Henry VIII religious historiography

Question 1

J.J Scarisbrick on religion

Answer 1

-Anticlericalism was a widespread feeling of dissatisfaction with the Church at a local level and a desire from laymen such as Thomas Cromwell to reform the English Church

Question 2

What did A.F Pollard believe about the reason for the reformation?

Answer 2

The reformation was an act of Henry’s own will. The divorce was the occasion and not the cause of the Reformation

Question 3

What did G.R Elton believe was the reason for the Reformation

Answer 3

It was Cromwell’s purpose to remake and renew the body politic of England

Question 4

What did A.G Dickens believe was the reason for the reformation

Answer 4

The state of the Catholic Church was so bad that Henry would have been unable to leave it unreformed

Question 5

What did Dickens think about that state of the church on the eve of the Reformation

Answer 5

Anticlericalism had reached a new virulence by the early years of the Sixteenth century

Question 6

What did Scarisbrick think about that state of the church on the eve of the Reformation

Answer 6

‘The English Church was in no worse condition, spiritually speaking, in 1529 than it had been a hundred years before

Question 7

What did Elton think about that state of the church on the eve of the Reformation

Answer 7

‘The state of the Church was widely believed to be rotten’

Question 8

What did Haigh think about that state of the church on the eve of the Reformation

Answer 8

‘The english people had not turned against their Church and there was no widespread yearning for reform’

Question 9

Knowledge for the Church in England in 1547 was little different from what it had been in the late 1520s

Answer 9

-Trial and execution of John Lambert for rejecting transubstantiation 1538
-Act of Six articles 1539
-The necessary doctrine and erudition of a christian man 1543
-Anne Askew burned for denying transubstantiation 1546
-Private beliefs see continuity
-Both Christianity at it’s core
-Act for the advancement of true religion 1543 (restricted access to English bibles to the upper classes)

Question 10

Knowledge against the Church in England in 1547 was little different from what it had been in the late 1520s

Answer 10

-1532 Submission of the Clergy
-1532 First act of Annates
-1534 Act to stop Peter’s pence
-1533 Act in restraint of appeals to Rome
-1534 Act of the submission of the clergy
-1536 Act for dissolution of the lesser monasteries
-1536 Act of 10 articles
-1537 Thomas Matthew published the Matthew bible
-1538 Henry excommunicated by Paul III
-1548 Chantries act passed