Henry VIII

• Humanism and Education

  • secular education
  • Erasmus visited 4x
  • influenced younger humanists
  • Edward and Elizabeth had humanist tutors
  • influences = Henry, Thomas More, culture, schools etc
• Pre-reformation Church

  • corruption = William Melton criticised clergy for lack of training; Wolsey guilty of pluralism and absenteeism
  • sacraments = high attendance at mass
  • anticlericalism = Hunne's Case 1515 (accused of lollard heresy); issues of pluralism, absenteeism and simony
  • churches = money left in wills and churches rebuilt in the 15th century
  • protestantism = Luther's 95 thesis 1517 = ideas spread to England
• doctrinal changes in the church

  • 10 articles 1536 = 3 sacraments
  • bishop's book 1537 = 4 sacraments at a low status
  • 6 articles 1539 = reasserted catholic doctrine
  • king's book 1543 = written by Henry; defended transubstantiation
• practice changes in the church

  • 1st injunctions 1536 = no pilgrimages and restricted number of holy days
  • 2nd injunctions 1538 = no relics and english bible in every parish church within 2 years
  • great bible 1539 = henry on the front cover of the bible
  • act of advancements of true religion 1543 = no access of english bible to upperclass privately
• Break from Rome

  • act in restraint of appeals 1533 = only king had power over the church
  • act of supremacy = henry as head of the church of england
  • act of succession 1534 = mary illegitimate
  • treason act = words or actions against the king could result in punishment
• changes in structure of the church

  • cardinals removed
  • 6 new diocese created
• dissolution of the monasteries

  • act of dissolution 1536 = small dissolved under £200
  • act of dissolution 1539 = bigger dissolved - due to PoG
  • 1540 = 563 houses dissolved and 8000 monks pensioned off
  • chantries = souls of the dead were prayed for = 18 dissolved 1540-1543 ; 10 dissolved 1544 and 27 in 1545
• reasons for the dissolution

  • papal loyalty = monks
  • corruption
  • noble's loyalty to henry
  • finance - taxation caused rebellion
  • outdated - Poor Law 1535 helped villages
• impact of the dissolution

  • monks and friars unemployed
  • 2000 nuns were allowed to marry nor to become priests
  • monasteries offered help to the poor
• Elizabeth Barton - Nun of Kent

  • saw visions of Henry dying after marrying Anne Boleyn
  • 1530 - Bocking developed her visions into a wider campaign
  • 1533 - confessed the false visions
  • 1534 - elizabeth and bocking were executed
• Thomas More

  • opposed marriage to Anne Boleyn
  • refused to swear oath of loyalty - Act of Succession
  • send to the tower
  • allegedly didn't accept Henry as the head
  • executed
• Aragonese faction

  • followed catherine of aragon
  • led by courteney and including darcey and hussey
  • darcy and hussey joined the pilgrimage of grace
  • courteney executed in 1539 as he was linked to his cousin Reginald Pole who had a claim to the throne
• Monastic resistance

  • 1522-23 = carthusian monks rejected divorce
  • 1534 = resisted government pressure to declare authority against the pope
  • after treason act = forced to submit - 18 executed
• Conservative and Reform faction

  • conservative = accepted break from rome but opposed doctrine
  • reform = accepted break from rome and saw opportunities for more changes