Henry VII Came to the Throne in 1485. He Brought Stability to England; He Made the Monarchy

Chapter 4

The Tudors

Henry VII

Henry VII came to the throne in 1485. He brought stability to England; he made the monarchy strong and earned the respect of his subjects.

Though Henry VII tried to strengthen his rule by marrying Elizabeth of York, and tried to unite the White Rose and the Red Rose, the Yorkists attempts to take the English throne did not end. Lambert Simnel was persuaded by the Yorkists to impersonate Richard of York (who was dead), and then the earl of Warwick (who was in prison). His claim ended in an unsuccessful rebellion in 1487. Perkin Warbeck also pretended to be Richard of York. He was executed in 1499. The earl of Warwick, though innocent in the plots against the king, was also executed in 1499. Warwick was the first of a series of executions that Henry VII and Henry VIII ordered to maintain and secure the succession of the Tudor family as the monarchs of England.

The power of the nobility was weakened by the War of the Roses. Nevertheless, the nobility wanted to take advantage of a weak kingship. But the fact was that Henry and Elizabeth were determined rulers. Besides, the majority of the nobility was dependent on Henry VII, because of their misdeeds. Henry VII imposed heavy fines to those nobles who offended him. Henry was able to enforce the Statute of Livery & Maintenance, which forbade the private possession of arms.

Henry VII was determined to enforce the monarchy. He reclaimed royal lands that have been lost since the rule of Henry V, and seized the lands of those who opposed him in the war or those lands that had no heir. Henry himself supervised finances. Two of his tax-collectors were executed because of their non-productivity. This fact raised Henry VII’s popularity. The absence of wars implied great sums of money for the king, so that taxes were reduced. At the end of his reign, Henry VII enjoyed a great fortune in jewels.

The Tudor House was very much respected in Europe. Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII, married the Spanish Heiress Katharine of Aragon. When Arthur died in 1502, the Spanish Royal House forced Katharine to remarry Prince Henry, the future king of England. Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret, married James IV of Scotland in order to secure good relations with Scotland.

Henry maintained a splendid reign during his lasts years. He wanted to show to barons and rulers that the House of Tudor was the established monarchy in England. Henry VII died in 1509.

Henry VIII

Henry VIII was eighteen when his father died in 1509. He was a very extravagant man, just the opposite of his father. He left apart the cautious policies of his father and revived the expensive and historic wars with France.

Henry invaded France and won the battle of the Spurs. His commander also defeated the Scots, the allies of France. And James IV of Scotland, Henry’s brother-in-law, was killed in the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

Henry VIII, bored with the routines of government, leave the issues of state to the Chancellor Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey was of humble birth but he ascended progressively in the Church hierarchy: he became Archbishop of York, cardinal, and ultimately a Latere (a permanent representative of the Pope in England) a position that gave him a complete control of the EnglishChurch. He did not give uniformity or reform. His worldliness and extravagance were examples of the corruption of the Church. He was more interested in becoming Pope than in the national religious affairs.

In 1525, Henry VIII wanted to divorce Katharine of Aragon. The Queen was five years older than Henry and they had only a daughter, Princess Mary. Henry considered essential to have a male heir to the throne, because a female heir would bring a new civil war. Once the divorce was achieved, Henry would marry the attractive Anne Boleyn. Henry did not think that the divorce would bring so many problems. Katharine was completely opposed to the divorce and she was supported by his family, the House of Habsburg, the most powerful royal house in Europe. Henry argued that his marriage with Katharine was unlawful because the Bible forbade the marriage of a man with his brother’s widow. And Katharine claimed that his marriage with Arthur, Henry VIII’s brother, was never consumed. Paradoxically, English public opinion was on Katharine’s side.

Henry’s hopes that the Pope would grant the divorce faded when Rome was captured by Charles V, nephew of Katharine, in 1527. The Pope became a prisoner of Charles V and Charles forced the Pope to deny Henry’s divorce.

Wolsey did not obtain what Henry wanted. Henry accused Wolsey of treason and he was dispossessed of all his ecclesiastical offices. Wolsey died on his way to London, but he probably would have been executed. The ease with which Henry removed a Church’s leading servant shows the immense royal power Henry had. It shows also the disloyalty Henry displayed to his servants who had failed him.

From this moment on, Henry VIII completely broke his relationships with the Roman Church. The Reformation of the English church was accomplished by Thomas Cromwell, the most powerful King’s ministers. He appointed the “Reformation Parliament” to pass laws to transfer the powers of the pope into the figure of the King. Monastic lands were nationalised and bureaucracy was extended in order to manage the new revenues of the King. Between 1536 and 1539, Henry attacked the monasteries, since they had great riches and wealth. Cromwell thought that with the revenues form monasteries the king would have an endless source of income. But the king needed the money to pay for government expenditure. The lands were sold to old landowners and to new people with money who were first establishing among the English society. When England re-joined the Church of Rome, during Mary I’s reign, it was impossible for the Church to reclaim these lands. The suppression of monasteries meant the destruction of much of the artistic heritage of the Middle Ages.

In 1532, the archbishop of Canterbury died and was replaced by Thomas Cranmer, a learned man devoted to the figure of the king. In 1533, Cranmer married Henry and Anne Boleyn and declared Henry’s first marriage null. They had a new child, the Princess Elizabeth.

In 1533, the pope excommunicated Henry. This fact meant little because the Catholic powers preferred Henry’s friendship to his hostility.

In 1534, the pope’s right to tax English church was abolished and the Act of Supremacy was passed. The Act declared Henry as the Supreme Head of the Church in England. In the same year, the Act of Succession was also passed; it named Elizabeth as the heiress to the Crown of England.

In 1536, a second Act of Succession was passed. It gave Henry an unprecedented right: the election of his successor as the ruler of England.

In 1536, people revolt: the so-called Pilgrimage of Grace. They asked for a return to the Roman Church. Henry lied the leaders of the rebellion. He said that he would com back to the Church of Rome, but, in fact, he had no intention in doing so. The rebellion was abandoned.

The Reformation of the Church was intended to be political and not religious. Henry was a Catholic; in 1521 he was named Fidei Defensor (“Defender of the Faith”) by the pope for writing against the German protestant Martin Luther. In 1539, he passed the Six Acts, which demanded complete conformity to the Catholic doctrine and practice. Those who did not obey the Catholic faith were savagely punished. But the publication of the Bible in English fostered the expansion of Protestantism. According to Protestantism, the truth of the Christian religion was to be found in the direct reading of the Scriptures, particularly in the New Testament. So that, any man can discover the truth of religion for himself.

Cromwell made the Privy Council the greatest of the king’s councils. It became the centre of government under the Tudors and Stuarts and later developed into the modern Cabinet.

The north of the country, which was the wildest and most remote area, was also brought under central government. Cromwell abolished some of the liberties that these areas enjoyed. Wales was incorporated into the English estate. Irish lords accepted titles from Henry and spent periods in the English court. This was a way to join the Irish territory to the English influence. The IrishChurch was reformed along Henrician lines. But when the English proposed more fundamental changes, the Irish population remained loyal to the Roman Church.

Henry executed Thomas More in 1535, a humanist scholar who questioned the Religious Reform underwent by Henry.

The creation of a national Church has a favourable response from the nationalistic population. From 1534 we can refer to the Church of England.

Henry VIII died in 1547.

Edward VI and Mary Tudor

Edward was only nine when his father died. The regency council Henry VIII set up before his death was conformed by Protestants who followed the Reformation. In 1549, Archbishop Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer (in English) that had a moderate Protestant tone. But extreme Protestantism prevailed and Cranmer, in 1552, wrote a Second Prayer Book and forty-two articles stating the Church doctrine. This is the highest point in radical Protestantism in the Church of England’s History.

The Duke of Somerset became the head of the regent government. Economy deteriorated and peasants revolted in 1549. Then, the Duke of Northumberland took advantage of this situation and seized the power. The Duke of Somerset was executed and become a martyr to the eyes of ordinary people. Northumberland was only a power-seeker but he managed to restore measure in government. In 1552, Edward’s health deteriorated and it was very probable that he would not live much longer. Northumberland was afraid of the succession of Edward’s half-sister, Mary the daughter of Katharine of Aragon. Northumberland had fostered extreme Protestantism; meanwhile Mary was a fervent Catholic as her mother was.

Northumberland persuaded the king to name Lady Jane Grey the heir to the throne. Lady Jane was the daughter of Mary, the younger daughter of Henry VII, and she was also the wife of Northumberland’s son. Northumberland wanted to maintain the control of governmentwith the election of Lady Jane. When Edward died in 1553, Lady Jane was proclaimed Queen, but she had very little support and Mary I Tudor became Queen of England. Lady Jane, her husband and the duke of Northumberland were executed.

Mary I devoted herself to the restoration of Catholicism in England. A number of Protestants opposed to Mary I’s action, and those who defied the Queen’s intentions were executed. Among the executed were the Archbishop of London, Oxford and Thomas Cranmer, The Archbishop of Canterbury. This harsh policy did not stamp out[1]Protestantism, it only served to nourish it. Because of these radical decisions, the Queen was popularly known as “Bloody Mary”.

Mary I married Phillip II of Spain. Mary hoped that Phillip would support the task of Catholicising England. Phillip in turn wanted military support from England. Phillip had problems in the Netherlands, which were part of Spanish empire, and was engaged in war with France. English people did not like Phillip, neither Phillip liked the English. For the English opinion, Phillip was only a source of troubles and expense.

Finally England declared war to France in support of Spain. In 1557, the French army took Calais, the only English possession left in France.

Although Mary and Phillip wanted a son, they never had it. Phillip returned to Spain and never went back to England. Mary faced the unpleasant fact that, having no children, her half-sister Elizabeth was to rule in England. Mary believed that Elizabeth was not a real Catholic and when she became Queen, England would abandon the Roman Church.

Elizabeth I

One of the main problems Elizabeth I faced was the religious conflict. She had not a clearly defined religious tendency and tried to oblige[2] the different religious views of the people in a national Church. Adherence to Rome was impossible. Catholicism condemned the marriage of her mother, Anne Boleyn, with Henry VIII. Elizabeth took the title of Supreme Governor of the Church, rather than Supreme Head as his father did.

Elizabeth I was forced by the House of Commons and Church to adopt the Thirty-Nine Articles, a Protestant prayer book which set up Church doctrine. Elizabeth enjoyed a long reprieve[3] before her excommunication in 1570.

Puritans opposed Elizabeth in the religious issue. They wanted to purify the Church of all Roman Catholic ideas. They wanted to abolished all the hierarchical structure of the Church; this would have implied the elimination of bishops and archbishops. Elizabeth rejected their proposals and the Puritans commenced to attack Elizabeth’s religious policy in Parliament (The House of Commons).

Elizabeth believed that it was a royal prerogative to decide on Church matters but Puritans thought otherwise. Though Puritan opposition had abated[4], it still had members in Parliament and among men of influence. Parliament even dealt with Elizabeth’s marriage and foreign affairs. Elizabeth cannot dispense[5] Parliament. The monarchy was bankrupt and the Queen needed Parliament to collect money.

The Commons wanted a suitable husband for Elizabeth to secure succession in the throne. But marriage never came. Elizabeth used marriage as a diplomatic weapon to gain the friendship of the European nations. The Tudors considered themselves as directly ordained by God and it was impossible to marry the noblest English man. She had an affair with the Earl of Essex, who mounted a rebellion against the Queen in 1601. Elizabeth ordered his execution.

Since the Catholic Europe and specially Spain, the leading Catholic power, would not support Elizabeth and his religious settlement, the Queen displayed a foreign policy against Spain. She allied the Dutch, who wanted to separate from Spain, and the French, the eternal enemy of Spain.

Mary Queen of the Scots led Catholic conspiracies against Elizabeth. Elizabeth did not order his execution because Mary was the Catholic claimant to the throne of England and on her death the claim would not pass to her son, who was Protestant, but to Phillip II of Spain.

But the participation of Mary Queen of the Scots in the Babington plot to kill the Queen, led Mary to trial and final her execution. Mary was executed on 8 February 1587 at FotheringhayCastle.

In 1588, Phillip launched the Spanish Armada against England. Spain had a bigger armada, but its ships were less manoeuvrable and less effective in northern waters. Finally the English fleet was able to defeat the Spanish Armada. This victory meant the continuance of Elizabeth’s religious policy and Protestantism. Nevertheless, the war with Spain continued and victories were infrequent. The major consequence of this war was the financial support and the continuous expenses it demanded.

It was financial considerations that moved Elizabeth to conquer Ireland. The conquest was not complete until 1603, the year of Elizabeth’s death. England controlled the Pale, an area around Dublin, but they felt that Ireland has to be completely under English hands. Ireland aligned even more strongly with the Roman Catholic faith against England. But with Scotland, Elizabeth has more success: both countries shared the same religion, and King James hoped to inherit the throne of England on Elizabeth’s death and he did not want rebellions against the Queen.

Elizabeth faced serious economical problems. First, her economical weakness was caused by a fixed income at a period of high inflation. Parliamentary grants and pirate’s loot helped to maintain the royal economy. The gentry and merchants, who were members of Parliament, were opposed to increase the royal revenues. They felt that the monarchy has to survive with its traditional sources of income. Elizabeth finally eased inflation by refusing to debase coinage any further.

The distress in the countryside was mainly provoked by the consolidation of the enclosure system by which a man or a group of men possessed the lands in each district. The result of this system was unemployment and the consequent move of people to towns. This system continued to the eighteenth century, when they were more numerous.

Elizabeth’s government introduced two important social measures: