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Sack of Rome of 1527 by Johannes Lingelbach the English Reformation. This view can also be backed up with the example of Henry’s worries about the validity of his marriage. These doubts, casting aspersions on the legality of Julius II’s papal dispensation for his marriage way back in 1509 only began twenty years later when he lacked an heir and therefore professed himself “divinely cursed”. Indeed, the passage in Leviticus damning the marriage between a man and his brother’s widow makes an implicit judgement that they “shall be childless”. This was what struck such a chord with Henry. He As King, Henry had the power to fall in love with and have children by whomever he wished. was looking for a reason to get rid of Catherine. So it was his lack of a male heir that made Henry question the validity of his marriage and look for an alternative in Anne Boleyn. An additional cause of the Reformation was the international situation from 1529, which was completely hostile to the annulment which Henry desired. Firstly, Charles V was Katherine of Aragon’s nephew, and so he would therefore support the continuation of her marriage with Henry. Due to the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and Ferdinand of Aragon, Charles V was the most powerful ruler in Europe, with vast lands in Spain, the Austrian Netherlands and the politically important area of Northern Italy- a powerful enemy. Charles was the Renaissance Prince (young, highly educated and hugely powerful) which Henry had always aspired to be, Secondly, as Supreme Head of the Church, the Pope would have been able to grant Henry his annulment, allowing him to marry Anne without breaking with the Papacy. But at the 1527 Sack of Rome, the Pope was taken prisoner, therefore becoming the puppet of Charles V, and so could not grant Henry his wish. This hostile international situation was worsened by Cardinal Wolsey’s diplomatic decision to ally with France against Charles V. By being hostile to the Habsburgs, Henry was being hostile to his chances of an annulment since Charles controlled the Papacy, and indeed, most of Europe. The 1529 Ladies Peace after the Battle 4 of Landriano further strengthened Habsburg-Pope relations, so the annulment was not possible, and Henry was forced into breaking with Rome. Therefore, the intransigency of Charles V and the Pope, not just the “love of a woman” caused the Reformation. The character of Katherine herself (another remarkable woman) strengthens this idea. Popular in England, having led an army to victory against the Scots at Flodden, incredibly religious and having been married for 20 years, Katherine would not let the annulment happen without resistance, helping to force the break. Like Anne, she refused to comply, rejecting the suggestion of Cardinal Campeggio and the Legatine Court that she be shut up in a nunnery. She pleaded directly to the court and her husband to do her “right and justice” and “take pity” on her with an emotive speech immortalised in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII. Most importantly, she appealed directly to her nephew Charles V for help, vindicating his intransigency. Another reason for the English Reformation that links to Anne Boleyn’s importance was the spread of Protestant ideas and their influence on Henry. Anne, the woman Henry desired, was a strong Protestant, and
documents justifying the Reformation such as ‘On the Obedience of the Christian Man’ (then illegal and given to Henry by Anne) and the ‘Satis Copiosa’ (stating that English Kings had always had secular and spiritual authority in England) were compiled with by Protestants. The influence of these Protestants can be seen with the positions of power they were given. Henry wanted to marry Anne, and made Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532, even though he had never held a senior post before. Protestant ideas justified the Reformation and massaged Henry’s ego by asserting Henry as the most powerful man in England. However, Henry’s behaviour shows us that he delayed breaking with the Papacy until he had no other option, taking “hesitant and stumbling steps” to “slowly and unwillingly [achieve] his supremacy” (Haigh). Therefore, although he may have used Protestant ideas of his future wife and others to justify it, they were not an initial factor in the Break. Instead of immediately breaking with the Papacy when he first started having doubts about his marriage in 1529, Henry tried to garner an annulment within the Catholic Church, first through Biblical arguments and then through pressure on the Pope via the English clergy. This pressure was to be used as a bargaining chip, with caveats inserted into his demand to be Supreme Head of the Church and to an Act in Conditional Restraint on Annates in 1532 that targeted Church wealth. Henry made reversible changes because, since Protestant doctrine had not truly affected him, he still wanted an annulment from the Papacy if possible. Therefore, this delay shows his deep doctrinal opposition to the Reformation, as late as 1530 he was ordering priests, with Protestant Henry tried to garner an annulment within the Catholic Church, first through Biblical arguments and then through pressure on the Pope via the English clergy. leanings disseminating the English New Testament, to be burnt alive as heretics. That is not the act of a man highly influenced by Protestant ideas. When the Break finally occurred, no core doctrines were touched (parish and monastic life continued as before). The only change was that Henry was able to procure his divorce and hopeful male heir. Therefore, Protestant ideas were not a main factor 5 behind the Break with Rome. The personal doctrine of the man who once wrote In Defence of the 7 Sacraments and was named Fidei Defensor by the Pope himself never truly changed. Whilst powerful Protestants such as Henry’s genius legal adviser Cromwell may have facilitated and justified the Break, it was Henry’s initial desire for a male heir that inspired it. The final reason for the Break with Rome was the power and wealth that it gave Henry. As the owner of 1/3 of the land in England, the Church was an easy target for the wealth and therefore power through land that Henry desired, as we can see later through his decision to dissolve the monasteries. Legislation such as the Act of Conditional Restraint on Annates caused Church payments to go to the monarchy not the Pope, increasing Henry’s Thomas Cranmer power through wealth. In 1532 the Submission of the Clergy gave Henry Supreme headship of the Church, which “appealed to his selfimportance as King” (Haigh). We can see from 1530 that Henry’s egotistical desire for further power was a catalyst in the Break since, in documents, he began describing himself as “Imperial”, showing his desire to rule absolutely over England, not like a King, but as an Emperor, without the challenges to his authority caused by the Papacy. However, although we can see that Henry desired and enjoyed the power and wealth it brought him, this was a bonus of the Break with Rome, not a factor that initially inspired it. This is because the legislation giving Henry supreme power and wealth was only created 1533-34, long after the idea of the Break was seeded in Henry’s mind through his lack of heir and an adverse foreign policy situation. Thus, although it is a romantic idea, and refreshing to think that occasionally it was women, rather than men affecting major change in Tudor England, Henry’s love for Anne Boleyn was not the main cause of the English Reformation. It was two other main factors working in conjunction that caused the Break with Rome. Henry’s desire for a male heir (what Anne represented) and therefore dynastic continuance sparked off the whole process and was a constant, strong motivation, as well as the hostile foreign situation forced Henry to solve this problem, not within but outside of the Catholic Church due to the intransigency of Charles V and the Pope. Whilst other factors may have had some influence, these two were the constant driving force, overpowering Henry’s doctrinal doubts and causing radical change to religious administration in England.
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