Henry and his ministers 1515-1540

Henry and his ministers 1515-1540

1. Wolsey

   • Control of domestic policy
     • Legal reforms
     • Financial policy
     • Control of the nobility
   • Alter Rex?
     • Disagreements show where true power was
       • Amicable Grant 1525
       • Appointment of Abbess in 1528
       • Suggestion of attacking France in 1522
     • Papal Legate
       • Control of the Church

2. Cromwell

   • His skill in managing Parliament
     • He piloted the Royal Supremacy through Parliament
       • Laws passed that established the Royal Supremacy
         • For example, The Act of Supremacy 1534
   • Religion
     • Cromwell advanced the Protestant agenda
       • Dissolution of the monasteries
         • Vicegerent in religious affairs
     • Ten Articles 1536
       • However, Six Articles in 1539 was much more conservative
         • Shows Henry taking control?

3. The fall from power of his chief ministers

   • Henry dispensed of all of his leading ministers
     • This shows where the power was in the relationship
       • More
         • He only agreed to be the chief minister if he had nothing to do with the divorce
           • However, he was executed when he was found to be denying the Royal Supremacy
       • Wolsey
         • Failure to get the Divorce
       • Cromwell
         • Foreign policy failures
           • Anne of Cleves
           • Attacked by the Conservatives at Court
             • Link to his religious policy

4. Henry's attitude to government

   • The contrast to Henry VII - he was not concerned with being involved with every detail
     • His image as a Renaissance Prince
       • Was far more interested in foreign policy
         • This meant that his leading ministers normally had less control over foreign policy