Lesson 3: Without Male Heir. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

The English Reformation.

This segment aims to provide students with a better understanding of the Tudor reformation.

Duffy tells – in his Voices of Morebath – how in 1560 a son asked his father:

whether he thought well of religious persons and the religion that was then used. When he replied that he had indeed thought well of the monks, having had no occasion to think otherwise, his son asked ‘then how came it to pass you was so ready to destroy and spoil the thing you thought well of? What could I do, said He: might I not as well as others have some profit of the Spoil of the Abbey? For I did see all would away, and therefore I did as others did.’(1)

How little people change over time! But – besides human nature – there are other ways of change, and there is no denying that the English Reformation – probably the biggest ‘about face’ in English history – changed the face and fabric of England for all time. In less than thirty years, the country went from stoutly catholic to embracing the protestant faith.

But England had other reasons, other than just political and religious, for jumping on the reformation bandwagon now sweeping across the continent. England’s King desperately wanted to marry the woman he loved, and have another chance at siring England's prince. After years of frustration, Henry had given up trying to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon through catholic channels.

Unfortunately for Henry, his time of marital woes had come at a time of great upheaval for the papacy. 1527 had seen the sacking of Rome by the armies of Charles V, with the result that the pope was now in the power of Catherine of Aragon’s nephew.

Very soon after that, bold strokes began in England that cut the ties between the country and the papacy. Acts of parliament switched the powerbase from Rome over to England, and Cardinal Wolsey – virtually the king behind the king for so many years – looked certain to end his life on the block. When death by more natural means intervened first, Wolsey said on his deathbed:

If I had served God as diligently as I have done my King, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs. (2)

For English Catholics, their feelings during this time can only be imaginable. To see their country move so rapidly from centuries of catholic faith with all its tradition and ritual must have been simply heart-breaking.

Men such as Fisher and Sir Thomas More chose death rather than agree that the pope no longer possessed any power in England, its King now the absolute head of church and state. These were men who would have agreed that the Papacy needed a clean sweep, but within a catholic framework – and not by rejecting the ‘mother church.’

Marrying Anne and refusing to put her aside navigated England into dangerous waters. The pope threatened to excommunicate Henry VIII. If this came in force, it opened the door to the possibility of a catholic monarch waging war to conquer England, with the pope's blessing.

By the closing years of his reign, Henry himself was uncomfortable with all the changes, and attempted to close the stopper on the genie that had had ramifications beyond his imaginings. Henry VIII – despite setting his country on the road to Protestantism – never stopped being a Catholic, and would have passionately hated what happened in his son's reign. But Catholic or not, when the papacy couldn’t dissolve his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry decided to go his own way.

(1) E. Duffy; The Voices of Morebath ; 2001; page 91
(2) Alison Weir; Henry VIII, King and Court; page 313

References: The wives of Henry VIII, by Antonia Fraser. Although more than just one book will be referred to during this course, The wives of Henry VIII is the main reference 'text.' Written in a very readable manner, this book is a very sensitive account of the six women who became the consorts of Bluff King Hal. Antonia Fraser's research is always excellent.

Please note my edition (published in Australia) is called Henry VIII and his Wives

In Henry VIII, the King and the Court - a wonderfully researched book - Alison Weir brings alive Henry VIII in all his glory and his magnificent court, not fearing a bit of controversy along the way. This is a must read for people interested in the period.

Voices of Morebath: the lives of ordinary folk who lived through extraordinary times. Reviewed at Tudor England

Question:

Without Anne Boleyn, do you think the English reformation would have happened? Play Quiz: Anne Boleyn now!

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