Henrician Reformation Turning Point
To what extent do you consider the Henrician Reformation (1529-40) as a religious turning point in the power and autonomy of the Church in the period 1485-1603?
In 1539 Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury was dragged to the top of Glastonbury Tor by Thomas Cromwell’s commissioners and beheaded. He had refused to surrender the abbey when the commissioners had arrived to dissolve it. The shocking brutality of his murder might be seen to highlight the newly inferior position of the English Church after the Henrician Reformation of 1529-36, and to suggest this really was a turning point in the power and autonomy of the church in the period 1485-1603. Several factors complicate this picture however and in fact there may have been …show more content…
It is important however to remember that the pope had never had much direct political power in England. He had no army and no proper tax base therefore he could not invade except through an alliance with secular allies. Indeed he blocked Henry 's dispensation to divorce Catherine of Aragon, but a king who was less worried about his soul and his wife’s nephew, the emperor, invading would probably just have ignored his commands. The king had also always had lots of power over the church. Political partnerships between kings, their bishops and abbots had always been a feature of the church, and this war true throughout the period 1485-1529. Henry VII enjoyed a very close relationship with the church through Cardinal John Morton, who was not only Archbishop of Canterbury but enjoyed secular power too as Lord Chancellor. Bishop Richard Foxe was also important to Henry Tudor and these senior figures of the clergy helped Henry develop his tax policies, while at the same time, Benefit of Clergy and other privileges of the church were untouched by the king. This close relationship between church and crown continued for the first twenty years of Henry CIII’s reign, as demonstrated by his long reliance and trust for Cardinal
In 1539 Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury was dragged to the top of Glastonbury Tor by Thomas Cromwell’s commissioners and beheaded. He had refused to surrender the abbey when the commissioners had arrived to dissolve it. The shocking brutality of his murder might be seen to highlight the newly inferior position of the English Church after the Henrician Reformation of 1529-36, and to suggest this really was a turning point in the power and autonomy of the church in the period 1485-1603. Several factors complicate this picture however and in fact there may have been …show more content…
It is important however to remember that the pope had never had much direct political power in England. He had no army and no proper tax base therefore he could not invade except through an alliance with secular allies. Indeed he blocked Henry 's dispensation to divorce Catherine of Aragon, but a king who was less worried about his soul and his wife’s nephew, the emperor, invading would probably just have ignored his commands. The king had also always had lots of power over the church. Political partnerships between kings, their bishops and abbots had always been a feature of the church, and this war true throughout the period 1485-1529. Henry VII enjoyed a very close relationship with the church through Cardinal John Morton, who was not only Archbishop of Canterbury but enjoyed secular power too as Lord Chancellor. Bishop Richard Foxe was also important to Henry Tudor and these senior figures of the clergy helped Henry develop his tax policies, while at the same time, Benefit of Clergy and other privileges of the church were untouched by the king. This close relationship between church and crown continued for the first twenty years of Henry CIII’s reign, as demonstrated by his long reliance and trust for Cardinal