To what extent was royal authority strengthened under Henry VIII between .
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Course
Breadth study
Institution
AQA
An essay examining how royal authority was strengthened under Henry VIII through acts of parliament (Appeals, Supremacy), taxes, foundation of new bodies, and how Thomas Cromwell aided this process.
To what extent was royal authority strengthened between
1525-1547?
Royal authority was strengthened greatly between 1525-1547, mainly as a result of the
Reformation, which transferred powers from the Church to the state. The strengthening of royal
authority is also evident in the resolution to Henry’s marital issue, the introduction of the primacy
of statute, the increase in the council’s importance, the improved financing courts, and, to an
extent, factional manoeuvrings. Though it may be said that the many rebellions Henry VIII faced
(such as the Lincolnshire Uprising and the Pilgrimage of Grace), show that royal authority was
anything but strengthened, this does not give the full picture.
The rivalry between the Church and the state had been an ongoing situation which
successive kings had been unable to resolve, until Henry. Throughout the Reformation process,
the Church lost power in England whilst Henry gained it. The palpable evidence for this comes
in the form of various acts of parliament. The Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533), for example,
declared that in all legal matters the monarch had final authority. It was therefore illegal to
appeal to any authority outside England, and thus the Pope was out of the picture. It was also
as a result of this act that the issue of Henry’s divorce was resolved; Thomas Cranmer, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, decided soon after the act was passed that Henry’s marriage to
Catherine of Aragon (which had been allowed by the Pope) was invalid. Clearly then, the Pope’s
wishes were no longer being heeded, and Henry’s were.
The break with Rome did not necessarily entail a strengthening of royal authority. It
could, for example, have strengthened the authority of clerics around England. It is the Act of
Supremacy (1534) that shows why this view is wrong. In it the king is declared ‘to be the
supreme head of the Church of England, and so is recognised by the clergy of this realm…’. If
the king’s supremacy is ‘recognised by the clergy’, the power must be going to him rather than
to the clergy.
Still, it may be argued that the Act of Supremacy hardly increased royal authority
because the king was already supreme before it. Although the Pope had the formal power of
appointing the senior positions, such as the bishoprics, there was a long established tradition
that he would simply confirm the person nominated by the king. Little more than the sum of a
few hundred pounds was sent to the Pope from England each year. All in all, he did not exert
much authority in England at all. But the Act of Supremacy did still strengthen royal authority; it
did not hinder the pope, who wielded little power anyway, but hindered the clerics throughout
England, who wielded much more, since they now had to admit that Henry was their supreme
head. This led to an end to the practice of Benefit of the Clergy, and also caused sanctuaries to
come under the king’s jurisdiction. Thus, royal authority was strengthened by the Act of
Supremacy because it gave Henry more authority (at least in legal terms) over clerics who were
previously able to escape harsh punishment. Cromwell was clearly not best pleased by the
clerics who still thought they yielded significant power: about 50% of those he prosecuted were
clerics, though they only made up 5% of the population.
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