Lecture 6: Henry VIII--The Reformation and his Love Life
I. Introductory Comments—last time we examined the ways in which Henry VII secured
power and established the Tudor Dynasty. His reign lasted from 1485-1509, and while
there were several rebellions he had to contend with, he managed to stave off his rivals
and secure his throne. He reinstituted decrepit legal systems and worked to protect the
interests of the "common citizen." At his death, his second son, Henry, assumed the
throne and presided over a realm that was wealthier than his father obtained—the king's
money would only increase in Henry VIII's reign because of the ways in which he
obtained land from various sources and pocketed the wealth. Today we are going to
begin our discussion of England of Henry VIII by examining his personal life. This is the
area that gets attention and it is important that we cover it, because in some cases it was
central not only to his domestic rule (the notion of succession) but also to his foreign
policy (with Rome and Spain among others).
II. The England Henry inherited (1491-1547; 1509-1547)
A. Medieval Institutions—I mentioned last time that England was growing out of
the medieval institutions governing it at the time of Henry VII's succession to the
throne. But this does not mean that they were abandoned. The kings did not
give up ancient feudal obligations or ideas about the ways in which landed wealth
was dispensed through the vehicle of the Monarch.
B. Parliamentary Authority—Parliament was one institution that had matured over
the century. I talked about its development a week or so ago, and mentioned
that during this period, the two Houses (Commons and Lords) attracted more
influence. Since the time of the Magna Carta, Parliament constructed itself as an
institution that enabled king's to govern with their consent. They provided kings
not only consent, but counsel—that is, they served as the King's advisors over all
sorts of political and economic issues. During the Tudor period, they almost
always met over political issues.
C. Roman Catholic Estates—Since England, like all of Western Europe, was a
Roman Catholic Country, much of the arable land in the country belonged to the
Church outright. That meant that funds obtained from that land went not to the
State, but to the Pope.
III. The Protestant Reformation on the continent and at home
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A. Heresy and the rise of the print culture—heresy against the RCC was nothing
new in the sixteenth century. Heretical movements had been around as long as
the institutionalization of Christianity as the official Church of the Roman Empire
in the 4th century. And heresy was duly punished. (heresy: a religious or
doctrinal belief contrary to those of an established body or authority). In the late
middle ages and during the Renaissance, heresies proliferated. This led to the
Inquisition and concern over preserving the sanctity of RCC. Until the advent
and spread of the print culture—which is based on the rise of the printing press
throughout Europe in the late 15th century, heresy was fairly easily stifled. Yes,
uprising could occur, and heretical movement flourish, but they were fairly selfcontained. This changes in the fifteenth century. Until the sixteenth century,
Europe was a Roman Catholic continent. Their central religious leader was the
Pope who exercised tremendous political control in the lives of all Europeans.
However, the Papacy underwent numerous political upheavals itself during the
middle ages, and as a result, it lost some of its power to control the European
population, especially the heads of state, who were technically subordinate to the
authority of the Pope. Monarchies were promoting a new nationalism and were
no longer looking to the Pope and his archbishops for guidance. Moreover, the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries witnessed the return to a historical frame of
mind. Ancient texts were rediscovered, political writings were read, literacy
improved, and great scientific and artistic minds (Galileo, da Vinci) worked to
increase the spread of knowledge throughout Europe. The classics underwent a
"rebirth"—a renaissance. This is where we get the roots of the Protestant
Reformation, which is central to understanding our story for today.
B. Martin Luther, the "Father" of the Reformation. It is often said that ML is really
the father of the Reformation. But, as I've alluded to, he wasn't the first person to
go against the dictates of the Church. He just wasn't burned at the stake for his
ideas. He was a "middling" man, the son of a "mine leaser." He originally
proposed to study law, changed his mind and went into religion. Most of his life
is centered around Wittenberg. 1513, he reached a religious epiphany. He
realized (he was a Catholic Monk). His epiphany was that God's mercy was
important but was accomplished through faith. The idea emerged of being born
again, or "saved." And you are saved through faith. The term is JUSTIFICATION
BY FAITH. In order to good works, you have to have faith, not vice versa. Major
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criticisms of the RCC. Developed a new faith: priesthood of all believers, priests
became pastors/ministers, monasticism was abolished. This begins in 1517 with
the 95 Theses. In 1519, he was forced into open disagreement with the Church,
and by 1521 he was excommunicated. Once he realized his position was in
trouble, Luther wrote an "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation" arguing
against the RCC. The support of the princes was crucial to his success. He
made economic arguments—people were sick of paying dues to Rome, their
money was leaving their turf to go somewhere else to pay for St. Peters' Basilica
in Rome, which was authorized by Pope Leo X (1513-1521). Despite its original
religious goal, Lutheranism became a political movement as well.
C. John Calvin & the Calvinist Tradition (Huguenots, Presbyterians, Puritans)—
(1509-1564) in Geneva Switzerland. He wrote the "Institutes of Christian
Religion" in 1535. He believed that all men were sinners by nature and that
humans had a PREDESTINED existence. What that means is that some are
going to be saved and others are not and there's nothing you can do to change
that. If nothing matters, how is society kept in check? Upright conduct is a good,
but not necessarily 100% accurate sign that you are "chosen." You never quite
know whether you're lucky or not. You can't just sit tight that your fate has been
sealed—he believed in ACTIVE faith.
IV. Henry VIII--Practical Protestant, not practically protestant
A. His "great matter"--maintaining the Tudor line. Henry and his advisors (first
Cardinal Wolsey1 and then Thomas Cromwell) were very edgy about preserving
the newly fused blood line. He was clearly a leader, but, he was concerned, we
are told, with preserving succession. That is, he wanted a MALE heir. Why
should it matter? In the context of the time, a female monarch was considered to
be too weak to preserve the fragile peace brought on with Henry VII's new
Dynasty. A female monarch would leave the door wide open for a renewal of the
civil wars. This assumption was grounded in nothing more concrete than the
1
Wolsey was the son of an Ipswich butcher. He rose through the ranks of the priesthood and
became Archbishop of York in 1514 [Canterbury was other archbishopric], Lord Chancellor and
Cardinal Legate to England in 1515. He became "Papal Legate for Life in 1524. Lord Chancellor
was a secular position that heard the various court cases, etc. through both Star Chamber and
Chancery. See Smith, also James Williamson. Wolsey eventually came under fire by Henry and
died before prosecution. Cromwell, a writer of many of the legal edicts during the Reformation,
was actually executed by Henry.
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gendered politics of the period. Women's perceived roles as constructed in
Tudor society, were too frail and too private to maintain social stability.
B. the problem with Catherine, and lack of knowledge re: biology. This gets to
the problem that began the Reformation in England. Henry married the Spanish
Catherine of Aragon in 1509. She had previously been married to his Brother
Arthur in 1501, but Arthur died in 1502. Henry VII had kept her in England to
maintain the alliance with Spain. By the early 1520s, it seemed clear that there
would be no male heir with Catherine. The marriage resulted in Mary (1516)
after five other children. This wasn't good enough for Henry because he needed
a male heir in his mind. As he wanted a LEGITIMATE male heir, he looked
beyond Catherine and began to look for a new wife.
C. Fraternizing on the side, legitimizing activities—Henry has been described in
numerous accounts as a man of insatiable appetite in whatever he did. Thus, his
bulky persona, his excessive hunting expeditions, his desire for women. His lust
for women fueled the Protestant Reformation in England. But that's not really
true. More recently, Henry has been described as rather "conservative" in his
fraternization with other women—hey, he had only one illegitimate child, the
Duke of Richmond (who died in 1536)—so he wasn't so bad, is the general tenor
of these newer reflections.
What we do know is that Henry VIII took a shining to Anne Boleyn, one of the
mistresses of Court. She staved off his advances for awhile, especially with the
king promising a forthcoming annulment. Catherine also refused to give up her
claim to the throne. She believed that she legitimately married Henry, that the
Papal Dispensation authorizing her to marry him after she had married his
brother was valid and that Mary was a legitimate heir. While she was well liked
by the English population, he arguments fell on deaf ear politically. She was not
going to win the battle here. Henry was an inherently practical man, and worked
along the sides to obtain an annulment, and barring that a divorce. While Wolsey
was in power, this was difficult to do. Wolsey's first priority was to the Pope—as
Church doctrine and law asserted.2 Henry couldn't have that because it meant
Precedent for getting rid of Wolsey lay in the Præmunire a writ from
1392 which purported the following: "whoever should introduce papal
bulls or other instruments into the realm, and by their means exercise
authority which pertained to the King, should be subject to perpetual
imprisonment and forfeiture of goods" (Williams 117)
2
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Henry VIII, page 5
that his most influential advisor would be working against his wishes. As head of
state, he should be on top and answerable to no one.
D. Appeals to Parliament
1. can Henry do this alone? Does he have enough "kingly authority"?
2. The "national" precedent with Luther—What we see with the example
of Luther is the way in which Politics and Religion held hands during this
period. While Luther's quest began as a religious reform and became
increasingly political, Henry's quest was a political—practical—matter that
took on religious significance. Henry himself never liked "true"
Protestants and believed that they were overzealous, and the Church of
England's foundations reflected the fairly conservative view of the
POLITICAL shift of religious power. It is clear that Henry worked to get
ecclesiastical leaders on his side. That's all I'm going to say about that.
But with regards to approving his separation from Catherine, Henry had to
literally work the constituency. He appealed to the Citizens of London—a
very select group who obtained their freedom through business. He had
Parliament working on an Act of Appeals which essentially made the King
the head of the church, or as it has been described: "'the body politic' of
the temporal and spiritual people in England was entirely subject to the
King, that the English Church was competent to determine its own
ordinances, that appeals to Rome caused damage, danger and delay,
and the all spiritual cases should henceforth be decided within the King's
jurisdiction and nowhere else. This does not mean that Henry decided
this and made them agree. This is why Parliament is so important.
Henry relied on them—they happened to agree with Henry that the power
of the Clerics in England was far too great. This was as early as 1529.
3. Catholicism as foreign power (intro comments, more next time)—One
of the ways in which Henry succeeded was by declaring the Church a
foreign power.
V. Concluding Comments
Today I covered the Reformation and the way it ground Henry's love interests in religious
matters—another way of saying this is that politics and religion went hand in hand during
the early part of the sixteenth century. When we reconvene, we'll talk in more detail
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Henry VIII, page 6
about the role of the Church and the cases made against the clerics, both of which result
in the dissolution of the monasteries.
Henry's Wives, dates of marriage and death
Wife 1--Catherine of Aragon, 1509 - 1533 [divorce] (died a natural death 1536 in
England)
Wife 2--Anne Boleyn, 1533-1536 (executed for adulterous behavior)
Wife 3--Jane Seymour, 1536-1537 (died 2 weeks after birth of son, Edward;
buried with Henry)
Wife 4--Anne of Cleves, 1540 (divorced after 6 months, lived in the countryside
as the "King's Sister")
Wife 5-- Katherine Howard, 1540-1542 (executed for adulterous behavior)
Wife 6--Katherine Parr, 1543 (Henry dies in 1547, she dies 1548)