EARLY MODERN HISTORY (ROUTE B) HISTORY INITIAL ASSESSMENT:
ENGLAND, 1509-1603: AUTHORITY, NATION AND RELIGION
You need to complete these tasks before your first History lesson. This is in order to
understand the new vocabulary that you will encounter and to give you an overview of
the course.
Henry VIII (King from 1509 -1547)
After the death of his elder brother Arthur in 1502, Henry VIII became heir to the English throne.
Seven years later his father Henry VII died and he was crowned king of England. Shortly afterwards
he married Catherine of Aragon, Arthur's widow. Henry increasingly relied on Thomas Wolsey to rule
for him and Wolsey became Lord Chancellor in 1515. Wolsey's ascendancy was cut short by Henry's
need for a male heir. He was determined to replace Catherine - whose only surviving child was a
daughter, Mary, but the pope refused to grant the divorce.
In 1533, Henry went ahead anyway and married Anne Boleyn, with whom he had a daughter,
Elizabeth. The pope excommunicated him (expelled him from the Catholic Church) and
parliamentary legislation (the passing of laws) confirmed Henry's decision to break with Rome. With
the help of Wolsey's replacement, Thomas Cromwell, Henry established himself as head of the
Church of England and ordered the dissolution (closing down) of the monasteries. Other reforms including the uniting of England and Wales and the creation of the Council of the North - were also
instigated during the 1530s.
Henry's personal religious beliefs remained Catholic (supporting traditional religion, such as the
bible in Latin), despite the growing number of people at court and in the nation who had adopted
Protestantism (rejecting the Pope and traditional religion). In an attempt to establish a Protestant
alliance with German princes, Cromwell arranged a marriage between the king and Anne of Cleves.
Henry divorced her a few months later and turned on Cromwell, who was executed. The final years
of his reign witnessed his physical decline and an increasing desperation to appear all-powerful. In
1540, he married Catherine Howard but she was executed for adultery and treason within two years.
A final marriage to Catherine Parr was more harmonious.
Edward I (King from 1547-1553)
Edward was the only legitimate son of Henry VIII. Edward was given a rigorous education and was
intellectually precocious (talented and clever), although his health was never strong. His father had
arranged that a council of regency should rule on his behalf, but Edward's uncle, Edward Seymour,
Duke of Somerset, took power and established himself as protector (ruler until Edward becomes 18).
Somerset and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, were intent on making England a
truly Protestant state, supported by the young king. An English Prayer Book was issued in 1549 with
an Act of Uniformity to enforce it.
In the summer of 1549, peasants in the West Country revolted in protest against the Prayer Book.
Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk was focused on economic and social injustices. The Norfolk rebellion was
suppressed by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick. Dudley exploited his success by bringing about the
downfall of Somerset, who was arrested and later executed. Protestant reform was stepped up - the
new Prayer Book of 1552 was avowedly Protestant.
It soon became clear that Edward was suffering from tuberculosis and would not live long.
Northumberland was determined that his religious reforms should not be undone, so he persuaded
Edward to approve a new order of succession. This declared Mary (Henry VIII’s eldest daughter)
illegitimate and passed the throne to Northumberland's daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, who was a
more distant descendant of Henry VIII. However, Jane was only queen for a few days until, with
overwhelming popular support, Mary took the throne.
Mary I (Queen from 1553-1558)
On Edward's death in 1553, Mary had widespread popular support and within days made a
triumphal entry into London. Once queen, she was determined to re-impose Catholicism and marry
Philip II of Spain. Neither policy was popular. Philip was Spanish and therefore distrusted, and many
in England now had a vested interest in the prosperity of the Protestant church, having received
church lands and money after Henry dissolved (closed down) the monasteries. Childless, sick and
deserted by Philip, Mary died on 17 November 1558. Her hopes for a Catholic England died with her.
Elizabeth I (Queen from 1558-1603)
Elizabeth’s first priority on becoming Queen was to return England to the Protestant faith. Elizabeth
helped create a Church of England that, although Protestant, allowed some of the old Catholic
traditions to continue. Elizabeth chose an able (clever) set of administrators to aid her during her
rule, including William Cecil, Lord Burghley as her Secretary of State and Sir Francis Walsingham, in
charge of intelligence.
However, trouble was never far away. In 1568 Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots - a Catholic
with a strong claim to the English throne - sought exile in England. Many Catholic plots centred on
putting Mary on the English throne. Mary was tried for treason and executed in 1587. The following
year Philip II of Spain launched a great fleet of ships, known as the Spanish Armada, to try and
overthrow Elizabeth and restore Catholicism. Partly aided by bad weather, the English Navy
defeated the Spanish Armada, with the help of Sir Francis Drake.
Despite pressure from her advisers, particularly Lord Burghley, Elizabeth always refused to marry
and provide an heir. She asserted her independence until the end of her life. She insisted that she
was ‘married’ to her country. Elizabeth died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603, and was
succeeded by the Protestant James VI of Scotland, the son of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots.
Activities
1. Read through the overviews of each of the monarchs (rulers) of England
2. Highlight any words that you do not know the meaning of. Write them down; look up the meaning and then
add them to a glossary (you may want to purchase a small exercise book to log these words).
3. Make (brief) notes (2-3 sentences maximum) on a) how powerful and b) how popular each monarch was
using specific evidence. For example, Henry VIII was considered powerful because he disobeyed the Pope (the
ruler of the Catholic Church) by divorcing Catherine of Aragon and marrying Anne Boleyn in 1533.
4. Make (brief) notes on the religious situation under the rule of each monarch. For example, Henry VIII
established the Protestant Church of England but he remained a Catholic.
5. How far was England a Catholic country by 1547?
Write at least two paragraphs (5-10 sentences) on both sides of the argument.
For example, On the one hand, England was to a large extent a Protestant Country since Henry VIII turned
away from the pope, though some catholic elements remained. For example...