The Tudors: Henry VIII - Wolsey and Church Reform - Episode 17

This is Am Stark and in this video we will be looking at Wolsey, Luther and church reform. So first of all we will look at Wolsey and his role in the church because as Cardinal of England, Wolsey was the Pope's representative in England. Now Henry VIII also helped Wolsey put pressure on the Pope for Wolsey to become Papal Legate and in 1524 this was made permanent and this meant that he received additional powers meaning that he could act on behalf of the Pope. Now this meant that he could give leadership towards the church in England and when Henry VIII had come to the throne in 1509 there was an enthusiasm for religious devotion and the majority of the population did remain loyal to the Catholic church. However there were many people starting to notice problems with the church and this meant that there was maybe a requisite for church reform. Now we will now look at some of the problems which were within the church. Now first of all there was the corruption and with the invention of printing, many people became aware of the corruptions within the church. Now these offences including pluralism which is receiving the profits of more than one post, simony which is the purchase of church offices and non-resident which is receiving the profits of a post without being present to perform the duties required. Now the extravagance of the Pope which was where the texts were being sent to was also seen as immoral and Wolsey himself was a clear example of the shortcomings of the clergy. He had two illegitimate children born in 1510 and 1512 and he was living with a mistress until 1519. He also has a range of religious titles including the Bishop of Durham in 1523 and the Bishop of Winchester in 1529 which both gave him a large income and this is the idea of pluralism. Now there was also some anti-clericalism in England and anti-clericalism is the opposition to religious authority in social and political matters and many lawyers in England objected to the influence of canon law which is the law of the church and the legal privileges that were given to the clergy. And there were many cases of clerical misconduct and one of the main ones was the death of Richard Hunn and after a dispute with priests over his son Mortuaryfee he was imprisoned in the Bishop of London's prison. Now here he was found dead in a cell and despite claims that he had hanged himself it was clear that he had been murdered so this severely affected the short term reputation of the church and it was things like this which affected the reputation of the church and made it necessary for church reform. Now there was also the decline of monasticism which is the monasteries and in the 1520s Wolsey secured the dissolution of around 20 monasteries so that he could fund the establishment of the Cardinal College. Now many people argued that monasteries had effectively become business with huge amounts of land and resources. Now there were other monasteries which flourished until the dissolution in 1536 including the Observant Franciscans and the Bridgetons however they were starting to decline. So next we need to look at Luther because this was a big part of introducing Protestantism into Europe and in 1517 Martin Luther became worried about the focus of money onto the church instead of solely religion. This made it easier for rich people to go to heaven as they could buy their way out of purgatory which he didn't think was very fair. Therefore he published his 95 Theses in 1517 which criticised the Catholic Church and many people in Germany which was where he was from were willing to support him due to their own religious beliefs and because it could be used as a weapon against Charles V. Now these views had come to England by the 1520s through merchants and trade and in England these people met at the White Horse pub in Cambridge where they discussed Luther's theology and they were helped when Tyndale began to publish parts of the Bible into English and although their numbers were initially small they started to gain greater control when Henry VIII attempted to gain a divorce. So finally we will look at the church reform under Wolsey. Now Wolsey did not see church reforms as a major job of his however he did use his capacity as papal legate to order English bishops into carrying out their roles more thoroughly. He was also responsible for the start of the closing in monasteries when in 1528 monasteries were fewer than six inmates were closed down however he was strongly opposed to Protestant heresy in England and he initiated public burnings of Luther's text which started in May 1521 by St Paul's. So several people suspected of any Protestant sympathies were also arrested and punished however nobody was executed until 1530. So essentially Wolsey didn't do that much in terms of church reform and once we get to the break of Rome that is where the church is going to completely change with the introduction of people such as Cranmer and Cromwell. So thank you for watching this video and see you soon.