8 - Henry VIII, Government and Parliament - Mindmap in A Level and IB History

Created by: Becca Newman
Created on: 06-02-20 13:36

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Henry VIII, Government and Parliament
- Government in Henry VIII's early and middle years
  - Henry liked to have an overview of his government but let others do the work
    - Style of government therefore varied across the reign
    - Henry's concerns for a son caused a major overhaul between the Crown and Parliament
  - Before 1529 Henry only summoned Parliament 4 times
    - Henry regarded it in the same way as his father - 2 main functions for tax and laws
    - In the first part of his reign Parliament was used mainly to grant tax
      - Wolsey was reluctant to use Parliament
  - Cromwell exploited it's possibilities much more thoroughly
    - So in the 2nd half of his reign Parliament was used more
  - Governance via councils brokedown as Henry was impulsive + there were conservative councillors
    - Wolsey fixed this + provided effective government
  - Wolsey and the end of Government by councils
    - Conciliar approach to government was adopted but ended by 1514
      - Reluctance of Henry's fathers councillors for French war discouraged him from councils
      - Henry asserted his decision making role
      - Henry surrounded himself with like-minded young courtiers who confirmed his suspicions of the 'old guard'
      - Henry was impressed by Wlsey
    - Wolsey emerged as the dominant political figure
      - In his early years he could give the King exactly what he wanted
    - Wolsey complemented the King's 'hands-off' approach to ruling
      - Wolsey's main concerns were the Church, foreign policy, the legal system
  - The Privy Chamber
    - Before 1519 the privy Chamber was outside of Wolsey's control
    - It's role had been widened in Henry VIII's early years when the King's favourite young courtiers were invited in
      - These people distrusted Wolsey - he neutralised their influence
    - In 1519 Wolsey removed these 'minions' + replaced them with his supporters
      - Howeever most of the minions reclaimed their positions
- Domestic Policies under Wolsey
  - Court of Chancery
    - As Lord Chancellor Wolsey oversaw the legal system
    - The main court of equality in justce
    - He presided over this court + attempted to secure 'fair' justice
    - Dealt with enclosure, contracts, land left in wills
    - The court became popular + justice was slow because it was busy
  - Court of Star Chamber
    - Esytablished by Act of Parliament in 1487
      - Was an offshoot of the King's Council
        Became the centre of government and justice under Wolsey
    - He extended the Courts use in 1516 to increase cheap/fair justice
    - He encouraged the use of this court for private lawsuits
      - Wolsey had to set up 'overflow tribunals' because it became too popular
  - Finance
    - The 'Tudor Subsidy'
      - Tax payers were expected to provide extraordinary revenue
        Mostly achieved through raising subsidies
      - Wolsey made substantial change to how subsisdies were collected
        He set up a national committee which he headed
        Realistically assessed the wealth of taxpayers, the nation's revenue became more realistic
      - How he raised revenue for Henry's war in France
        But the amount was insufficient
        Led to the 1525 Amicable Grant which led to discontentment
    - The 1523 Subsidy and Parliament's resistance to Wolsey
      - Some historians believe Wolsey failed to manage Parliament well
        John Guy - Wolsey was 'arrogant and insensitive'
      - 1523 Parliament was called to grant the subsidy for French war
        This Parliament disliked Wolsey's financial demands
        He couldn't secure what he wanted
    - The Eltham Ordinances
      - Introduced by Wolsey in 1526 to reform the privy Council's finances
      - Whilst pretending to reduce royal household expenditure, Wolsey reduced the number of men in the privy Chamber
        He replaced Henry's groom of the stool (Sir William Compton) with the more compliant Henry Norris
- The Establishment of Royal Supremacy
  - The King's Great Matter
    - Mid 1520s Henry had no male heirs + Catherine could no longer produce children
      - He briefly considered legitimising his ******* Henry Fitzroy
    - He had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn (the niece of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk)
      - Anne refused to become his mistress
      - Henry ordered Wolsey to get him an annulment
    - The Book of Leviticus contained prohibition against a man marrying his brother's widow
      - Henry argued the papal dispensation was invalid
        Catherine claimed her and Arthur's marriage had never been consummated - rendered Henry's argument invalid
    - May 1527 Wolsey brought Henry in front of a fake court to accuse him of living in sin with his wife
      - Henry admitted to it, but Catherine refused to accept the Court's verdict + she appealed to the Pope
  - The Fall of Wolsey
    - After 2 years of pointless diplomacy between the Pope and Wolsey, the Pope sent an envoy to England
      - Cardinal Campeggio heard the case in June/July 1529
        Campeggio adjourned it at the end of July - sealing Wolsey's fate
    - Wolsey had already been unpopular for the 1523 subsidy + Amicable Grant
    - October 1529 he was charged with praemunire + surrendered himself + his possessions ot the King
      - He died at leicester Abbey on 19 Novermber without execution
- Domestic Policies under Cromwell (1532-40)
  - Government continued for 3 years after Wolsey's death without solving the 'King's Great Matter'
  - He had advanced his career under Wolsey + suggested that the King break from Rome to achieve his annulment
    - The King would make himself head of the English Church
  - By 1532 he was the King's chief minister
    - He dominated royal government to the annoyance of the Duke of Norfolk who hated his religious reforms
  - 1529-36 the 'Reformation Parliament' was in session
    - Parliament's role in government developed
  - The divorce from Catherine of Aragon + its impact on the Church
    - The divorce + the break from Rome were achieved through statute law which had supremacy over canon law
    - Exploiting weaknesses in the Church
      - RCC had weakened due to humanist criticisms of Colet and Erasmus
      - 1528 the Church's claims to legal supremacy had been challenged by lawyer Christopher St German
        He asserted superiority of English over canon law
      - Collectanea Satis Copiosa - collection of historical documents made by Cranmer and Foxe justifying the King's divorce
      - Henry received favourable opinions on his annulment from continental universities made More present them to Parliament
  - Pressuring the Pope
    - Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn
      - Ane Boleyn finally consented to sexual relations with Henry
        Gambled that becoming pregnant would force action
      - Archbishop of Canterbury (william Warham) died + was replaced by Cranmer
        He was more compliant to the Reformation
      - December 1522 Anne was pregnant + January 1523 the 2 married secretly
        The RCC said the marriage was invalid
      - May 1533 Henry + Catherine's marriage was annulled by Cranmer
        7 September Anne's child was born legitimately but it was Elizabeth, a girl
    - 1531 Clergy Collectively accused of praemunire + fined
      - Forced the clergy to acknowledge the King was 'Protector and Supreme head of the English Church'
    - 1532 Act in Conditional Restraint of Annates
      - Withheld the first year's income from the office of bishop which the papacy usually got
    - 1532 House of Commons Supplication against the Ordinaries
      - Increased anticlerical pressure within HofC
    - 1532 Formal Submission of the Cergy to Henry VIII
      - Provoked Thomas More's resignation as Lord Chancellor
  - Acts of Parliament (1533-34)
    - Cromwell passed measures to achieve the Break from Rome
      - April 1533 the Act in Restrant of Appeals
        The monarch possessed imperial jurisdiction, appeals couldn't be made to Rome on court decisions
        Meant Catherine couldn't appeal to the Pope
      - April 1534 The Act of Succession
        Henry's marriage to Catherine was voi; denying the validity of his marriage to Anne was treasonable
      - November 1534 Act of Supremacy
        Stated King was head of the English Church
      - November 1534 The Treason Act
        Treason could be committed by spoken word
      - November 1534 The Act Annexing First Fruits and Tenths to the Crown
        The Annates paid by a bishop went to the Crown
    - This use of statute strengthened Parliament as a law-making body
      - The dissolution of the monasteries (1536-42) confiscated church lands to the crown
  - The Fall of Anne Boleyn
    - Anne was seen as a reformist as she had been responsible for pushing the King in a Protestant direction
      - Cromwell felt threatened by Anne
    - He persuaded Henry Anne had cheated
      - 1536 Jan Catherine of Aragon died - made Anne more vulnerable
        19 May 1536 she was executed
        Cromwell felt threatened by Anne
  - The Fall of Thomas Cromwell
    - By 1540 his influence was declining
    - 1537 Jane Seymour died, and in 1540 Cromwell tried to reconcile Henry with the League of Schmalkalden
      - An organisation of German princes + free cities within HRE
        Arranged a marriage with Anne of Cleves
        Both were unhappy so the marriage was quickly annulled
    - Norfolk's niece Catherine Howard married the King
      - Cromwell was accused of treason + heresy at a council meeting by Norfolk + his followers
    - He was executed 28 July 1540

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8 - Henry VIII, Government and Parliament

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