Opposition and Religious Backlash Flashcards
Why was there only feeble resistance before 1534 to the religious changes?
Many assumed that the break with Rome was only temporary, including the pope, until Henry resolved his marriage
Where did resistance come from within court?
From people like Sir Thomas More, who was the most high profile opponent of the royal divorce and changes in 1534. He replaced Wolsey for a brief period as chief minister after 1529 but had fallen from royal favour when he was reluctant to support Henry’s plan to marry Anne Boleyn. After the passage of the succession act he was required to swear an oath showing his acceptance of Mary’s illegitimacy, and More refused and was sent to the tower, and it seems that he thought that it would go against the Pope’s authority
How was Thomas More condemned?
He was sent to trial, and it was rigged by Cromwell, with Richard Rich, the head of the Court of Augmentations, alleging to have overheard More in prison saying that he did not accept Henry as the head of the church, leading to his execution
Who was John Fisher?
He was a highly placed member of the Catholic Church and he didn’t agree with the divorce and the changes in the church, and refused to take the oath. Fisher helped Catherine plan a defence and schooled her in canon law, along with producing 7 publications condemning the impending divorce and led those in the convocation who believed that Henry was legally married to Catherine, and secretly contacted Charles V to appeal to use force against Henry. He was sent to trial in 1535, and was found guilty of treason and executed
Who was Elizabeth Barton?
She was a nun in Kent, and was subjected to visions in her teens following an illness in 1525 and an apparently miraculous cure by the vision of the Virgin Mary. She had acquired local fame and was sent to a nunnery under the protection of Edward Bocking, a Canterbury monk. By 1528 her visions had been focused on the King’s marriage and she’d warned of disasters consequences if he abandoned his wife, and she said that the king would be dead within a month if he got the divorce
How did Elizabeth Barton fall?
By 1530 Bocking had developed visions into a wider campaign against changes in the church. Rumours deliberately circulated about miraculous interventions and Links were established with Exeter, Hussey and the Carthusian Monks in London. Cromwell acted and barton was arrested in September 1533, and after public humiliation at St Paul’s cross in London she confessed that her visions were false and she was executed in April 1534
What was the strongest clerical resistance to Henry?
It came from the monastic orders. Benedictines and Cistersians who owned monasteries were not widely active, but there were a great deal of individual monks who preached against the divorce, the supremacy and the new heresies that came with them
What was the reaction of the London Monks?
They were widely respected Monks of the Carthusian order, who had remained closer to the strict ideas of monasticism. In 1532-1533 they refused to accept the divorce and in 1534 they refused to agree to a declaration of authority against the pope. They were a more significant form of opposition and more organised. The government could not permit such defiance and after the passage of the Treason Act Carthusians were forced to submit, with the most reluctant being arrested and 18 being executed
What was resistance in the country like?
It was weak and minimal but 1536 riots in Lincolnshire quickly spread across the north - at the height of the rebellion they faced 40,000 pilgrims in arms. This was the most serious challenge to royal authority and was called the Pilgrimage of Grace
What caused the Pilgrimage of Grace?
In October 1536 in Lincolnshire it was caused by rumours that Cromwell’s commissioners planned to strip the parish church of its ornaments. 18 local gentry arrived on the 4th October to lead the rebellion, and they demanded broader reforms such as the dismissal of Cromwell and the release of the unpopular statute of Uses which had forced the gentry to pay a tax on inherited land
What happened to the Pilgrimage of Grace?
Rebels marched towards Lincoln to present their demands, joined by local monks. The Duke of Suffolk collected an army at Stanford ready to lead against the rebels, and Lincolnshire rebels dispersed rather than face the royal army. At the same time Robert Asks visited the rebels and travelled back to York collecting support along the way. Rebels moved from York where the seized the Castle of Pontefract and formulated their demands in the Pontefract Articles. Rebels then moved on to Doncaster where they had about 40,000 men, and they presented their petition to the Duke of Norfolk. Henry granted a general pardon and promised that parliament would consider their demands, leading to the dispersion of the rebels. A fresh rebellion in January 1537 gave Henry an excuse to arrest and execute rebel leaders including Robert Aske
What did Henry encourage after 1529?
He encouraged criticism of the Pope in the English clergy, and he allowed those who demanded reform to speak openly as it suited his purpose in pressuring the pope into granting his divorce, and in return he offered relief from persecution and the opportunity to change the future of the Church of England
What did Anne Boleyn do to influence Henry to put reformists into positions of power and influence within the church?
She drew Henry’s attention to the work of Tyndale against Robert Forman (a heretic in London)
What happened with Protestant converts by 1540?
Although they were no more than a tiny minority, they had risen to a sufficient number in some areas to alarm the authorities. Some adopted extreme views such as the denial of mass as anything other then a symbolic service, offending Henry’s catholic sympathies. He was reminded of events that had taken place in the German town of Munster in 1534-1535 where anabaptists with similarly extremist views had seized control and destroyed the rightful political authorities
What was the trial of John Lambert?
It took place in November 1538 and he was tried for heresy at a trial attended by the King himself. He was burnt with great cruelty in 1539 and his death was followed by the reimposition of key catholic doctrines in the Six Articles Act in the same year
