A* Summary Religious Conflict and the Church in England C1529-C1570 -
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ALL notes for 2D religious conflict and change AQA a level history by A* Cambridge History and Spanish student (25 pages)
Covers whole course with notes made from textbook and other sources from the church in 1529, the reformation parliament, Henry VIII's religious changes, the Edwardian reform...
AQA A Level Religious Conflict and the Church in England 1529- 1570, Chapters 13-19
AQA A Level Religious Conflict and the Church in England 1529- 1570, Chapters 13-19
AS Notes from Religious Conflict and the Church 1529-1570
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RELIGIOUS CONFLICT AND
CHANGE 1529-1570
The Church in 1529 had many roles; spiritually it dictated the life of the laity through the seven
sacraments, Ten Commandments, enforcing the Roman Catholic doctrine and liturgy with beliefs in
purgatory, masses for the death, good work and indulgences in England’s 9000 parishes. Economically
12,000 priests and 10,000 monks and nuns provided economic stimulus as did the lay brothers
employed by monasteries that provided alms (2.5% of their income) welfare, doles of bread and
infirmaries. People could be saved through good works and indulgences and paid a tithe each year.
Abbots and bishops sat in the House of Lords, while Wolsey as papal legate, legatus a latere (act on
behalf on Pope in some matters) Archbishop of York, bishop, cardinal, chief advisor and Lord Chancellor
was an ‘alter rex’ whose son was made Dean of Wells and he built Hampton Court Palace. Principal
advisor from 1514. He shut 29 religious houses in the 1520s to found Cardinal College and burnt
Lutheran texts in 1521, when Henry and More wrote ‘In Defence of the Seven Sacraments’ and was
made defender of the Faith, after going on pilgrimage in 1511 and calling himself the ‘pope’s god son’ in
1515. Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were Humanists and were increasingly supportive of the move
to purify the Church. Henry became increasingly critical of the spiritual importance of Pilgrimages
following the death of Prince Henry and as a result of Humanist teaching. The nobility and clergy were
kin. Lay religious guilds allowed common people to pool money together so prayers were said for their
souls when they died and care for the poor living. The literate clergy helped the laity with legal
documents while doom paintings, incense and statues made Churches centers of communities. The
monarchy and church had a symbiotic relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury coronating the
monarch, while the Church taught the Great Chain of Being and controlled behaviour, whilst it was
ultimately obedient to the Pope.
,Absenteeism, nepotism, pluralism and simony were rife, only one third of London’s ordinals were
university graduates. Richard Hunne died in church custody in 1514 after refusing to pay his son’s
mortuary fee. The benefit of the clergy allowed them to be tried under canon law - they could save
themselves with a neck verse. Many complaints against the Church were being voiced in Parliament,
especially by London MPs. The case of Richard Hunne was used to try to challenge and to limit the
power of the Church courts. People could be tried in church courts for non-attendance or breaking a
commandment or executed for heresy. The printing press enabled the publication and circulation of
anti-clerical tracts criticizing the behaviour of priests. London parishes, the southeast and East Anglia, in
particular, were affected by the new learning. The Humanist influence on the Church suggested that
change could be managed within the Church rather than imposing an external challenge. Will evidence
and investment in the Church demonstrates considerable support for the Church. The Church was not
under significant threat in 1529, although there was criticism and pressure for change. The role of Henry
VIII was pivotal in maintaining the authority and position of the Catholic Church in his kingdom. The
Church sent Rome £4500 a year in taxes. 57% of money in Devon and Cornish wills went to religious
guilds 1520-9.
Canterbury Tales was one of the most popular books of the 1520s and included criticisms of the church.
Lollardy began in the fourteenth century when John Wycliffe called for a vernacular Bible,
predestination and an end to pilgrimages and good works, but failed to gain noble support as a secretive
fringe group of wealthy southeastern merchants, but its influence survived. Erasmus was in Cambridge
from 1511 to 1514 and laid the egg Luther hatched. Colet’s (Dean of St. Paul’s) convocation sermon
called for reform in 1512, with rectifying errors of translation, ending superstition and pilgrimages,
whilst reforming church practices not beliefs. More was a Humanist and Lord Chancellor from 1529 to
1532; humanism was popular and tolerated for its moderation unlike Lutherans - More burnt six.
Thomas More was influential in shaping the minds of courtiers and politicians, through his writings and
debate. He advocated a return to the primary texts. Although the Humanists were influential at court
and in the universities, much of the demand for change came from further down the social order. Luther
called for sola fide sola scripture, no Pope, good works or pilgrimages in his 95 Theses of 1517. The
White Horse Tavern group discussed Lutheranism. The demands of others, such as those influenced by
Lollardy, and London merchants whose views were shaped by continental religion, were regarded as
dangerous and subversive.
The Break with Rome was motivated by the ‘King’s Great Matter’ to annul his marriage to
Catherine of Aragon whose last pregnancy was in 1518 before she was unable to have any more children
in 1524, a year before Henry Fitzroy was made Duke of Richmond. The Sack of Rome of 1527 (when the
French questioned Mary’s legitimacy) was followed by the failure of the Blackfriars trial of 1529 and
Wolsey’s fall and charge of praemunire. Henry favored Leviticus over Deuteronomy, believing
Catherine’s stillbirths to be divine punishment for marrying Arthur’s widow. The Tudors as usurpers
were threatened by the White Rose Party whilst there was no precedent for female succession due to
Matilda’s failure in 1135. Henry sent the young, attractive, fertile Anne Boleyn (whose uncle was the
Duke of Norfolk) 17 handwritten love letters. The 1533 Act in Restraint of Appeals meant Catherine was
unable to appeal her case (strengthened by her popularity as regent in 1513 and support of the
Aragonese faction) outside of England, so Cranmer could marry Anne to Henry and coronate her.
, Tyndale’s New Testament translated charity to love in 1526 before his Obedience of a Christian Man of
1528 called for royal supremacy, and one King one law. Anne gave Henry a copy who said this is for me
and all Kings to read. Fish’s 1529 Supplication against the Beggars was a banned text that provided
religious justification for the break. Cranmer’s Collectea Satis Capiosa provided legal justification. The
1529-30 charge of Praemunire against the clergy accused them of recognizing Wolsey as Papal Legate
and therefore the Pope over Henry - it was dropped for a £100,000 fine. The 1532 Supplication against
the Ordinaries listed clerical abuses and legal powers, before the 1532 Submission of the Clergy
removed the Church’s ancient independence and right to pass new canon law without the King, making
him the Supreme Head as far as Christ’s law allows. The 1533 Act in Restraint of Appeals made appealing
outside of England praemunire, allowing Cranmer to annul Henry's marriage and marry him to Anne
Boleyn - the realm was now an ‘empire’.
The 1534 Oath of Succession and Treasons Act legitimized Anne’s future children. The 1534 Act and
Oath of Supremacy made Henry the Supreme Head.
The 1532 Act in Restraint of Annates allowed only 5% of the usual one third of senior clergy’s income to
go to Rome, used as a bargaining tool and not enacted immediately. The 1534 restraint of First Fruits
and Tenths increased Crown income by 40%, needed after the French wars of 1513 and 1522 and the
failure of the 1525 amicable grant. The 1534 Act forbidding Papal Dispensation and Peter’s Pence
transferred cases at £4 each to the archbishop.
Elizabeth Barton prophesized against the King and was executed in 1534, a year before More, Fisher,
and the Franciscan and Carthusian monks were executed in 1535. More resigned in 1532 before refusing
to swear on the Oath of Supremacy, as did Bishop Fisher who supported Catherine at Blackfriars.
In 1532 Henry and Anne travelled to meet Francis I with his support. In 1536 the Church had lost its
independence but regained its episcopal structure and traditional beliefs. The second act of succession
illegitimated Elizabeth. Cranmer became ABC in 1533.
Henry’s religious changes 1536-1547 included the Dissolution of Monasteries from 1536 to
1539, removing 800 monasteries and 12,000 monks and nuns. Cromwell as Vice-Gerent-in-Spirituals
ordered the Valor Ecclesiasticus (2.5% on alms), Visitations, and the Comperta Monastica which
bemoaned the sinful and abominable living. The Court of Augmentations rose £1.25 million and caused
a revolution in land ownership, creating many new landowners and buying nobles’ support. Around one
in 50 adult men were in religious orders. Henry exempted some of the lesser monasteries for
exceptionable qualities. The monasteries were vestiges of Roman Catholicism, possibly still loyal to
Rome while abbots and bishops sat in the House of Lords. Some educated monks became priest in the
new Church, while many nuns were left unemployed, and the poor lost the alms, welfare and
infirmaries. Roche Abbey in Rotherham was looted. Following 1538 Treaty of Nice, Henry feared an
invasion to restore England to the Catholic fold. The coastal defenses needed to be rebuilt to withstand
such an attack. Henry wanted to remain powerful in Europe, secure the Tudor dynasty, keep trade with
Antwerp and gain control in France. Thomas Cromwell promised that the dissolution would provide
Henry with a war chest. This would enable him to invade France and to establish his position as a
chivalric equal to the European princes. Henry and Cromwell were aware of the financial benefits which
Wolsey had gained from the dissolution of monasteries in the 1520s. Cromwell wished to use the wealth
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