King Henry Viii Religious Turmoil

Political and religious turmoil during Henry VIII’s reign (r. 1509-1547) resulted in Henry VIII assuming the roles as head of both the state and the Church of England through the separation of the Church of England from papal authority, the dissolution of monarchies, and the ‘Act of Supremacy’. Fundamental changes to the English constitution and the establishment of precedent features regarding Parliamentarian inclusion came as a result of opposition during his time on the throne. King Henry VIII’s reign is arguably the largest reason as to why England was so successful during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign from 1558-1603. This paper will chronicle the events of large scale that developed his historic reign and the perpetual changes to the English

monarchy that carried over into the Elizabethan era.
Even though there were rebellions against the Roman Catholic Church in the years leading up to Henry’s reign, religious compliancy to the papal authority was still prominent throughout the continent.

People everywhere, regardless of class, were disturbed with the scandals and actions taken by the Church. Born a Catholic, Henry enforced the notion that Catholicism was to be the religion of his kingdom. However, after eighteen years of marriage and only one female survivor heir with Catherine of Aragon, Henry began an affair with Anne Boleyn in 1527. Completely enamoured by Boleyn and the pressure to have a male heir to the throne, he requested an annulment of the marriage, proving very difficult as the union required special dispensation as Catherine was the wife of Henry’s deceased brother, a union that is “prohibited by both canon and biblical law” . Due to the difficulty presented from papal authority and a disagreement with Pope Clement VII (1478-1534), Henry’s new royal advisers, Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) and Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540), found a way around the complicated matrix surrounding the situation: “Why not simply declare the king supreme in English spiritual affairs as he was in English temporal affairs? Then the king could settle the king’s affair himself” . Thus, with the help of his advisers, Henry VIII began to separate the Church of England from the Papacy in Rome, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings in the

process.
Following Henry’s excommunication and separation from the Roman Catholic Church, the English Reformation Parliament passed the ‘Act of Supremacy’, granting the king legal sanctions necessary to assume clerical and political powers.

Officially passing religious authority to the monarch of England from the Pope in 1534 “gave the crown control over the wealth and buildings of the old Church [and] settled official religious doctrine” . The act decried him as “the only supreme head of the Church of England” , and granted the English crown “all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity” . As a result of the passing of the Act of Supremacy, the Parliament of England helped Henry usher in the theory of the divine right of kings. The divine right of king’s is a doctrine of legitimacy in political and religious affairs which enforced that kings established their authority from God and were therefore not subjected to any earthly authority, including his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the monarch’s kingdom. Any monarch who ruled under the divine right had the power to do whatever they saw fit. It also required English subjects to swear an oath of loyalty, forcing them to recognize and accept Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn and her coronation as queen. This parliamentary act remained until it was repealed during Edward VI’s reign, Henry’s only male heir, in 1555, only to be

reinstated in an altered form during Elizabeth I’s reign. The passing of the Succession to the Crown Act in 1534, to be known later as the Frist Succession Act, permitted Henry to declare children he had with Catherine as illegitimate, whilst declaring children of Anne Boleyn legitimate, which he later declared illegitimate after her execution in 1536. Passing such a law allowed Henry to essentially choose who was to rule after him, preferring a child whom he thought was legitimate and form a faithful marriage. The First Succession Act was followed by two more, the Second and Third Succession acts. The First Act made Elizabeth, product of the union of Henry and Anne Boleyn, the true successor by declaring Mary, product of the union of Henry and Catherine of Aragon, illegitimate. Much like the First, the Second Succession Act removed Elizabeth from the line of succession, leaving no legitimate heir to the British throne until Edward was born in 1537. The Third Act returned both Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession behind Edward, proving beneficial as without this Act, it can be inferred that the Elizabethan Era would not have occurred. Anyone who opposed either of these acts were charged with treason and executed; two individuals who famously did this being Thomas More and John Fisher, bishop of Rochester.
Separating from the Roman Catholic Church was not only significant in the fact that it allowed Henry VIII to divorce Catherine of Aragon and wed the pregnant Anne Boleyn, thus introducing the Acts of Supremacy and Succession, but also in the fact that it established and prepared England for the Protestant Reformation to occur after Henry’s reign came to an end. Prior to the excommunication from the Church, England was a predominately Catholic country because of the idea that the head of the state then chose the religion of the state, generally being their personal beliefs in terms of religious views. When he forced the separation of the Church of England from the Papacy, many within England and its territories believed that he would diverge drastically from Catholicism and join the Protestant Reformation movement, based on the grounds of how he was projecting the separation. Despite being broken from Rome, “Henry remained decidedly conservative in his religious beliefs” and the only concessions he made to Protestant tenets were of a middle degree in the Ten Articles of 1536. His religious platform remained Catholic whereas the rest of his country was filled with sentiments of Protestantism. Following the rest of their continent, the Protestant was amassing numbers throughout the English kingdom, and Henry countered with the Six Articles of 1539, solidifying core values of the Catholic Church upon his subjects. England remained under the transitioning Church until Henry’s death in 1547 – it was then under Edward VI, that England could become a truly Protestant country.
Along with passing numerous legislations related to King Henry, his successors, and the absolute authority of the English monarch, the Reformation Parliament also made fundamental changes to the Constitution of England, many of which carried over into Elizabeth I’s reign and therefore implemented into modern day monarchs. When Parliament convened in 1529 for what would be a seven-year session, some of the first legislation that was passed harassed and shortened the leash of the clergy, as well as made laws that affected all aspects of life in England. Among those changes was a precedent set regarding religious changes; it declared that “whenever fundamental changes are made in religion, the monarch must consult with and work through Parliament” . Thus, the Reformation Parliament established the supreme sovereignty of Crown-in-Parliament, drawing King Henry to the conclusion that “[we] be informed by our judges that we at no time stand so highly in our estate royal as in the time of parliament” . He recognized that the most power a monarch can hold is “when it was expressed through parliamentary statue” . Realizing this power inherently made it near-impossible for a monarch to be rid of parliament, let alone make any legislative, political, or religious decisions without first gaining consent from parliament. Gaining power within a parliamentary statue provided Henry with the resources needed to expand the power of the royal monarch of England, especially within his own country.
King Henry VIII also left behind a legacy of military victories on the European continent and the establishment of England as a naval power, which Elizabeth continued. Prior to Henry’s accession to the throne, the English Navy was hardly existent, and did not possess sufficient naval militant equipment. He replaced smaller canons with larger and new canons in warships, and helped create different designs for boats of different purpose. In order to maintain the Navy as a permanent force in England’s militant endeavours, he established anchorages and dockyards to support to arsenal . Expanding England’s military power during his reign allowed his daughter, Elizabeth I, to utilize the division and defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588, a monumental victory for Elizabeth I and England in its entirety. The establishment of the Navy Royal under Henry VIII set England up for incredible military strength, allowing the British Navy to remain one of the most successful and most feared navies in the world.
King Henry VIII of England was an essential piece to the modernization and success of the English Empire. The many changes that were enforced during his reign pulled England away from the Age of Absolutism, established the Protestant Reformation in England, and developed the English Constitution to represent modernist ideas and ways of thinking regarding everyday life. While he may not have been an inspiration in the area of relationships, having six wives and plentiful mistresses, Henry VIII was an example of a powerful, headstrong, and passionate leader who set his country up for greatness into the Elizabethan era and beyond.