Transcript Henry VIII - sandestrange

The English Reformation
Henry VIII
and the Reformation in England
Who was Henry and why was he
concerned about the throne?
• The Wars of the Roses between the royal houses of York and
Lancaster resulted in much death. At the end, Henry Tudor,
descended from Welch royalty marginally related to English
royalty, defeated the others (Battle of Bosworth Fields) to take the
throne.
Rights of the Crown Against the Pope
• Late medieval England kings defended
British rights vs the papacy
– Edward I (1272-1307) rejected Pope Boniface
VIII unum sanctum bull to prevent secular
taxation of the clergy, denied Catholic access
to court in retaliation.
– Parliament laws in the mid-14th century,
curtailied payments and judicial appeals to
Rome; also papal appointments in England.
– Wycliff, et al: Religious piety, humanism, and
widespread anticlerical sentiment prepared
the way religiously and intellectually for
Protestant ideas in the early 16th century.
Marriage to Catherine of Aragon
• In 1509, the future Henry VIII
married Catherine of Aragon
– daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of
Spain
– the aunt of Emperor Charles V
– originally married to his older brother,
Arthur
• Henry’s father, Henry VII, had betrothed
Catherine to Henry after Arthur’s
untimely death in order to keep the
English alliance with Spain intact.
• They were officially married a few days
before Henry VIII received his crown.
• Because marriage to the wife of one’s
brother was prohibited by both canon
and biblical law (see Leviticus 18:16,
20:21), the marriage had required a
special dispensation from Pope Julius II.
HOWEVER:
• The couple produced no male
heir to the throne and only one
surviving child, a daughter, Mary.
• Henry even came to believe that
his union with Catherine, who
had many miscarriages and
stillbirths, had been cursed by
God, because Catherine had first
been the wife of his brother,
Arthur.
• Henry was justifiably concerned
about consequences of leaving
only a female heir
– People believed it unnatural for
women to rule over men
– A woman ruler might mean a
contested reign, or at worst turmoil
and revolution.
The King’s Affair
• By 1527, Henry was thoroughly
enamored of Anne Boleyn, one of
Catherine’s ladies in waiting.
• He determined to put Catherine
aside and marry Anne.
• He could not in Catholic England,
without papal annulment of the
marriage to Catherine.
• However, the year 1527 was also
the year when soldiers of the
Holy Roman Empire mutinied and
sacked Rome. The Medici Pope
Clement VII was at the time a
prisoner of Charles V, who
happened also to be Catherine’s
nephew.
The Reformation Parliament
•The Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, logically
could not obtain a papal annulment from
Clement.
•Wolsey’s opponents charged that Wolsey
was deliberately postponing the divorce,
so Henry had Wolsey stripped of office; he
died age 60. Henry replaced him with
Thomas More, humanist author of Utopia,
and friend and intellectual mentor to
Henry.
• The English Parliament then declared the
king supreme in English spiritual affairs as
in temporal affairs.
•In 1529, Parliament convened for a
seven-year session now called the
“Reformation Parliament.”
• Parliament passed a flood of legislation
that harassed, reined in the clergy, setting
a legal precedent on religious questions
(settled by both Parliament and the ruler).
Head of the Church of England
• In January 1531, the Convocation (a
legislative assembly representing the
English clergy) publicly recognized
Henry as Head of the Church in
England “as far as the law of Christ
allows.”
• Parliament passed the Submission of
the Clergy, which placed canon
(church) law under royal control and
the clergy under royal jurisdiction.
• In January 1533, Henry wed the
pregnant Anne Boleyn, with Thomas
Cranmer officiating.
• In March 1533. Cranmer became
archbishop of Canterbury and led the
Convocation in invalidating the King’s
marriage to Catherine.
Acts of Succession & Supremacy
• The Act of Succession the next year
made Anne Boleyn’s children legitimate
heirs to the throne, declared his
marriage to Catherine null, and labelled
Mary illegitimate. The Act of
Supremacy declared Henry “the only
supreme head on earth of the Church of
England.”
• When Thomas More refused to
recognize the Act of Succession and the
Act of Supremacy, Henry had him
executed, making clear his
determination to have his way
regardless of the cost.
• He replaced Thomas More as Chancellor
with Thomas Cromwell, a churchman
who supported Henry’s actions.
Henry as head of the church
• In 1538. Parliament dissolved England’s monasteries and convents.
• Henry, as head of the English church, confiscated much church
property (as well as Wolsey’s beautiful residence) and treasure.
• However, Henry remained decidedly conservative in his religious
beliefs. He declared the beliefs in the Six Articles of 1539, which, in
spite of growing Protestant beliefs in England, these articles:
– Reaffirmed Transubstantiation.
– Denied the Eucharistic cup to the laity.
– Declared celibate vows inviolable.
– Provided for private masses.
– Ordered the continuation of confession.
• Despite his many wives and amorous adventures, Henry absolutely
FORBADE THE ENGLISH CLERGY TO MARRY and threatened any clergy
who were caught twice in concubinage with execution
OUTCOME: A CATHOLIC CHURCH
WITHOUT CARDINALS OR POPES
Henry’s multiple wives
#1 Catherine of Aragon
• Offspring: Mary (Mary I)
• This marriage ended with the
declaration of Archbishop
Cranmer and later, Parliament,
granting Henry a “dissolution”
(divorce, sort of) of the
marriage, with the result that
Mary was declared illegitimate
(until Henry decided
succession much later).
#2 Ann Boleyn
• Henry married Ann secretly
BEFORE his first marriage was
dissolved because Ann was
pregnant with who he hoped
would be the son and heir he
hoped for.
• Instead he was blessed with
Elizabeth.
• After Ann suffered several
miscarriages, Henry decided
this marriage, too, was
cursed, had Ann accused of
infidelity with a number of
men (including her brother)
and had her executed.
#3 Jane Seymour
• Daughter of a prominent
noble family, Jane finally
gave Henry the son and
heir he wanted: Edward
• However, she died in
childbirth, ending hope
for more heirs
• Unfortunately, Edward
was never very healthy
and died at 16, 5 years
after Henry.
#4 Ann of Cleves
• Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s
chancellor, took Holbein, the
painter, to Germany to find a
German princess for a politically
advantageous marriage.
• They found Ann of Cleves: Henry
liked the Holbein portrait and was
married to her by proxy.
• When she arrived in England, she
was fat, dirty and crude: Henry
abhorred the marriage and had
Cromwell executed, replaced
with Thomas Cranmer as
Chancellor.
• He dissolved the marriage and
settled Ann with a large mansion
and a larger yearly allowance.
She lead a dissolute but merry life
in England.
#5 Catherine Howard
• Henry next married a very
young daughter of another
noble English family.
• Catherine didn’t really like
the aging, fat king with an
open, pusy sore on his leg.
• She did like other men—lots
of them.
• Henry had her charged with
infidelity and executed.
#6 Catherine Parr
• Catherine Parr, though
still young, was a widow
with money and
estates.
• From all reports she
was gracious and kind
and nursed Henry
through his last years, in
which he suffered very
bad health and temper.
Young King Edward VI
•
When Henry died, his son and successor, Edward VI, was only
ten years old. Under the regencies of the duke of Somerset
and the duke of Northumberland, England fully enacted the
Protestant Reformation.
– During Somerset’s regency, Henry’s Six Articles and laws against
heresy were repealed, allowing clerical marriage and
communion with cup for all worshipers.
– In 1547, the chantries, places where endowed masses had
traditionally been said for the dead, were dissolved.
– In 1549, the Act Of Uniformity imposed Thomas Cranmer’s Book
of Common Prayer on all English churches.
– Images and altars were removed from the churches in 1550.
– A Forty-Two-Article Confession of Faith, also written by Thomas
Cranmer, was adopted, setting forth a moderate Protestant
doctrine.:
• It taught justification by faith alone and the Supremacy of Holy
Scripture.
• It denied transubstantiation (although not real presence)—as
Luther believed.
• It recognized only two sacraments