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The Emergence of a Nation State-The commonwealth of England 1529-1660 G.R.…
The Emergence of a Nation State-The commonwealth of England 1529-1660
G.R. Smith
Political and economic situation of England
Increasing population
Small villages and rural population
Agriculture and harvests
Institutions of central government
Gentry class ruled localities
JPs
Taxation and legislation
Parliament’s important role in the machinery of government (consent of the Lords and Commons was essential).
Wolsey
To the casual eye the cardinal rather than the king seemed the true ruler of England
The cardinal never doubted that the basis of his power was the king’s confidence.
Britain
England’s concern of control of Wales and Ireland
Strategic importance of Scotland as a backdoor into England
The Church in 1529
Wealth
Unpopularity (anticlericalism)
Dependence on the Crown.
Church’s net income of £270,000 a year founded on its vast estate/land - Crown’s income was £100,000.
Changing attitudes to the Church & Protestantism
Increasingly well-educated laymen expected more of their clerical mentors
Anticlericalism
Pluralism
Tithes
Hunne Case 1515
Benefit of the clergy
3 forms of anticlericalism
1
Denunciation of evils in the institutional church and found its most virulent expression in the savage and grossly exaggerated structures of Simon Fish (negative)
2
The clerical state should have its wings clipped in the general interests of the commonwealth (positive)
3
Need for reform in order to benefit the spiritual life of the church itself (positive).
Not mutually exclusive
It was the latter two types of anticlericalism which had a notable influence on the plans of Thomas Cromwell.
Lollardy
Lollardy was driven underground with support of the government and became just a clandestine lower class movement
Lollardy’s traditions undoubtedly contributed to the anticlericalism among the laity and was a powerful force in early-c16th England.
Lollardy was an important background force to the development of Protestantism in early-c16th England.
On the other hand, Lollardy could hardly have brought about a full-scale Reformation on its own - lacked support among the ruling classes and to them was associated with a threat to social stability.
Lutheranism
Lutheranism did have the dynamic power which early-c16th Lollardy lacked
English intellectuals
Humanism
Erasmus
Launched fierce attacks on the inadequacies and corruption of the church.
Bible
Luther’s ideas were making themselves felt in England by 1519.
Tyndale’s Bible
By 1530, Protestantism had established a clear base in England: intellectuals; Lollard groups; English Bible; printing.
Protestantism was bound to develop in England
The Divorce
Henry’s divorce was not the beginning of the Reformation in England, merely an immensely important episode in a longer chain of events.
The spark which started the chain of events was the King’s desire to rid himself of his wife and marry Boleyn.
Continuity in Catholicism
It is misleading to exaggerate the troubles of the Church during that decade
Continuing traditional piety of most Englishmen
‘Great rebuilding’ 1480-1530;
Pride and general approbation
‘People do not spend vast sums of money upon institutions of which they profoundly disapprove’.