Act of Supremacy 1534 Essay Example

will; Others that he wanted a new wife who provide him a legitimate heir, (Catherine wasn’t able to do), a male heir to carry forward the Tudor dynasty; and others support that he had fallen in love with Ann Boleyn. He seek for an annulment from the highest authority, the Pope and asked Thomas Wolsey , Henry’s first great minister to use his influence in Rome to et a papal annulment of Henry's marriage so that he could remarry with Anne Boleyn. Wolsey was unable to accomplish this, mainly because Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, dominated the pope at the time. If Clement conceded annulment, therefore admitted that his predecessor, Julius II, had erred. In one of Henry’s attempted of annul his marriage he used The Book of Leviticus (the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah) to justify his annulment as he should never have married his Brother Arthur’s wife.

When Pope Julius II had issued a dispensation (from ecclesiastical law) allowing the marriage of Henry to Catherine. In 1529 Wolsey complete failure to arrange an annulment for Henry and was replaced. Wolsey's replacement as Lord Chancellor was Sir Thomas More. In the 1530s had influence by different people as Thomas Cromwell a leading figure who He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce. Cranmer participate in key events carried out the ceremony of married of Henry and Anne Boleyn in secretin 1533 after Ann was pregnant, in December 1532.

The wedding was in January and in April Cranmer ruled that henry’s marriage to Catherin was invalid, whereas his marriage to

Anne was legal. In may 1533 Ann was crowned as Queen of England Cranmer suggested Henry make himself head of the English church. Also with Thomas Cromwell, they supported the principle of Royal Supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm. The reasons form the reformation could been political, economical, lust.

As it was a Religious Catholic king is hard to find a religious cause but this doesn’t mean that England hadn’t a background they want a religion change. At the end of the 15th century there was a movement of anticlericalism that could influence to the reformation, surviving until 16th century there were the Lollardy founded by John Wycliffe. It main thrust was an emphasis on the personal pity and use of scripture. Also in continental Europe there was Protestantism that originated in Germany and Switzerland with Luther and Zwingly.

The main focus was on personal devotion and Bible study this emphasized and individual’s inner faith not their external acts. Such ideas had clearly reached England by 1530 It is clear that where new protestants ideas spread to England was form the continent via ports as Bristol and, of course London. After all this events The Henrician reformation will take away all of the Catholic lands (monasteries with all the lands), he sell to nobles make money an enrich him, he build up the army, strengths his monarchy and tie the monarchy with the nobility. Close the monasteries. . The Text Analysis At the beginning of the text henry VIII called himself as the head of the Church of England and recognize by the clergy. As

we said before the Act of Supremacy represents a key change to a more protestant church, the Church of England. The change respect with Catholicism is the confirmation of the king as the supreme head of the church and rejects the Pope’s authority. He was then the only supreme head in Earth of the Church Of England an is him the one with “power and authority to visit, repressed, redress, record, order, correct…. ” and not the Pope. that the king, our sovereign Lord…”Earlier legislation had limited itself to specific fiscal and legal aspects of church authority, the act of Supremacy conferred personally on the king all spiritual authority to reform abuses and correct doctrine. This power would be extended for “his heirs and successors…” and this is one of the main reason why henry want to divorce Catherine. She couldn’t gave birth to male heir, so henry wants to merry Anne Boleyn, although some historians agree that the main reason looking for the annulment he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn.

Henry was a Catholic monarch and the changes to Protestantism was more political than Religious. The Anglican ecclesia was schismatic but not heretic. The English branch of the Western Christian Church is a combination of Catholic and Protestant traditions. Henry was a religious man we can see that in the Act. “for increase of virtue in Christ religion within tis realm of England” . We have to remember that before breaking with Rome he was against of Luther when he wrote in defend of the seven sacraments. And was Awarded Defender of the Faith by Rome.

When he uses “Almighty

God” again is referring the importance of to follow the god’s will. He believes God is punishing him because his wife already consummate matrimonial with his brother (who died and was married with Arthur) He found in the book of Leviticus:. He thinks he shouldn’t have married his brother’s widow, so he believes he is not having a boy for that reason. The Pope Julius II over ruled the Bible for given dispensation for Catherine and Henry’s wedding . He shows his faith as this matter is affecting Henry’s owns conscience

But he also had criticism against Catholicism. By this act he wanted to “extirpate errors, heresies and other abuses”… he wanted to get rid of any corruption in ecclesiastic power. Where we can see the influence of the movements of anticlericalism where there was a negative image of some of the ecclesiastical figures and powers One important point is the Act effectively made it treasonable to support the authority of the Pope over the Church of England. The power of the monarch and the Church were now inseparables.

In that way to support Catholithism meant to not only matter of personal conviction but also, repudiation of the authority of the monarch, and as such, an act of treason punishable by death. Like the case of Thomas More. This act was enacted by the authority of the parliament. Henry used the Parliament because the authority of king-in-parliament was the highest in the land. And Henry had a parliamentary manager, Cromwell who could devise statutes appropriate to get them passed. The results of the Statutes that enacted the Supremacy of Henry give a new dimension to

Parliament’s importance. Only parliament could change what parliament had enacted”. There was no significant parliamentary resistance to the Supremacy bill.

It granted only a little more than the clergy had already given, it recognize what was already a fact, and it neutralized the coming excommunication of the king. We also indicate in the context that could also be some economical reasons of the break with Rome ”and shall have enjoy, annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, profits…. henry’s desired for more power and need to increase his revenue. He wanted the wealth of the church, particularly the property of the monasteries. His lifestyle, and his desire for military glory had left Henry in a precarious financial position; he needed money, the church had lots of it, so the solution was obvious - take control of the church and its assets. This he did by asserting his legal right to act as head of the Church of England 3. Conclusion The events of the 1530 mark a fundamental turning point in the history of religious change in England.

For centuries the English church had been part of the Catholic Church under the power of the Pope. When in 1534 Henry broke away form the Pope’s power he performed a radical act that changed the course of English history. Britain might now be a predominately Catholic country and this could affected as possible a closer relation with countries with a catholic religion as Spain. This break will have a general effect on Christendom it will add a powerful change

to the new trend in European Christianity in Europe. Many countries were setting their own way of Christianity and since then Christianity had forever change.

There is also affected the landscape with the disappearing of the monasteries of the British geography And the use of non ornamented Churches. The act of Supremacy changed the destiny of henry’s VIII and England and all this changes has not been only for external reasons as political or economical, and in lower part religious but also due to his persona. He took policies that reflected his ego, passions and convictions.

Bibliography

Websites

1. http://www. bbc. co. uk/history/historic_figures/cromwell_thomas. shtml
2. http://oxforddictionaries. com
3. http://www. britainexpress. om/History/tudor/act-of-supremacy. htm
4. http://www. britannia. com/history/articles/relpolh8. html
5. http://faculty. history. wisc. edu/sommerville/361/361-07. htm

Books

1. English reformations. Religion, Politics and Society under the Tudors. Christopher Haigh
2. A Brief history of Britain 1485-1660 The Tudors and Stuart Dynasties. Ronald Hutton
3. The Oxford Companion to British history Edited by John Cannon
4. The early Tudor England David Roberson, Samantha Elsmere and David Hudson
5. British history Tudors and Stuarts 1485-1714 David Findlay
6. Henry VIII JJ Scaisbrick