The Reformation

• Henry started his reign as a good Catholic, gaining the title “Defender of the faith”in 1521.
• He had to negotiate with them and granted a pardon when he wanted to punish them, and had to primrose to stop the dissolution and hold a northern parliament.
• Protestantism came from Germany where Martin Luther protested against the corruption of the Catholic Church, wanting to reform it (the reformation).
• Protestant beliefs included: The head of the Church should be individual rulers, not the Pope; Churches were to teach the “word of God”, not the sacraments; The Bible shouldn’t be in Latin, so all people could read it; Superstition and indulgences and corruption should be removed; Bread and wine was symbolic, not really the body and blood of Jesus (which is the Catholic belief of transubstantiation).
• Henry began to support protestantism to pressure the Pope for an annulment, but was also concerned about the state of the Church.
• Henry VIII was influenced by protestants such as Anne Boleyn, Cromwell and Cranmer.
• Anne had given him a banned book saying that God wanted the Church to be ruled by kings, who had control, which Henry liked.
• Henry had the Pope’s name removed from books.
• People had to promise to support Anne as queen.
• The Act of Supremacy-1534 made Henry the new head of the Church of England.
• Henry could set beliefs, decide organisation, appoint positions-Cromwell was appointed vicegerent in religious matters.
• The Treason Act-1534 stated that if clergymen did not take the oath to accept Henry VIII’s supremacy, they risked execution.
• Elizabeth Barton was a 16 year old nun from Kent who had a vision of Mary, seen as a special gift from God and she became very famous.
• Elizabeth claimed that God disapproved of Henry’s divorce and said that English Bibles should be burnt, people should stay loyal to the Pope and God approved of mass and pilgrimages.
• Elizabeth met Henry in 1532 and told him he would have a horrible death if he married Anne.
• John Fisher was a well-known scholar and had tutored young Henry-he was Catholic Bishop of Rochester.
• John opposed the annulment as he supported Catheirne as queen, and believed the Pope’s powers were given by God-they couldn’t be taken by Henry.
• John was charged with treason in 1533 as he was linked to Barton and fined £300.
• John continued to oppose Henry, writing to Charles V to ask him to invade.
• It was still dangerous to be protestant, so reformers like Cromwell and Cranmer had to be careful when trying to implement changes.
• Cranmer was protestant and had helped to write many of these changes, but had to be flexible to avoid trouble with Henry, even allowing protestants ot be burnt.
• In 1536, Cromwell introduced the Act of 10 Articles, which reduced the number of sacraments from 7 to 3, moving towards protestantism.
• The top 20 monasteries earned over £1000 a year, as much as many leading nobles.
• Thomas More was executed in 1535, two weeks after Fisher’s death.
• By 1538, Henry started to move back to Catholicism, publishing the 6 articles in 1539, confirming Catholic beliefs such as transubstantiation and purgatory, and that priests should be celibate.
• In 1537, Cromwell introduced the Bishops Book, which returned to 7 sacraments, but 3 were still the most important, moving back to catholicism.
• 1 monastery in Yorkshire was accused of working with pirates.
• In 1534, Thomas More was ordered to take the oath of supremacy but refused.
• Thomas More resigned in protest of the break, pretending he was too ill to continue, rather than admitting his opposition to Henry.
• It was also dangerous to support the Pope, so Catholic like Norfolk and Steven Gardiner had to be cautious too.
• 30 monastery leaders at in the House of Commons.
• In 1535, Cromwell was ordered to send a commission of 6 officials to inspect the monasteries, they found that:
• Cromwell also introduced the Royal Injunctions, instructing clergy to preach about supporting Royal Supremacy and 10 articles, and pilgrimages and saints days reduced, moving towards protestantism.
• People at this time would have called them abbeys or priories, rather than monasteries.
• Hundreds of monks weren’t celibate, having mistresses or affairs with young boys.
• There were 800 monasteries in England, run by 8,000 monks and 2,000 nuns.
• Monasteries owned about ⅓ of land in England, making them wealthy and important landowners.
• Despite the Act of Supremacy, most people weren’t affected by change to Henry.
• Out of 1
• The results of the visitations were recorded in the Compendium Compertorum, which was unreliable as: