THE KING OF ENGLAND RECOGNIZED AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH.
(JANUARY TO MARCH 1531.)
Henry VIII. desired to introduce great changes into the ecclesiastical
corporation of his kingdom. His royal power had much to bear from the
power of the clergy. It was the same in all Catholic monarchies; but
England had more to complain of than others. Of the three estates,
Clergy, Nobility, and Commons, the first was the most powerful. The
nobility had been weakened by the civil wars; the commons had long been
without authority and energy; the prelates thus occupied the first rank,
so that in 1529 an archbishop and cardinal (Wolsey) was the most
powerful man in England, not even the king excepted. Henry had felt the
yoke, and wished to free himself, not only from the domination of the
pope, but also from the influence of the higher clergy. If he had only
intended to be avenged of the pontiff, it would have been enough to
allow the Reformation to act; when a mighty wind blows from heaven, it
sweeps away all the contrivances of men. But Henry was deficient neither
in prudence nor calculation. He feared lest a diversity of doctrine
should engender disturbances in his kingdom. He wished to free himself
from the pope and the prelates, without throwing himself into the arms
of Tyndale or of Latimer.
[Sidenote: Papal Rule Hurtful To The State.]
Kings and people had observed that the domination of the papacy, and its
authority over the clergy, were an insurmountable obstacle to the
autonomy of the State. As far back as 1268, St. Louis had declared that
France owed allegiance to God alone; and other princes had followed his
example. Henry VIII. determined to do more—to break the chains which
bound the clergy to the Romish throne, and fasten them to the crown. The
power of England, delivered from the papacy, which had been its
cankerworm, would then be developed with freedom and energy, and would
place the country in the foremost rank among nations. The renovating
spirit of the age was favorable to Henry’s plans; without delay he must
put into execution the bold plan which Cromwell had unrolled before his
eyes in Whitehall Park. Henry could think of nothing but getting himself
recognized as head of the Church.
This important revolution could not be accomplished by a simple act of
royal authority—in England particularly, where constitutional principles
already possessed an incontestable influence. It was necessary to
prevail upon the clergy to cross the Rubicon by emancipating themselves
from Rome. But how bring it about? This was the subject of the
meditations of the sagacious Cromwell, who, gradually rising in the
king’s confidence to the place formerly held by Wolsey, made a different
use of it. Urged by ambition, possessing an energetic character, a sound
judgment, unshaken firmness, no obstacle could arrest his activity. He
sought how he could give the king the spiritual sceptre, and this was
the plan on which he fixed. The kings of England had been known
occasionally to revive old laws fallen into desuetude, and visit with
heavy penalties those who had violated them. Cromwell represented to the
king that the statutes made punishable any man who should recognize a
dignity established by the pope in the English Church; that Wolsey, by
exercising the functions of papal legate, had encroached upon the rights
of the Crown and been condemned, which was but justice; while the
members of the clergy—who had recognized the unlawful jurisdiction of
the pretended legate—had thereby become as guilty as he had been. ‘The
statute of _Præmunire_,’ he said, ‘condemns them as well as their
chief.’ Henry, who listened attentively, found the expedient of his
Secretary of State was in conformity with the letter of the law, and
that it put all the clergy in his power. He did not hesitate to give
full power to his ministers. Under such a state of things there was not
one innocent person in England; the two houses of parliament, the privy
council, all the nation must be brought to the bar. Henry, full of
‘condescension,’ was pleased to confine himself to the clergy.
[Sidenote: Embarrassment Of The Clergy.]
The convocation of the province of Canterbury having met on the 7th of
January, 1531, Cromwell entered the hall, and quietly took his seat
among the bishops; then rising, he informed them that their property and
benefices were to be confiscated for the good of his Majesty, because
they had submitted to the unconstitutional power of the cardinal. What
terrible news! It was a thunderbolt to those selfish prelates; they were
amazed. At length some of them plucked up a little courage. ‘The king
himself had sanctioned the authority of the cardinal-legate,’ they said.
‘We merely obeyed his supreme will. Our resistance to his Majesty’s
proclamations would infallibly have ruined us.’—‘That is of no
consequence,’ was the reply; ‘there was the law: you should obey the
constitution of the country even at the peril of your lives.’[109] The
terrified bishops laid at the foot of the throne a magnificent sum, by
which they hoped to redeem their offences and their benefices. But that
was not what Henry desired: he pretended to set little store by their
money. The threat of confiscation must constrain them to pay a ransom of
still greater value. ‘My lords,’ said Cromwell, ‘in a petition that some
of you presented to the pope not long ago, you called the king your
_soul_ and your _head_.[110] Come, then, expressly recognize the
supremacy of the king over the Church,[111] and his majesty, of his
great goodness, will grant you your pardon.’ What a demand! The
distracted clergy assembled, and a deliberation of extreme importance
began. ‘The words in the address to the pope,’ said some, ‘were a mere
form, and had not the meaning ascribed to them.’—‘The king being unable
to untie the Gordian knot at Rome,’ said others, alluding to the
divorce, ‘intends to cut it with his sword.’[112]—‘The secular power,’
exclaimed the most zealous, ‘has no voice in ecclesiastical matters. To
recognize the king as head of the Church would be to overthrow the
catholic faith.... The head of the Church is the pope.’ The debate
lasted three days, and, as Henry’s ministers pointed to the theocratic
government of Israel, a priest exclaimed, ‘We oppose the New Testament
to the Old; according to the gospel, Christ is head of the Church.’ When
this was told the king, he said, ‘Very well, I consent. If you declare
me _head of the Church_ you may add _under God_.’ In this way the papal
claims were compromised all the more. ‘We will expose ourselves to
everything,’ they said, ‘rather than dethrone the Roman pontiff.’
The Bishops of Lincoln and Exeter were deputed to beseech the king to
withdraw his demand: they could not so much as obtain an audience. Henry
had made up his mind: the priests must yield. The only means of their
obtaining pardon (they were told) was by their renouncing the papal
supremacy. The bishops made a fresh attempt to satisfy both the
requirements of the king and those of their own conscience. ‘Shrink
before the clergy and they are lions,’ the courtiers said; ‘withstand
them and they are sheep.’—‘Your fate is in your own hands. If you refuse
the king’s demand, the disgrace of Wolsey may show you what you may
expect.’ Archbishop Warham, president of the Convocation, a prudent man,
far advanced in years, and near his end, tried to hit upon some
compromise. The great movements which agitated the Church all over
Europe disturbed him. He had in times past complained to the king of
Wolsey’s usurpations,[113] and was not far from recognizing the royal
supremacy. He proposed to insert a simple clause in the act conferring
the required jurisdiction on the king, namely, _Quantum per legem
Christi licet_, so far as the law of Christ permits. ‘Mother of God!’
exclaimed the king, who, like his royal brother Francis I., had a habit
of saying irreverent things, ‘you have played me a shrewd turn. I
thought to have made fools of those prelates, and now you have so
ordered the business that they are likely to make a fool of me. Go to
them again, and let me have the business passed without any _quantums_
or _tantums_.... So far as the law of Christ permits! Such a reserve
would make one believe that my authority was disputable.’[114]
[Sidenote: The Clergy Submit.]
Henry’s ministers ventured on this occasion to resist him: they showed
him that this clause would prevent an immediate rupture with Rome, and
it might be repealed hereafter. He yielded at last, and the archbishop
submitted the clause with the amendment to convocation. It was a solemn
moment for England. The bishops were convinced that the king was asking
them to do what was wrong, the end of which would be a rupture with
Rome. In the time of Hildebrand the prelates would have answered No, and
found a sympathetic support in the laity. But things had changed; the
people were beginning to be weary of the long domination of the priests.
The primate, desirous of ending the matter, said to his colleagues: ‘Do
you recognize the king as sole protector of the Church and clergy of
England, and, so far as is allowed by the law of Christ, also as your
supreme head?’ All remained speechless. ‘Will you let me know your
opinions?’ resumed the archbishop. There was a dead silence. ‘Whoever is
silent seems to consent,’ said the primate.—‘Then we are all silent,’
answered one of the members.[115] Were these words inspired by courage
or by cowardice? Were they an assent or a protest? We cannot say. In
this matter we cannot side either with the king or with the priests. The
heart of man easily takes the part of those who are oppressed; but here
the oppressed were also oppressors. Convocation next gave its support to
the opinion of the universities respecting the divorce, and thus Henry
gained his first victory.
Now that the king had the power, the clergy were permitted to give him
their money. They offered a hundred thousand pounds sterling,—an
enormous sum for those times,—nearly equivalent to fifteen times as much
of our money. On the 22d of March, 1531, the courteous archbishop signed
the document which at one stroke deprived the clergy of England of both
riches and honor.[116]
The discussion was still more animated in the Convocation of York. ‘If
you proclaim the king supreme head,’ said Bishop Tonstal, ‘it can only
be in temporal matters.’—‘Indeed!’ retorted Henry’s minister, ‘is an act
of convocation necessary to determine that the king reigns?‘—‘If
spiritual things are meant,’ answered the bishop, ‘I withdraw from
convocation that I may not withdraw from the Church.’[117]
‘My lords,’ said Henry, ‘no one disputes your right to preach and
administer the sacraments.[118] Did not Paul submit to Cæsar’s tribunal,
and our Saviour himself to Pilate’s?’ Henry’s ecclesiastical theories
prevailed also at York. A great revolution was effected in England, and
fresh compromises were to consolidate it.
The king, having obtained what he desired, condescended in his great
mercy to pardon the clergy for their unpardonable offence of having
recognized Wolsey as papal legate. At the request of the commons this
amnesty was extended to all England. The nation, which at first saw
nothing in this affair but an act enfranchising themselves from the
usurped power of the popes, showed their gratitude to Henry; but there
was a reverse to the medal. If the pope was despoiled, the king was
invested. Was not the function ascribed to him contrary to the Gospel?
Would not this act impress upon the Anglican Reformation a territorial
and aristocratic character, which would introduce into the Reformed
Church the world with all its splendor and wealth? If the royal
preëminence endows the Anglican Church with the pomps of worship, of
classical studies, of high dignities, will it not also carry along with
it luxury, sinecures, and worldliness among the prelates? Shall we not
see the royal authority pronounce on questions of dogma, and declare the
most sacred doctrines indifferent? A little later an attempt was made to
limit the power of the king in religious matters. ‘We give not to our
princes the ministry of God’s Word or sacraments,’ says the
thirty-seventh Article of Religion.
Footnote 109:
‘They ought to take notice of the constitution at their
peril.’—Collyers, ii. p. 61. Burnet, p. 108.
Footnote 110:
‘Regia majestas nostrum caput atque anima.’—Collyers, _Records_, p. 8,
30 July, 1530.
Footnote 111:
‘Ecclesiæ protector et supremum caput.’—Collyers, ii. p. 62.
Footnote 112:
‘Seeing this Gordian knot, to play the noble Alexander.’—Foxe, _Acts_,
v. p. 55.
Footnote 113:
Strype’s _Memorials_, i. p. 111.
Footnote 114:
Tytler, _Life of Henry VIII._, p. 312.
Footnote 115:
‘Qui tacet consentire videtur. Itaque tacemus omnes.’—Collyers, p. 63.
Footnote 116:
The act is given in Wilkins, _Concilia_, iii. p. 742, and Rymer,
_Fœdera_, vi. p. 163.
Footnote 117:
‘Ne ab ecclesia catholica dissentire videar, expresse
dissentio.’—Wilkins, _Concilia_, iii. p. 745.
Footnote 118:
Collyers, ii. p. 64.