R E L I G I O N & R E L I G I O U S C H A N G E I N E N G L A N D ,
C . 1 4 7 0 - 1 5 5 8

• Henry VIII was Supreme Head of the Church.
• But what was he actually ‘Head’ of?
• A ‘Protestant’ Church?
• ‘Catholicism without the Pope’?
• A ‘Henrician’ programme of Christian Humanist reform?
• And WHO was the motor behind all of this?
• Perhaps the most debated issue in English history aside from the Civil Wars.

• ‘Catholicism without the
Pope’:
• broadly non-religious
Reformation more concerned with monarchical power than doctrinal/spiritual ‘reform’.
• Opportunistic Reformation :
• religion a ‘cloak’ justifying naked lust for power.
• ‘Henrician’ programme:
• G. W. Bernard
• Consistent policy dictated by the king.
• Virtuous ‘Middle Way’:
• Henrician propaganda
• Problematic in light of savagery.
• 40 heresy executions 1533-47
• 50 for not renouncing the
Pope (treason)
• A Church in flux between
‘Protestant’ & ‘Catholic’:
• Shift according to which advisor/faction flavour of the month (Elton)
• Broad spectrum of positions reflecting a (continental)
Reformation still in its adolescence (Shagan &
Gunther)

• Bernard – King & King alone (decisive/strong king)
• Ryrie – a ‘Henrician’ way with a legacy into subsequent
Tudor reigns?
• Elton – Thomas Cromwell the ‘brain’ up to 1540
• Reformation as an ‘Act of State’
• Post-1540, Henry VIII pulled between various factions
(weak/indecisive king).
• MacCulloch – Thomas Cranmer intellectual architect/ conciliator Henry VIII/Edward VI.
• Guy – Anne Boleyn’s circle important source of
‘reformist’ thought.

• 1) Ten Articles (1536)
• 2) The Institution of a Christian Man (1537) a.k.a The
Bishops’ Book
• 3) Act of Six Articles (1539)
• 4) A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any
Christian Man (1543) a.k.a. The King’s Book
• Windows into the soul of the Church? Or produced for an ‘outside’ audience?
• International context significant here.

Act of Ten Articles
• Act of Parliament summarising the ‘doctrine’ of the Church as it became independent.
• Legalistic/ short.
• Flirted with evangelical ideas – but how distinguish between ideas/language?
• 3 sacraments
(bapt/Euch/penance); justification by faith ( but not necessarily ‘alone’)
• Bleeds into historiography:
• Rex = orthodox.
• Haigh/Dickens = some Lutheran influence.
Bishops’ Book
• Book-length treatment of doctrine emerging from a conference of Bishops.
• Retreated for the Act of
Ten Articles in many areas.
• Went further in others.
• A ‘confused’ programme?
• Or evidence of the conflicts between the
Bishops in the Church?
• Henry VIII would not accept it.

Act of Six Articles
• Act of Parliament
• More concise – statement of 6 points of Catholic doctrine (focussing on the
Mass).
• Denial of these = heresy.
• Not a complete overview of doctrine:
• Written with an eye on international diplomacy.
TRIGGERS CONSIDERABLE
RUPTURES BETWEEN
‘EVANGELICALS’ &
‘CONSERVATIVES’
RIGOROUS ENFORCEMENT
IN LONDON BY BISHOP
BONNER.
King’s Book
• Revised version of The
Bishops’ Book.
• Authorised by HVIII and
Parliament
• More consistent – closer to traditional Catholic
Christianity than Bishops’
Book
• Evidence of a
‘conservative’ reaction against the evangelism of
Henry in the 1530s?
• Not a window into the soul of HVIII or his Church
• Product of a political moment (HVIII trying to impress his orthodoxy on
Charles V).

• One sharp difference in particular – the Royal Supremacy:
• Any different from de facto powers of medieval kings?
• No mere figurehead
• Henry saw this position as a calling from God and took that responsibility seriously:
• Lay officials like bishops: visiting parishes, ensuring that the pope’s name was scratched out of service books
• Henry thorough & knowledgeable
• Key: once Royal Supremacy sanctioned, the will of the king essentially given free reign (Thomas More had recognised
this):
• Hard to resist Henry’s will.
• Hard to change to remit of the Church.

Catholic theology
• 1) Justification:
• Ten Articles somewhat ambiguous on
Justification
• But King’s Book clear on Justification through faith and works (orthodox
Catholic position).
• HVIII loathed Faith Alone – an invitation to sin without punishment
(typical Catholic criticism of Luther)
• Tied into views re: Order.
• Religion should instil ‘proper’ behaviour.
• JBFA not concerned with actions to a great enough extent.
• 2) The Mass:
• Extensive personal devotion too.
• Act of Six Articles.
• 3) Sacraments:
• One exception: ordination.
• Tried to raise status of matrimony to
1 st order of sacraments.
• Vitriolic in condemnation of
Anabaptists (because rejected the
Mass & Baptism).
Moves away from late-medieval Catholicism:
• 1) Rejection of clerical power:
• Understood as an affront to his own.
• 2) Muted form of purgatory:
• Ten Articles: doubts about the validity of prayers for the dead.
• King’s Book (conservative) ambiguous on (curtails ‘acceptable’ prayers).
• Challenge to LMC (‘a cult of the
living in the service of the dead’).
• 3) Curtail the use of imagery/aspects of traditional religious culture:
• Ten Articles expressed doubts re: shrines/images.
• Not necessarily ‘Protestant’.
• If a ‘Christian Humanist’ turn, no less violent than a Protestant one.

• Distinction in Henry’s Reformation:
• Theory (theology = conservative)
• Action (cleansing of idolatry = radical)
• Visibility of action against the FABRIC of late medieval Catholicism crucial in grasping HOW
Henry’s Reformation experienced by contemporaries.
• Made evangelicals sure Henry VIII with them (during
1530s).

• Scriptural foundation:
• ‘Supreme Head’ an emulation of the Old Testament kings
• As well as having secular AND religious authority, these kings had inveighed against idolatry
• Serving God by protecting ‘true’ religion and guiding their people through adherence to the Word rather than material aspects of religion.
• Henry’s policies of allowing access to Scripture and removing images must be understood in this light.
• Books of Samuel/ Kings/ Chronicles
• Model of Old Testament kingship based on:
• David (psalms, post/musician [think Renaissance monarch])
• Solomon (wise)
• Hezekiah (reformer who led corrupted kingdom back to true faith)
• ALL MEASURED BY THEIR BREAKING OF IDOLS

• Not a blanket ‘ban’ on images (like Swiss Reformation):
• ‘Abused’ images (subject to excessive devotion)
• Many holy days removed from the calendar
• Thomas Becket particularly targeted:
• Murdered on Henry II’s orders 1170
• Martyr for Church’s independence – suddenly out of favour with the priorities of the Royal Supremacy.
• Some of largest shrines in late medieval England destroyed:
• Canterbury
• Propaganda coup for the Henrician regime:
• Supremacy unpopular: seemed novel/heretical.
• Public displays of ‘fraudulent’ images shore up acceptance that Henry ‘saving’ England from ‘popish’ idolatry.
• Rood of Boxley
• Blood of Hailes.

BATTLING
IDOLATRY 2)
‘PROTESTANT’?
How did this invective against
‘idols’ sit with a
Church so redolent in its celebration of the Mass and defence of transubstantiation?
• Not ‘Lutheran’ – emphasis on the
‘Law’ (Old Testament) alien to
Luther’s theology.
• ‘Reformed’?
• Ryrie – HVIII closer to Calvin in deeming relics/ images blasphemous
• (I disagree – Calvin based this on a conception of God’s majesty which Henry not share).
• Much of the language of this action against idolatry indebted to
Christian Humanism/evangelism:
• Erasmus/Christian Humanists revived old debates within the
Church about excessive materiality – need to encounter
Christ in the spirit.
• Provided a ready-made set of justifications: ‘supersition’,
‘idolatry’ etc.
• Could be seen as a toolkit to help
Henry aggrandize his wealth and power when we look at the dissolution of the monasteries.

• Coverdale Bible & the Great Bible
• 1538-1541 every parish in England expected to purchase
• Obvious points of contact with ‘Protestantism’. BUT……
• Henry believed that anyone who read the Bible bound to discover the ‘Royal Supremacy’ in it (conviction in his divine remit).
• Richard Rex – ‘Royal Supremacy’ key to Henry’s releasing the
‘Word’.
• All about OBEDIENCE – points of contact with evangelism and
Christian Humanism overplayed.
• Surprised and upset when subjects found differences in the text/ began to debate/discuss scripture.
• 1543 – Act for the Advancement of True Religion
• Banned Bible-reading for lower social orders
• Evangelicals wounded; evidence of a conservative reaction
• Certainly ended the king’s flirtation with evangelism.

• Previous lecture – resistance significant but unfocussed at a national level.
• Here: centre of Court/ Church.
• Cardinal Reginald Pole (Henry’s cousin):
• De unitate ecclesia (1536) denounced RS; pronounced himself a
Christian first and English subject second
• Propaganda coup for Pope Paul III
• Other conservatives worked within the Church:
• Cuthbert Tunstall; Stephen Gardiner (accept Supremacy as a way of capping further moves).
• Debate and block evangelical moves
• 1530-36 (ostracised); 1538 a ‘reaction’ begins:
• Why? Pilgrimage of Grace (1536); increasing threat of a Franco-
German alliance – Henry need to display ‘Catholic’ credentials.
• Some success:
• Important in authorship of the King’s Book.

• 1540 – fall of Cromwell; cap on evangelical influence.
• Was Henry now in the hands of various ‘factions’ who had his ear?
• Certainly any moves towards a nascent ‘Protestant’
Church curbed.
• But, was the ‘conservative reaction’ really that successful?
• Monasteries/shrines not restored
• Bible not removed completely.
• Confession retained as a sacrament (Catholic), but downplayed in importance in the 6 Articles.
• Purgatory assaulted.
• Cranmer remained Archbishop of Canterbury, despite attempts to oust him in 1543 (Prebendaries’ Plot) – Henry took Cranmer’s side.
• Perhaps the ‘conservative turn’ was a perception of persecution by evangelicals

• Regime keen to use re: propaganda; arguments for divorce
L1520s/E1530s
• Only really Thomas More/ John Fisher opposing them as Reformation begins.
• Very active as preachers for the Royal Supremacy:
• E.g. Hugh Latimer
• Thomas Cromwell most prominent champion/patron:
• 1530s – time of hope:
• Pope expelled; dissolution; rhetoric of ‘word’ vs ‘idolatry’; Cranmer AB of
Canterbury; close enough to push the religious envelope.
• Close of reign – felt ‘betrayed’:
• Act of Six Articles (1539) – clear no more progress to be made.
• Wealth of monasteries not used in a ‘humanist’ way (help
Church/education).
• Restrictions on access to the ‘Word’/ evangelical printing.
• Fall of Cromwell (1540).
• Many went into exile during 1540s (crucial for the Church of Edward).
• Small, but significant:
• WHERE they were crucial – court, Church government, universities.
• Well placed to influence Edward’s regime.
• Martyrdom actually an edifying process – nature of ‘True Church’.

• 1534, HVIII had created a unique ecclesiastical system in Europe in RS:
• Is it surprising that his Church would also be unique;
• Bear the hallmarks of its head;
• And not sit easily within the labels of European
Protestantism/Catholicism?
• Sparked two contradictory problems:
• Henry needed to crush opposition within the realm;
• But not upset Catholic Europe.
• Danger of remembering the future:
• Edward VI/ Elizabeth I ‘fuller’ Reformations.
• Why does it have to be unified?
• Are the Churches on the continent much more consistent in
1547?