A Crown Divided
Religious divisions have plagued Britain for centuries, divisions that piqued during the English Reformation and led to long-lasting consequences for both the Crown and the people of the nation. This blog post will highlight that the Reformation set the tone for the long road of religious divisions in the future of Britain and emphasise the integral social and political ramifications.
The temperamental nature of Henry VIII will not be something that is new to you, nine out of ten people will know the ‘divorced, beheaded, died’ song from Horrible Histories, and I can guarantee you that the song will now be stuck in your head for the rest of the day! Henry Tudor was never meant to be king, it was only after his older brother Arthur died that Henry was to take over from his father Henry VII. Before he died, Arthur married Katherine of Aragon in 1501, who would become Henry VIII’s first wife in 1509 shortly after he had ascended to the throne. Henry VIII’s greatest ambition was to produce a male heir to continue the Tudor line, however, Katherine was unable to do so. Katherine gave birth to six children, only one of whom survived, Mary I who would go on to be queen. Katherine did give birth to a boy named Henry, however, he died weeks later. Henry VIII quickly lost patience with his wife and his interests turned to one of her ladies-in-waiting Anne Boleyn.
This brought a new set of problems for the King as he would have to seek an annulment from Katherine to marry Anne, an annulment that the Pope would be disinclined to give. Firstly, when Katherine married Arthur, in the eyes of the Pope, she had become Henry’s sister. Therefore, in order to marry Katherine, Henry had to attain a papal bull which would render their status as brother and sister null and void. Thereby, making Pope Clement VII averse to going against his predecessor’s, Pope Julius II’s, actions who had given his blessing to Arthur and Katherine. Furthermore, Katherine’s nephew Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was effectively imprisoning Pope Clement VII in 1527 which made him extremely loath to grant the annulment of the marriage both at the time and in the future out of the fear of what would happen. This back and forth, of unsuccessful attempts to annul his marriage, went on for years and to make matters worse Anne began to suspect she was pregnant in 1532. A secret wedding in Whitehall Palace followed in January 1533 with only a handful of witnesses. Deceit was key for the King as he, and everyone else involved, faced excommunication if they did not have permission to marry. This came to fruition later that year when Pope Clement VII, under strict instructions from Charles V, began the process of excommunicating Henry for his disobedience. This was not made official until Clement VII’s successor Paul III drew up another papal bull of excommunication in 1535, which would not be formally dated until 1538.
The first threat of excommunication firmly set into motion Henry VIII’s separation from the Pope as Henry VIII passed the Submission of Clergy Act by the Convocation of Canterbury in 1532 which stated that the church yielded its right to make ecclesiastical laws without royal consent. Additionally, Henry passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534 which declared him the Supreme Head of the Church of England which severed all ecclesiastical ties with Rome and the Pope. Thereby, Henry was able to make religious decisions regarding the nation without
the input of the Pope. Adding to this, the Crown began to dissolve England’s monasteries and take control of the Church’s sizeable property holdings from 1536 to 1540. All of this was instrumental in creating immeasurable religious divisions within the nation.
“Bloody Mary”
Ironically, Henry VIII never converted to Protestantism, remaining a Catholic until the end of his days. His son, however, Edward VI was raised to be the first Protestant English monarch and ruled as such from the time of his coronation in 1547, with his advisors, until his untimely death aged just fifteen in 1553. During his short reign Edward introduced significant Protestant reforms through issuing A Book of Common Prayer in English and simplifying the appearance of churches and the ceremonies they carried out. When Edward’s sickness became terminal, he put strict protocols in place that would keep the Crown out of Catholic hands and named his first cousin once removed Lady Jane Grey as his successor. Grey ruled for a total nine days, until she was deposed by the extremely Catholic Mary I, who would eventually execute her. The religious tide thereby turning once again with Mary reverting the country to Catholicism and becoming known to her Protestant rivals as ‘Bloody Mary’. The Queen reintroduced heresy laws in 1554 which meant that denying papal supremacy was punishable by death. Furthermore, Mary I instituted the 1555 Act of Supremacy which led to papal supremacy over the English Church being restored. These laws were implemented with such vigour that around 300 Protestants were executed, many of them being burned at the stake, and roughly 800 fled the country out of the fear of persecution. However, as with Edward VI, Mary I only had a short reign until 1558 when the Crown passed to Elizabeth I.
Another ruler meant another religious turn, but importantly Elizabeth I was much more moderate than her predecessors had been and even though she was a Protestant she wanted the realm to be one of peace. In order to achieve this Elizabeth came up with the ‘Religious Settlement’ in 1559 which passed two laws. The first being the Act of Supremacy which made Elizabeth the Supreme Governor of the Church, carefully avoiding the term ‘Supreme Head’ as Christ was seen as the Head of the Church, especially to Catholics. A term that her father Henry VIII first used when he split with Rome and the Catholic Church. The second law was the Act of Uniformity which made Protestantism the official faith of England, put into practice through rules for religious endeavours and worship and a revised prayer book. The compromise, however, was that the Queen kept some Catholic traditions. Many were happy with the religious situation, but opposition did arise from certain Catholics and the most extreme Protestants, named Puritans, who believed that their Queen was not being harsh enough on Catholics. Arguably, the damage had already been done, the religious tug of war between wearers of the Crown had spurred the nation into a religious war. This manifested in numerous plots against the Crown based on religious zealotry, many of them being to depose Elizabeth in favour of her Catholic cousin to the north, Mary Queen of Scots. To make matters worse, following an attempted coup in 1569, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth on 25 February 1570 labelling her ‘the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime’. Thereby, releasing her subjects from the oath of allegiance they had sworn to and reaffirming that he was their leader.
Conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot - 1605
Elizabeth I ruled until 1603 which is considered to mark the end of the English Reformation which had begun with her father, Henry VIII. However, many historians have argued that it continued into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, becoming known as the ‘Long Reformation’. This aligns with the massive religious divides that continued into the rules of the Stuarts. The first of these came in 1605 with the Gunpowder Plot where a group of Catholic conspirators, most notably Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up Parliament with the King present. The plotters were hung, drawn and quartered, then had their intestines pulled out and heads cut off. The horrific nature of this execution was to deter Catholics from attempting any future insurrections against the Crown. The plot led to stricter measures against Catholics including passing the Popish Recusants Act in 1606 which required Catholics to swear an oath of allegiance to James I and they were forced to participate in Church services or pay a fine. The lines became blurred once again when Charles I succeeded his father in 1625. Firstly, he married Henrietta Maria of France who was Catholic which alienated the Protestants of the land. Moreover, from 1629 to 1640 Charles I had what is known as a Personal Rule which meant that he did not summon Parliament. Actions that made Protestants wary that Charles I would reinstate Catholic ideals and practices. It was also what ultimately led to his execution following the English Civil Wars and a period of republican rule headed by Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. It was a period of brutal religious division, with historians being divided over Cromwell’s stance on religious freedom after his bloody campaigns in Ireland. Cromwell was famous for his Puritan ways which were all about simplicity and abhorring indulgence, exemplified through his banning of Christmas celebrations.
Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 and was replaced as Lord Protector by his son Richard who, unlike his father, only ruled for eight months before resigning his post due to being unfit for the role. The Restoration of the Stuart Monarchy occurred in 1660 after a Parliament vote. Charles I’s son Charles II became king like father, like son, Charles II wore on the patience of both Parliament and the people for his Catholic sympathies. Both Charles II and his brother, and successor, James II married Catholics which to a Catholic-fearing Parliament and nation was a sure-fire sign of a disaster waiting to happen. Furthermore, in 1681, when Parliament attempted to control royal succession Charles II dissolved it, resulting in his Personal Rule until his death in 1685. Just like his father, the reluctance to call Parliament led to the fear of Catholicism. Ironically, on his death bed Charles II converted to Catholicism. Charles II’s penchant for having affairs meant that he had no heirs to pass the Crown to which is why it passed to his brother after his death. James II’s conversion to Catholicism in 1669 terrified Parliament, they did not want a Catholic monarch. James attempted to give civic equality to both Catholic and Protestant dissenters, instantly causing conflict with Parliament. He also promoted Catholics into prominent roles within society and in 1687 issued the Declaration of Indulgence aimed at religious toleration. However, the widespread fear of Catholicism throughout the nation meant that James had alienated both Parliament and the people. When his son, James Edward, was born the fear of a Catholic dynasty was coming true, so when the opportunity to support his Protestant daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange presented itself, his opponents threw themselves at it. The result was the 1688 Glorious Revolution, the deposition of James II and the birth of the political movement Jacobitism as an attempt to restore James II and later his son and grandson to the throne. James I, Charles I, Charles II and James II all believed that it was their God-given right to govern and that they had to answer to no one, also known as the Divine Right of Kings. This was ultimately their downfall, in large part due to the religious conflicts that it created.
James Edward, the ‘Old Pretender’, and Charles Edward, the ‘Young Pretender’ both attempted to regain the throne throughout their lifetimes. This was especially the case after James II’s Protestant daughters and monarchs Mary II and Anne died. The result was that the throne would be given to their distant cousins, the Hanoverians, overlooking his Catholic son. This was in 1714 and led to the most prominent Jacobite Rebellion in 1715 which had the largest number of Scottish Jacobite forces fighting against government. The promising start to the rebellion was soon lost over the incompetent leadership of the Jacobite forces, resulting in their surrender in 1716, with the ‘Old Pretender’ fleeing back to France where he had been living in exile. The last of the Jacobite risings started in 1745 ending in 1746, it saw the ‘Young Pretender’ attempting to march on Scotland and England in order to proclaim his father as the King. However, the result was the same for the ‘Young Pretender’ as it had been for the ‘Old Pretender’, decades before, he fled to France with a significant bounty on his head.
The religious divisions within the Crown that began with the Tudors and continued into the Stuarts left long-lasting ramifications for the realm as a whole. Ramifications that effected British domestic and foreign policy for years to come especially in regard to Ireland and Italy. Ramifications that can still be seen today, as it was not until 2013 that Parliament passed the law that would allow future monarchs to marry Catholics. However, this religious toleration did not include the would-be monarch, as the royal succession order would pass over them if they were Catholic.
About the Author
Grace E. Turton is an aspiring historical consultant with an MA in Social History and BA in History & Media from Leeds Beckett University. Grace specialises in British and Italian history but loves reading and researching about all aspects of history. In her free time, you can find her exploring the Yorkshire Dales with her dog Bear, watching classic films and playing rugby league. Grace is passionate about keeping history alive and believes that an integral part of this is maintained through History Through Fiction’s purpose.
