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Developmental account attributing significance to events of the 1530 s. By constructing an account of events before, during and after the 1530 s assess the significance of political power in England and Wales. You should refer to developments of approximately 200 years. In order to attribute significance to an event, it is important to consider events alongside other developments over a long period of time.
A single event can be identified as a trend, turning point, dead-end, continuity, false dawn, shooting star or discontinuity. In this essay I will identify lines of development within the essay in order to aid me in attributing significance to political power in England and Wales. They will be Religion, Powers of Parliament, Authority of Monarchy, Union of England and Wales as well as Admin, law and finance. I will start with Religion.
It could be argued that there was a trend in leading the Monarch to being head of state. Events contributing to this pace of change, at about 1517, Martin Luther, a German Monk, went to Rome and found they had women and children who were over nourished while others were hungry; the system was too hierarchical. Luther disliked this, the Bible being in Latin, and the Pope charging for indulgences (absolution of sin) and so printed 95 Reasons why the Church was wrong. He was then excommunicated by the Church and founded Protestantism.
In 1518 - 20, Henry 8 th defended Roman Catholicism and defended the Holy Sacraments against Luthers Protestations and as a result of this he is made defender of the faith causing Luthers print to be banned. This was a trend in increasing the political stance in England, Henry being made protector of the faith. England at this point was still strongly Roman Catholic. It could be argued that there was turning point in the religious line of development when England became a Unified Independent state. 1533, the English reformation as Henry wanted a divorce and the Pope would not grant this; the Queen was the Pope's niece. In 1534, Henry abolished the Popes authority in England and took the title of supreme Head of the Church of England.
England was still Catholic, merely not Roman Catholic. This was a turning point as no medieval monarch had claimed the title of head of the church or the right to decide its doctrine but these were the claim of Henry the 8 th and his successors. Previously the Pope had control over the church but now it was Henry, defender of the faith. This enabled Henry royal control over the church, to tax the church and the money go to the king; the king now had control over church laws and supervised the church courts. But it is important to add that this wasnt a religious reformation but rather a jurisdictional revolution.
It could be argued there was a trend in the gradual decrease in finance for the nation. As at around 1536, there were problems for the English reformation. Henry 8 th, needed money as he was being extravagant, Boleyn wanted palaces refurbished. He started to sell off monasteries and monastic lands to friends which could have meant long-term stability; the monks were found other jobs and retrained. The monasteries were depended on, as they provided infirmaries, they ran postal services, they would provide accommodation for travellers, they provided services and employment, acted as defenders (they were trained to use weapons).
People donated to the Monasteries. So, the closing of monasteries was unpopular and as a result there were rebellions. If we move further through the timeline, the financial situation for the monarchy and nation were gradually getting worse. In queen Elizabeth 1 st reign she had to sell property worth between quid 800, 000 and quid 900, 000 (a lot of money in those days). Henry VIII had sold 7 / 8 ths of the monastic lands, while in his son Edward VI's reign most of the chantry lands were sold. James I was grossly extravagant, as was Charles I, who spent large sums on buying pictures and financing wars.
The land revenues of the Crown were estimated to be less than quid 10, 000 per year on the eve of the dissolution of Parliament in 1629. For Charles the 1 st, the financial situation could be argued to be one of the causes of the English civil war but at the roots I believe the selling of monastic lands was the main cause for all this. So, there is a trend in decrease of money and availability of funds through time which I believe began when Henry 8 th sold his monasteries. It could be argued that the organisation of Parliament could be seen as a turning point. The government was now very efficient as there was an ignoring of the council which became a small efficient body called the Privy Council. This was a break from the past as before there was the kings council which was shapeless, very large, clumsy and had no order to doing things.
The way in which parliament made laws changed, there was now the use of a committee which set the way for law making. It could be argued there as a turning point in the ways in which laws were made by the monarch and parliament. There was now legislative supremacy in other words the laws that were written were supreme, monarchy and parliament were integrated together in the law making process. The king could have issued a royal decree, an official command that he is supreme and he alone but he chose to have a parliament. If you look at the event in which Henry sold off his monastic lands, 1536, it is paradoxical as on the one hand, Henry sold his land in order to gain more money and his financial situation had a zenith, a surplus, but on the other hand the monasteries could have meant long term stability.
So, in strengthening Henry in the short term but it weakened monarchy in the long term. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on England And Wales Defender Of The Faith
