Establishment of Royal Supremacy

• The 'King's great matter' concerned the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon; something which could only be granted by the Pope, Clement VII.
• By the mid 1520s, Henry had no male heir (and only 1 surviving daughter, Mary), and his wife Catherine was past child-bearing age. Henry feared the kingdom would die without a male heir; he was also in love with Anne Boleyn the niece of Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk.
• 1525


  Henry asked Wolsey to secure a papal dispensation for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine, providing biblical justification that his marriage to his brother's widow had been illegal in the sight of God.
• 1527

  Wolsey, as the Pope's representative, called a special court to 'try' Henry for living in sin with his supposed wife - to which Henry agreed. Catherine appealed to Pope Clement VII. However, the Pope was reluctant to cooperate with Henry as he was being held 'captive' by Catherine's nephew, Charles V (HRE & King of Spain), who fiercely opposed the annulment.
• 1529


  Two years later from the 'trial', the Pope sent an envoy, Cardinal Campeggio, to hear the case with Wolsey in a legatine court. The hearing opened in June but Campeggio adjourned it in July, without agreeing to the annulment. In October, Wolsey was charged with praemunire (using papal authority against the crown) and retired to Yorkshire, surrendering his possessions to the King.
• 1530

  In November Wolsey was arrested, but he died before he could be tried and executed. Henry was determined to press on with his 'great matter'. He used scholars such as Thomas Cranmer (who was rewarded with the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532) to put the theological case for annulment.
• 1531

  The English clergy were collectively accused of praemunire and ordered to pay a £100,000 fine.
• 1532

  Thomas Cromwell had emerged as Henry's chief minister. He took matters into his own hand, passing a series of laws and measures through Parliament, relieving the King from papal control, thus enabling him to remarry with a clear conscience.
• Measure 1: 1532


  An act was passed withholding the payment of annates - (taxes on first fruits and tenths - a tax paid to the papacy by the clergy on taking up their appointments)
• Measure 2: 1532


  The supplication against the ordinaries, accused bishops of overstating their power.
• Measure 3: 1532


  Cromwell organised the surrender of the Church's law-making function to the king (known as the Submission of the Clergy)
• 1533

  By January, Anne Boleyn was pregnant, so Cranmer conducted a secret marriage ceremony. In May, Cranmer annulled Henry's previous marriage, allowing Anne to be crowned queen. However, the birth of a daughter, Elizabeth, on the 7th September did not solve the issue of succession...
• Wolsey's fall from grace:

  3 approaches to the Annulment;

  1. Argued the marriage was wrong, it ignored divine law set out in Leviticus. Failed as Pope Clement VII was not willing to accept the previous Pope had made an error...
  2. Argued there was an 'error' with the initial dispensation... However, COA's advisors used different wording, making this claim invalid.
  3. Convinced pope to allow the case to be heard in England... Went wrong with Campeggio and Henry blamed the failure on Wolsey.
• April 1553 - Act in Restraint of Appeals:


  Declared that no appeals could be made to Rome against decisions of Church courts in England. Therefore Catherine could not appeal to Rome against her marriage annulment.
• April 1534: Act of Succession:


  Annulled Henry's marriage to Catherine; vested the succession of Anne's children; to deny Henry's new marriage was declared treason. Therefore, Mary became illegitimate and hopes for a male heir rested with Anne.
• November 1534: Act of Supremacy


  King declared Supreme Head of the Church in England. Therefore, the Pope's authority was no longer recognised in England; The 'break from Rome'.
• November 1534: The Treason Act


  Became treasonable to call Henry a heretic. This was used against opponents of royal supremacy and brought down Thomas More, scholar, courtier and Lord Chancellor 1530-32 (executed in 1535).
• November 1534: The Act in Restraint of Annates


  Allowed the annates (which had been withheld from the papacy by the 1532 act) to be transferred from Pope to King. This strengthened the King's position; a special court was set up to administer this.
• 1536 & 1541: First and Second Suppression Acts


  Dissolved the monasteries. This confiscation of Church land vastly increased the wealth and power of the Crown.