Western History 93: How did Henry VIII catalyze the English Reformation?

The Welshman Henry VII proved himself to be a very able monarch. His reign was welcomed for its stability after the War of the Roses. He balanced the budget and reduced lavish spending. Tax collection was improved and the pound avoirduposis became the standard unit of weight. On the political front he secured an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor (through the marriage of his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon) and treaties with France and Scotland.

Henry was succeeded by his son Henry VIII in 1509 who had become the heir to the throne following the death of his older brother Arthur from tuberculosis.  It was Henry VIII’s reign that would represent a transition period in English history synonymous with the Reformation of the time.

Henry would change the English constitution, advance the divine Right of Kings and eventually instill the monarch’s power over the Church of England. He had many ministers (Thomas Wolsley, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer) and clashed  with each of them. He was also known for his six wives (Catherine of Aragon, Ann Boelyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr). Wives one and four he would divorce, two and five were executed, three died of complications giving birth to his successor Edward VI and number six outlived him.

Henry however did play a role in strengthening the Royal Navy (a future force in geo-politics) but unlike his father clashed with both France and Scotland. His forces defeated the French at Spurs (1513) and overseen by Catherine inflicted a blow against the Scots at Flodden (1513).

The break with the Papacy was a consequence of his intention to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. She had produced a daughter, Mary, but no male heir.  The Pope Clement VII refused (he was under pressure from Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, who was Catherines’s nephew). What would follow was a series of events that would lead to Henry’s break from the Catholic Church and the Establishment of the Church of England. These included the Submission of the Clergy (the church could no longer formulate policy without consent of the king), the Statute in Restraint of Appeals (forbade all appeals to Rome and the Pope) and the Act of Supremacy of 1534 (made the monarch the head of the Church of England). The Treason Act and a series of Acts of Monastic Dissolution would follow.

Henry (a one-time defender of the Catholic faith) had placed broken firmly with Rome. His daughter Mary, who was one of his successors, who attempt to roll back some of these changes but his other daughter Elizabeth would cement the Anglican Revolution building on her father’s radical change to steer England with conviction as a Protestant Power.

                                                                           Henry VIII