Henry VIII

• Henry VIII's Early Decisions (Consolidation 1509-1514):Within the first few days of his reign in April 1509 - arrest of H7's chief financial enforcers, Empson and Dudley. Announced he would honour the marriage agreement with Catherine.Aspired to be a warrior king - Henry V's victory at Agincourt in 1415.Cancelled 175 bonds and recognisances that were owed.Executed Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk.

  Continued to use JP's to enforce law.
• Privy Council:

  Became more important than during H7's reign.

  Consisted of around 20 men from Court.

  Early years - Wolsey and Thomas More headed meetings

  1532-1540 - Cromwell gained the leading role.

  Later years - Sir William Paget (Comptroller of the King's household) took charge.
• Early Foreign Policy (1509-1514):

  1512 - first expedition to France, failed.

  1513 - Second expedition, masterminded by Wolsey. Victory at Battle of the Spurs 1513, captured Tournai and Terouanne.

  1514 - Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye, cemented English possession of Tournai and Therouanne, gave Henry an annual payment for relinquishing his right to the French Throne.
• Sept 1513 - Battle of Flodden with Scotland. Earl of Surrey led the English, James IV led Scottish. England lost 1,500 men, Scotland lost 10,000, including 9 Earls, Thirteen Barons, 3 Bishops and James IV himself.
• Wolsey's Rise:

  1514 - Appointed Archbishop of York.

  1515 - Appointed Lord Chancellor, made a Cardinal.

  1518 - Made Papal Legate
• Governmental Reforms:

  First Parliament - Jan-Feb 1510 - Abolished Council Learned in Law.

  Wolsey and Parliament - poor relations, Wolsey only called 2 parliaments, 1515 and 1523, to deal with the Hunne case and to demand a subsidy for the war with France.

  Continuity between use of Parliament between H7 and H8, primarily used to raise revenue.

  1519 - Wolsey secured the removal of the minions in the Privy Chamber, replaced them with his own supporters.
• Legal Reforms:

  Summary of goals: To challenge unfair and slow distribution of justice.

  Court of Star Chamber: Increased in importance from H7's time. Wolsey wanted it to be used to dispense cheap, impartial justice. Attempted to root out corruption.

  
  

  Wolsey encouraged the poor to speak out against nobles; number of cases heard annually in Star Chamber rose to around 120.

  Wolsey was 'a friend to the poor, in particular, in helping them with the enclosure of sheep.
• Legal Reforms:

  Court of Chancery: was used to make decisions that created precedent, in order to stream line the judicial process. A permanent judicial committee was established here, as due to other distractions, such as foreign policy, Wolsey beca
• Legal Reforms:

  1518 - Court of requests established - Popular due to low cost and quick decisions.

  Wolsey and Parliament - poor relations, Wolsey only called 2 parliaments, 1515 and 1523, to deal with the Hunne case and to demand a subsidy for the war with France.
• Financial Reforms:

  Act of Resumption 1515 - By beginning of H8's reign, income stood at £25,000 per annum,

  Act restored some of the lands given away by Henry VIII at the start of his reign.
• Financial reform:

  1517 - JP's ordered to buy and resell grain for cheaper, angered the racketeers who had profited largely down to the overcharging of necessary goods such as food.

  1523 Subsidy - National committee to assess taxpayers' wealth, headed by Wolsey himself.

  1523 Parliament - demanded a subsidy of £800,000 for the war with France (1522-25), only around £150,000 was ever collected.
• Financial Reforms:

  Amicable Grant 1525 - Once more demanded funds for war with France. Clergy were expected to pay a tax of 1/3 of their goods, while most other subjects were only expected to pay 1/6. Sparked rebellion in Lavenham, Suffolk, 4,000 strong. Amicable grant was abandoned.
• Financial Reforms:

  Eltham Ordinances 1526 - Financial reforms of the Privy Council organised by Wolsey.

  Reduction in the number of men in the Privy Council, and the removal of Groom of the Stool.

  Could be seen as primarily financial, also seen as Wolsey trying to ensure his political supremacy at a time where he was very unpopular.
• Served the Crown:

  Spent so much time on Star Chamber to bring greater justice to the legal system.natural justice.

  Great aristocrats were brought before the star Chamber and punished: 1515 - Earl of Northumberland sent to Fleet prison,

  Wolsey promoted civil law through Star Chamber. Called cases to Star Chamber when he heard a decision in the Common Law courts had gone against what he considered to be

  Wolsey ensured Star Chamber was accessible to the weak who stood little chance of maintaining their rights against the strong in the common law courts.
• Served Himself:

  Spent so much time on Star Chamber to get revenge on nobles who had treated him with contempt.

  Wolsey overturned common law decisions that adversely affected him.

  Wolsey took revenge on Sir Amyas Paulet who, many years earlier, had Wolsey put in the stocks, by summoning him to appear before him and keeping him waiting in daily attendance for more than 5 years under threat of confiscation of all his property for contempt of court if he left London without permission.
• Fall of Wolsey:

  Based on his inability to grant annulment of H8's marriage to CoA.

  Method 1 - Leviticus 20:21, any man who sleeps with his brother's wife will be childless.

  Failed due to Pope Clement refusing to acknowledge Pope Julius II was wrong. (Papal infallibility).

  Method 2 - Claimed there was a wording error with the translation of the dispensation, therefore it was null. (Clerical error). Failed due to Charles V- he had a translated copy which negated Henry's claims.

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• Fall of Wolsey:

  Method 3 - Attempted to get the case heard at Blackfriars (March 1529), so Wolsey could make the decision. Failed as Court was adjourned to Rome (24rd July 1529).

  Wolsey charged with Praemunire Oct 1529.

  Arrested 4th Nov 1530.

  Died 29th Nov at Leicester Abbey
• Cromwell:

  Royal Council:

  No more than 20 members, change from H7's time.

  Composed of professionally trained lawyers and bureaucrats, as opposed to ruling class nobility.

  Disagreement on when it emerged. Suggested by Wolsey in 1526 as a potential reform, move towards a smaller number of members 1536-37 during the Pilgrimage of Grace.

  Doubtful whether the change was extensive and planned or simply reactionary.
• Cromwell:

  Financial Reforms:

  Four new financial departments established by Cromwell:

  • Court of Augmentations - Controlled the land and finances formerly under the control of the Catholic Church.
  • Court of General Surveyors - Initially handles some of the ex-monastic land, amalgamated with the Court of Augmentations.
  • Court of First Fruits and Tenths - Collected money previously sent to Rome.
  • Court of Wards - Established enforce Henry's feudal rights, to collect money from the inherited estate of a minor aged under 21.

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• Cromwell:

  Role and Importance of Parliament:

  Used extensively to enact the necessary legislation for the reformation.

  Change from Wolsey's time - friction between Wolsey and Parliament led to infrequent use.

  Throughout H8's reign - Parliament in session for 183 weeks. 136 weeks of this were from

  1529-1547, after the fall of Wolsey. Wolsey only called 2 parliaments.
• Cromwell:

  Parliamentary Composition:

  House of Lords - Early 1530's:

  • 51 Peers
  • 21 Bishops
  • 29 Abbots

  By 1534:

  • 55 Peers

  • Number of Bishops slightly increased, due to the founding of four new cathedrais.
  • No abbots after the dissolution of the monasteries.
• Acts of the Reformation:

  1532 - First Act of Annates = Banned payments of Annates to Rome (increases finance for Henry)
• Acts of the Reformation:

  Feb 1533 - Act in Restraint of Appeals = aimed at Catherine, divorce announced.
• Acts of the Reformation:

  Jan 1534 - Second Act of Annates - Abbots and Bishops were to be appointed by the King,

  not the Pope.
• Acts of the reformation:

  March 1534 - Act of the Submission of the Clergy - Appeals in ecclesiastical matters to be handled in the King's court, not the Archbishop's.
• Acts of the Reformation:

  March 1534 - First Act of Succession - H8 and Catherine’s marriage declared invalid, treasonable offense to question the marriage to Anne Boleyn. Confirms Elizabeth as heir presumptive, declares Mary illegitimate.
• Acts of the Reformation:

  Nov 1534 - Act of Supremacy - Henry 'justly and rightfully is... supreme Head of the Church of England'.
• Acts of the Reformation:

  Dec 1534 - Treason Act - Treason now defined in word as well as deed.Dec 1534 - Act for First Fruits and Tenths - Clerical taxes would go to the King, not thePope.
• Acts of the Reformation:

  Feb 1536 - Act for Dissolution of Lesser Monasteries - Monasteries worth under £200 shut down.
• Acts of the Reformation:

  June 1539 - Act of Six Articles:

  Confirmed:

  • Transubstantiation. Severe punishments for those who denied it, burning with no possibility of recantation.
  • Private masses.
  • The hearing of confession by priests.
  • It banned:
  • Marriage of Priests
  • Marriage of anybody who had taken a vow of chastity.
  • The taking of communion in both kinds (bread and wine).
• Acts of the Reformation:

  June 1539 - Act for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries.

  May 1543 - Act for the Advancement of True Religion - Restricted access to the English Bible to upper-class men and noblewomen in private.

  Dec 1545 - Chantries Act - passed though not enforced, allowed for dissolution of Chantries.
• Fall of Cromwell:

  Cromwell orchestrated marriage to Protestant Anne of Cleves (married 6" Jan 1540), Franco-Spanish truce in 1538 led England to seek a Protestant alliance.

  Henry desired Catherine Howard, niece of Duke of Norfolk, Cromwell's biggest rival on the Arrested on charges relating to introducing further Protestant reforms, and failing to enforce the Act of Six Articles.

  Executed 28th July 1540, the day H8 married Catherine Howard.

  Elton - Cromwell supported the 'rule of law'. 1530's - 883 people charged with treason, 329 executed, over 50% as a result of the Pilgrimage of Grace.
• Conservative Faction:

  Accepted break with Rome but opposed doctrinal change.

  Led by Duke of Norfolk and Stephen Gardiner.

  Responsible for:

  • Passing of the Act of Six Articles.
  • Fall of Cromwell.Catherine Howard.Plot against Cranmer (1543).Plot against Catherine Parr (1546).Broke apart after the arrest of Norfolk and his son the Earl of Surrey, Surrey executed 1547.
• Reform Faction:

  • Accepted the break with Rome, seeing it as an opportunity to introduce Protestant doctrines into the Church.
  • Led by Edward Seymour (Earl of Hertford, later Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector), and Archbishop Cranmer.Responsible for:
  • Fall of Catherine Howard.
  • Catherine Parr.
  • Plot against Gardiner (1544).Arrest of Norfolk (1546).Oct 1546 - Sir Anthony Denny made Chief Gentleman of the King's Privy Chamber.Gave access to the dry stamp, reformists used it to alter H8's will, giving increase powers to the Regency Council.
• Early Foreign Policy (1509-1529):

  Henry's Aims:

  Emulate Henry V - 1415 - Henry V wins Battle of Agincourt, winning the north of France. Henry VIII wants to claim French throne and conquer French lands. Wants to make England an international power.
• Early Foreign Policy (1509-1529):

  Wolsey's Aims:

  Maintain balance of power - prevent conflict, Wolsey was in charge of financial matters and wars would be massively expensive.

  Please the Pope - Aim of becoming Pope.

  Place England at the centre of diplomacy.

  Limit power of nobility.
• 1510:

  Conflict of interest between H8 and some of his councillors. Councillors successfully negotiated the renewal of the Treaty of Etaples.

  1511:

  Anglo-Spanish agreement to attack France - Joint plan with Ferdinand to attack France and regain lost lands in Aquitaine.

  1512:

  Start of 1" Anglo-French war - April, Henry sends 12,000 troops under the Marquis of Dorset to Bayonne in Aquitaine. Ferdinand used England as a diversion to attack Navarre. Military disaster in Gascony. Failure for England, no land captured.
• 1513:

  Battle of the Spurs - June, Henry personally leads 30,000 men to Calais. Captures Tournai and Therouanne with little resistance. Therouanne given to Maximillian. Tournai was garrisoned until 1518, expensive to do so. Although two towns were captured, one was given away, the other was too expensive, no financial gain.

  Battle of Flodden - Catherine and Surrey stop Scottish invasion. James IV took advantage of Henry being in France. 9th September, battle fought, England win and James IV was killed. Henry's sister, Margaret, became regent for the child James V.
• 1514:

  Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye (Anglo-French Treaty) - Henry spent £960,000 1511-13 on wars, ordinary income was €110,000 per annum. Financially pressured into making peace.

  1515

  Death of Louis XII of France - 21 year old Francis I succeeded, immediately invaded northern Italy.
• 1516:

  Death of Ferdinand of Aragon - Charles V succeeded 1o the throne of Spain, not yet fully Holy Roman Empire (would inherit in 1519)

  1517:

  Peace of Cambrai -Francis send Scotish caimant. Duke of Albany, to overthrow Scottish regency

  of Margaret. France won decisive victories at Margiano, Italy, shifting balance in ongoing war between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Peace agreement signed by Ferdinand, Maximilian and Francis. England not included, Wolsey s mission England being at the centre of European diplomacy was failing.