THE HENRICIAN REFORMATION 1509‑1547

 

                                                            Legislation in 1534

 

(1) Assess the significance of the Act of Succession. How did the Act of Supremacy and other parliamentary statutes of 1534 affect the church and the papacy in England?  (Nick)

(2) How important was the Treason Act of 1534?  (Paul)

 

            LP, VII 83, 121, 393.

            English Historical Documents, vol. v., pp. 741‑7 (clergy), 447‑52 (succession), 476‑9 (treason).

            Statutes of the Realm, iii. 460‑64 (annates), 471ff (succession), 492 (supremacy), 508‑9 (treason).

 

On the succession see M. Levine, Tudor Dynastic Problems 1460‑1571 (1972) and his 'Henry VIII's use of his spiritual and temporal jurisdictions', Historical Journal, x (1967).

 

On supremacy etc. see S.E. Lehmberg, 'Supremacy and vicegerency: a re‑examination', English Historical Review, lxxx (1966) and M. Bowker, 'The supremacy and the episcopate: the struggle for control, 1534‑1540', Historical Journal, xviii (1975).

 

On treason see G.R. Elton, Policy and Police (1972), esp. chs. 6‑9; J.G. Bellamy, The Tudor Law of Treason (1979): see important review by B. Bradshaw, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, xxxi (1980) pp. 361‑5; P. Williams, The Tudor Regime (1979).

 

On these subjects look also at S.E. Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament 1529‑1536 (1970); J.J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (1968); G.R. Elton, Reform and Reformation (1977).

 

C.S.L. Davies, 'The Cromwellian Decade: Authority and Consent', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th series, vii (1997), pp. 177-96 is excellent on the impact of these laws.

 

 

                                                                  Propaganda

 

(3) Assess Simon Fish, A Supplication for the beggars, printed by F.J. Furnivall and J.M. Cowper, Four Supplications 1529‑1533, Early English Text Society, extra series, xiii (1871), and is STC 10883 (reel 40), as an anti‑clerical diatribe; compare it with T. Lawler, G. Marc'hadour and R. Marius, eds., The Complete Works  of St Thomas More, vol. vi (i), The supplication of souls, (1990) (also available in microfilm: STC 18093 (reel 40) (dip into this).   (Richard)

 

(4) Assess two documents discussed by S.W. Haas, 'Martin Luther's "Divine Right" kingship and the royal supremacy: two tracts from the 1531 parliament and the convocation of the clergy', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, xxi (1980), pp. 317‑25, and R. Rex, 'The crisis of obedience: God's word and Henry's reformation', Historical Journal, xxxix (1996), pp. 863-94. The documents are printed in N. Pocock, ed., Records of the Reformation (2 vols., 1870), ii. 100-3 (LP, VII 1607 item 6) and briefly LP, V 1022).  (Becky)

 

(5) Assess  A glass of the truth, printed in N. Pocock, ed., Records of the Reformation (2 vols., 1870), ii. 385‑421 from STC 11918 (reel 67) or 11919 (reel 50), and The determination of the most famous and excellent universities of Italy and France, STC 14286 (reel 102) and 14287 (reel 54), as propaganda. On the development of Henry VIII's case in canon law, see V. Murphy, 'The Literature and Propaganda of Henry VIII's first divorce' in D. MacCulloch, ed., The Reign of Henry VIII (1995), pp. 135-58.  (Adam)

 

(6) How persuasive were defences of Catherine of Aragon's cause, e.g. Thomas Abel, Invicta Veritas? (dip into this: STC 61 (reel 20): cf. LP V 287. (Lucy)

 

(7) How effective are Articles devised by the  whole consent of the king's most honourable council, Pocock, Records of the Reformation, ii. 523‑31, and STC 9177 (reel 7), and A little treatise against the muttering of some papists in corners, Pocock, ii. 539‑52, and STC 19177 (reel 122) as propaganda? (Georgina)

  

(8) Assess Christopher St German, Treatise concerning the division between the spiritualitie and temporalitie, and compare it with The Apologye of Sir Thomas More, both printed in J.B. Trapp, ed., The Complete Works of St Thomas More, vol. ix. (Josephine)

 

(9) How successful are Stephen Gardiner's arguments in De vera  obedientia? (edited and translated by P. Janelle, Obedience in Church and State (1930)). (Adam)

 

 

On propaganda in general see G.R. Elton, Policy and Police (1972), ch. 4; J.K. McConica, English Humanists and Reformation  Politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI (1965); W.G. Zeeveld,  Foundations of Tudor Policy (1948); R. Rex, 'The crisis of obedience: God's word and Henry's reformation', Historical Journal, xxxix (1996), pp. 863-94.

 

More specific studies are S.W. Haas, 'Henry VIII's "Glass of Truth"', History, lxiv (1979), pp. 353‑62, and 'Martin Luther's "Divine Right" kingship and the royal supremacy: two tracts from the 1531 parliament and the convocation of the clergy', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, xxi (1980), pp. 317‑25; on Fish see W.A. Clebsch, England's earliest protestants (1964); comments about the divorce may be elucidated by H.A. Kelly, The Matrimonial Trials of Henry VIII (1976); on Catherine of Aragon see G. Mattingley, Catherine of Aragon (1942) and M. Dowling, 'Humanist support for Katherine of Aragon', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, lvii (1984); on Christopher St German see J.A. Guy, 'The Tudor Commonwealth: revising Thomas Cromwell', Historical Journal, xxiii (1980), pp. 681‑7, challenged by B. Bradshaw, Historical Journal, (1981/2); The Public Career of Sir Thomas More (1980), pp. 151‑56; Christopher St German on Chancery and Statute, Selden Society, supplementary series, vi (1985); cf. G.W. Bernard, 'Politics and Government in Tudor England', Historical Journal xxxi (1988), pp. 172‑76; on Gardiner see C.D.C. Armstrong's review in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, xliv (1993), pp. 309-11.