Religion

• What were the main criticisms of the Church during Henry the Seventh's reign?

  • Corruption within the clergy
  • Absenteeism among clergy members
  • Moral failings of some clergy
  • Selling of indulgences
• What were the key themes regarding religion during the reign of Henry the Seventh?

  • Central role of the Church in society
  • Influence of powerful churchmen
  • Importance of sacraments and mass
  • Criticism and opposition to the Church
• What factors had weakened the church prior to the break with Rome?

  - Humanist teachings of Erasmus and Colet

  - Christopher St German challenged the legal supremacy of the church in 1528

  - Criticisms e.g Simon Fish's Supplication of the Beggars attacked the church
• What suggests the church was in need of reform?

  -Corruption was a problem - Pluralism (receiving profits from more than one post) and

  simony (the purchase of church office) took place.

  -Wolsey perhaps the most corrupt of all. During the 1520's he dissolved 20 monasteries to

  fund Cardinal's college.

  -criticisms/opposition was taking place e.g. Simon Fish

  -clerical misconduct - e.g. Richard Hunne was found dead in the Bishop of London's prison in 1515
• What was the Supplication of the Beggars?

  -published by Simon Fish

  -1529

  -attacked the clergy

  -stirred up anti-clerical passions
• How was the Church not in need of reform?

  Support - 57% of people in Devon and Cornwall left money in their wills for the church in 1520-29

  1536 Pilgrimage of Grace

  high level of attendance at mass

  large number of churches and chapels built between 1490-1529
• How had Protestantism reached England?

  reached England by 1530 through the cotinent through Bristol and London ports
• How did Henry and Cromwell pressurise the Pope?

  -accused clergy of praenmunire

  -act in conditional restraint of annates

  -house of common's supplication against ordinances

  -formal submission of the clergy to Henry VIII
• When were the clergy accused of praemunire and what did it mean?

  1531

  -forced them to acknowledge the King was "protector and supreme head of the English church"

  -fined them
• When was the Act in Conditional Restraint of Annates and what did it mean?

  1532

  -withheld the first year's income from the office of a bishop
• When was the House of Commons supplication against the Ordinances and what did it mean?

  1532

  -designed to increase anticlerical pressure within the House of Commons
• Why was the Pope reluctant to annul Henry's marriage?

  -He was put under pressure from Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who was Catherine's nephew.

  -Charles invaded Rome on 6th May 1527.
• What was the Act in Restraint of Appeals?

  -April 1533

  -monarch possessed an imperial jurisdiction which was not subject to any foreign power

  -appeals could not be made to Rome regarding Church court decisions (e.g. limiting Catherines voice)
• What was the Act of Succession

  -passed in April 1534

  - declared that Henry's marriage to Catherine was void

  -the succession should be vested in Henry's children with Anne

  -to deny the validity of the marriage was treasonable
• What was the Act of Supremacy?

  -passed in November 1534

  -declared Henry was the Supreme Head of the Church of England

  -this achieved the break with Rome
• What was the Treason Act?

  -passed in November 1534

  -stated that treason could be committed by the spoken word, deed or writingwritting
• What was the immediate impact of the Break with Rome?

  -destroyed the relationship between England and Rome that had existed for almost a millennium

  -Parliament's role as a law making body was strengthened
• What were the causes of the dissolution of the monasteries?

  - The need for money - monasteries were amongst the largest landowner in the realm

  - Continental influence - religious houses were being dissolved in Scandinavia and Germany. Erasmus, Tyndale and Fish criticised monasteries

  - Corruption - Cromwell order four "visitors" to assess their corruption in order to justify dissolving them
• What was the Act for dissolution of lesser monasteries and when was it passed?

  -Feb 1536

  -closed down monasteries worth less than £200
• What role did royal commissioners play in the dissolution of the monasteries?

  In 1537 they began pressurising larger houses to "voluntarily" close down e.g. the great priory of Lewes surrendered in Dec 1537
• What was the Act for Dissolution of Great Monasteries and when was it passed?

  -June 1539

  -Legitimised the "voluntary" surrenders already taking place
• What was the impact of the dissolution of the monasteries?

  -Crown income doubled from £120,000 to £250,000

  -Henry used some of the money to invest in education

  -poor were worse off as monasteries provided charities

  -many lost their jobs

  -prayers for the dead, fundamental belief in people's lives was lost
• What was the Act of Ten Articles?

  -July 1536

  -Seven sacraments were rejected

  -left only baptism, the eucharist and penance

  -highly protestant
• What was the Bishop's book?

  -July 1537

  -rediscovered the 4 lost sacraments but stated they were of lesser value
• What was the Act of Six Articles?

  -June 1539

  -reasserted the Catholic doctrine

  -confirmed transubstantiation by stating it was heretical and private masses

  -showed his fear of foreign Catholic threat
• What was the King's book?

  -May 1543

  -revised the bishop's book

  -defended transubstantiation and the six articles

  -written by Henry VIII
• What were the 1536 Royal Injunctions to the Clergy?

  -August 1536

  -issued by Cromwell

  -ordered the clergy to abandon pilgrimages, defend the royal supremacy in sermons

  -restricted the number of Holy Days
• What were the 1538 Royal Injunctions to the Clergy?

  -September 1538

  -issued by Cromwell

  -the English bible was to be placed in all parishes within two years

  -people were actively discouraged from pilgrimages

  e.g. Thomas Beckett's shrine was destroyed
• What financial reforms did Cromwell establish to manage the income from the Break with Rome?

  set up the Court of Augmentations and the Court of First Fruits and Tenths
• What was the Court of Augmentations?

  controlled the land and finances that were previously owned by the Catholic Church
• What was the Court of First Fruits and Tenths?

  collected the money that used to be given to the Catholic Church