Establishment of Royal Supremacy (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Establishment of Royal Supremacy
Parliamentary activity and the reformation of Church control
Henry VIII convened Parliament in November 1529, which remained in session (though not continuously) until 1536. This body passed a series of Acts that fundamentally altered the nature and organisation of the Church in England. The legislation systematically removed papal control and transferred authority over ecclesiastical matters to the Crown. This process became known as the Henrician Reformation — a political transformation concerning who held power over the Church rather than a change in religious doctrine or belief.
The use of Parliament as the legal instrument for establishing royal supremacy was crucial. By enacting changes through parliamentary statute rather than royal decree alone, Henry gave his actions constitutional legitimacy and created a framework that made his new position legally enforceable throughout the realm.
The 1529-1536 Parliament served as the legal instrument through which Henry established his supremacy over the English Church. By using parliamentary statute, Henry gave his actions constitutional legitimacy and created a framework that made his new position legally enforceable throughout the realm.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and royal divorce proceedings
Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) emerged as a central figure in establishing royal supremacy through his handling of Henry's divorce case. Cranmer had been part of the 'White Horse' group at Cambridge during the 1520s, where scholars discussed Lutheran ideas from Europe. Unlike some colleagues who became heretics, Cranmer pursued a career at court, where he became chaplain to Anne Boleyn's father.
Cranmer wrote a defence of Henry's divorce using an erastian argument, which maintained that monarchs held the highest authority within their territories and could therefore act as they pleased. Henry recognised Cranmer as a moderate reformist thinker of similar age and background, which created a bond between them.
When Archbishop Warham died in 1532, Henry requested that the Pope appoint Cranmer to the vacancy, despite Cranmer never having held a senior Church position. Henry used this appointment to pressure the Pope regarding his divorce, but also saw the advantage of having a supporter leading the English Church. Cranmer demonstrated his loyalty to Henry by:
- Authorising the divorce after the 1533 Act in Restraint of Appeals prevented Catherine from appealing to the Pope
- Accepting all measures enacted during 1534-40
- Supporting Protestant reforms including English Bible publication and Thomas Cromwell's efforts to alter traditional teachings
Cranmer's position was complex and often contradictory. He remained primarily a political servant of the Crown rather than an independent churchman. When Henry attacked reform by persecuting Lutherans and enacting the Six Articles Act through Parliament in 1539, Cranmer obeyed, even though other Protestant bishops resigned. His loyalty to Henry enabled him to evade the conservative faction's attempts to remove him during the 1540s, and he survived to become archbishop under Edward VI.
Under Somerset and Northumberland's more Protestant governments, Cranmer's influence grew. He followed this atmosphere in writing the 1549 and 1552 Prayer Books, while also attempting to establish a permanent, uniform basis for faith by consulting Protestant theologians from Europe. Cranmer supported moderate Protestant thinking but avoided defining what this uniform faith should be. During Mary's reign, consequences from his previous activities caught up with him. He had been too involved in writing the Protestant Prayer Books to escape charges of heresy. Despite publicly renouncing his Protestant errors five times during his trial, he was executed in 1556.
The Act in Restraint of Appeals, 1533
Parliament passed the Act in Restraint of Appeals in February 1533, one month after Henry's secret marriage to the pregnant Anne Boleyn, even though he remained married to Catherine in the Church's eyes. The Act made clear that Henry's divorce case would be heard in England and that Catherine could not appeal to Rome for her case to be heard there.
The Preamble's Significance
The Preamble to the Act provided crucial justification for Henry's actions and those of his ministers and Parliament. The document declared that England was an empire, governed by one Supreme Head and King possessing the dignity and royal estate of the imperial Crown. It stated that within this realm existed a body politic divided into terms and by names of spirituality and temporality. Both groups owed natural and humble obedience to the monarch, who was also instituted and furnished by God's sufferance with plenary authority, prerogative and jurisdiction to render and yield justice without restraint to any foreign princes or potentates.
After the Act forbade appeals to Rome, progress on Henry's divorce advanced rapidly. Archbishop Cranmer convened a court in May 1533 using arguments from the late 1520s that Catherine's marriage to Arthur had been consummated, and that Leviticus prohibited this type of union. Therefore, Henry's marriage to Catherine was invalid, providing acceptable grounds for the fact that Henry had married Anne Boleyn four months earlier. By June 1533, the six months pregnant Anne was crowned as Queen, giving birth to Elizabeth in September.
Royal Supremacy by Act of Parliament, 1534
The 1534 Act of Supremacy reinforced these changes by acknowledging the King as head of the Church, with all rights this position entailed to decide its organisation, personnel and doctrine. The word 'acknowledged' proved essential because the Act of Supremacy claimed that the King had always held the right to be head of the Church, and was now taking it up. This meant that Parliament was not granting him the right (which it lacked the power to do), but merely recognising it and establishing the framework to make it legally enforceable.
The Act fundamentally altered four areas of Church governance:
| Area | Changes |
|---|---|
| Church laws | The monarch gained authority to define canon law and regulate Church courts independently of Rome |
| Organisation | Henry controlled Church structures, including the creation and suppression of religious institutions |
| Finance | Income from annates, first fruits and tenths transferred from Rome to the Crown; later dissolution of monasteries brought wealth |
| Appointments | The Act enabled Henry to appoint bishops and other senior clergy without papal approval or confirmation from Rome |
Enforcement of Royal Supremacy
To enforce the Act of Supremacy, a Treasons Act made denying royal supremacy a crime punishable by death. The legislation clarified that the monarch controlled the day-to-day running of the Church. In 1535, Thomas Cromwell received appointment as Vicar-General by Henry, meaning he acted as Henry's deputy in overseeing the Church's organisation and running. Henry was thus making immediate use of his new position and title.
The Act claimed that "the King's Majesty justly and rightly is and oweth to be the supreme head of the Church of England" and that this had been "recognised by the clergy of this realm in their Convocations." This wording suggested that the clergy had already agreed to the arrangement, though the agreement had been obtained through parliamentary and political pressure rather than genuine clerical consensus.
Implications of the Act of Supremacy
At first glance, replacing the Pope with the King as head of the Church of England appears revolutionary. However, context reveals more limited immediate impact. Medieval popes had seldom exercised much direct involvement in day-to-day decision making and control in England. Although Popes made appointments to senior positions such as bishoprics, the King had long expected confirmation of his choices. Rome was rarely appealed to for legal decisions.
Monarchs in various European states were gaining more powers over the Catholic Church in their territories, with the Papacy's encouragement in return for agreed taxation levies. Through Acts of Parliament, Henry declared that the Church was under his control for its day-to-day management. Up to this point, the only changes were political. No doctrines had changed at all by 1536, reflecting Henry's role in controlling the process rather than reforming theology.
Long-term Consequences
The Act's immediate importance lay in what Henry and Cromwell did next, especially regarding the dissolution of the monasteries. The long-term importance extended to changes in doctrine which Parliament approved (where the monarch remained a constitutional part). The major consequence of royal supremacy over the longer term proved religious rather than political. Once Henry established control over the Church's organisation and governance, the door opened for more substantial religious reforms under his son Edward VI and, after the Marian interlude, under Elizabeth I.
Chronology of the Henrician Reformation
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1529 | Wolsey fell from power; Sir Thomas More became Chancellor; Parliament was summoned |
| 1530 | Upper clergy faced charges of Praemunire |
| 1531 | Henry pardoned the clergy in recognition of his position over the Church |
| 1532 | Act preventing payment of annates to Rome; submission of the Clergy; Cromwell emerged as one of the King's advisers; Cranmer became Archbishop of Canterbury after Warham's death |
| 1533 | Anne Boleyn's pregnancy and secret marriage; Act in Restraint of Appeals; Henry's marriage to Catherine declared invalid; Elizabeth born |
| 1534 | Act of Supremacy; Treasons Act |
| 1535 | Cromwell became Vicar-General, overseeing the Church on Henry's behalf; execution of Sir Thomas More |
Key Points to Remember:
- The Henrician Reformation was a political reformation about control over the Church, not initially about changing religious doctrine or beliefs.
- The 1533 Act in Restraint of Appeals prevented Catherine of Aragon from appealing to Rome, enabling Cranmer to declare Henry's first marriage invalid in an English court.
- The 1534 Act of Supremacy acknowledged (rather than granted) Henry as supreme head of the Church, giving Parliament's legal recognition to his authority over organisation, appointments, finances and Church laws.
- Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell were the two most important figures in implementing royal supremacy: Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury and Cromwell as Vicar-General from 1535.
- The Act of Supremacy's major long-term consequence was religious rather than political, as it opened the door for doctrinal changes approved by Parliament in subsequent reigns.