The Question of the Two Thomas’: To Whom did the Henrician Reformation Belong?
Volume 3 | Issue 2 - Youth
Article by Marie Stirling. Edited by Linley Wareham. Additional Research by Jack Barnes
Two men stand out when looking at the reformation under Henry VIII, namely Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell. These men came from startlingly different backgrounds: Cranmer was a son of a minor noble and educated at Cambridge before entering the clergy while Cromwell was born into poor obscurity in Putney and his life took him soldiering in Europe before he rose as a legal secretary under Cardinal Wolsey. Yet these two men both could claim to be the architect of the English reformation under Henry, a question which this article will deliberate.
Thomas Cromwell played a very significant role with the political reforms which took place in those years. He held an extremely influential position in Henry’s council after the fall of Wolsey and it was his idea to remove the power of the Pope and grant it to Henry. During the reformation, Cromwell suggested that they use legal means to assure Henry’s supremacy, which lead to a number of Acts, such as the Act in Restraint of Appeals in March 1533, to which Cromwell personally wrote the preamble. This act stopped all appeals to Rome, making Henry de facto Head of the Church. With his ingenuity, the break from Rome was relatively simple and the idea of using Parliament to legalise it meant there was probably less opposition. It seems clear that without Cromwell’s personal intervention Henry’s supremacy may not been achieved so easily, which then paved the way for the other Acts and reforms to be passed.
These included the dissolution of the monasteries, another of Cromwell’s initiatives, which had a great impact on both the Reformation and on Cromwell’s own career. The monasteries contained great wealth, such as valuable objects and vast spreads of fertile land throughout the country; when Cromwell organised their dissolution not only did he gain Henry’s favour for the wealth that was given to the Crown, he also destroyed a powerful Catholic power base which still owed its loyalty to the Pope. It could be argued that with his boosted reputation Cromwell was now able to push forward more Lutheran beliefs and with the powerful adversary of the monasteries destroyed, it was far easier to bring about such changes.
On Cromwell’s role in the religious reforms, he supported Cranmer’s idea to have an English Bible in all parishes. Indeed they were a vital part of his Injunctions which occurred firstly in 1536 and then later in 1538, dealing with a number of issues such as the reduction of Holy Days and the registering of all marriages, deaths and births in every parish, which have continued to this day.
Looking at Cranmer’s tale it should be noted that Cranmer played a major role in establishing the Henry’s Royal Supremacy over the Church of England and led the way with his acceptance of Henry’s rulings, even at his own expense, such as having to give up his wife after Henry enforced the vow of celibacy. His role in ensuring that every parish had an English Bible should also not be underrated. Cranmer’s role, it seems, was to help Henry gain full control of the Church, acting as a ‘inside man’ to enforce both Henry’s and Cromwell’s ideas and keep the resentful Clergy in check, which he appears to have done to great effect.
Cranmer’s involvement in religious and political changes in also worthy of noting. His excellent reputation in Parliament, stemming from the support he received from various Universities in Europe, gave him the influence to be able to steer such reform acts as the Act in Restraint of Appeals in 1533 through Parliament. He was also involved in the Ten Articles in 1536, which made a clear move towards a Protestant Church, and the Bishops Book in 1537, which also gives support to various Protestant ideas, though this did not have the King’s approval and when Henry eventually read it, he sent it back with a list of over 250 changes. Consequently it appears that without Cranmer’s help it would have been harder to pass many of the Reform Acts and his own work provided many ideas for religious reform in England.
If forced, I would have to argue for Cromwell as the greater contributor. His work with the religious and political reforms had a lasting and substantial effect, which can still be felt to this day. Though Cranmer played a significant part by acting as a link between the Monarchy and the Church, he has often been accused as acting as Cromwell’s ‘lapdog’ and acting under his instruction. Furthermore, the ambiguity and failure of the Ten Articles, which was never passed by Parliament, undermines Cranmer when compared to Cromwell’s success with the Act in Restraint of Appeals. Neither man, however, saw the complete establishment of the Church of England under Elizabeth. Cromwell was executed in 1540 following the disastrous match with Anne of Cleves while Cranmer, who outlived him by sixteen years, was executed for heresy under Mary I. Still it is certainly fair to say that the vital foundations were laid by Chancellor Cromwell, with the help of Archbishop Cranmer.