Henry VIII and the Church

HENRY VIII AND THE CHURCH

Wolsey and Church Policy

• Wolsey wanted to improve the quality of the Clergy
• From 1528 he streamlined the monastic orders by closing monastries with fewer than 6 inmates. Monastries with less than 12 inmates had to merge with other monastries.
• He removed the heads of monastries that were deemed unfit
• He attempted to stop stop the rise of Protestantism by holding public burnings of Lutheran books

The King's Great Matter

Henry wished to annul his marriage to Catherine and marry Anne but to do so he needed a papal dispensation from the Pope.

SCRIPTUAL ARGUMENTS

• A complex line of arguments based on scriptures to justify the divorce to the Catholic Church
• The marriage validity relied on Catherine's word that she never consumated with Arthur
• Henry was convinced that his lack of legitimate male heir was God's punishment, he was living in sin and his conscience wouldn't allow it
• He argued that his marriage to Catherine was illegal as the book of Levitious forbids a man to marry his brothers wife, however it instructs in the book of  Deutronomy that it's illegal to marry your sister-in-law whilst your brother is still alive after that it is the man's duty to marry her and have children on his brother's behalf

DIPLOMATIC MANOEUVERS

• Emperor Charles V, who was in charge of Italy at the time, was Catherine's nephew so was unlikely to support a divorce
• Wolsey tried to free the Pope from Charles's influence by using an alliance with France and the renewal of warfare in Italy to distract the Emperor however he was too entrenched in the Italian Penisula to be evicted by France

LEGAL EFFORTS

• To avoid the problem with Charles and the Pope, Wolsey held the divorce hearings in England where he, as Papal Legate, could make judgement. The Pope agreed to hold a legatine court in England to judge the merits of Henry's case for annulment however he sent Cardinal Campeggio to conduct the court with instructions to delay it as long as possible.
• The Court failed to come to a decision

The Royal Supremacy and Henry's break with Rome

For the next three years, pressure was brought to bear upon the Pope. Besides obtaining support from influential European universities, Cramner drew up the Collectanea satis copiosa which made the theological case for the legality of the annulment

The English Clergy were intimidated into submission. In 1531 they were charged with praemunire and forced to pay a fine of £100,000 to escape punishment. The Supplication of the Ordinaries in 1532 accused bishops of abusing their power.

The King's Great Matter made substantial progress under Cromwell's leadership. A series of laws were passed through the Reformation Parliament between 1533 and 1534 began to loosen the ties between England and Rome. The acts in Restraint of Annates and Restraint of Appeals broke Rome's financial and legal powers in England. In 1534, the break in Rome was completed when the Act of Supremacy was passed. This denied…