Henry VII
8000 parish churches that were the focus of religious experience. Provided
framework for how people thought, reasoned and behaved.
Also provided entertainment, charity, community and the opportunity to
contribute to the good of their community.
Church made it easier to maintain social control via social and political elites
Erastian relationship – state had control over church
Church had 2 provinces – Canterbury and York, each with an archbishop and
17 dioceses each under control of a bishop.
Some dioceses like Winchester and Durham enjoyed great wealth
Churchmen with most power under Henry VII were John Morton and Richard
Fox.
To reach heaven, they had to reach as many of the sacraments as possible:
baptism, confirmation, marriage, anointing of the sick, penance (confession,
repenting), holy orders (ordained as deacons, priests or bishops) and
eucharist (commemorate Last Supper through transubstantiation).
To reduce purgatory time, people left money to their parish in their will and
they could also go on pilgrimage.
Confraternities were religious guilds or lay brotherhoods that provided funeral
costs for parish members, paid chaplains for masses and some guilds even
ran schools and almshouses.
1% of England were monks. 900 religious communities with monasteries.
Friars worked among lay people and were largely funded by charitable
donations. They had 3 main orders and recruited from lower down social
scale than monasteries.
Nunneries were less prestige and mostly populated by women unfit for
marriage.
Lollardy, founded by John Wycliffe, placed stress on understanding the Bible,
favouring the English translation. Lollards were considered heresy; they were
critical of Catholic practices, denied special status of priesthood and found
the Catholic church to be corrupt.
Humanism: founded on rediscovery of original Latin and Greek texts,
concerned about establishing reliability of these to purify ideas of religious
texts. They were Catholics but had little effect under Henry VII.
Changes Continuities
Decline in traditional practices like Continued belief in the sacraments
shrines, relics and pilgrimages. under church doctrine.
Loss of guilds/confraternities. Catholic ideology largely remained.
Saints should be honoured as For example, not believing in
examples of life but no longer transubstantiation was heresy.
worshipped; emphasis away from Little substantial movement
, asking saints to intervene, asking towards Protestantism, although
God directly instead. some Lollardy remained.
Monastic land sold, displacing Parish centres were still central to
monks, nuns and friars. daily life and were community hubs.
No longer linked to Rome. Mass remained the main form of
Some Lutheran ideology. worship; still focused on the
Humanist ideology had influence Eucharist and was in Latin.
due to John Colet’s refoundation of Clergy and religious priests
St Paul’s School, London. continued their roles as before and
Discouraged pilgrimage as they were often conservative and slow to
largely revolved around monastic change.
shrines, which was ‘superstition.’
Also, belief that salvation came
through faith not rituals or
locations.
Henry VIII
Corruption in church due to pluralism (engagement with diversity of beliefs)
and anticlericalism (opposition to religious authority).
Early Protestant influence included remnants of Lollardy and German
reformers’ ideas in London.
1534 Act of Supremacy – H8 becomes Supreme Head of the Church.
This signified his Break with Rome to annul his marriage to Catherine of
Aragon, ending papal authority and establishing the Church of England.
Cromwell appointed vicegerent of spirituals, outranking bishops and six new
dioceses created to improve administration.
1535 Valor Ecclesiasticus: Survey of church wealth. Commissioners inspected
monasteries and found evidence of corruption.
1536 smaller monasteries dissolved; 1539 remaining monasteries dissolved.
Crown gained wealth from this, monastic charity but education and social
support lost.
The monastic land was used to get quick finance to fund expensive foreign
policy.
Attack on traditional practices through injunctions:
1536: restricted Holy days, discouraged pilgrimage, encouraged moral
conduct.
1538: condemned pilgrimages, relics and imagery. Clergy had to publicly
relent. Every parish required to own English Bible.
In 1539, Bible reading was restricted to upper class men.
Changes to doctrine:
1536 Ten Articles: baptism, penance, Eucharist necessary for salvation; mix
of Lutheran and Catholic ideas.
1537 Bishops’ Book: restored 4 sacraments with lower status; more
Conservative.
8000 parish churches that were the focus of religious experience. Provided
framework for how people thought, reasoned and behaved.
Also provided entertainment, charity, community and the opportunity to
contribute to the good of their community.
Church made it easier to maintain social control via social and political elites
Erastian relationship – state had control over church
Church had 2 provinces – Canterbury and York, each with an archbishop and
17 dioceses each under control of a bishop.
Some dioceses like Winchester and Durham enjoyed great wealth
Churchmen with most power under Henry VII were John Morton and Richard
Fox.
To reach heaven, they had to reach as many of the sacraments as possible:
baptism, confirmation, marriage, anointing of the sick, penance (confession,
repenting), holy orders (ordained as deacons, priests or bishops) and
eucharist (commemorate Last Supper through transubstantiation).
To reduce purgatory time, people left money to their parish in their will and
they could also go on pilgrimage.
Confraternities were religious guilds or lay brotherhoods that provided funeral
costs for parish members, paid chaplains for masses and some guilds even
ran schools and almshouses.
1% of England were monks. 900 religious communities with monasteries.
Friars worked among lay people and were largely funded by charitable
donations. They had 3 main orders and recruited from lower down social
scale than monasteries.
Nunneries were less prestige and mostly populated by women unfit for
marriage.
Lollardy, founded by John Wycliffe, placed stress on understanding the Bible,
favouring the English translation. Lollards were considered heresy; they were
critical of Catholic practices, denied special status of priesthood and found
the Catholic church to be corrupt.
Humanism: founded on rediscovery of original Latin and Greek texts,
concerned about establishing reliability of these to purify ideas of religious
texts. They were Catholics but had little effect under Henry VII.
Changes Continuities
Decline in traditional practices like Continued belief in the sacraments
shrines, relics and pilgrimages. under church doctrine.
Loss of guilds/confraternities. Catholic ideology largely remained.
Saints should be honoured as For example, not believing in
examples of life but no longer transubstantiation was heresy.
worshipped; emphasis away from Little substantial movement
, asking saints to intervene, asking towards Protestantism, although
God directly instead. some Lollardy remained.
Monastic land sold, displacing Parish centres were still central to
monks, nuns and friars. daily life and were community hubs.
No longer linked to Rome. Mass remained the main form of
Some Lutheran ideology. worship; still focused on the
Humanist ideology had influence Eucharist and was in Latin.
due to John Colet’s refoundation of Clergy and religious priests
St Paul’s School, London. continued their roles as before and
Discouraged pilgrimage as they were often conservative and slow to
largely revolved around monastic change.
shrines, which was ‘superstition.’
Also, belief that salvation came
through faith not rituals or
locations.
Henry VIII
Corruption in church due to pluralism (engagement with diversity of beliefs)
and anticlericalism (opposition to religious authority).
Early Protestant influence included remnants of Lollardy and German
reformers’ ideas in London.
1534 Act of Supremacy – H8 becomes Supreme Head of the Church.
This signified his Break with Rome to annul his marriage to Catherine of
Aragon, ending papal authority and establishing the Church of England.
Cromwell appointed vicegerent of spirituals, outranking bishops and six new
dioceses created to improve administration.
1535 Valor Ecclesiasticus: Survey of church wealth. Commissioners inspected
monasteries and found evidence of corruption.
1536 smaller monasteries dissolved; 1539 remaining monasteries dissolved.
Crown gained wealth from this, monastic charity but education and social
support lost.
The monastic land was used to get quick finance to fund expensive foreign
policy.
Attack on traditional practices through injunctions:
1536: restricted Holy days, discouraged pilgrimage, encouraged moral
conduct.
1538: condemned pilgrimages, relics and imagery. Clergy had to publicly
relent. Every parish required to own English Bible.
In 1539, Bible reading was restricted to upper class men.
Changes to doctrine:
1536 Ten Articles: baptism, penance, Eucharist necessary for salvation; mix
of Lutheran and Catholic ideas.
1537 Bishops’ Book: restored 4 sacraments with lower status; more
Conservative.
