Because of Henry’s view on royal supremacy over the Pope in England there was always a possibility that the two sides may clash over one aspect of governing the people. This however was stopped from being a problem between 1515 and 1529 as Thomas Wolsey was the lord chancellor of England and also a Cardinal and so provided the perfect balance between the two sides. However after 1529, when Wolsey was removed from power Henry was able to unleash his beliefs and, eventually, secure what he believed was rightfully his, total control of the English people and the church.
This was sealed in 1534 when the Act of Supremacy was passed. This effectively banished the Pope, his power and his authority from Henry’s ‘realm’ and saw the beginning of the end for the Catholic Church as it was known in England.
Henry, at last was in the position he always wished for, he was head of the church in England and had finally made the pope’s jurisdiction in England useless.
Another reason for the bringing about the English reformation was a financial one. In 1535 there were 800 monasteries and roughly 9000 monks and nuns living in these premises. In these premises, Henry saw great financial gain for the crown and set out on a process to eliminate monks, nuns and turn the monasteries in to crown owned land from which the King would benefit greatly.
By 1540 all the religious houses in England had been closed, the monks and nuns fled and the goods that were owned were either sold or stolen.
The dissolution of the monasteries brought an end to over 1000 years of monks and nuns in England, and marked an important day in the securing of crown property in to crown hands.
The economic reasons behind the reformation stemmed further as Henry passed ‘The act for first fruits and tenths’ which took all new bishops’ revenue for the first year and one tenth of it there after. By the time Henry had raised £40,000 a year through this system he was starting to see the economic benefits behind the split with Rome.
By 1540, all of the monasteries in England had been closed down and Henry was supreme head of the church and was able to run it in any way he wished, as now there were no ties with Rome.
But was this all connected to Henry’s earlier wish of a divorce from Catherine of Aragon or did Henry intend to become disconnected from Rome.
Henry had wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon for many years but due to the Pope being in control of Charles V, Catherine’s nephew, the divorce was not going to be granted, as Charles would not want to see his Auntie being rejected by the king of England. This was really the beginning of Henry’s wish to become separate from Rome and be able to set his own laws over the clergy and have no supreme authority over him, something, which had, he had always disliked.
As for whether Henry’s wish for a divorce was the most important reason behind the English reformation it is important to look at the reasons as to why Henry wanted a divorce from Catherine and whether they were great enough to warrant Henry changing the whole structure of the church in England.
Henry had wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon since 152 and by 1529 a divorce court had been set up by Wolsey to bring about the divorce, this failed and led to the downfall of Wolsey. Henry’s reasons for divorce were simple, succession.
Henry wanted a male heir and knew that Catherine would now be unlikely to give birth to one. His attentions turned to a girl named Anne Boleyn, someone the king thought would be ideal to solve the problem of male succession. The only problem standing in Henry’s way was Catherine of Aragon and how to get rid of her.
Henry was getting very anxious by the time the divorce had been rolling along for a long time, and so his actions turned very desperate which is possibly how all of the other factors of the reformation came to fruition.
So, in deciding whether a divorce from Catherine of Aragon was the most important factor in bringing about the reformation in England I agree with Simon Scharma in that Henry’s need for a divorce was the prime cause in the bringing of this. However I also feel that this contributed to Henry’s actions in the dissolution of the monasteries because he felt it was the only way in which he was going to get his all important divorce, and possibly the securing of the throne for many years after his death….or was it??
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