteries were dissolved
      • The attack on traditional religious practices
        • 1536 royal injunctions encouraged moral conduct + restricted the number of holy days + discouraged pilgrimages
        • 1538 pilgrimages + honouring relics and images were condemned
          • Clergy were required to recant
          • More radical
      • The English Bible
        • 1538 injunctions required each parish to have an english bible
          • 1539 the first edition of the Great Bible had a title page showing Henry offering the word of God to Cranmer and Cromwell
        • 4 years later Henry was scared to allow the wrong sorts of people to read the wrong parts of the Bible
          • 1543 Act for the Advancement of True Religion restricted public reading of the bible to upper class males
      • Changes to Doctrine
        • 1536 Ten Articles - only 3 sacraments, confession was praised
        • 1537 Bishops' book - redeemed other 4 sacraments with a lower status
        • 1539 Six Articles Act - denial pf transubstantiation was heretic
        • 1543 Kings' book - revised the Bishops' book

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