Tudor Parliaments,The Crown,Lords and Commons,1485-1603 by Michael A.R. Graves

Author:Michael A.R. Graves [Graves, Michael A.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780582491908
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 1985-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

THE POLITICS OF PARLIAMENT

The Reformation Parliament was a momentous event. On the Crown’s initiative it carried through revolutionary changes which affected every one of the king’s subjects. There was an atmosphere of crisis, tensions ran high and it is not surprising that some men criticised and even opposed the direction in which the king was moving. Sooner or later such criticism and opposition were bound to surface in Parliament, because it was the instrument of the ‘Henrician Revolution’. For the first time there appeared an organised opposition group, the ramifications of which were probably greater than the evidence admits. The extra-parliamentary managers were Eustace Chapuys, the ambassador of Catherine of Aragon’s nephew, Charles V, and some of her chaplains. Inside Parliament they could look to shocked conservatives like the earl of Shrewsbury and Lord Darcy, papal supporters and men of principle such as Bishop Fisher (Rochester) and Tunstal and a number of elected burgesses. They may have included members of the ‘More circle’ because, while Sir Thomas was as usual the equivocal, subtle and discreet lawyer, he lent support of some kind. The ‘Aragonese faction’, as Elton calls it, could have expected a sympathetic response from many quarters: convocation and the bishops and abbots in the Lords who were the natural defenders of ecclesiastical liberties and papal supremacy; regional conservatism, especially in the north, and court opposition to both Cromwell and the Boleyn faction. Furthermore, Catherine of Aragon was very popular whereas Anne Boleyn was not, and many regarded Mary as Henry’s legitimate heir. Sir George Throckmorton, knight for Warwickshire, voiced these grievances in the Commons when he argued against the annulment and attacks on papal authority. He had secret discussions with Thomas More and Bishop Fisher and frequent meetings with other disgruntled members of the Commons at a tavern, the Queen’s Head, where they discussed Parliament matters.49

Opposition, however, was not to be tolerated for long. An anticlerical, anti-papal (yet still orthodox catholic) laity in both houses was essentially united with the king in pursuit of clerical abuses, the reduction of clerical privilege, the humiliation of the clergy and their submission to the king. This was achieved in 1531–32. Within the next two years the king had obtained his annulment and the total rejection of papal authority, and in 1536 the expropriation of Church property began with the dissolution of the lesser monasteries. Henry’s policies, inspired by Cromwell, had been rammed through, apparently to a successful conclusion. Some, such as More and Fisher, paid for their opposition with their lives. Others got off more lightly: Bishop Gardiner of Winchester was relieved of his office of secretary and exiled in his bishopric. On one occasion Tunstal was ordered back home by the king, when he was en route to Westminster to attend Parliament,50 while a chastened Throckmorton wrote to Cromwell as the 1534 session approached, promising to take his advice to ‘stay at home and meddle little in politics’.51

The most important parliamentary victim of the Crown’s success was the clergy. The

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.