King Henry VIII and the English Reformation Movement - Research Paper Example

How Six marriages of King Henry VIII created the Church of England and culminated the Break with Rome History is full of instances where people became famous due to the salient obstacles they crossed and hardships they endured for the betterment of people and welfare of society. However, there are also examples present where rulers gave preference to their own well being, prosperity, desires and feelings over the rectification of society. Englands Tudor era ruler King Henry VIII can be counted in the second category since he altered the whole pattern of history, made amendments to the country’s ages old religious system and upheld his welfare and emotional/social prestige over the public. King Henry VIII is famous for not just marrying six women, or beheading his two wives; he is also remembered for being the person who changed the outlook of religion in England and as the “architect of English Reformation."1 During his era, as an after-effect of his immoral deed to seek a divorce (as per the norms of that time) the church was separated from Rome and a new set of rules was created. His marriages had a significant, strong and somewhat abysmal relation to the creation of Church of England and separation from the Pope of Rome. This paper is an attempt to unveil that salient intertwined connectedness that the marriages of King Henry VIII shared with the altering of sacredly followed marital laws, dividing the loyalties of English people, and separation of the Church of England from Rome. Importance of Pope of Rome and the Church of England in Tudor era: In the sixteenth century, under the reign of the Tudor dynasty kings Henry VII and later his son Henry VIII, people all over England agreeably followed the religious doctrine of Christianity and Roman Catholic was as the preferred devout orientation1. Papacy, during that era, had considerable authority as compared to the crown in religious matters and on the Churches in England. The Pope of Rome “Clement VII” and later “Pope Leo X” during Henry VIII’s reign were highly respected figures and unarguably, the head of national churches throughout the country. England had remained a Catholic nation, and people accepted the laws and rules made by the Church without any hesitation. In Tudor era, people were not only very religious, but under heavy influence of the decisions of the Pope of Rome. There were rigid rules set-out by the church regarding every aspect of life most specifically marriage and domesticity, and people learned to abide by it unquestionably. The status of Pope was no less than a king as far as religious matters were concerned, and in certain matters, his words were considered the final verdict. Even the Tudors could not force the church for altering the beliefs or preferring their desires over religious principles. England after a lot of struggle had achieved equilibrium between the powers of papacy and the crown; however, in King Henry VIII era, excessive control was exercised by the Roman Pope2. Romes influence over English religious outlook was so strong that the Bible was only printed and published in Latin instead of English. Six marriages of King Henry VIII and the initiation of conflicts with Pope: Henry VIII (1491-1547) was the second monarch of Tudor Dynasty and succeeded England’s throne on 21 April, 1509, after the death of his brother Arthur in 1502 and the passing away of his father the reigning king of England Henry VII3. It is a fact that Henry VIII strongly believed in the supremacy of Pope of Rome, and never acted against the wishes of the pope. Although there were Protestant revolutionary groups sprouting all over the country under the influence of Martin Luther, the German Reformer, against the unbounded powers that the Pope possessed, but initially, King Henry VIII always ruled in favor of the church. It was due to his loyalty towards Catholicism and the various actions that he took against Protestantism, for example, the book he wrote to criticize Martin Luther, the pope granted him the title of “Defender of Faith” in 15214. He was at first a very intellectual, sensible, and honest ruler but eventually gave in to his desires and to achieve political or domestic pleasures; he led the way for Reformist revolution to gain momentum. This was done through the different conflicts that arose regarding his marriages and obsession for an heir. Henry’s six marriages played a significant role in determining the religious and political orientation of English People. Henry first married Princess Catherine of Aragon in 1509, then Anne Boleyn in 1533, after her, it was Jane Seymour’s turn in 1536, and afterwards came the fourth wife German Protestant Anne of Cleves in 1540. Only after few months, he married Boleyn’s cousin Catherine Howard, and finally, married the more mature Catherine Parr in 1543. His conflicts with the Pope started from his very first marriage because Catherine of Aragon was his brother’s widow. The King learned about a passage in Bible that condemned such a union. The passage declared that marrying a brother’s wife is an “Unclean” thing and as a punishment for violating religion’s laws, the couple will remain childless5. Henry VIII could have easily selected someone else for marriage, but he did not do so, and this can be termed as the building block of his change of perception on religious matters later. He sought for a Dispensation from the Pope Julius II on the grounds of the status of her previous marriage that it was non-consummated. Similarly, conflicts started to appear one after the other in which Henry instead of giving in, formulated such ways that quivered with the ages old bondage of English churches with Rome. King Henry’s adamancy on changing Catholic ideologies carved great blow to papacy: When King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess, in 1509, his main concern was to strengthen his family’s position within the monarchy, and this could only be done if Princess Catherine gave birth to a male child. Catherine of Aragon did give birth to three male babies between 1511 and 1513, but none could survive. It was this reality that shook her position in the King’s heart and palace6. Robert Lacy writes, “good wife, though she was, Catherine of Aragon had failed in her primary function, to provide Henry with a healthy male heir”7. Therefore, by 1927, Henry had become adamant on divorcing his wife and wed Anne Boleyn, whom he had grown to be fond of although she was a protestant. The first blow to papacy and the controlling powers on the English churches possessed by the pope Clement VII was caused by the issue of divorce. According to Catholic ideology, divorce was a very big deal in those times, and the church did not believe in the concept of divorce let alone allow or support it. Roman Catholic belief regarded marriage as a life time commitment and hence, even the king was not allowed to avail the pope’s permission in this context. Henry VIII was in a fix because, one, he was an ardent believer in the Roman Catholic doctrine of religion, two, if he tried to use his supreme authoritative powers as a king to allow him a divorce, the pope could easily excommunicate him. Getting debarred or excommunicated implied that on account of the religious laws, the soul of that person will never enter heaven. King Henry VIII had the option of formally submitting an appeal to the Pope and seek another “Papal Dispensation” which gave him the right of marrying his brother’s wife at first8. In this context, it entailed that it will exclude the King from the rigid rules pertaining to the imposed ban on divorce on grounds of the supremacy and ultimate powers Henry VIII had in England as a King9. However, to Henry’s dismay, the Pope in Rome did not give in to this request and stuck to his resolute, which gave birth to a constant disagreement and clash of opinions between the crown and papacy, and the conflict continued until 1533. The Pope did not grant him this privilege simply because he was under the influence of Catherine’s nephew Charles V. Break with Rome on the issue of Marriage and Divorce: Leon Ashworth writes, “the need for an heir to the throne spurred Henry to his first divorce. For a long time, he was a king without a son”10. Six years had gone by since the King first requested the Pope to contemplate for allowing him his permission to divorce Catherine and alter Catholic ideology in this regard but Pope Clement refused to give in and was adamant on being rigid about the rules of Catholicism. Henry VIII was aided unconditionally by his new advisor Thomas Cromwell, who seconded his decision by saying, “for the royal marriage to end lawfully, England must break free from the authority of the pope”11. Cromwell’s role is important in this regard because under his leadership, the parliament had become an anti-clerical one and the compilation of “Supplication against the Ordinaries” in 1532 and later the “Submission of the Clergy” were significant steps that complicated the situation even more12. In 1533, Henry VIII made Thomas Cranmer the new Archbishop of Canterbury with the acceptance of the Roman Pope Clement VII, and it was this man who oversaw the formal climax of this almost a decade-long conflict between the king and Pope. In 1534, Clement VII died and Paul III acquired papacy13. Henry’s anger had heightened by this time, and the new Pope also acted along the lines of his precursor and rescinded Henry’s title of “Defender of Faith,” which proved to be the last nail in the coffin14. The king, as a last resort, decided to involve the parliament in this matter and initiate a process of high level changes to the system. Cranmer provided him absolute support in fulfilling his desire of divorcing Catherine and marrying Anne Boleyn along with retaining his title and nationalizing all the Roman properties in England as the property of the crown. Henry separated the English Church from the European Catholic Church and also rejected every authority that the Pope in Rome possessed by declaring himself the Supreme Head of the Church in England through passing the Act of Supremacy in 153415. He dismissed all Roman priests, unless they confirmed their loyalty towards the king by taking an oath in front of him. The Archbishop decided in favor of Henry for the sole reason that he wanted to remain on good terms with the king, and could not afford to reject his orders. Following the separation with the Roman Catholic Church, Henry also attempted to seize the assets of many churches and created Church of England or Anglican Church. He openly renounced Roman Catholicism and eradicated Rome’s historic religious control on English churches by becoming the reigning head of state as well as head of the Church of England. Henry stopped payments of annates that were being received by Rome, made salient changes in church services and forbid public from appealing to pope on Church-related issues. By 1540, all the monasteries were shut down or dissolved, and the monks were discredited, a decision based on the parliament’s compilation of false accusation against them. Anglican Church was a new type or branch of Christian Church because it neither followed true Roman Catholic ideologies, nor did it believe in Protestantism comprehensively. To deteriorate matters with the Pope in Rome even more, Henry VIII authorized the “Ten Articles” in 1536-37 with Protestant influences, and provisions that substantially degraded Romans, such as the point that allowed sermons to be preached against Rome at specific periods16. In 1537, the bishop’s book “The Institution of a Christian Man” appeared that provided a new interpretation of the Fifth commandment, I-e “honor thy mother and father” and declared King as the father mentioned in this order17. He authorized the publishing of the Holy Bible in English in 1539, and placed an order to use the English version in all the Churches of England. He also approved the enactment of “The Six Articles” by parliament in 1539, which imprinted the faith, guidelines and principles of the new Anglican Church18. It was on similar lines as was Catholic Church; however, one significant difference was that it declared the King as the head of church instead of the Pope19. Henry then moved on to fund the publishing of various other religious scriptures in English and strongly denied any prevailing influence of Rome over England’s church going mannerisms. Through this act of becoming the Pope, Henry not only secured his position in heaven by eradicating the fear of being excommunicated and also served his purpose of getting a divorce and marrying his long-time mistress Anne Boleyn. Not just this, through this new form of Christian Church, Henry VIII could enjoy as many marriages as he wanted to and there were no restrictions or ban on divorce. Anne Boleyn could not produce a male heir and lost her charm because of which King Henry ordered her execution on 19 May 1536 accusing her for committing adultery. The same month I-e on 30th May 1536, King married his third wife Jane Seymour. In July 1536, an Act of Succession was passed by the king that invalidated his previous two marriages and vested the succession rights of England’s throne to the children given birth by Seymour20. This can be termed as a self-proclaimed papacy of the King under personalized and customized rules and regulations. The Church was also separated from the control of the Council of Trent, and no new additions to the Roman Church were subscribed by the King afterwards. Divorce was not the only incentive behind the break with Rome: Another aspect that brings forth the reason behind the King’s inclination of acquiring authoritative powers on the Church of England is that a lot more was at stake than religion. The English Churches were the protectors of England’s wealth as well; the monasteries all over the country kept the wealth locked and also accounted for large shares of agricultural land that was the primary source of generating wealth for the country. Therefore, it can be assumed that King Henry’s personal wishes and conflict on various crucial issues paved the way for the separation of powers and authority over the churches in England. Due to his inclination towards achieving individual desires, within just two decades of his reign, the Protestantism movement got strengthened and eventually divided the nation’s religious orientation. The British Monarchy’s official website proclaims, “the second half of Henrys reign was dominated by two issues very important for the later history of England and the monarchy: the succession and the Protestant Reformation, which led to the formation of the Church of England." 21 To attain his obsessive requirements, Henry did not respect the laws of the land or religion, and instead crafted his own way to make things happen the way he wanted to. This can be proven from the fact that after dissolving all small and large monasteries by 1540, the crown received vast bulk of wealth and most of which was utilized by Henry, and only a small fraction was used to pay pensions to the monks. People did protest against this injustice, and the Pilgrimage of Grace conducted in 1536 is the most credible and effective example in this regard where thousands of protestors marched to London under the leadership of a lawyer Robert Aske22. Henry did acknowledge their complaints to end this upcoming protest; however, Aske was given the severest of all punishments for planning against the king, and was tied in chains and hung from a church tower until he died of starvation23. Hence, it can be believed that through the Dissolution of the Monasteries that was accomplished between 1536 and 1542, the king attained his deed of obtaining the bulk of English wealth. The creation of Church of England influenced English Reformation: The Church of England can be understood as the new religious ideology or realm that was introduced in England and was to be forcefully followed from 1535 onwards as per the orders of the new Pope and reigning King Henry VIII. This act did meet with severe rejection from the bishops all over England and due to this disagreement; the Protestant movement became a preferred route against the tyrannical actions of the King regarding Catholicism. The loyal Catholics were denied the right of sacraments, which ultimately forced them to attend Protestant services that have already been strengthening its roots in England. King also seized all the Catholic properties ranging from the parish churches to the convents in order to maintain total control of the crown over the churches in England. The Roman church properties were later sold off by the king to the highest bidders’ majority of whom were English aristocrats and gentry. The King forbidden the practice of Catholic ideologies and did not refrain from killing and wiping-out any sort of protest from the public, which proved to be very significant in prompting the onset of English Reformation. Some famous martyrs who were executed or beheaded following their protest against accepting the King as head of the Church included Thomas More the renowned European scholar, and the talented linguist William Tyndale. This became the instigating point for the Protestantism movement that had already encircled a number of European regions in English history since the Church of England rejected the ecclesiastical authority of the Holy See, and England’s religious jurisdictions were vested in the crown. The “Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England” I-e King Henry VIII did still believe in Catholic doctrine but imposed it with his own created set of rules and regulations under which any rejection of King’s orders was termed as an act of high treason and punishable with a death penalty. This prerogative was later officially legalized through the Treason Act24. Anyone who dared to voice his or her opinion against the king’s wishes was declared “recusants” and the only punishment that the King assumed possible for them was execution. King Henry did quite a few hurtful acts that wounded public sentiments and made him an unpopular king. The new set of rules propagated by Henry disregarded various ongoing norms of Catholicism, such as shrines of saints were not allowed to be constructed anymore and the existing ones were hastily demolished, for example, the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Clergies were summoned and ordered to eradicate candles, preach against relics, pilgrimages, and miracles and declare these beliefs as superstitions. Moreover, in 1545, saints were left out in the King’s Primer. The manner of exploiting the Ten Commandments was also a feature of his new religious doctrine that met with constant criticism and disapproval. By this time Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour had died due to complications preceding child birth, and he married Duke of Cleves’s sister Anne in 1539. However, this marriage was soon dissolved, and Henry married Catherine Howard in 1540 but beheaded her the same year the destruction of shrines and monasteries was completed, I-e in 1542. Catherine Parr was his sixth and last wife. Conclusion: An analysis of the proceedings between 1509 and 1534, it can be assimilated that King Henry VIII did over-use his powers as the ruler of England and perhaps led the English Reformation movement unconsciously. It is a fact seconded by the historical accumulation of Tudor dynasty era events that the separation of Rome and England churches was an outcome of the divorce issue that Henry created. If Henry had not sought permission to divorce Catherine, none of the eventualities would have occurred. It was his obsession to secure his family’s position on the throne that led to the brutalities and autocracies that followed through the course of the century. He went on to marry as many wives as he wished to, which was an act severely regretted in Catholic doctrine. Henry could not get his wishes fulfilled through Anne Boleyn, so, he conspired against her and beheaded her forcefully using his ultimate authority. Such acts were strictly prohibited in the Catholic religious system, and Henry would never have got what he wanted had he not separated the national churches from Rome. Hence, it can be confirmed that it was due to his desires and obsession to achieve political and religious authority on England that altered the pattern of English history. Bibliography Ashworth, Leon. King Henry Viii. Cherrytree Books, 2005. Banting, Erinn. England: The People. 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