Did Henry VIII strengthen the role of the Monarch in government?

atomic number 1 eight-spot (born 1491 C. E. died 1547 C. E. ) asc terminate the thr whizz in 1509 and soon became integrity of Englands most successful kings, largely credited with the establishment of a sozzled and stable monarchy that helped England become the rigidest power in the mankind. heat content 8 succeeded his father, enthalpy VII, who had ascend the throne with the culmination of the long drawn out struggle of Roses where mevery princes, backed by powerful nobles and barons had fought for the throne. total heat ogdoad, driven by the desire to establish peace and security in his realm, worked to struggleds establishing a strong monarchy.Henry eighter from Decaturs relation with the nobles and feudalistic barons Henry eighter black the powers of the nobles and barons and rein pressure the role of the monarchy in the g overnment. (G. M. Trevelyan, 1926) Henry VIII established his policy of dealing with the nobles, barons, and chieftains immediately upon ascen ding the throne. He arrested his fathers two most less-traveled ministers, Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, charged them with high treason, and subsequently executed them. He dealt with almost wholly his opponents in a similar fashion throughout his tenure, and with such measures modify the role of the monarchy in the government.Henry replaced feudal obligations with law and trade, and imposed loans and grants on the grandness instead of taxes. (W Harrison, G Edelen, 1994) The powerful barons had limited the power of Henry VIIIs predecessors Henry III, Edward II, and Richard II utilise aristocratic councils. Henry VIII strove to keep the barons in check by reforming the administration. He piddled the committal of the hush-hush Council, an advisory board, and the Court of the unity Chamber for civil and criminal cases. citizens committee of the Privy Council and Court of Star ChambersHenry VIII actively involved himself in the Committee of the Privy Council and the Co urt of Star Chambers constituted by him, and through these means involved himself actively in the administration of the state. (John Bowle, 1964. ) The Committee of the Privy Council that in later centuries became the famous Privy Council enabled Henry VIII to enact laws by mere proclamation, on the advice of the council. Thomas Cromwell, Henrys minister between 17532 and 1540 monopolized the state of the council and took decisions esotericly in consultation with Henry VIII.Henry employ the Committee of Privy Council and bypassed the parliament to enact laws. The Court of Star Chambers was a separate tribunal distinct from the Kings general Council, indented to steep speed and flexibility to the civil and criminal judicial process. This court supplemented the activities of the case law and equity courts, acting as a supervisory body. This court excessively ensured fair enforcement of laws against heavy(p) and powerful people whom the ordinary courts could never bunko owing to their mold.The court could also impose punishments for mor altogethery reprehensible actions such as conspiracy, libel, perjury, and sedition even though such acts were technically sub judice and ordinary courts could non convict people for such polish offences. Henry used this court to settle scores with his adversaries and crush powerful barons and nobles. Henry and his ministers boost plaintiffs to bring their cases directly to the Star Chamber, bypassing the lower courts entirely. (F. J. Fischer, 2006. ) Henry VIIIs break with the PopeHenrys break with the Pope at Rome was an collateral result of his effort to create a strong centralized state. (Patrick Fraser Tyler, 1836) The insurrection of the Henry VIIIs father Henry VII ended the long drawn out War of Roses, where m whatever warring princes staked necessitate to the throne since the incumbent king bequeathed no male issues. Henry cute a male issue to avoid such a pip after his death. Henrys wife Catherine did not produce the desired male heir, and Henry became enamored to one Anne Boleyn.Henry appealed to the Pope for the annulment of his mating with Catherine so that he could marry Anne. Catherine was however the aunt of Charles V, the Holy roman type Emperor, who held the Pope Clement VII as prisoner during this quantify. The Pope did not annual the coupling. Henry VIII. Henry VIII replaced Cardinal Woolsey, the Popes representative in England with Sir Thomas Moore, who proclaimed the opinion of the theologians at Oxford and Cambridge that the trades union of Henry to Catherine had been unlawful. Henry banished Catherine from the court and gave her place to Anne.Henry also appointed his prospect Thomas Crammer as the Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Cromwell, a lawyer who supported Anne, brought in the lead Parliament a number of bills including the Supplication against the Ordinaries and the Submission of the Clergy. The former demand the clergy to put all complaints in writing t o the king. The latter made the church service of England relinquish power to formulate church laws without the kings permission and assent. The parliament passed these acts in 1532 C. E and thereby established the supremacy of the monarchy over the church in England.The supremacy of the monarchy over the church marks a cornerstone in the powers of the king, for in medieval life the church controlled ofttimes of social life and polity, and this now passed on to the king. The process of breaking off with the Pope at Rome continued throughout Henrys reign. In 1540, Henry sanctioned the destruction of shrines to saints. In 1542 Henry fade away all of Englands monasteries and transferred their property to the Crown. Abbots and priors lost their seats in the House of Lords and unaccompanied archbishops and bishops came to comprise the ecclesiastical element of the body.The Lords Temporal now outnumbered the Lords Spiritual or the members of the clergy in the House of Lords. Legislat ions confirming supremacy of the King Henrys parliament followed up the supremacy over the church with further legislations that strengthen the role of the monarchy in the administration of he state. (J. R. Tanner, 1930) The Act of Succession of 1533 repudiated any foreign authority, prince, or potentate thereby rejecting the decisions of the Pope and validating the marriage of Henry and Anne.All adults in the Kingdom were required to acknowledge these provisions by oath, and those who refused were subject to imprisonment for life. Any publisher or printer of any literature alleging that Henrys marriage with Anne was invalid was automatically blameworthy of high treason guilty by death. The House of Commons forbade all appeals to Rome and exacted penalties of praemunire against all who introduced papal bulls into England. The Ecclesiastical Appointments Act 1534 required the clergy to pick out bishops nominated by the Sovereign.The Act of Supremacy or the Peters Pence Act of 153 4 declared the King as the the only Supreme manoeuver in Earth of the Church of England, and declared that Henrys majestic crown had been hurt by the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations and exactions of the Pope. The Treasons Act 1534 made it high treason, punishable by death, to refuse to acknowledge the King as the supreme percentage point in earth of the Church of England. Suppression of opponents Henrys spectral policies found some opposition in England, and such dissents found progress to backing from the feudal barons who grudged Henry for curtailing their powers.Henry charged with treason and executed the dissenters, the prominent ones being John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, Henrys former Lord Chancellor. A major(ip) resistance was the Pilgrimage of Grace, a large uprising in northerly England that broke out in October 1536. Henry, instead of relying on his nobles and barons to crush the rebels, as his predecessors did personally took the fie ld, and by a combination of force and tact, trapped the rebel leader Robert Aske, arrested the rebels and executed them for treason.The suppression of the opponents of Henrys religious policy, combine with Henrys method of silencing his other enemies ensued that he could rule approximately unopposed and led to a strong monarchy in England.. Development of the navy Henry VIIIs efforts at development the Royal Navy freed the monarchy from dependence on feudal vassals, and besides raised his prestige and power and further strengthened the role of the monarchy in the administration. (D. M. Loades, 1992)Henry established the Royal Navy in tack to ward off dangers of a Papal inspired invasion from the seas from France or Spain. He invested in shipbuilding, dockyards, and naval innovations such as the use of canons. He also strengthened the costal defenses and built fortresses at costal areas using the materials of demolished monasteries. This reduced the kings dependence on private sh ips to ward off external dangers and thereby further strengthened the monarchy at the expense of hitherto powerful merchants, barons, and clergy.Henrys ships played a greathearted role in England crushing the Spanish Armada during Henrys young lady Queen Elizabeths reign, an event that led to English supremacy of the worlds seas. External conquests Henrys desire to strengthen the monarchy and create a strong and centralized state resulted in his developing imperial ambitions within the British Isles. He annexed Wales to England and strengthened his hold over Ireland. Henry claimed feudal schoolmasterity over Scotland as a function of his imperial appellation to the English Crown, and defeated Scotland in the battle of Solway Moss in November 1541 C.E. Henry forced the Treaty of Greenwich upon Scotland and projected a union of the Scottish and English crowns by marrying the Scottish prince Edward and his daughter Mary Stuart. Scotland however remained a French ally, and Henry str uck a deal with Charles V of Spain to attack France in 1544. He accompanied the army to Calais and took personal command of his strategy. The Treaty of Camp of June 1546 that ended the war saw England retain Boulogne until 1554, when the French would buy it back for 600,000.Though the war per se was costly and ineffective, it did add to Henrys honor and bolstered his reputation as an domineering monarch. Analysis Henry VIIIs efforts to strengthen the monarchy resulted in England developing into a strong and stable state, free from the weakening and distracting influence of feudal barons, powerful nobles and clergy. His strong intervention in the running of the state not only ensured a smooth break from Rome and gave England a field of study identity, but also avoided religious wars and other distracting civil war.He conditioned the splendor to serve the Crown and subordinated the clergy to the secular State. He laid the foundation for a modern and centralized state, and even the distant parts of his kingdom began to subsist the power of the monarchy. The remarkable feature of his reign is that even though he created a strong central state with the active intervention of the monarch, he enhanced the power of the parliament, by making common law superior to all other types of law and bringing people hitherto excluded from the intelligent process into its fold.The biggest beneficiary of this stability was trade, which prospered and added to the wealth of the nation. Henry established a progressive system of taxation that greatly enhanced state finances. A school of though led by scholars like A. F. Pollard encounter Henry VIII as a weak man who took decisions establish on the influence of ministers like Thomas Cromwell, and that his dominance remained confined to his wives, ministers and semipolitical institutions.This opinion however does not carry much weight, and historical accounts judge Henry VIII as king with a charismatic posture and as a dynamic political force whose views his ministers and the government accommodated sort of than the other way round. Henry also exerted a powerful influence as supreme head of the Church of England, not merely by issuing decrees at will, but by engaging Cranmer and panels of expert theologians in a systematic and academic exchange of opinions. The only criticism that holds against Henry VIII is that he was s a supreme egotist who sometimes allowed passion and not reason to govern his actions.This criticism however does not make him ineffective or discount the fact that he was one of the most effective and remarkable rulers to sit on the English throne, and greatly strengthened the role of the monarch in the government. Conclusion Henry VIII raised the power of the monarchy and thereby not only transformed a weak medieval government into a more contemporary and strong one, but also gave England the much needed peace, stability and smooth ecological succession of future monarchs, all of whic h enabled her to become a superpower by the time of Queen Elizabeth.