Was Henry VIII a Renaissance Monarch?

The Renaissance combined both secular and religious elements. The secular entailed the restoration of society to a former, greater era, and the spiritual entailed the rebirth of society in Christ.

Henry VIII (1491-1547) lived during the latter part of this period and movement. Based on his extensive education, the humanist influence on his court and nation, and the religious reform he implemented, I argue that Henry VIII was, in fact, a Renaissance monarch. His Renaissance qualities, however, fit into the northern European tradition rather than the southern European tradition most associate with the Renaissance. 

His father, Henry VII, surrounded himself with men of the “new learning” and had his son educated by tutors who had visited Italy and witnessed the Renaissance firsthand.[1] These included humanist literary scholar John Skelton and Henry VII’s French secretary and historian Bernard André.[2] 

Henry VIII developed a personal love of lyricism, writing, and performing. His mother, grandmother, and his first wife Catherine of Aragon all wrote poetry.[3] According to University of Victoria Professor Raymond Siemens, Henry “personalized the English courtly love lyric, and added to it as none had before…”[4]

Although Henry admitted to Archbishop Thomas Wolsey that he found writing “tedius and paynefull,” he wrote much during his reign. 

His most famous was his Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, or Defense of the Seven Sacraments in response to Martin Luther’s On the Babylonian Captivity. This prompted Pope Leo X to name him “Defender of the Faith.” He also authored a number of ecclesiastical books, masses, and popular poems.[5] 

Unlike the secular rebirth in Italy, the English followed the path of the northern European Renaissance, which remained more pious than that of their neighbors to the south.

In contrast to the southern European infatuation with the Greek and Roman classics, the northern Europeans adapted the Renaissance to their deep spirituality, and worldly humanism gave way to a literary Christianity.

For instance, instead of translating and commenting on ancient pagan and secular texts, the northern Europeans devoted their time to translation, study, and writing of Christian works. They translated the Scriptures into nearly every vernacular European tongue.

The Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam greatly influenced the humanism that manifested itself in England during Henry’s reign. Like many northern European Renaissance men, Erasmus rejected the Aristotelian nature of the southern Renaissance and instead became a Platonian. He and others felt that Plato’s views more closely mirrored those of a Christian worldview.[6] 

Erasmus never became a Protestant, but his humanism facilitated the spread of Lutheranism in England. Already by 1520, influential groups of Lutherans were meeting at Cambridge and Oxford, and many English humanists became devoted Protestants when it became legal to convert.[7]

From a literary aspect, Henry’s greatest service to the English Renaissance was his authorization of the publication of vernacular bibles. Between 1527 and 1547, around eight hundred separate editions of religious works were printed in English. This also created an explosion of secular English literature throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.[17]

Politically, the Renaissance strengthened the secular nation-state. 

When Henry’s alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V crumbled, in 1525, Queen Catherine, who was the emperor’s aunt, became the symbol of a rebuffed alliance.[8] When the Pope did not endorse Henry’s divorce of her and marriage to Anne Boleyn, Henry grew impatient. He tried to play King Francis I of France and Charles off one another, as both were attempting to control Rome. When that failed, he appointed the Protestant Thomas Cranmer to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury.[9] In May 1533, Cranmer officially annulled the marriage between Henry and Catherine.[10]

Influential 16th century historian John Foxe argues that Henry was “the prisoner of his own advisors,” the pawn of whoever happened to have his ear at the time, and that his religious policies fluctuated accordingly.[11]

Historian G.W. Bernard, however, rejects that interpretation. He notes that in 1534, Cranmer reproved a certain Archdeacon Thirlby for preparing a letter in the king’s name about the doctrine of miracles without explaining the details to the king. Later, in 1540, Cranmer noted on a declaration about the sacraments, “This is myne opinion…, which I … remytt the judgment thereof [wholly] unto your majestie.” According to Bernard, this demonstrates that Cranmer deferred to Henry’s personal doctrine and didn’t presume to use the king as his pawn in religious matters.[12] 

Henry’s switch to Protestantism was one of convenience but allowed humanism and political reforms to spread faster in England than before his conversion. 

A series of Parliamentary acts in the early and mid-1530s deprived the Pope of English revenue and redirected that revenue to the new order of king and country.[14]

Henry’s adviser Thomas Cromwell was a convinced Protestant but also an outstanding administrator. He implemented  secular reforms, clearly influenced by the humanism that had trickled into England. These included rationalizing and strengthening the administrative structure of the state and introducing economic and social welfare reforms.[15] 

Cromwell’s social welfare policies did not meet with as much success as his administrative reforms. But he can be credited with extending firm monarchical rule over all of England, incorporating Wales into the kingdom, and better enforcing law and order.[16] 

Henry VIII was a Renaissance monarch in that he was educated by men who had visited the Italian city-states during the Renaissance’s height. Like his father, when he became king, he surrounded himself with those who had also been influenced by the Italian Renaissance. His rule, both politically and religiously, mirrored Machiavelli’s The Prince, which advocates for a strong ruler who can keep political promises, using whatever means necessary. 

Like his peers in other northern European nations, however, Henry rejected papal authority and consolidated the English nation-state under monarchical rule. Although his later years were marked by paranoia and authoritarianism, England made significant literary, political, and cultural strides during Henry VIII’s reign, thanks to the influence of the Renaissance, which he adapted to English culture and religiosity.[18]

Notes

[1] Robert Trout, “Henry VII and the Creation of Shakespeare’s England,” schillerinstitute.org, accessed February 4, 2016, http://schillerinstitute.org/fidelio_archive/2002/fidv11n01-02-2002WiSp/fidv11n01-02-2002WiSp_063-henry_vii_and_the_creation_of_sh.pdf.

[2] Raymond G. Siemens, “Henry VIII as Writer and Lyricist,” The Musical Quarterly 92 (2009), 137, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27751856, accessed February 1, 2016.

[3] Siemens, “Henry VIII as Writer and Lyricist,” 137.

[4] Siemens, “Henry VIII as a Writer and Lyricist,” 155.

[5] Siemens, “Henry VIII as a Writer and Lyricist,” 138.

[6] Charles Nauert, “Desiderius Erasmus,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, September 22, 2008, accessed February 5, 2016, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/.

[7] Smith, “The Emergence of a Nation State,” 15.

[8] Smith, “The Emergence of a Nation State,” 18.

[9] Alan G.R. Smith, The Emergence of a Nation State: The Commonwealth of England 1529-1660 (London: Longman Group Limited, 1984), 21.

[10] Christopher Haigh, English Reformations: Religion, Politics and Society under the Tudors, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 116.

[11] G. W. Bernard, “The Making of Religious Policy, 1533-1546: Henry VIII and the Search for the Middle Way,” The Historical Journal 41 2, 322, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2640109.

[12] Bernard, “The Making of Religious Policy,” 322.

[13] Smith, The Emergence of a Nation State, 14-15.

[14] Smith, “The Emergence of a Nation State,” 22.

[15] Smith, “The Emergence of a Nation State,” 24.

[16] Smith, “The Emergence of a Nation State,” 24.

[17] Smith, “The Emergence of a Nation State,” 33.

[18] Smith, “The Emergence of a Nation State,” 61