The Reformation Parliament

• The Parliament that met betwen 1529-1536 was called the 'Reformation Parliament' by historians in the 19th century
• There had been criticism of the Church when H8's 2nd parliament met in 1515 - had offered opportunity for MP's to air concerns about what were matters for king's court and matters for the Church courts raised by case of Richard Hunne who had died the previous year
• Parliament 1529- small group of London MPs (merchants and lawyers) began an attack on abuses of the Church
• Main focus of their grievances was W who embodied what they considered to be the failings of the Church;
• W attended court each day in a procession with liveried servants-considered to be opposite of humility which should be shown by member of clergy. W rode on as ***, considered mockery of Jesus' entry to Jerusalem (but this was an established feature of processions of high-ranking churchmen). Apparent greed shown by W in his acquisition of palaces and fine living clear illustration of the complaint of the MPs about wealth of clergy achieved through simony
• W archbishop of York + had livings of Winchester and Durham (never visited whilst H8's first minister) showing the impact of pluralism. W also had at least one child
• for these reasons there was significant pressure for an Act of Attainder to be p***ed against W

• MPs also critical of the practices of the Church Courts (CC)
• Possible for Church men to appeal to Rome and many lawyers believed these cases should be heard in courts in England. It was felt many cases heard it CC should have been heard in King's courts
• By attacking the monopoly of these cases by the CC, lawyers were attempting to gain greater control of the work involved
• Main criticisms were:
• excess fines which clergy charged for probate
• the payment of mortuary fines
• the land owned by the C restricted the capacity for poor peasants to graze their animals
• C was involved in trade
• clergy were promoted to the houses of great men, which left parishes with educated clergy to preach
• learned clegy often held more than one parish - pluralism, so leaving many parishes without educated clergy to preach
• Whilst many of the MPs were influenced by new religious ideas- it would not have been acceptable for the C to be challenged on doctrinal inssues in 1529

• Initial issue concerning MPs was their desire to pass an Act of Attainder against Cardinal W
• W relatively easy targer for MPs in 1529, H8 had dismissed W as Chancello and First Minister
• H's determination to acquire all the property, such as palaces of Whitehall and Hamptom Court, owned by W was supported by Act of Attainder
• W summoned to London, accused of treason, but fell ill and died on journey in Nov 1530
• Thomas Cromwell, who successfully harnessed the opinions of a minority of MPs and seemingly over-rode the concerns of an equally small conservative minority, masterminded the management of Parliament's greivances, leading to a formal break with Rome

• 1530- H8 determined to address W's failure to persuade papal court to grant an annulment of his marriage to COA
• H8 considered 2 seperate ways of putting pressure on the Pope to annul his marriage
• 1) Weakening the will of the C to resist what H wanted by taking action against the C in general or leading churchmen in particular based on praemunire. Known as the Submission of the Clergy. H8 believed that the will of the Pope to grant an annulment could be changed through financial pressure
• 2) taking control of the C and depriving the Pope of authority
• By using the anti-clericalism engendered by W's behaviour and the attack of the London MPs on the C, H8 pursued a policy through Parliament which combined both elements

• Late 1530 - H8 decided 15 churchmen of England and Wales should be charged with praemunire, charge related specifically to the action which the churchmen had taken in recognising the power which Wolsey had held as papal legate
• Early 1531- when convocation met it was made clear H8 would withdraw the charges if C would provide £100000 and agree to his title being chnaged to 'Supreme Head of the Church in England and Wales (as far as the word of God allows)'.
• This was to be enshrined in an Act of Parliament which would give the action legal powers and a consititutional significance.
• Weakened by W's fall, convocation had little alternative but to accept, pay fine and recognise the title with its 'get out clause'
• Enabled clergy to continue to believe that the word of God was relfected in the canon law of the C rather than in H8's view
• No response from the Pope to this action

• Passed in 1534
• Gave statutory authority to the Submission of the Clergy which was drawn up by the Bishop of Hereford and passed by the Convocation of Canterbury in 1532

• Was a petition passed by the House of Commons in 1532
• Result of grievances against the clergy
• These grievances repeated many of the complaints made elsewhere
• Encompassed those which had been identified by Edward Hall which listed the means by which the C gained money at expense of laity , over which the laity had no control
• Clergy could determine mortuary fees depending on wealth of those buried
• Number of Holy Days, particular concern for those involved in manufacutre as their labourers would not work them days
• Petition was delivered to the King, had particular focus on charges of heresy made by clergy against laity, deemed to be untrue but would lead to severe punishment
• Laity believed clergy had excessive powers and control

• H8 sought a direct attack on the finances of Rome
• The bill removed the chief source of revenue that the C in Rome received from E
• Although not in itself a large sum, the payment had been criticised by Parliament
• This was a diplomatic bargaining tool
• Did not receive full support from House of Commons, unlike previous steps
• When the HOC voted on the Act H8 was present to ensure it received support
• While the original ciriticisms had been raised by MPs the initiative for change increasingly fell to Cromwell and H8

• 1532- H8 unable to persuade Pope to grant annulment, Submission of Clergy and Supplication of the Ordinaries not enough of a challenge to the powers of the C to make Pope go against the greater power of CV
• Pope appears to have assumned H8 would regard these as only temporary measures and when his infatuation with AB was over he would return to the pre-exsisting situation
• Neither H8 or AB prepared to accept Pope's procrastination
• Situation complicated by attitude of Bishop of Canterbury, William Warham who frustrated H8's need to annul his marriage, Warham responsible to Pope and continued to maintain papal line in refusing to grand the annulment
• August 1532- Warham dies, opening possibilites to H8
• Autumn 1532- H8 and AB travelled to Calais to gain support of FI, Anne had been creatd Marchioness of Pembroke to enable her to accompany H8
• FI refused to recieve AB formally, but welcome given to H8 was sufficient recognition of the relationship to enable the pair to sleep together for the first time
• F support was crucial, H8 would not marry AB if opposed by both CV and FI
• AB conceived almost immediately and a marriage was prepared
• Jan 1533- H8 and AB wed by Thomas Cramner- Bishop of Canterbury (appointed by Pope)

• H8's child due in September
• Therefore, imperative marriage between COA and H8 declared null and void
• Only way to do this seemed to be for H8 to break from Rome and establish Royal Supremacy over the Church, enabling him to grant his own annulment

• Forbade all appeals to the P on religious or other matters, making the king the final legal authority in all such matters in England, Wales and other English possessions
• Achieved by claiming England was an Empire and the English crown was an Imperial crown
• had an immediate impact. on 5th April 1533 the Convocation of Canterbury ruled that the marriage between H8 and COA could not be nullified by the Pope but only by that court.
• Allowed H8's marriage to AB to become legal in English law so the child she was carrying, which H8 hoped would be a son, would be legitimate

2 parliamentary sessions in 1534, first from 15th Jan to 30th March and seconds from 3rd Nov to 18th Dec, both maanaged by Cromwell, to achieve a clearer and more formal break with Rome.

• First session reinforced previous legislation which:
  • confirmed the prohibition of payments of Annates to R
  • granted the right to elect bishops and abbots to the K
  • confirmed the supreme legal authority of the secular courts by stating that appeals from the C courts were to go to the K in Chancery

First session also established signifcant new legislation, including:

• Act forbiddign papal dispensation and payments of Peter's Pence, 1534
  • put all ecclesiastical powers in the hands of the K, restricted Archbishops rights to allow departures from canon law which had allowed priests to hold more than one parish
• First Act of Succession, 1534
  • Made H8+COA's marriage invaild, M=illegitmate, AB's kids =legitimate. Act of treason to deny the succession + whole nation had to take oath to observe it

• Act of Supremacy
  • did not make H8 Supreme Head of the Church of England, but stated that he 'justly and rightly is and out to be the SHOTCOE and that he should be taken, accepted and regarded as the SH'
    • Difficulty in claiming Parliament had the ability to make a monarch SH
    • Wording sought to aviod claiming an authority which belonged to god but at same time established H8 and SH
  • To support this role the act
    • gave the king the right to collect first fruits and tenths, a tax which had previously been paid by the clergy to R
    • made it treasonable to call the monarch a heretic or a schismatic

By Jan 1535 H8 added the claim 'SHOTCOE'  to his title, did not add anything to K's powers, that had been achieved by parliaments of 1534

RP moved from attacking W and C practices to a formal break with R in space of 4 years. Process was determined as much by the intransigence of the P as it was by the pressure of AB