Religious changes

• Henry the Seventh's reign saw changes and developments in intellectual and religious ideas
• The dominant force in religion in England at this time was the Catholic Church
• Size and power of the Catholic Church in England

  • 35,000 ordained clergy
  • 10,000 monks and nuns
  • 8 fails and parish churches
• Provinces of the English Church

  Canterbury (south) and York
• Church hierarchy


  • Pope
  • Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Archbishop of York
  • 17 bishops
  • Abbots of leading monasteries
• Bishops held high offices in Henry's government
• Bishops tended to come from the aristocracy
• Henry tended to promote administrators rather than theologians as bishops
• Priests were accountable to the bishops above them
• Papal authority


  The Pope held high authority and his blessing was needed for key decisions
• Church-state relationship


  The state controlled the church, but the Pope had influence over key matters
• Purgatory


  A holding place between earth and heaven where souls go to gain grace before entering heaven
• Catholic sacraments


  • Baptism
  • Confirmation
  • Marriage
  • Anointing of the sick
  • Penance/confession
  • Holy orders
  • Eucharist
• Transubstantiation


  The belief that the bread and wine in the Eucharist become the actual body and blood of Christ
• Ways to reduce time in purgatory

  • Pilgrimage
  • Praying for the dead
  • Indulgences (paying the church)
• There was limited opposition to the Catholic Church at this time
• Lollardy


  A precursor to Protestantism that wanted the Bible in English and criticised church corruption
• The vast majority of people were Catholic and accepted the church's practices
• Renaissance humanism


  A new intellectual movement that emphasised human knowledge, education, and the study of classical ideas
• Humanist ideas influenced the education of the Tudor monarchs
• Erasmus


  A Dutch humanist scholar who visited and influenced England, criticising corruption in the church
• The printing press was introduced to England in 1476 and encouraged the spread of new ideas, including humanism
• The printing press led to a growth in literacy and the spread of knowledge about the wider world