Ten Minute English and British History #17 - The Early Tudors: Henry VIII and the Church of England

1485 in Henry Tudor has defeated Richard the third at the Battle of Bosworth Field he was subsequently crowned King Henry the seventh Henry married Elizabeth the daughter of the Yorkist King Edward the fourth which United the claims of both the houses of York and Lancaster into the House of Tudor this brought about the end of the Wars of the Roses and many historians also consider this to be the end of the medieval period in England in the beginning of the early modern age Henry's early reign was plagued by the issue of stability and he faced many rebellions notably that of Lambert Simnel in 1487 who was backed by powerful Lords such as John della pol the Earl of Lincoln Henry crushed the rebels at the Battle of Stoke and even pardoned similar who was simply a puppet in 1489 Henry in an attempt to strengthen his position at home signed the Treaty of Medina del Campo with the kingdom of Aragon this treaty arranged a marriage between Henry's eldest son and heir Prince Arthur and Catherine the daughter of the Aragon ease King tensions and unrest continued for the next few years until another Pretender to the throne a man called Perkin Warbeck made himself known in 1491 war Bek claimed to be richard of shrewsbury the second son of Edward the fourth and the younger brother of Edward the fifth Warbeck spent five years gathering supporters which included the King of Scotland with whom war Bek launched a raid into the north in 1497 Henry levy taxes to raise his own army which caused rioting in Cornwall the reason for this was that the Cornish who had a very strong regional identity in the majority of whom did not even speak English did not believe they should pay for an army to fight in the north the riots turned to rebellion and an army marched on London but was ultimately defeated Henry then turned his attention to Scotland and after some fighting managed to agree to what was called the Treaty of Perpetual peace called so because everyone should have dreams immediately after this war Bek landed in Cornwall and raised enough a rebellious army which laid siege to exeter this each failed Warwick was captured and soon after paraded through London and hanged Henry's efforts to cement the House of Tudor were widespread and included a large-scale purge of any Yorkists or potential threats which lasted for decades harsh restrictions were placed on inheritance rights and financial penalties were common in 1499 Prince Arthur now being of age was married to Catherine of Aragon but the two wouldn't meet until late 15:01 when she arrived in England the marriage wasn't a particularly long one since Arthur died in 1502 forever robbing England of having an actual King Arthur attempts began immediately to have Catherine married the now heir to England Prince Henry but things were complicated some of these complications were due to a succession crisis in Casteel which was basically unified with Aragon and because it was against church law for someone to marry their brother's widow a law which will become very relevant shortly King Henry would go on to die in 1509 in his reign was ultimately a successful one since he secured his new dynasty henry was also responsible for securing important alliances and centralizing power which made some of his ministers very unpopular because nobody likes being taxed or being told what to do henry also importantly stabilized the country and fixed its finances which is why his death was not followed by a war of succession he was succeeded by his son Henry who had recently married Catherine of Aragon and was crowned King Henry the eighth's Henry wanted to be liked and so at his father's most unpopular ministers arrested tried for high treason and executed so Henry saw himself as a successor to the likes our bed with the third in Henry the fifth meaning he wanted to be a king remembered for his glorious conquests since Henry didn't care much for governing he left most of it to a man called Thomas Wolsey Henry liked Wolsey because he did as he was told and seldom said no to the King which the King was a fan of what was he soon after was made the Bishop of Lincoln the Archbishop of York a Cardinal of Roman in 1515 he was appointed as the Lord Chancellor the highest office in the land two years prior to this henry had done what all good English kings did invade France this was a part of a larger war called the War of the League of Cambrai in the England's most notable allah was the holy roman empire Henry led his army personally and won a victory at the Battle of the Spurs there was an attempt at peace in 1515 but this all fell through when the new French king came to the throne Frances the first what was he did manage to secure a peace with France three years later which laid the foundation for the Treaty of London which made peace between the European powers this piece was literally supposed to last forever but fun fact No two years later Henry and Francis met to celebrate their newfound peace here what was later called the field of the cloth of gold because of the tents being gold this was essentially a very expensive attempt at one-upmanship by both Kings but it would have meant more had the peace actually lasted in the next war English forces got within 50 miles of Paris however they didn't receive the reinforcements they were promised by the Holy Roman Empire and so retreated and abandoned the war after this Francis the first was captured by the Holy Roman Emperor the French lost the war in England got nothing which upset Henry after Francis was released in 1526 he asked Henry for an alliance against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles v which Henry agreed to and so another war at home was he was reforming the methods of tax collection as well as regulating farming practices Wolsey was also made people legged that is a personal representative with the Pope and he was so powerful that he was often referred to as alter Rex or the other king being a papal legate gave what was the immense authority over the church which he attempted to reform but not much came of it the writings of Martin Luther which were disseminated thanks to the invention of the printing press had a great impact on the coastal reform the Dutch scholar Erasmus was calling for a pure form of spirituality in stayed in Cambridge from 1511 to 1514 Erasmus his friend Thomas Moore was also a renowned thinker whose most notable work utopia questioned the ethical foundations of society henry's position on church reform was made clear in 15-20 where Martin Luther criticized the seven sacraments Henry jumped to their defense and wrote a treaty defending them and was subsequently awarded the title fidei Defensor the protector of the faith a title still in use today of course as everyone knows Henry is not famous for his good relations with the Pope but of course the opposite so by 1527 Henry had had five children by Katharine and Albert won a daughter called Mary had died or were miscarried Henry saw this as God punishing him for marrying his brother's widow and also given the fact that he was head-over-heels for some lady called Ann Berlin he wanted his marriage dissolved a quick sight now Henry never asked for divorce but an annulment the difference being that a divorce is a disillusion of a legitimate marriage and an annulment is where a marriage is declared having never been legitimate in the first place Henry asked the Pope to dissolved the marriage but this didn't happen for one simple reason Charles v the Holy Roman Emperor so during the previous war Charles v had captured Roman with it the Pope Charles was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon and didn't want to see his aunt shames her made it clear to the Pope no an omen was he had been no help and Henry felt that his position as a papal legate meant his loyalty could no longer be assured and so in 1529 Henry had him removed his Lord Chancellor he was replaced by Thomas More who immediately told Henry that his marriage should remain intact more would resign three years later and so Henry appointed a replacement called Thomas Cromwell it appeared Henry wasn't going to get his divorce and so in a small ceremony he married Anne Boleyn because she's a bit pregnant and I need to get married before the birth otherwise the child won't be legitimate and I could really do with an heir this act of bigamy was followed up by Cromwell getting Parliament to pass the act of restraint in appeals to Rome which meant that clergy had to appeal to Henry on matters of religion not the Pope this act formally declared that the realm of England is an empire governed by one supreme head and king meaning that Henry was in charge of everything in the England was independent of all foreign powers and influences Thorin's marriage to Henry was declared invalid by Henry and amberlynn with crowned queen shortly afterward she gave birth not to a son but to a daughter Elizabeth in 1534 Henry pushed through the act of Supremacy which declared himself and his heirs to be the supreme head in earth of the Church of England in the same year Parliament passed the treason act meaning that disagreeing with this meant you'd probably lose your head this was the case with Thomas More who refused to go along with this and so were headed Henry faced a couple of setbacks in 1536 he had suppressed many of the smaller monasteries in England because of their close ties to the Pope and had essentially taken all of their wealth they sled two a couple of fierce revolts in Yorkshire in Lincolnshire which Henry defeated Queen Anne was critical of this and combined with the lack of some men she had to go Henry had Cromwell dropped charges of treason infidelity and even incest she was given a slightly rigged trial convicted and beheaded henry was then free to marry another lady he was infatuated with Jane Seymour which he did Jane would do what the previous wives had failed to do she bore him a son Edward in 1537 but due to the complications of childbirth she died two weeks later Cromwell was now firmly entrenched in the position of power and along with Henry began to reform the new Church of England generally speaking they towed a line between the Catholic faith and the Protestant extremes Cromwell also backed the printing of the Bible in English although church services remained in Latin and he began to dissolve the rest of the monasteries an event which has been given the inventive name the dissolution of the monasteries this was completed by 1539 and Henry made a lot of money from it which he would promptly waste some palaces and paying the debts on his previous wars in 1540 Henry got married again mostly against his will because Cromwell kept nagging him to Anne of Cleves Cleves is here by the way the marriage was not a happy one and it was declared unconstitutional from grace before being arrested and then beheaded in 1540 there is a pattern emerging on the same day as chromos execution Henry married Catherine Howard this marriage would last for a whopping 16 months before she was caught having an affair which when you're married to the King of England is not a smart idea she was subsequently arrested tried for treason and beheaded Henry's problems weren't just concerned with his marriages but with foreign policy there had been numerous unsuccessful revolts in Ireland and in 1541 Henry changed his title from the Lord of Ireland a title historically granted by the Pope to the king of Ireland Henry was hoping for war with France at this point were needed to deal with their Scottish Ally first Henry wanted to unite the two crowns by Mary his son - the daughter of the Scottish King Scott refused and so war this war is cut the rough wooing because Henry was literally fighting the Scottish King in order to force her marriage it was also at this time in 1543 when Henry married his sixth wife Catherine Parr so in his late life Henry had become morbidly obese and could no longer move himself he suffered from many other ailments and he died from an infection 1547 at the age of 55 the throne then passed to his son who at the age of nine was crowned King Edward the sixth who would have the tough job of uniting a religiously divided Kingdom thus ended the reign of one of England's most important kings whose decision to break with Rome would dictate England's foreign policy for the next two centuries it is important to note that little of this would have been possible had his father Henry the seventh not laid a strong and legitimate foundation for his reign though I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching there are some book recommendations in the description below if you'd like to learn more you

Channel: History Matters

Views: 557,673

Rating: 4.9404531 out of 5

Keywords: Ten, Minute, History, 10, Documentary, animated, British, English, Tudor, Dynasty, Britain, England, Henry, VII, Seventh, VIII, Eighth, Wives, divorce, Rome, Church of England, France, Charles V, Edward VI, Wars of the Roses, Pope, Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, Catherine Parr, Catherine Howard, Anne of Cleves, Holy Roman Emperor, Empire, Ireland, Francis I, Renaissance, Protestantism, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Wolsey, Tudors

Id: GcwsBPPSi9Q

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 21 2018