'Tudor England' by John Guy

Good day Hivers and Book Clubbers,

Back with another review. After a couple of non-fiction reviews that delved into German history, we switch towards England today. The title of the book in question is 'Tudor England', written by British historian John Guy. Originally published in 1988, my paperback copy stems from 1990.

The book is a real academic read; not written like a narrative, it goes from topic to topic in somewhat chronological matter. Details are abundant on issues like politics, the nobility, religion, economics, justice etc. At times somewhat long-winded, standing at 450 pages, it remains an interesting read overall.

For the review, I treat one aspect that I find interesting personally during the Tudor period (1485-1603), and that is the rise of Anglicanism as an English religion. Let's get into it.

Reformation through marital issues

Henry VIII (the man you see on the book cover image above) is one of the most influential kings in English/British history. Not particularly because he was a good king; most would argue he wasn't. However unlikely, this man stamped his own particular form of religion out of the ground.

Henry's reign (1509-1547) coincided with the Protestant Reformation (1517). At first, Henry was opposed to Luther and his reformist ideas. He wrote a defense of the 7 Catholic sacraments, aimed at Luther. This stand would not last long, for a completely non-theolocial reason.

That reason being that Henry lacked a son, and thus an heir. Women could inherit in England, as a last resort; the English system wasn't as rigid as French Salic Law, for example. Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon, who was first chosen by his father to marry his brother, Arthur. Arthur died young, however, and so Catherine was married to Henry instead, to keep the alliance with Spain intact.

This lack of a son meant dynastic instability, certainly. The birth of a daughter, Mary, did not alleviate this situation much. There was another snag, though; Henry had fallen in love with one of his courtiers, Anne Boleyn.

The next step was momentous; Henry appealed to the Pope in Rome to have his marriage with Catherine of Aragon annulled. His argument was based on a Bible-passage that says that a man can't marry his brother's widow, which was the case here. The Pope refused however, and the Spanish weren't happy either to have a family-member disposed of in this way.

So Henry took matters into his own hands, and decided he was the boss from then on, calling himself 'The supreme head of the Church of England'. This new Church followed English law, not Canon (i.e. ecclesiastical) law, and the Pope no longer held any authority within England, was not allowed to appoint bishops, etc.

A half-way Reformation

That last word is an indication that the Anglican Church went along a different pathway than both Lutherans and Calvinists on the European Continent. What Protestants would still use terms like bishops, archbishops etc.? Anglican priests today still wear robes similar to the Catholics, unlike other Protestant denominations.

One thing in which the Anglicans DID follow other Protestants, was the use of the vernacular language during services instead of Latin. Although the use of English was also somewhat forced upon language minorities within the country like Welsh and Cornish, this still meant a bigger understanding of the Christian faith for many laymen, literate or not.

Succession and religious change

Decisions regarding theological issues were made top-down by Henry as supreme head of the Church. The people followed, with varying tempo and success: the south-east, including London, were most compliant. Northern England the least.

This meant that Henry's successors could change things just as easily as he did, and the situation he left was so revolutionary and unstable that it would be easy to change again. Henry had finally gotten a son by Jane Seymour (Anne Boleyn was beheaded after giving Henry a daughter, Elisabeth), and it was this Edward that would succeed to the throne at age 9.

A minority reign means that all power goes to the regent, and thus court intrigue becomes the name of the game. This intrigue was won by the Protestants at court, perhaps symbolized most by the presence of Bucer, one of the foremost of European reformers. They tried to bend the Anglican Church towards a more continental Protestant form: presbyterian, not episcopalian. Issues like the Eucharist/Lord's Supper and predestination, important to Calvinists, showed up in England with urgency as well.

The reforms were few in number, because Edward VI died at age 16 from tuberculosis. Next in line to the throne was Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, who was a Catholic. Her reputation is summarized in two words: 'bloody Mary'. Still recognizable today, this epithet might be a bit over-dramatic; persecution of Catholics had also happened under the Protestants. Yet, Protestants were clearly the better propagandists at this point: Foxe's 'book of Martyrs' villified Mary's reputation for centuries.

Mary's re-catholization efforts were resisted quite heavily. Her marriage to Philip II of Spain was hated; the people and protestant nobility wouldn't allow Philip to be crowned as king of England alongside Mary. And Mary faced the same base issue as Henry VIII did for a long time; she had no heir. She died childless in her forties.

Conclusion

The last Tudor, Elisabeth I, ruled for 45 years (1558-1603). In these decades, she cemented many of the unique characteristics of Henry VIII's half-way reformation, for which Elisabeth held some sentimental value.

This top-down enforcement would not remain stable, however, when Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans would overwhelm the Stuarts (the next royal dynasty) and execute the English king, Charles I.

But that is outside the scope of both this book and this review. For a more academically stated and researched book on late-medieval England, this might be a good start. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'll be back with more reviews in the future. Until then,

-Pieter Nijmeijer

(Top image: self-made photo of book cover)