Parliament and Church

• Henry VII and Parliament

  • Granted tonnage and poundage for life
  • Summoned parliament 7 times during reign to assess the welfare of the state
  • in 1504, Henry was forced to accept a smaller amount of taxation than proposed as the commons had a right to refuse tax
  • passed many acts of Attainder against his enemies at Bosworth.
• Henry VIII- Early Parliament

  • Only met 4 times to fund his foreign wars
  • by 1517, his war gains had been lost and taxation was hard to gain
  • Mp’s feared rebellion brought too much tax and wolsey tried to exact the tax he wanted
  • in 1525 unpaid loans totalled £260,000
  • Little change until his divorce
• Henry VIII’s priory good relationship with the pope

  • Henry VIII Published “Assertio September Sacramentorem” against MartinLuther in 1521
  • in 1521,Nearly given the title of “Defender of the faith”
  • Henry Employed Wolsey as AoB of York to try and help bring the church under royal control.
• Parliamentary control of the church

  • Wolsey was appointed as the Bishop of Durham, Bath and Wells and york in 1514
  • Pope made Wolsey a Cardinal in 1515
  • Wolsey reduced the independence of the church by closing 30 corrupted monasteries and using the money to fund Oxford college.
• Henry VIII church divisions

  • Called for an annulment with Catherine of Aragon, Wolsey was supposed to sort this but he was now a senior member of the church and bore allegiance to the pope
  • This led to wolsey falling in power in 1529 and dying before trial in 1530
  • Henry officially breaks with rome in 1534 where the act of Supremacy declares him the head of the church of england.
• Elizabeths act of supremacy 1559

  • Assumes supreme governor of the church of england; appeals to catholics who named the pope as the “supreme head”
  • Bill ensures an oath of loyalty which would've led to a removal of office
• Elizabeths Act of Uniformity 1559


  • imposes the 1552 prayer book, a fine of 12D for those who don’t attend church weekly
  • two sentences added to the prayer book, which alllowed for a tho is to interpret mass as they liked regarding transubstantiation
  • act was narrowly passed by 21 to 19, all but one ministers refuse to say to this oath.
• Parliamentary power under Elizabeth

  • came under strain in 1588 following the spanish armada, more regular parliaments were needed for tax
  • had less money for patronage, so granted monopolies.

  Walter Raliegh had monopolies in tin, playing cards, taverns - this raised prices
• 1601 Parliament

  • Elizabeth had to call for taxation for war,
  • she was criticised by parliament in 1597 for monopolies
  • contained 253 Mp’s with legal training and so understood the injustice of monopolies
  • mob burst into parliament demanding a fix in prices
  • Elizabeth gave her golden speech, admitting to “lapses of error”