The Reformation Parliament

--Henry VIII

Will Be Discussed: 1. Background of Reformation Parliament.

2. The sessions of Reformation Parliament.
3. The Impacts of Reformation Parliament.
HENRY VIII (1509-1549) was the younger son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York who
came to the throne at the age of 18. He could not tolerate an opposition. If the Pope did not
fall in line with his will, he had to go. The conflicts between the Pope and Henry VIII arose
so critical as he took some effective initiatives to disparate the England from the Church of
Rome. He called reformation Parliament (1529-1536) to make Pope powerless which was
really fulfilled his aims.
Causes / Background of Reformation Parliament:
The causes of parliament reformation was to achieve Henry’s intention. Whatever Scholars
identified a few reasons under the following title:
1. Impacts of Renaissance: The renaissance was a cultural movement that started in Italy in
14th century and speared all over Europe in 16 th and 17th century. During this time, people
became anti-pope due to some heinous activities such as Selling Indulgence. Moreover, the
pope of Rome was the prime leader of Christianity but it was not completely accepted by the
people of England. They were not ready to accept the authority of Pope out of religious
concerns. Again, the reformation movement also convinced Henry to establish supremacy on
all over of his dominion.
2. Divorce of Catherine: Henry VIII was bothered with, sister in law, Catherine of Aragon
after the death of his brother named Arthur. They had only a child alive named Mary but
Henry VIII realized Catherine is much old to have another so she must need to be divorced.
Because without Divorce, he cannot be get married again according to Catholic Church.
Thus, Henry VIII appointed Wolsey, a loyal minister, to grant a solution from the pope
Clement but this attempt was not completely successful. Finally, Henry called for
reformation parliament to formulate Acts in favor of him to bring his rule forwards.
The Reformation Parliament:
Henry VIII called for reformation parliament in 1529, which ran until the 1536. During this
period there held 7 sessions to formulate Acts which weakened Pope’s power and strengthen
the power of king. Here below some acts are describes briefly:
(I). Clergy Legal Privilege Acts, 1529: An Act was passed to prevent the clergy from being
subject to separate canonical courts. Instead, they were now to be tried in the same way as
everybody else in England was and not be looked upon favorably by the courts.
(II). Praemunire Charges Acts, 1530: In October 1530 Cromwell surprised even his mentor
Wolsey by taking praemunire action against the English clergy, essentially accusing them of
appealing to a power outside of the realm (i.e., the Pope) – not for a specific reason but
rather the entire principle of papal authority over English law. The clergy were therefore
charged with treason. Once the clergy acknowledged Henry as the head of the Church of
England, charges were dropped.

(III) The Act of Annates, 1532: The Act of Annates was passed allowing only 5% of the
money normally remitted to Rome. The King passed legislation threatening to deprive the
pope of revenues. During this year, even more intensive actions were done to try to get Pope
to agree to the divorce Henry required. Henry threatened Pope to appoint Cranmer as the
archbishop of Canterbury and finally after the appointment, the acts of Annates was
implemented.
(IV) The Act of Appeals, 1533: Parliament passed the Act of Appeals, which abolished the
practice of appeals from the ecclesiastical courts of England to Rome. The newly appointed
Archbishop of Canterbury, Cranmer, tried the king's divorce case and declared that Catherine
of Aragon had never been Henry VIII's wife. Catherine then became a nun in a monastery
and died there in January 1536. Shortly after the divorce was announced, the king admitted
that he had already married Anne Boleyn, and Cranmer officially declared the marriage
legal.
(V) The Act of Supremacy, 1534: The Pope gave judgment on the divorce case. He declares
that Catherine is the king's lawful wife and instructs the king to accept her as queen. In
response, Parliament passed a law called the King's Act of Supremacy. This act declared the
King as the supreme head of the Church of England. A further law was passed as a
supplement to this, which stated that those who questioned the king's title would be subject
to the penalty of "high treason". The Act of Supremacy severed England's relationship with
the Pope.
Besides these acts a few minor acts were also passed.
For example:
A. The Peter's Pence Acts, 1534: Payment of Peter's Pence (a tax collected annually from
householders) to the See of Rome was abolished. The Act also eradicated pluralism in the
clergy (the right to hold more than one parish) and forbade English clergy from attending
religious assemblies abroad.
B. The Succession Act, 1534: This act deprived Catherine's daughter Mary of the throne and
made Anne Boleyn's daughter Elizabeth the heir.
C. Treasons Act, 1534: Henry wanted to silence critics of these changes to legislation and
heirs. As a result, Cromwell wrote legislation to ensure that any challenge to the Act of
Supremacy or the Act of Succession would be considered treason and punishable by death.

Impacts of Reformation Parliament:

1. The direct result of the severance of relations with Rome was persecution—a persecution
so great that it has no precedent in history except that of the reign of Queen Mary. The king's
treatment of Catherine was disliked by all classes of people. As a result, the king lost
popularity and a backlash against anti-papal activities began.
2. After the Succession Act was passed, commissioners were appointed to administer oaths
to the people to accept the Act. Moore and Fisher were asked to take the oath but refused.
They did not mind recognizing Elizabeth as heir but did not recognize that Henry's marriage
to Catherine was invalid, as it defied papal authority. Both men were sent to the Tower in
April 1534.
3. After the Act of Supremacy was enacted, Moore and Fisher were asked to accept it; They
refused to do so. According to the supplementary law of this law, their punishment is death
penalty. They were executed on Tower Hill in 1535.
Indirect Consequences
4. The relationship with the Pope increased the political, administrative and financial power
of the king. After the severance of the relationship, the king became the head of the church
and church administration. After the severance of the relationship, these funds came into the
king's treasury.

The aim of reformation parliament was to grant divorce of Catherine and ended at the
disparate relations with Roman Catholic Church. Henry VIII did what actually England
wanted.