Henry VIII?

Question

Do you agree with the opinion that ‘the beginnings of the Reformation in England owed more to Anticlericalism than to Anne Boleyn’?

Answer 1

Anne Boleyn was a prime driver in the Anticlericalism movement

Answer 2

The feeling I received after reading up on the subject is that Anne Boleyn only played a very small part in the reformation. The main reason was that Henry VIII wanted to get his hands on the money held by the churches to refill his coffers after emptying them indulging in his favourite pastimes and trying to impress others.

Answer 3

the anticlericalist moverment was spreading like wildfire all across Europe at that time, but only a few years before Henry's claim the he was Head of the Church in England, he wrote a scathing attack on Martin Luther that earned him the papal title, Defender of the Faith. It was his dynastic problems that changed religious policy in England. Has Catherine of Aragon been able to produce a living male heir, Ann Boleyn would have either become Henry's mistress as her sister did or have married away from court. She's have kept her head and the magnificent Elizabeth I would never have been born. And the change from a Roman Catholic Britian to a Protestant one might never have occured.

Answer 4

Hmmm. Good question.

I'm going to say no. Anti-cleric sentiment ran high among some of Henry's advisors, but there's no doubting that he was a devout Catholic up until the Anne, and perhaps again at the very end.

Henry would never have let the anti-clerical advisors talk him into it without having Anne Boleyn dangling in front of him as a reason.

Henry was a brilliant man who had few intellectual equals at his court. He didn't tolerate anyone trying to tell him anything or teach him anything.

On the other hand, he was undisciplined in sexual matters. His desire for Anne was greater than his desire to appear to be intellectually consistent.

Ergo, his advisors needed Anne to talk him into throwing off the Church. He never would have done it if his "other head" hadn't convinced him of it.

Remember, appearing to lecture the King on religious matters nearly cost Katherine Parr her head at one point. She only spared it by cowtowing to his intellectual superiority on all matters religious.

Answer 5

Good question, but no, on balance I think that Henry was intent on getting his own way for once, but the issue was one of 'amour'.

Remember that Henry was obliged to marry his brother's widow, and that it was a union set up years before by Henry VII, the Tudor usurper, who had a very frail claim to the throne. By arranging marital links with Spain, the Tudor claim would gain more legitimacy.

Catherine was no great beauty, whilst Henry was a known philanderer, with a taste for the 'wild' side. When Catherine proved unable to produce a male heir, Henry wanted to move on to his own tune...........enter Miss Boleyn.

I think it was six of one, and half a dozen of the other.

Answer 6

It all had to do with a self indulgent king who wanted his own way. If getting his own way meant forming his own religion to fit his wants, then so be it