Religion under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I

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Consider the judgement that religious policies in England in the period 1529 – 1558 had essentially secular aims.

The dates 1529 and 1558 mark the fall of Wolsey and the death of Mary I respectively. The fall of Wolsey changed the direction of legislation and the way in which it was pursued with the introduction of Cromwell. The death of Mary made way for her Protestant sister, Elizabeth. The period between these two dates saw many changes to the nation’s religion and the way in which the public were instructed to worship and what they were to believe. While a monarch’s personal beliefs could naturally influence what legislation they enforced, other factors also played a part. Some policies could have economic motives if the Crown were to benefit financially from the legislation. Another time, a policy could be motivated by concern for political control over the Church. The aims of these types of policies are predominantly secular, while other policies of this period could have entirely religious aims.

The year of 1529 saw Wolsey replaced by Thomas Cromwell. Ultimately, Wolsey had been replaced because of his inability to secure Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Cromwell’s legislation secured a break from Rome and therefore the divorce. This was motivated by Henry’s own personal wish to be married to Anne Boleyn who may provide him with his longed for male heir. The break from Rome also satisfied Henry’s political aim to exert more control over the Church in England and in this way his own religious views could be more influential on doctrine and practice.

It was in 1531 that Henry was declared to be “Protector and only Supreme Head of the English Church as far as the law of Christ allows”. Henry was aiming to have ultimate power over the English Church with no papal intervention – the intervention that had earlier prevented him obtaining an annulment. Not only could Henry have been aiming for more religious control, but also for more political support as the elites resented the Pope’s power in England. This formal acceptance of Henry in this position was a political aim to ensure Henry’s supremacy and to ensure that the clergy also accepted his religious control.

The Restraint of Annates in 1532 had both economic and political aims. England could now ignore any punishment the pope tried to impose and on a more beneficial economic side, the clerical payments to Rome were ended. The crown could now benefit further from the Church and instead of being committed to Rome economically, the church in England was now economically committed to the crown as well as being politically committed under oath.

The monarch acted both for himself and for his people against clerical malpractice with the Commons Supplications Against the Ordinaries in 1532. This move had political aims in that it removed the control which the Church had previously held over the people of England. The move was not entirely selfish though, in that it went some way to appeasing the social unrest caused by the clerical malpractices of the day, such as absenteeism and pluralism.

In 1534 the Act of the First Fruits and Tenths, although affecting the clergy, had essentially economic aims. It was “an attempt to ensure regular and realistic taxation of the Church.” The additional income was another way in which the monarch could exert power over the Church, but the money ultimately helped against the effects of inflation.

The Act of Supremacy in 1534 was another Act influencing the Church that was essentially aiming to ensure that Henry’s supremacy was acknowledged. Denial of this was to be treated as treason. This ensured Henry political security above those who opposed him.

The Act of Submission to the Clergy had combined religious and political aims. Convocation was now only to assemble with royal permission. Thus Henry could be a part of the decision and Church laws needed the monarch’s approval. While Henry did have an interest in theology, it can be inferred that his main aim was political security and control, ensuring that the crown had ultimate control over the laws of the country.

In 1536, Henry had political, economic and religious factors in mind when he ordered the dissolution of the monasteries. The monasteries were not only a “temptation to men hungry for money” 2 but were also a physical embodiment of the religion of Rome. The destruction of these buildings removed images of Rome and the Pope’s most loyal supporters from England. Protestant writers had also been arguing that monasteries were unpopular. By removing the monasteries, Henry could aim to further remind his people of the control he held – the political power he could use to then control doctrine.

On a similar social level, preachers had to obtain a licence in order to preach. It was a more Protestant establishment, on the religious side. However, Henry had political aims in mind as the preachers would preach against the authority of Rome and for the King’s supremacy and marriage. This was not so much a move towards Protestantism – more a use of one element of a religion (preaching) to further consolidate adherence to the monarch’s supremacy over the church.

The Act of the Ten Articles was a definite move towards Protestantism. It can only be said that such a move had religious aims. As in the Lutheran confession, there was no mention made of four of the sacraments. With something so purely concerned with doctrine, it is difficult to see any other aims from such an Act.

Two years after the Ten Articles, in 1538, the Great Bible was printed in English. However, it was not to be read by “women or artificers, apprentices, journeymen, serving men of the degrees of yeomen or under, husbandmen nor labourers.” This was a great move towards Protestantism and made the country’s changing religion more accessible to the people of the country. Thereby making Henry’s changes a more definite part of his subject’s lives.

A year later, Act of Six Articles was passed. It had a certain religious aim: to reassure those worried about the forthright steps that had been taken towards Protestantism. The Act was concerned with doctrine and committed the Church of England to an orthodox position. Despite the concentration of the Act on religion, there was also a political aim to drive home Henry’s supremacy. Anyone denying the articles was to be burnt as a heretic.

When Edward VI came to the throne, the “superstitions” that displeased the radicals were removed from churches across the country. There were religious aims in heading towards Protestantism, however Somerset was not sufficiently interested in theology to be concerned in different interpretations of images or words and so on.

The 1547 Act for the Dissolution of the Chantries could been seen as having religious aims as the chantries were dissolved on the grounds that they were superstitious. However, promises to reallocate the money and so on were broken. It is very likely that there was a main economic aim behind the dissolution as the money taken from the chantries could be used by the crown to fund other areas such as foreign policy.

The First Act of Uniformity was passed two years later with the religious aim to clear up religious confusion. The new Prayer Book was also enforced by the Act. On a more political side, the Act went a long way to saying that religion was controlled by the monarch and Parliament rather than the monarch alone – Edwardian Protestantism was carried through by Statute. Should the Prayer Book and the changes in it have intended to have a great religious impact, they would have come up against the insensitivity of the laity to theological discussion – they placed “most emphasis on the radical change from Latin to English”.

The Treason Act that followed in 1552 combined a religious aim for doctrinal uniformity with the political intention to ensure that the country accepted the power of the monarch and his successors.

In the same year, the Second Act of Uniformity was passed. It again had religious motives for uniformity through ways such as making attendance at Sunday church services compulsory. However, it could be said that Northumberland had his own political aims in trying to further himself by giving the young king exactly what he wanted.

During the last year of Edward VI’s reign, the Act of Forty-Two Articles was passed. This had undoubtedly religious aims. Unlike the more ambiguous acts before it, this Act firmly pointed towards Protestantism, for instance by stating the Eucharist as consubstantiation.

With the accession of Mary I in 1553, England came under the rule of a devout Catholic. The First Statute of Repeal was passed in the year. As it repealed Edward’s religious legislation apart from the Chantries Act, it can be said to have religious aims. Mary also abandoned the title of Supreme Head. This also had religious motives as abandoning such a title would undoubtedly please Rome. It would also satisfy her own personal belief that Rome should be head of the Church.

The Second Statute of Repeal came in 1554. Religious aims were behind the restoration of the religious legislation of 1529. It was also decided that monastic lands should stay with their lay owners. This was decided upon social rather religious grounds as it would be simply impossible to return the lands and would cause a great deal of unrest among the landowners. This was motivated by a simply social aim to keep the peace.

As persecution of Protestants increased, in the last year of Mary’s reign, the death penalty was imposed for those found with heretical literature. Although Mary had the religious aim of a Catholic nation always in her head, behind this move lay aims for a strict compliance with her wishes. She hoped that harsh punishment like this would ensure her political security as the ruler of the nation and religious security in that the nation followed the monarch’s religion.

From the fall of Wolsey, through the reign of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, the people of England experienced many changes to the way in which they were instructed to worship. While many of the Acts passed changed an element of the nation’s religion, this was not necessarily what they solely aimed to do. While the dissolution of the chantries was a move towards Protestantism, by removing the Catholic ritual of saying mass for the dead, it also gave a great deal of money to the crown. Until Mary’s reign, when a more devout monarch was reigning, acts often had a more secular aim than at first was obvious. Economic gain or social rest was often the aim when passing a bill that altered another part of doctrine and so on as a balance between the wishes of Catholics and Protestants was being sought. Although in some cases, Acts passed were purely changes to doctrine, it can be said that religious policies between 1529 and 1558 mostly had secular aims, rather than concentrating exclusively on religion.

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