Download Religious developments 1536-c. 1541

The impact of the
Reformation on church
and religion, 1535-c.1541
How far did the church in England move away from
the Catholic church in these years?
How far was religious policy driven by Henry or by
his advisers?
The debate
• Most commentators see the religious changes instigated by the
Reformation Parliament and continued into the 1540s as evidence of
the influence of faction over Henry.
• The period between 1535 and 1538 sees the protestant faction, with
Thomas Cromwell as its leader, hold sway. This explains the
apparent ‘protestant’ nature of the Act of Ten Articles, the Bishops
Book and the Injunctions of 1536 and 1538. The Anne of Cleves
marriage sees the fall of this group and of Cromwell who is executed
in 1540.
• The period between 1539 and 1543, on the other hand, sees the
ascendency of the ‘catholic’ faction under the arch-conservatives
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk and Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester. It is their ascendency that explains the burning of John
Lambert in 1538, the Act of Six Articles of 1539, the publication of the
King’s Book in 1543, and the burning of Anne Askew in 1546 for
denying the real presence.
• It is the presence and importance of faction that explains the confusion
in the last six years of Henry’s reign, where on the one hand he
supports prayers for the dead, and on the other he launches an attack
on chantries.
George W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation
•
By contrast, George Bernard argues that the
religious policy was consistently that of Henry
himself, rather than a product of different influences
of conservative and reforming factions.
•
In Bernard’s view, Henry harnessed the rhetoric of
Lutheran and Erasmian reform in the interests of
achieving the Royal Supremacy, but religiously he
remained a conservative throughout, and sought to
steer a ‘middle path’ between Rome on the one
hand and Wittenberg on the other.
The Act of Ten Articles
•
One view of the Act of Ten Articles as about foreign policy - to see this statement of Christian
Orthodoxy within the post-papal English church as emerging because of the prospect of an
alliance with the Schmalkaldic League - the protestant German princes opposed to the
emperor Charles V. In the event, conservative Henry was not willing to adopt the more
radical views of the German princes.
•
From Bernard’s point of view, it makes more sense to see the Act of Ten Articles as a
response to worries about extremism and an attempt to find a ‘middle path’ between the more
radically minded bishops who had supported Henry’s claim to the Royal Supremacy and the
more conservative bishops who had acquiesced but whose theological views were in fact
closer to Henry’s own.
•
The Act of Ten Articles therefore reflects the challenge of combining the views of
conservative bishops that were closer to Henry’s own views with those of the
more radical bishops that had supported the Royal Supremacy but who were
more Lutheran or Zwinglian in persuasion.
•
There was therefore much that was ambiguous, even contradictory in the Ten
Articles, in matters of justification by faith alone, purgatory, mass, the
sacraments.
•
The Act was not passed in parliament but only through Convocation, so did not have the
force of law. The Ten Articles should rather be seen as a fairly rushed ‘interim’ statement in
which difficult issues are avoided.
Act of Ten Articles (1536)
We have always esteemed and thought… that it most
chiefly belongeth unto our said charge diligently and
foresee and cause, that not only the most holy word
and commandments of God should most sincerely be
believed, and most reverently be observed and kept of
our subjects but also that unity and concord in opinion,
namely in such things as doth concern our religion
may increase and go forthward, and all occasion of
dissent and discord touching the same be reversed
and utterly extinguished.
Transubstantiation, purgatory
•
The discussion of the sacrament of the altar, transubstantiation not mentioned - but as
Elton points out, the bishops ‘effectively endorsed the doctrine of transubstantiation
without saying so explicitly.’ In the ceremony of the mass, it declared, Christ’s body and
blood were actually present ‘substantially’.
•
The article on purgatory rejects ‘popish purgatory’, rejecting the idea that masses might
deliver souls to heaven, but nonetheless declared that prayers and masses for the
departed were beneficial.
•
This was a departure from current practice, but also a long way from its complete
rejection.
•
William Barlow - new bishop of St David’s - and sympathetic to reform records that the
discussion of purgatory was earnest and debated. They could find no explicit justification
for it except in an apocrvaphyl passage in 2 Maccabees (21:40-5) that seemed to allow
praying for the dead. The place to where souls departed ‘be to us uncertain by scripture’,
but prayers for the dead are still ‘a very good and charitable deed.’
•
The bishops concluded that no one should be grieved by the continuation of such
prayers, but that it was much necessary that ‘such abuses be clearly put away under
which the name of purgatory hath been advanced, as to make men believe that thorough
the bishop of Rome’s pardons, souls might clearly be delivered of purgatory…’
Articles on penance and justification
•
The statement on penance at first declares that justification proceeds ‘not
for the worthiness of any merit or work done by the penitent, but only for
the merits of the blood and passion of our saviour Jesu Christ’ - statement
that seems to endorse a Lutheran position of justification by faith alone.
•
Yet the article went on to state that also necessary were Christ’s words,
grace and favour, continued in his gospel and the sacraments, confession
to a priest to attain certain faith…
•
The article contained a whole series of retreats from the bold principle of
justification by faith alone including: ‘These precepts and works of charity
be necessary works to our salvation; by penance and and such good
works… we shall not only obtain everlasting life, but we shall deserve
remission or mitigation of these present pains and afflictions in this world.’
•
The article concerning justification declared that it was attained ‘by
contrition and faith joined with charity’. God requires us ‘after we be
justified (only by the merits of Christ’s blood and passion) we must also
have good works of charity.’
Ambiguities and tensions…
•
On 12th July, Henry required bishops to order parish priests to pray ‘for
the souls that be departed, abiding the mercy of almighty God, that it may
please him the rather at the contemplation of our prayers to grant them
the fruition of his presence.’
•
In return for exempting Oxford and Cambridge colleges from new general
clerical taxation, he required them to hold twice-yearly masses in
perpetuity for himself and his family.
•
Yet during the summer months, act suppressing the smaller monasteries
was implemented.
•
Thomas Starkey, scholar and would-be councillor to the king thought it
certain that many would judge the suppression ‘to be against the order of
charity, and injurious to them that be dead… and the souls departed seem
thereby to be defrauded….’
•
Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, wrote - ‘the founding of monasteries
argued purgatory to be; so the the pulling of them down argueth it not to
be. What uncharitableness and cruelness seemeth it to be to destroy
monasteries if purgatory be.’
Images and ceremonies
•
Once again the attitude was not to break completely with the past, but to curb its excesses.
Ceremonies were defended as good in principle, yet many abuses that characterised
current practice were condemned.
•
Images were defended. They were ‘representers of virtue and good example… the kindlers
and stirrers of men’s minds’.
•
‘All other like laudable customs, rites, and ceremonies be not to be contemned and cast
away, but to be used and continued as things good and laudable, to put us in remembrance
of those spiritual things that they do signify,… renewing them in our memories from time to
time…. none of these have power to remit sin, but only to stir and lift up our minds unto God,
by whom only our sins can be forgiven.’
•
Ceremonies were therefore endorsed as having a didactic and symbolic rather than a
sacramental function. Holy water, candles at Candlemas, ashes on Ash Wednesday, palms
on Palm Sunday, and the veneration of the crucifix and the consecrated host were all
intended ‘to put us in remembrance for those spiritual things that they do signify.’
•
There is a sense in which all of this is not so different from what many late medieval
churchmen would have believed, but what is lost is the emotional tone of late medieval
piety.
The Sacraments
•
There was a similar ambiguity in the presentation of just three of the sacraments as
commanded expressly by God and necessary to salvation - baptism, penance and the
sacrament of the altar.
•
This could be seen as a step on the way to am ore full-blooded protestant reform -
•
Rex and Haigh point out that this does not need to be interpreted as radical, however. As
Bernard argues it could be seen as ‘adiaphoristic’ - a position that says that while certain
beliefs are essential other beliefs and practices may be useful, making their precise details
‘indifferent’
•
The three sacraments that are mentioned are explained in a largely orthodox way, and the
other four sacraments were not explicitly rejected. It seems unlikely that either Henry or his
more conservative bishops would have surrendered four sacraments.
•
Henry had assembled the prelates in Convocation ‘to set forth plainly sincerely and purely as
many of the said sacraments as the time that they might then conveniently tarry together
would give them leave substantially to entreat of.’
•
To counter seditious talk, the king had the prelates assemble again to have the other four
sacraments added.
•
The difficulty with the Act of Ten Articles was that it provided so much scope for being
hijacked by either conservatives or radicals who might attack abuses either in the hope of
conserving purified practice or to radicals who saw within them the opportunity for complete
abolition.
Injunctions to the Clergy (August, 1536)
• These
were essentially an elaboration of the Ten Articles. They were intended to
enforce the ‘certain articles… lately devised and put forth by the King’s Authority’.
They required the clergy to expound the Ten Articles in sermons;
• The
injunctions forbade sermons about images, relics and miracles, reflecting a
concern that preaching on controversial topics would lead to disorder. Instead,
parishioners were to be urged to apply themselves ‘to the keeping of God’s
commandments and fulfilling of his works of charity.’ The clergy were to ‘persuade
them that it doth conduce more toward their souls’ health if they do give that to the
poor and needy that they thought to bestow upon the said images or relics.’
• Henry
had published a proclamation as supreme head that the feast of the saints to
whom a church was dedicated should in future be kept on the first Sunday in October
and not on the traditional saint’s day, and this was reiterated in the injunctions, as was
discouragement from pilgrimage.
• None
of this was intended to mean a step towards the extremes of Wittenberg or
Zurich, but in the contexts of the dissolution for the smaller monasteries in the
summer and autumn of 1536 this is undoubtedly how it may have appeared to many.
• Holy
days and pilgrimages were part of the life of all English men and women: more
than any measures taken until now this would affect everyone directly.
• Rectors
were also commanded to provide Bibles in English and Latin for for people to
read in church but this article was largely ignored.
The Institution of a Christian Man or
The Bishop’s Book (1537)
•
During the Autumn of 1536, Cromwell had called together a
number of bishops to resolve a range of doctrinal and liturgical
issues and to determine canon law.
•
The Bishops’ Book was more Lutheran in its views. Salvation by
faith was emphasised and there was no mention of
transubstantiation. However, the four sacraments omitted from
the Ten Articles (confirmation, marriage, holy orders and last
rites) are found here, but are given less importance than
Baptism, Confession and Holy Communion).
•
It lacked royal approval. When Henry did examine it, he sent
Cranmer 250 changes whose main thrust would ensure that
‘good works’ and not just faith played a part in salvation.
Cromwell’s Injunctions of September 1538
•
Once again the prospect of forming an alliance with the Schmalkaldic league
emerged and Cromwell issued a second set of Injunctions - perhaps more radical
than the first.
•
Now images that were the object of pilgrimage were to be taken down. Candles
before images were forbidden and sermons were to be preached against the
veneration of images and relics. This reflected the context of the attacks being
made against the monasteries. In February 1538 the Rood of Grace from Boxley
Abbey was destroyed at St Paul’s Cross in London and in July, images of the
virgin from Waslingham and Ipswich were burnt.
•
Cromwell campaigned against superstition, pilgrimage and in particular, pilgrimage
to the shrine of St Thomas Becket - the saint who had stood up to Henry II’s
attempts to take control of the church in England. In the light of the Royal
Supremacy, Thomas Becket could hardly be celebrated.
•
The most significant aspect of the injunctions of 1538 was that this time Cromwell
was more serious about placing a bible in every church in England. The result
was the so-called ‘Great Bible’.
An English Bible
•
The 1538 Injunctions made a more determined effort to
introduce an English Bible in to every parish in the land.
•
Cromwell commissioned Miles Coverdale to produce a
Great Bible. However, the printing in Paris (not London)
was delayed… and when the bibles did appear, the
reformers’ influence over the king was beginning to
crumble (Pendrill).
•
The Frontispiece gave expression to the idea of Royal
Supremacy, for it presented Henry as second only to God,
flanked by Cranmer and Cromwell, handing down the word
of God to the faithful.
•
Whereas Lutherans had emphasised
Christian liberty and faith alone as the
basis of salvation, the essence of the
Henrician Reformation was that of
obedience to the Word of God, which for
Henry, meant obedience to the king (an
idea expressed in Stephen Gardiner’s
work ‘On True Obedience’ of 1535).
•
The idea would later receive embodiment
in the title page on the chained bibles that
were distributed to every Church in
England in 1539, which showed Henry
handing down the ‘verbo dei’ to the
archbishops who then passed it on to
their bishops and then down to the flock.
•
In 1543, Henry would restrict access to
the Bible on the basis of wealth.
Haec me constitutum est decretum ut in universo imperio et regno
meo tremiscant et pareant deum This has been decreed so that everyone in my entire kingdom
and empire might fear and obey the living God.
1538 – a year of crisis?
•
For most historians, the events of the years 1539-41 reflect the ascendency of
the conservative, catholic faction at court, led by Thomas Howard, the Duke of
Norfolk, Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, Stephen Gardiner, the Bishop
of Winchester, and the Bishop of Durham Cuthbert Tunstall.
•
The event that focussed Henry’s attention was the ten year truce signed
between Charles V and Francis I at Nice on June 18th, followed by further
peace talks on July 15th at Aigues-Mortes in the presence of the pope, where
they declared war on all schismatics.
•
Finally, on December 17th, 1538, Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry and
called for the ‘most cruel and abominable tyrant’ to be deposed. The
excommunication was accompanied by the withdrawal of Imperial and French
ambassadors from London.
•
The threat was perhaps intensified by the presence of Reginald Pole at the
papal court, made cardinal in 1536, and with a claim to the throne not
dissimilar to Henry’s own. The Pole family were descended from the younger
brother of Edward IV and Richard III, Duke Clarence.
•
At the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace there had been rumours of a Catholic
crusade to oust Henry; now such a crusade appeared to become a reality.
Henry’s Response
Henry’s policy for avoiding invasion by a joint imperial-French army authorized by the
pope was multi-layered. It included:
•
Strengthening physical defences;
•
At this point Henry did a great deal to develop the navy. In 1539 there was 120
ships at the mouth of the Thames and a further 30 in Portsmouth – a considerable
increase on the 5 ships Henry had inherited from his father. In addition, Henry
ordered the modernisation of all coastal defences along the south coast, using
materials from nearby monasteries to effect repairs.
•
The destruction of the ‘Pole’ family in England – the extermination of the white
rose…
•
Arranged by Thomas Cromwell – the so-called ‘Exeter conspiracy’, which had
come to light earlier in the year, was really a figment of Henry’s imagination,
planted there by Cromwell, but perhaps best understood as a means of plucking
the last white rose at a sensitive time. It brought down Henry Pole, Lord Montague
and Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, another of Henry’s cousins, both of whom
were executed in December 1538.
•
Strengthening his claims to orthodoxy – thereby undermining the papal
condemnation, by prosecuting heresy and issuing a statement of orthodoxy.
•
Making an alliance with Charles V’s enemies in Germany.
•
This was the purpose of the marriage of Anne of Cleves arranged by Thomas
Cromwell
Strengthening claims to orthodoxy, 1538-9
In the meantime, Henry appears to have wanted to bolster his credentials as an
orthodox Christian ruler. In this sense, the crisis of 1538 can be seen as the turning
point in the fortunes of the conservative faction at court.
•
•
One way Henry could demonstrate his catholic credentials was through the
pursuit of heresy.
•
John Lambert had been a member of the White Horse Tavern discussion
group – nicknamed ‘Little Germany’ – and which included Edward Foxe,
Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Robert Barnes and (perhaps surprisingly) the
arch-conservative Stephen Gardiner.
•
He had survived accusations of heresy under Warham in 1531 and again by the Duke of
Norfolk in 1536, but his denial of the real presence in 1538 led to him being burnt on 22nd
November 1538.
•
On the day of his execution, Henry issued a royal proclamation that upheld the ‘real
presence’, clerical celibacy and forbade heretical literature.
Henry summoned parliament in 1539 to consider a new doctrinal statement. This
time, it was passed by parliament so had the force of law, but its intended
audience was not merely domestic but also foreign and was intended to show that
despite his break with Rome, Henry was still essentially Catholic.
The Act of Six Articles of 1539
•
The Act made it a crime to deny the orthodoxy of:
•
Transubstantiation
•
communion in one kind (wafer not wine)
•
Masses for the dead
•
auricular confession
•
clerical celibacy
•
vows of chastity
•
Denying the first of these was punishable by burning, and the
others punishable by hanging or life imprisonment.
•
As a result of this Act, two of the more radical bishops resigned
their posts - Hugh Latimer (bishop of Worcester) and Nicholas
Shaxton (Bishop of Salisbury).
The fall of Cromwell
1540 also saw the fall of Cromwell, ostensibly because he was suspected of
sacramentalism (i.e. denying the real presence), but because of the conspiring
of Howard and Gardiner against his protestant influence.
In this view, Norfolk used his niece, Catherine Howard, to strengthen his
influence over the King at a point where Cromwell had damaged his standing
with the king through the debacle over the Cleves marriage.
George Bernard, in The King’s Reformation, sees Cromwell’s downfall as less
about Cromwell’s protestantism than about strengthening Henry’s claims as a
Catholic monarch – and impressing Charles V and Francis I.
•
One of Cromwell’s religious allies, Robert Barnes, who had been involved in
the negotiations over the Cleves marriage, had preached in favour of
justification by faint in response to Stephen Gardiner’s recent sermon
campaigns The result was that he and two other heretics, Jerome and
Garrett (all former members of the White Horse Tavern group) were sent to
the tower.
•
Cromwell was executed on 28th June 1540 and Barnes, Jerome and Garrett
were executed two days later.
•
•
‘The Church of England moved significantly away from the
Catholic Church in the years between 1535 and 1541’
On the one hand, Henry moved the Church in England away from the Catholic church
•
Ecclesiologically, Henry separated the church in England from Rome through a series of
legislative measures, including Acts in Restraint of Appeals, of Supremacy and in
Extinguishing the Power of the Bishop of Rome.
•
The Dissolution together with the Dispensations Act, the Act of First Fruits and Tenths
meant that the monies of the church were absorbed by the state.
•
The belief that was central to traditional religious practice – purgatory – though never
explicitly denied was dealt a hammer blow by the Dissolution of the Monasteries and
attacks on pilgrimage and images.
•
The Act of Ten Articles only discusses 3 sacraments and offers some emphasis upon
justification by faith.
•
Cromwell’s Injunctions of 1536 an 1538 challenged traditional practices surrounding
images and shrines and above all emphasised the authority of the Bible which was placed
in translation in every church in England.
On the other hand, theologically, the Henrician Reformation was consistently conservative.
•
Transubstantiation was upheld in all but name in the Act of Ten Articles and then explicitly
in the Act of Six Articles. All Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church were upheld
throughout the period 1535-1540.
•
The Act of Six Articles of 1539 defended traditional practices such as auricular confession,
communion in one kind, clerical celibacy and vows of chastity, all of which ran counter to
Lutheran practice.
•
In 1539 Henry executed John Lambert and in 1540 Thomas Cromwell together with former
members of the White Horse Tavern discussion group, for denying the real presence or
upholding justification by faith.
Conclusion
Radical in an ecclesiological terms, the Reformation in England was
theologically conservative. The ‘middle path’ argued by Bernard is broadly
consistent with the evidence and would appear to reflect Henry’s position,
indicated by his defence of the seven sacraments against Luther in 1520.
The Royal Supremacy brought about a fundamental break with Rome, and
was concerned to reform existing practice rather than to change
fundamental principles. If justification by faith was the essence of
Lutheranism, then obedience to the word of God and to the king – was the
hallmark of the Henrician Reformation. In doctrinal terms, the Church in
England did not move far from Rome on key doctrines such as justification
and transubstantiation. Purgatory was never explicitly denied, nor was
justification by faith explicitly adopted. The 1536 Act of Ten Articles only
discussed three sacraments but the remaining four were not removed. The
Act of Six Articles in 1539 discussed all seven, and traditional practices
rejected by Lutherans were officially endorsed – including auricular
confession, clerical celibacy, masses for the dead and communion in one
kind. There does appear to have been some development of views on
images and the placement of the vernacular bible, perhaps reflecting
changing circumstances of the Pilgrimage of Grace and the Dissolution of
the Monasteries, but the underlying sentiments – calling for obedience, unity
and reform of existing practice – were nonetheless consistent. The
appearance of change reflects the willingness of government to harness the
rhetoric of radical reform, but not necessarily its substance.
Historians’ views
G.W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation (2005)
Henry wanted to have his religious cake and eat it; he wanted his
royal supremacy, he wanted the destruction of the monasteries and
the shrines; but he also wanted to maintain orthodoxy and unity. At
times the tensions between these aims were too great and Cromwell
in 1540 paid the price. Henry was ruthless in his disposal of ministers
(Wolsey) and wives (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Anne of
Cleves) who for whatever reason no longer suited his purposes or
who crossed his will. Henry from the start had been prepared to
sacrifice the lives and happiness of people.
Richard Rex – The English Reformation:
Whereas Lutherans had emphasised Christian liberty and faith alone
as the basis of salvation, the essence of the Henrician Reformation
was that of obedience to the Word of God, which for Henry, meant
obedience to the king (an idea expressed in Stephen Gardiner’s work
‘On True Obedience’ of 1535).