H8 Religion

• State of church at beginning of H8 reign

  Little sign there would be any fundamental changes
• Break with Rome 


  1532
• Henry became…


  Head of Catholic Church
• Cromwells dissolution began in

  1536
• Removal of land from the church 


  To the crown
• By 1547


  2/3 if acquired monastic land had been sold
• Education 


  Monastic schools were lost
• Monks and nuns


  Unemployed immediately—> some monks became priests and recieved pensions… nuns were less fortunate
• Role of monasteries in community 


  Provided education, employment and business opportunities that were lost when they closed
• The Pilgrimage of Grace 


  1536
• Causes of P of G

  Secular and religious motives. Huge resentment towards the gov for how quickly they changed fundamental religion
• Religious motives: 1. People were upset by the effects of the dissolution of the monasteries

  -Loss of charitable and educational functions

  -Possible loss of parish churches if they were monastic properties

  -Fear the north would be impoverished by land bought by southerners

  -Usefulness of facilities and services the monasteries offered
• Religious motives: 2. Fear for parish churches and traditional religious practices 


  1536 injunctions attacked traditional religious practices

  -Celebration of local saints had to be discouraged

  -Pilgrimages were discouraged

  -Rumours that church plates and jewels which had been bequethed would be confiscated
• Secular motives 1:

  Ordinary rebels generally more motivated by economic grievances
• Secular motives 2:


  Crowns attempt to impose Duke of Suffolk on Lincolnshire as a great magnate might have sparked the initial rebellion
• Secular motives 3:


  Elton argues there was a courtly conspiracy by councillors who had supported C of A and their main motive was to restore Princess Mary as heir. These courtiers exploited the religious and financial concerns of northerners to put pressure on the king as part of political factions of the reign
• Secular motives 4:


  The extension of the rebellion into the west was linked to tenants’ grievances against their landlords
• Renaissance ideas


  Flourished among elite
• John Colet 


  Significant humanist voice in Eng education.
• Colet showed initiative


  Appointed members drawn from a city guild instead of choosing clergy men

  School curriculum included Erasmus and teaching methods derived from humanist principles
• Plato in education


  Wanted to produce “philosopher kings” —> pupils should have the idea of public service instilled in them
• Erasmus 


  Friend of Fisher and More and influenced young generation of humanists
• Schools influenced by


  Humanism
• H8 was a


  Promoter of new ideas and humanism
• The crown needed 


  Well educated diplomats who could counter argue in a fashionable elegant style
• Thomas More


  Most important Eng humanist writer- combined intellectual interest with work as a lawyer and statesman
• Lady Chapel


  Westminster- tomb of his parents and grandmother in renaissance style

  The chapel was a gothic style
• Paintings

  More gothic than renaissance

  Hans Holbein
• Buildings 


  Gothic taste
• Music


  Influence was Flemish

  H and W were amateur musical patrons
• Reform of the Church

  1532-40 Cromwell and Cramner —> withdrew Eng church from jurisdiction of papacy, established king as head, dissolved the monasteries and began to alter church doctrine and practices
• Weaknesses of the church 1: corruption


  Pluralism (receiving profits from more than 1 post)

  Simony (the purchase of church office)

  Non-residence (receiving profits off a post but not being present to perform the duties associated with it)

  W was a corrupt clergyman but not the only one
• Weaknesses of the church 2: anticlericalism

  Opposition to the political and social importance of the clergy

  Some common lawyers objected the influence of canon (church) law and objections to the legal privileges of the clergy
• Eg of clerical misconduct

  The murder of Richard Hunne where they tried to stage it as a suicide
• Weaknesses of the church 3: decline of monasticism


  W dissolved 20 religious houses in

  1520s to fund cardinal college

  Historians suggest monasticism lost its sense of direction and larger monasteries were ran more like businesses
• Religious circle around 


  Edward IV, Elizabeth and Catherine Parr
• Change to churches structure: King becomes head of church

  Significance: confirmed by Act of Supremacy 1534
• Changes: king appoints Cromwell Vicegerent in Spirituals in 1544


  Significance: Cromwell was 2nd only to the king and therefore outranked the arch/bishops. This gave him considerable power over the church. This post died with him
• Changes: 6 new diocees (areas under jurisdiction of bishop) were created, 1 was soon abolished


  Significance: it was an attempt to improve the church’s administration
• Dissolution of the monasteries- 1. The excuse:

  Cromwell set up a survey in 1535 to discover exactly how wealthy the church was