Lecture V
The Tudors
1. The birth of the nation state
2. The new monarchy
3. Reformation
4. The Protestant-Catholic Struggle

The birth of the nation state
The year of 1485 was traditionally considered watershed and the beginning if the Tudor age (reign). The century of Tudor’s rule (1485-1603) is often thought off as a most glorious period in English History. Henry VII built the foundation of a wealthy nation state and a powerful monarchy.
His son Henry VIII kept a magnificent court and made a church in England truly English by breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church. Finally his daughter Elisabeth I brought glory to the new state by the defeating the powerful navy of Spain the greatest European power of that time. During the Tudor age England experienced of the greatest artistic period in its history. There is however a less glorious view of the Tudor century.
Henry VIII wasted the wealth saved by his father. Elisabeth weakened by government by selling official posts. She did this to avoid asking the Parliament for money. Although the government try to deal with the problem of the poor and homeless people and a time of when price rose faster then wages. Its laws and actions were often cruel in effect.


The new monarchy
Henry is less well known then either Henry VIII or Elisabeth I. But he was far more important in establishing the new monarchy than either of them. He had the same ideas and opinions as the growing classes of merchants and gentry and he based royal power on good business sense.
Henry VII firmly believed that war and glory were bad for business while business was good for the state. He avoided quarrels either with Scotland in the north and France in the south.
During the 15th century particularly during the War of the Roses England’s trading position had been badly damaged. The strong German _____________a closed trading society had destroyed English trade with the Baltic and Northern Europe. Trade with Italy and France had been reduced after England’s defeat in France in the mid of 15th century. The Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium) alone offered a way in for trade in Europe. Only a year after his victory in Bossworth in 1486 Henry VII made an important trade agreement with the Netherlands which allowed English trade to grow again.
Henry was fortunate. Many of the old nobility had died or been defeated in the recent wars and the lands had gone to the King. This meant that Henry had more power and money then earlier Kings. In order to strengthen his authority (beyond question) he forbade every one except himself to keep armed men. The authority of the Law had been almost completely destroyed by the lowest behaviour of nobles and their armed men.
Henry used the court of Sartch Chamber traditionally the King Council Chamber to deal with lawless nobles. Local justice that had broken down during the wars began to operate again. He encouraged the use of heavy fines has punishment because these gave the crown money. Henry’s aim was to make the Crown financially independent and the lands and the fines he took from the old nobility helped him to do this. He also raised taxes for wars which he did not fight. He never spent money unless he had to. One might expect him to be unpopular but he was very careful to keep the friendship of the merchant and gentry classes. Like him they wanted peace and prosperity. He created a new nobility among them now became Henry’s statesmen. But they all knew that their rise to importance was completely dependent on the Crown.
When he died in 1509 he left behind the huge total of 12 mil. pounds that was about 15 years worth of England. The only thing on which he was building for a merchant fleet. He understood earlier the most men. England’s future would depend on international trade.
Henry VIII was unlike his father. He was cruel, wasteful with money and interested for pleasing himself. His court was glamorous with balls and entertainments, development of culture and on this death treasury was almost empty. He wanted to become an important influence on European politics but much had happened since England had given up its efforts to defeat in the Hundred Year War. France was no more powerful. Spain was even more powerful because it was united with the Holy Roman Empire (which included much of central Europe). He wanted England to hold of balance of power between these two giants. He first unsuccessfully allied himself with Spain and when he was not rewarded he changed sides. The friendship with France didn’t bring him anything. He started to speak again to Charles V of Spain. His failure to gain an important politic position in Europe was a bitter disappointed. He spent so much on keeping a magnificent court and on wars from which England had little to gain that his father’s carefully saved money was soon gone. Gold and silver from newly discovered America added to economic inflation.
In this serious financial crisis he needed of money. One way of doing this was by reducing the amount of silver used in coins. Also that gave Henry immediate profits but it led to a rise of prices. It was a damaging policy and England coinage was reduced to a 1/7 of value within 25 years


Reformation
Henry VIII was always looking for new sources for money his father had became powerful by the King over the noble land. But the lands owned by the Church and monasteries had not been touched so the Church was the huge Landowner and monasteries were no longer important to economic and social growth in the way they had been two centuries earlier. Actually they were unpopular because of monks no longer led religious but lived in wealth and comfort. Henry disliked the power of the Church in England because he could not control it since it was an international organization. Henry had been powerful enough in Europe to influence the people it might have been different but there were two more powerful states: France and Spain with the whole Roman Empire lying between him and Rome.
The power of Catholic Church in England could there for worked against him. His authority and taxes paid to the church reduced his own income. Henry was not only European King with a wish to centralize state authority. But he had another reason for standing up to the authority of the church.
In 1510 Henry VIII had married Catherine of Aragon the widow of his elder brother Arthur. In 1526 he had still not had a son who survived infancy and was now unlikely to do so. He tried to persuade to the Pope to allow him to divorce Catherine. Normally he need not have expected any difficulty. His chief minister Cardinal Wolsey had already been skillful in advising on Henry’s foreign and home policy. Wolsey hoped that his skills and his important position in the church would be successful in persuading the Pope but the Pope was controlled by Charles V who was King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor and also Catherine nephew.
For both politic and family reasons he wanted Henry to stay married to Catherine. The Pope didn’t wish to anger either Charles or Henry but eventually he was forced to do as Charles wanted. He forbad Henry’s divorce.
Henry was extremely angry and the first person to feel his anger was his minister Cardinal Wolsey. He only escaped execution by dying of natural causes on his way to King’s court and after him no priest ever became an important minister of the King.
In 1531 Henry persuaded the English bishops to make him the head of the Church of England. This became law after Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534 it was a popular decision. Henry was now free to divorce Catherine and marry his new love Anne Boleyn. He hoped Ann would give him a son to follow him on the throne.
Henry’s break with Rome was purely political. He had simply wanted to control the Church and to keep its wealth in his own Kingdom. He did not approved of the new ideas of Reformation Protestantism introduced by Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Geneva. He still believed in the Catholic faith. Henry had earlier written a book criticizing Luther’s teaching and the Pope had revered him with the title Fidei Defender. The Pope must have regretted his action. The letters F.D. are still to be found on every coin in England.
Like his father Henry VIII governed England through his close advisers, men who were completely dependent on him for their opposition. But when he broke with Rome he used the Parliament to make the break legal. Through several acts of Parliament between 1532-1536 England officially became a Protestant country, even though the popular religion was still Catholic.
Once again England had accepted the separation from Rome Henry took the English reformation. A step further was taken by one of his assistants Thomas Cromwell. Henry and Cromwell made a careful survey of the English Church property. The first properly organized tax survey between 1536-1539 (since the Doomesday book). They close 516 monasteries and other religious houses. Henry did this in order to take money but he also wanted to be popular with the rising classes of landowners and merchants. There for Henry soled much of monasteries lands to them. Many smaller landowners made a fortune and used the stone to create magnificent new houses for themselves, other buildings just left to fall down. Meanwhile the monks and nuns were thrown out some were given out small sums of money but many were unable to find works and became wandering baggers. The dissolutions of the monasteries were probably the greatest art of official destruction in the history of Great Britain.
Henry proved that his break with the Pope was neither a religious nor diplomatic disaster. He remained royal the Catholic religion and executed Protestants who refused to accept it. He even made an alliance against France for political reasons both of them were willing to forget the quarrel of Queen of Aragon and also England break with Rome.
In 1536 he managed to unite England. It was the first act of union in the history of Britain. Henry was a despot and his despotism was fatal for the countries progressive means and terrible for his family, for example, Thomas More was invited to court and appointed Chancellor. But he dare to contradict the King and was beheaded. That was a destiny of many Chancellors which had the most dangerous post in the country. One could compare their fate with the destiny of the King’s Houses. It was described by some school teachers with the following rhyme: «Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived».
Henry died in 1547 leaving behind his sixth wife Catherine and his three children. Mary the eldest was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon. Elisabeth was the daughter of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, whom he had executed because she was unfaithful. Nine-year-old Edward was the son of Jane Seymour, the only wife whom Henry had really loved but who had died giving birth to his only son.
Mary and Elisabeth had been declared illegitimate. He wanted to achieve a betrothal of his son with the future marry Queen of Scots though he was a selfish tyrant he left his country more united and more confident then before. His reign was glorified by the Utopian vision of Thomas More drawings of whole Britain, poetry and music of a Tudor’s court and other claims to greatness.


The Protestant-Catholic Struggle
Edward VI, Henry VIII’s son, was only a child of 9 years old when he became King, so the country was ruled by council. All the members of the council were representatives of the new nobility created by the Tudors. They were keen Protestant Reformers because they had benefited from the sale of monastery lands. Indeed, all the new landowners knew that they could only be sure of keeping their new lands if they made England truly Protestant.