Henry VIII Break with Rome

• Thomas More


  Christian Humanist who was appointed Lord Chancellor in Oct 1529 - loyal to Catherine and the Roman Catholic Church
• The dismissal of Cardinal Wolsey and the appointment of More


  1529
• Anti-clerical Erastian writers


  • Tyndale
  • Fish
  • St Germain
• Thomas More was so openly against the annulment of Henry and Catherine's marriage
• Factions that dominated politics

  • The conservatives - wanted to defend the queen and the church
  • The reformers - wanted radical change in England
  • Henry's aristocrats - nobles who wanted the downfall of Wolsey but had no long term motives
• Initial reasons for the Reformation government

  • to help the downfall of Wolsey
  • to deal with clerical corruption
  • to resolve the Great Matter
• Cranmer wrote a book suggesting Henry has the right to get the divorce without appealing to Rome
• The Conditional Act of Restraint of Annates threatened to withdraw the payments from England to Rome
• The Supplication against the Ordinaries was a list of complaints against the clergy made by Parliament
• The Submission of the Clergy gave Henry the power to veto church laws without approval from Rome
• The decisive moment in the Great Matter was when Anne Boleyn fell pregnant and Henry needed to secure the legitimacy of the heir
• At Dunstable Court in May 1533, Cranmer declares the marriage null and void, whilst the marriage to Anne is valid
• The Act in Restraint of Appeal prevented people in England appealing to the Pope on religious matters
• The Act of Succession in 1534 made Henry's marriage to Anne valid
• The Treason Act made it treasonable to question Royal supremacy and the rights of the king or his wife/heir
• Catherine opposed the Break with Rome as she wanted to fight for the rights of herself as well as the legitimacy of her daughter as heir - she refused to cooperate with the divorce
• Thomas More refused to take the Oath to oppose the Break with Rome
• Henry's second daughter was Elizabeth - born Sept 1533
• Anne Boleyn was executed on 19th May 1536
• Anne Boleyn was charged with Adultery, treason and attempted murder
• The three vows taken by monks

  • Poverty
  • Chastity
  • Obedience
• The total number of monasteries in England in 1509 was 850
• The monasteries held 25% of the land
• The two types of monks

  • ordained
  • unordained
• The Abbot was the Head of a monastery
• Monastic orders


  • Benedictines
  • Carthusians
• Cromwell was in charge of day-to-day control of the church and planned the visitations, which were carried out by his trusted servants Legh and Layton
• The attempt to make record of all church property was called Valor Ecclesiasticus (value of the church) - carried out by unpaid commissioners
• The Comperta was a list of transgressions admitted by monks and nuns
• Causes of the dissolution of the monasteries

  • Henry sought revenge on the Pope for not granting his annulment
  • Low standards and corruption from the clergy
  • the crown income almost doubled after taking the monasteries
• The two Acts of Dissolution were in 1536/39
• Motivations of the Pilgrimage of Grace

  • Food shortages
  • Opposition to taxation or subsidies
  • Religious defence
  • Hatred of Cromwell
• Henry used deceitful tactics, executions and arrests to put down the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion
• The leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace was Robert Aske
• The power of the monarchy changed after the dissolution, gaining wealth and land however made enemies and lost foreign support
• Henry and Jane Seymour were married


  May 1536
• Jane gave birth to Edward, she died weeks later

  11th Oct 1537
• Jane's plan was to restore Mary to the succession and bring Catholicism back into England
• Cromwell learned under Wolsey as a previous figurehead
• Cromwell managed to gain so much power over Henry because he was talented and experienced, and offered Erastian ideas to a desperate and egotistical Henry