THOMAS MORE & HENRY VIII.   Term Paper ID:21639 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines Chancellor of England's (More) refusal to support King's request for annulment of marriage to Catherine of Aragon & remarriage to Boleyn in context of 16th Cent. spiritual & political conflict.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines Chancellor of England's (More) refusal to support King's request for annulment of marriage to Catherine of Aragon & remarriage to Boleyn in context of 16th Cent. spiritual & political conflict. Paper Introduction: The purpose of this research is to examine why Thomas More, chancellor of England at the time of Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, refused to support Henry's request for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and remarriage to Boleyn. The plan of the research will be to set forth the essential elements of the conflict, including the issues that confronted the major players, and then to discuss, with reference to the text of contemporaneous documents of church and state, More's position as articulated in them and in More's public and private correspondence. The essential elements of the conflict over More's refusal to support the annulment can be seen in the wide context of conflicting spiritual and political priorities that dominated Europe during the Renaissance, and in the narrower context of Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. But because of thesystematic way in which papal authority was destroyed in Act after Act,More eventually falls into a trap. The question of royal legitimacy versus royal caprice mustarise because one action does not logically follow the other. Trans. Rather, More reminds the King of his own book, written in 1521, condemningLuther's rejection of Rome as heresy, of More's suggesting to the King thatperhaps he might wish to temper his enthusiasm for papal authority, and ofHenry's rejoinder that "he would in no wise anything minish of that matter,of which thing his Highness showed me a secret cause whereof I never hadanything heard before" (More, Letters, 1961, p. Such a tone acknowledges divine creation as amatter of unambiguous faith, and it implies the confluence of faith andscience as marks of Renaissance achievement. 131). More's refusal to avow the legitimacy of Henry's annulment ofmarriage to Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn onone hand, and the refusal to avow Henry's hegemony over the Church inEngland on the other was the direct cause of More's fall. New -York:Macmillan. References Barry, Colman J., ed. Rogers, Elizabeth Frances. The issue of papal authority in general is more complicated for More,but his approach is not to offer arguments in favor of the pope's position. Keeping one's counsel on this viewis a way of protecting More, whereas attempts to present positivecounterarguments to the King would surely be an act of treason. More presents indirect arguments that are intended to findsupport from English law itself to relieve him of the necessity of making adefinitive statement either for or against the annulment. 3 vols. More further implies that as a matter of faith he canfind no spiritual justification for denying a spiritual principle of papal"primacy to be provided by God," that the King himself had affirmed: "I cannothing . The Act of Supremacy in 1534 appears to be a declaration of principlethat all subjects affirm his authority over the Church in England: Albeit the King's majesty justly and rightly is and ought to be the supreme head of the church of England, and so is recognized by the clergy of this realm in their convocations . Vol. (1961). Although what was called the "King's matter" was personalized inregard to Thomas More, it was an institutional transformation of the statusof the church in England from that of authority and influence nearly equalto that of the king, into a subordinate and highly specialized spiritualauthority subject to the king. Elizabeth Frances Rogers. Utopia. A closeexamination of the content of that refusal illustrates that, despite thehigh profile of the issue of the annulment and remarriage, the more seriousquestion for More's political ethics and the political climate of Englandwas the question of royal authority over the Church. Thomas More: Selected letters. The first Act of Succession required all subjects to swear an oath insupport of it; Rogers says that the oath itself was not incorporated intothat Act but was incorporated into the second Act. But if they chose the latter, marriageinevitably became a matter of both international politics (there being onlyone royal house to a country) and more standard nuptial praxis. Thomas. and that which you cannot turn to good, so to order it that it be not very bad (More, Utopia, 1984, pp. The Reformation. 212). (1956). Central to hiseffort is his casting of the issue in spiritual terms. New York: Greenwich House. Thus one question that suggests itself iswhy More put himself in the position of having to refuse the king, as muchas the question of why he refused. 2d ed. However, More's position as the principal advisor toHenry VIII made him vulnerable precisely because of his high placement nextto the throne. Thisimplicitly places Henry in the position of capricious tyrant if he requiresMore to abdicate his conscience. . H. The papal dispensation that occasioned marriage between Henry andCatherine amounted to a declaration of papal authority over the spirituallife of a sovereign. . By customand practice, royal persons might marry members of the nobility or amongpersons of their exclusive station. Henry had married Catherine, his dead elder brother Arthur's wife, onpapal dispensation, owing to a biblical prohibition of such a marriage.But the consequences of the original dispensation surfaced as a matter ofstate for Henry for the reason that Catherine had borne him no sons, only adaughter, Mary. In a1521 letter to his daughter Margaret praising her studies in astronomy, herefers to the "Eternal Workman" of the stars and trusts that she willdevote her life to both "medical science and sacred literature" (More,Letters, 1961, p. To see why it isnecessary to establish the context in which the issue of the refusal arose. So the case standeth in a commonwealth, and so it is in the consultations of kings and princes. History of western civilization. The Act of Successionspecifically declared Henry's marriage was "against the laws of AlmightyGod," which meant that the marriage to Anne Boleyn was valid, that thechildren of Catherine and Henry were illegitimate and therefore had noclaim to the throne, and that the children of Anne and Henry would be"lawful children, and be inheritable, and inherit according to the courseof inheritance and laws of this realm, the imperial crown of the same"(Rogers, 1961, pp. Thepresumptive inviolability of marriage as an article of faith was one aspectof this. In any case, Henry, who hadinvested Catholic bishops in England, had the Archbishop of Canterbury, nowunder English control, annul his marriage. 98-1 ). (1961). 215-6). (1984). It is reasonable to ask how More, a convinced Catholic,could agree to serve Henry VII as an active "councilor" once the conflictsbetween Henry and the pope began to manifest themselves. More cannottake the oath, however, because it insists that the legitimacy of the Actof Succession emanates from the King as head of the Church of England andso is a matter of spiritual authority. Documents of the Christian church. In asserting a general royal authority over a Church and all churchmatters, the Act also usurped the administrative infrastructure (i.e.,clergy) of the existing (Roman) Church. 312).This Act specifically stops all financial contributions from the EnglishChurch to Rome and officially severs the connection between spiritualmatters and customs in England and the determination of their legitimacy inRome. --- (1978, Supplement) Thomas More and the problem of counsel.Albion 1 : pp. This is athinly veiled reference to the exercise of ecclesiastical authority inEngland by Rome. Arranged by Henry Steele Commager. New York: Mentor/NAL.----------------------- 15 However, the case of royal marriages were complicated. He had tried to serve his sovereign faithfully in everything; nowhe saw that Henry's courses must inevitably conflict with his ownconscientious beliefs" (Churchill, 1983, pp. In 1533, the Restraint of Appeals eliminated papaljurisdiction over ecclesiastical courts in England; this law isdistinguished by its refusal to refer to the pope as such. . TheSix Articles Abolishing Diversity in Opinions of 1539 appear to conformdoctrinally with Roman Catholic orthodoxy. . 362). More appears to have realized before entering politics that themoral conflicts implicit in the accession of good men to public officecould not fail to result in a conflict between love (of country) and duty(to principles of morality). Meanwhile, it was during this entire periodthat, as Santillana notes (1956, p. 55-66. The difficulty for Henry (andultimately More) arose because the question of annulment, dispensation, andremarriage (a spiritual matter) was conflated with the question of theextent of royal discretion in matters of state. be it enacted..... What he did do was assert nationalistic jurisdiction over selectedspiritual matters within a given state, by means of a series of acts ofParliament that were designed to discredit papal authority in England bylegal means. (1952). More appears to have remained true to his principles, which suggestsan ethical basis for the refusal. Notes. By 1534, in the Dispensations Act, the pope becomes "the Bishop ofRome, called the pope, and the see of Rome" (Bettenson, 1963, p. The purpose of this research is to examine why Thomas More,chancellor of England at the time of Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn,refused to support Henry's request for an annulment of his marriage toCatherine of Aragon and remarriage to Boleyn. John Donnelly. (1963). It would also havemeant that royal legitimacy was solely a function of state and outside thescope of spiritual concern. It was More's refusalto take that oath that resulted in his execution. shall be taken, accepted, and repute the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England, called 'Anglicana Ecclesia'" (Barry, 1985, p. Thomas More:Selected letters. . Bettenson, Henry. More avoids the trap of disputing the facts of the case and arguesonly from the standpoint of the King's own previous arguments on one hand,and an insistence on the integrity of conscience on the other. St. His ultimate refusal was based not on the Act of Succession per sebut on the oath that accompanied it, and as long as the Act and oathremained separate, More could argue his case on legal grounds. 13 -1). Private conscience was for More a matter of faith, and theseriousness of his spirituality is evident in the almost casual manner inwhich he piously invokes the name of God in his ordinary discourse. 212). What is important about thisin regard to More's refusal is that the absolute seriousness with which thesecular, scientific, and celestial appear to be attributes of divineconsciousness shows a predisposition to moral tension when secular andspiritual priorities might conflict. Ed.Elizabeth Frances Rogers. (1967). He resigned "as a protest against royal supremacy in spiritualaffairs. More's Utopia: The biography of an idea.Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood P. The Age of Adventure: TheRenaissance Philosophers. More understood that the ultimate outcome ofHenry's assertion of English independence from Rome's authority in temporaland spiritual matters would be an assertion of Henry's authority over suchmatters, including the matter of individual conscience. Hexter, J. For example, the institutionalreligious doctrines of transubstantiation. They mandated that the succession to the English thronewould be a domestic matter specifically outside papal jurisdiction, andthey insisted on the acceptance by the Convocations that the English kinghad authority over the Church in England. It can now be seen that More's refusal takes the form of an argumentthat the King cannot (1) insist on unconditional papal authority to obtainone dispensation, (2) seek to persuade the pope to exercise that sameauthority to dispense with that dispensation, and later (3) declare thatthe dispensation is annulled because the pope has no spiritual authorityafter all. The Submission of the Clergy,enacted in 1532, was essentially an oath of ecclesiastical allegiance tothe King that, significantly, cited previous ecclesiastical directives as"not only much prejudicial to your royal prerogative, but also overmuchonerous to your highness' subjects" (Bettenson, 1963, p. 2 of Readingsin church history. Hexter says that More's positionexhibits "open-eyed realism" (Hexter, 1952, p. This is the documentthat establishes the seat of ecclesiastical power in England at Canterbury. Thustrouble with a royal marriage implied a tension between political and moralspheres, not only for the marriage partners but also for the variousinstitutions to which they were attached, individually and severally. More also alludes tothe Submission of Clergy, citing Henry's assurance that he did not needMore's stamp of approval in laws rejecting papal authority, as well as tothe important fact that More never debated the annulment or marriage toQueen Anne. 13 -2). Westminster, Md.: Christian Classics. He begins byrecalling that the King's earliest annulment efforts were to find biblicalsanctions against marriage between a man and his sister-in-law, for thespecific reason that scriptural authority could help persuade the pope todeclare that Henry's marriage to Catherine, his late brother's wife, hadbeen immoral. The Act obliged the English clergy todecide on a specific religious loyalty, for as long as the pope and theking claimed spiritual jurisdiction over the same land, the pope and kingwere in direct conflict. Impatient for a son, andreacting against what he considered "papal tyranny" over domestic politicalaffairs, Henry took the indirect route. Once the pope refused to annul the marriage to Catherine,Henry's thinking appears to have been that if he could dispense with papalauthority over the English church, he would be able to sanction orlegitimate issues of church dogma, including the matter of the King'smarriage. Apart from spiritual considerations, this would have caused warbetween the Crown of Aragon (Spain) and England. In other words, a privately held opinion that is a matter ofconscience would not be used as a test of loyalty to Henry, even thoughHenry had asserted his own spiritual authority over the Church in England.Indeed, More explains (More, Letters, 1961, p. The evidence of More's correspondence is that he did not seekmartyrdom but tried a series of legal maneuvers to avoid a confrontationbetween his conscience and his king, both of which he took seriously. 2d ed.London: Oxford UP, 1963. The implicitpoint is that, in 1534, Henry is caught by the very force of the argumenthe made in 1521. . NewYork: Marquette. History of the English-speakingpeoples. The question of agood man's moral imperative to enter public service is also, however,characterized as a "difficult and intricate" decision (Hexter, 1982, p.115). More's own answer is suggested in theUtopia, which contains a passage dealing directly with the moral andethical imperative that faces anyone who enters public administration.More develops his argument around the idea of the just man, who, preciselybecause he is just, is morally obligated to enter politics on one hand, andto offer the best advice he can on the other. The public oath that the second Act ofSuccession required transformed the silence of private conscience from aprotection against a positive accusation of treason into proof of treason. 148). Hayes, Carleton J.H., Baldwin, Marshall Whithed, and Cole. It was on the basis of private conscience and the evidence of hisdisplay of absolute loyalty to and appreciation of the generosity of Henrythat More sought to be left alone in regard to publicly agreeing to the Actof Succession. And do not therefore disturb and bring out of order the whole matter because that another which is merrier and better cometh to your remembrance. CharlesWoolsey. 668). 2nd ed. . New Haven: Yale UP. When the pope excommunicated Henry after More's death, the EnglishChurch became more entrenched, not so much in matters of faith as inmatters locating Church administration and jurisdiction in England. The well-known consequences to More of the King's matter wereimportant because of his position as Lord Chancellor. He did not deny the pope'sauthority to pronounce on spiritual matters. . The need for a king to have legitimate marriage wasan aspect of the very legitimacy of a king's claim to the throne. 217) to his daughterMargaret that he has no quarrel with the succession-related provisions ofthe Act of Succession but only with the oath attached to it. Santillana, Giorgio de, ed. Both the King and his closest councilors agreed that thisshowed positive proof of the King's understanding of personal conscienceand good faith in regard to Rome. 3 6). Rather,reference is made to "the see of Rome" and the "Court of Rome," which isdeclared to have no judicial standing in England. The preamble to the act cites the presumption that "the King'smost excellent Majesty is by God's law supreme head immediately under himof this whole church and congregation of England intending the conservationof the same Church and congregation" (Barry, 1985, p. There is a vicious irony in the fact that,according to Hexter, "neither the dialogue nor More's own service to theking provide a solution" to whether a good man should accept high office."Rather they represent a dilemma made explicit, and a paradox identified"(Hexter, Counsel, 1978, p. The convocations were clericalassemblies "constituted by statute and called together to deliberate onecclesiastical matters" (OED). However, what is most importantabout the articles is that they are framed by royal and not papalauthority. Whatsoever part you have taken upon you, play that as well as you can and make the best of it. The stage was set for two Acts of Succession and the Act ofSupremacy in 1534. More's refusal was a manifestation ofthat tension, informed by an understanding of the consequences of assigningmoral weight to one set of priorities or the other. More, St. More, Thomas. (1983). Ed. The plan of the researchwill be to set forth the essential elements of the conflict, including theissues that confronted the major players, and then to discuss, withreference to the text of contemporaneous documents of church and state,More's position as articulated in them and in More's public and privatecorrespondence. St. that the king our sovereign lord . Logically speaking, resigning his public office should have relievedthe pressure on More. The secret cause wasthe original papal dispensation that allowed Henry to marry his latebrother's wife in the first place (Rogers, 1961, p. 55). 668). More refused toconfront the king's position directly by openly advocating the pope'sposition, but he also refused to take a positive stand in favor of theking. If evil opinions and naughty persuasions cannot be utterly and quite plucked out of their hearts, if you cannot even as you would remedy vices, which use and custom hath confirmed, yet for this cause you must not leave and forsake the commonwealth; you must not forsake the ship in the tempest because you cannot rule and keep down the winds . The factthat the dispensation is in its essence a spiritual matter, it is also amatter of private conscience that is quite separate from royal authority, afact that in any case Henry had specifically affirmed. The transformation was systematic. He therefore wanted the pope to annul this marriage,thereby allowing him to marry his lover Anne Boleyn (Hayes, et al., 1967,pp. 91), "Europe was entering upon the eraof absolute monarchies, with the metaphysics attendant thereunto."Universal papal authority over secular matters was being challenged, andthe pope would not go without a fight; and secular authority was beingasserted over spiritual matters within specific state boundaries. 2 9).This argument supports the view that conscience is a matter both personaland spiritual and that private conscience could allow More to "serve hisGrace in other things" (More, Letters, 1961, p. Henrysaid that he would not want to trouble anyone's conscience and that More"should perceive mine own conscience should serve me, and that I shouldfirst look unto God and after God unto him" (More, Letters, 1961, p. This, More implies, shows that the Kingalways considered the question of annulment a spiritual matter that couldnot be legitimately decided without papal sanction. Remaining inoffice made his refusal a blatant act of protest against the authority orat least preference of the king. Anannulment would have annulled marriage, the previous dispensation, andpapal authority in regard to a king's spiritual life. For some time he was able to finesse the court on thatbasis. New Haven: Yale UP. The essential elements of the conflict over More's refusal to supportthe annulment can be seen in the wide context of conflicting spiritual andpolitical priorities that dominated Europe during the Renaissance, and inthe narrower context of More's private struggle over the moral authority ofthe church versus Henry's claim to the legitimacy and authority of hismonarchy over spiritual matters within the confines of the monarchy. Therefore, the popedelayed, "hoping, no doubt, that in the meantime the matter might resolveitself" (Hayes, et al., 1967, p. Theinterplay and conflict of church and state, as the term is now framed,surfaced over the claims for authority over the same issue. (1985). 36 -3; Churchill, 1983, pp. Forhim, however, such a confrontation was inevitable because of the growingconfrontation in Renaissance Europe between secular and spiritual authorityin general and the progressively more assertive Acts of Henry andParliament in the 153 s. perceive any commodity that ever could come by that denial,for that primacy is at the leastwise instituted by the corps of Christendomand for a great urgent cause in avoiding of schisms" (More, Letters, 1961,pp. 21 ). 212-13). Churchill, Winston. But More even sought to avoid a manifestly legal argument on point,which can be seen in a letter to Thomas Cromwell after being accused oftreason. Next, More reminds the King that he specifically exempted More fromjoining those of his advisors who were trying to find a way around thepapal dispensation that had made the HenryCatherine union acceptable to theChurch and that, further, More could keep his own counsel regarding hisview of the probable legitimacy of Henry and Catherine's marriage. The just man must recognizethat where his good principles conflict with the realities of a corruptcourt, he must do what he can--for he can do nothing more drastic--to alterthe character or intensity of the corruption. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.