the reformation parliament

• MPs and expression of grievances

  • initial criticisms (1515): MPs aired concerns about the seperation of matters for the king's court and the church courts, particularly in the case of Richard Hunne
  • focus on Wolsey (1529): MPs criticized cardinal Wolsey for his perceived arrogance, wealth, pluralism (holding multiple church offices), and fathering a child. They pressured an Act of Attainder against Wolsey
• MPs and expression of grievances

  • church courts: lawyers criticized the church's monopoly over certain cases and sought to bring them under royal jurisdiction
  • common complaints: excess fines for probate, mortuary fees, restrictions on land use, clergy involvement in trade, and pluralism
• Pressures on the Papacy

  • Henry's annulment: Henry sought to pressure the Pope into annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
  • he used two approaches; weakening the church's resistance by using praemunire to charge clergy and financial pressure, and legal control by stripping the pope of authority over the English church
• Submission of the clergy (1531-34)

  • in 1530, 15 churchmen were charged with praemunire. Henry offered to withdraw charges for £100,000 and recognition as supreme head of the church
  • in 1532, the Act of submission of clergy formalized this, requiring royal assent for new canons and placing church laws under royal examination
• Supplication against the Ordinaries

  • a petition from the House of Commons listing grievances against the clergy, such as mortuary fees, Holy Days, and accusations of heresy

  Act to remove the Annates, 1532

  • stopped payments to Rome, impacting the Church's revenue
  • passed with Henry's direct involvement to ensure support
• Legislation leading to the establishment of Royal Supremacy

  Act for the Restraint of Appeals (1533)

  • prevented appeals to Rome, making the king the final legal authority. Aimed to block Catherine of Aragon's appeal and placed ecclesiastical jurisdiction under Henry
• Legislation leading to the establishment of Royal Supremacy

  Acts of 1534:

  First Parliamentary Season-

  • prohibition of annates: confirmed the ban on payments to Rome
  • election of bishops and abbots: granted this right to the king
  • appeals to chancery: affirmed secular courts' supreme legal authority
  • papal dispensation & Peter's pence: placed ecclesiastical power in the king's hands and stopped payments to Rome
  • first act of succession: invalidated Henry's marriage to Catherine, delcared Mary illegitimate, secured succession for Anne's children, and made denying the succession treason
• Legislation leading to the establishment of Royal Supremacy

  Acts of 1534:

  Second Parliamentary Season-

  • act of supremacy: declared Henry supreme head of the church of England, allowing him to collect taxes previously paid to Rome and made calling him a heretic or schismatic treasonous
  • title addition (1535): Henry added 'Supreme Head of the church of England' to his title, solidifying his authority over the Church
• Outcomes

  • Reformation Parliaments' actions led to formal break with Rome and established Royal Supremacy, fundamentally altering the relationship between the English monarchy and the Church