father Henry VII had made on his deathbed that Henry has strong male heir. Everyone
Henry included knew that Catherine of Aragon would bear no more children; Henry
could not leave Mary as his heir so he needed a divorce from Catherine to marry Anne
Boleyn who was already pregnant with his child. Many factors that stopped this
divorce led to break from Rome. In order to marry his dead brother’s wife Henry had
obtained a dispensation from the pope, now that he had no more use of Catherine he
convinced himself that his marriage to Catherine had been wrong in the eyes of god,
his lack of male children he believed was a punishment from god. Catherine refused
to any divorce or annulment, though Henry offered her money to his fury she
remained adamant that she would ‘not go quietly’. Instead Catherine appealed to her
nephew the emperor Charles V, while Henry was appealing to the pope whose support
he would need in the future to legitimise any children he and Anne had. The power
Charles had over the papacy made the pope procrastinate over the annulment until
finally refusing in 1534.
The turning point was Thomas Cromwell’s increasing influence of the King.
Cromwell was the first to argue that if the Pope would not grant the divorce, then get
rid of the Pope. Cromwell's idea to use Statute law to Papal influence was a major
reason in Henry's decision to break with Rome. The Act in Restraint of Appeals in
March 1533 was passed. This meant that there were to be no more appeals to Rome in
testamentary or matrimonial cases. This was a significant step towards eradicating
Papal influence in England. England was declared to be a sovereign state free from all
outside interference. The act states, ‘this realm of England is one Empire governed by
one supreme head and king.’ The Succession and Treason Acts of 1534 emphasised
this; Henry's first marriage was declared invalid and his second to Anne Boleyn was
declared valid, to deny this was treason. Anne Boleyn also had a lot of influence over
Henry, she convinced Henry of protestant ideas very easily as he was madly in love
with her over many years. Anne's pregnancy in late 1532 would probably have made
Henry think about ending Papal influence and giving himself the power to divorce
Catherine and marry Anne, otherwise their forthcoming child would be illegitimate.
This would have been unacceptable for an heir to the throne. The death of Worham,
the Archbishop of Canterbury in August 1532 was of significance. Perhaps events
would not have occurred as they did if he had lived. He was a staunch believer that
the Pope should be head of the church in England and he might have challenged
Henry's decision to break from Rome. The new Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was
happy to go along with Henry's decisions.
Another factor influencing the progress of the reformation was Henry’s desire
to be more wealthy and powerful. Henry wanted sole power on everything within his
country. It can be argued that Henry's desire, encouraged probably by Cromwell and
Cranmer to take over the church as an institution and use it to extend his power both
at home and abroad, played a pivotal role in the Reformation. Henry wanted this
cesaropapism - the power over both the state and the church - to increase his own
power. He eventually gained this in 1534 due to the Act of Supremacy. This meant
that Henry's full claims over the church were placed on the statute book. The whole
independent power of the church became largely a thing of the past and was no longer
a state within a state. He could only have achieved this by breaking from Rome.
Henry also wanted to run the church so he could oversee the development of
education. The educational role of the church was in decline. Church schools were
often of poor quality and in many areas simply did not exist. This was important to
Henry, as a literate population would be essential in helping the Tudor dynasty to run
the country. Jealousy provoked by Wolsey's wealth could also have been an
encouraging factor in Henry's decision to break from Rome. He was Papal Legate and
therefore head churchman in England. However, he did not act like a churchman - he
was arrogant, corrupt and immoral. He personified the worst abuses of the church.
The allegations of pluralism, simony and nepotism were all labelled against him. He
also had a mistress and illegitimate children. After the break from Rome, Henry ran
the church and therefore he was in a position to set an example for all churchmen.
The wealth of the church was another political reason for Henry's decision to
break from Rome. The crown was always in desperate need for money and Henry
himself was always short of money. The wealth and land of the church were therefore
obvious targets, particularly when Thomas Cromwell reminded Henry of them. Henry
knew that if he could become head of the church then he would own the church’s vast
amount of land. Consequently he could sell this land or rent it providing a steady
income of money to the crown. This was important as the number of country
gentlemen increased by several thousand, therefore helping the stability of the realm.
Becoming Head churchman meant that Henry could pass acts such as the Act of First
Fruits and Tenths in 1534, which meant the transferring of these payments from the
Pope to the king. Also the Act of Annates was passed through parliament, which
ended the payment of a third of a Bishop's first year's income to Rome and instead it
went to the king. Henry could also close down monastic institutions and strip them of
their belongings. Ornaments, statues, windows and roofing were all taken and sold
with the proceeds going straight to the king. In some cases he sold the entire
monastery to wealthy landowners to convert into homes. There was also a large lump
sum gained from the sale of bullion, plate, jewellery and bell metal from the
monasteries. Although Henry's original intention was to close the smaller
monasteries, the larger institutions began to dispose their assets so Henry closed them
as well. In other words as Randell puts it, "Henry intended to steal half the apples, and
then found the rest virtually fell into his lap". The only way Henry could have
obtained this obvious church wealth was to become the Supreme Head of the Church
of England, which he did in January 1535, therefore cutting all ties with the Pope in
Rome.
However I believe that the main factors influencing the Henrician reformation
can be summed up in the following quote from Christopher Harper-Bill, "we must
return to Henry VIII's matrimonial problems and financial needs as the ultimate cause
of the Reformation in England". Though many factors did influence the reformation I
think the starting point was Henry’s belief in his invalid marriage to Catherine of
Aragon and his desperate need for an heir, this ultimately lead to the reformation and
the other factors I have discussed contributed to it.
