3 November 1534: Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy
Henry VIII in Parliament, from the Wriothesley Garter Book (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
On this day, 3 November 1534, what is known as the Reformation Parliament passed the First Act of Supremacy, which confirmed that King Henry VIII and his successors were the Supreme Head of the English Church. It also made it treasonable to support the authority of the Pope in England. This Act paved the way for the English Reformation and the subsequent Dissolution of the Monasteries. This Act came into force in February 1535. All who were to take a public or church office were now required to take the Oath of Supremacy, recognizing Henry’s headship.
The Oath of Supremacy was as follows:
"I, ______________, do utterly testify and declare in my conscience that the King’s Highness is the only supreme governor of this realm, and of all other his Highness's dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes, as temporal, and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual within this realm; and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, superiorities and authorities, and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear faith and true allegiance to the King’s Highness, her heirs and lawful successors, and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, privileges and authorities granted or belonging to the King’s Highness, his heirs or successors, or united or annexed to the imperial crown of this realm. So help me God, and by the contents of this Book."
The Treason Act of 1534 followed a month later, making it high treason to “do maliciously wish, will or desire by words or writing, or by craft imagine, invent, practise, or attempt any bodily harm to be done or committed to the king's most royal person, the queen's or the heirs apparent, or to deprive them of any of their dignity, title or name of their royal estates, or slanderously and maliciously publish and pronounce, by express writing or words, that the king should be heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel or usurper of the crown." Therefore, to disavow the Act of Supremacy (depriving the King of the title of Head of the Church in England) was punishable by death.
“This Act of Parliament (26 Henry VIII, cap. 13) made it high treason for anyone to deprive the king of his "dignity, title, or name" (which included his style of "the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England") or to call him a "heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel or usurper of the crown". The penalty for doing so was loss of all property and death; anyone accused of the crime could not claim sanctuary.”
Carthusian monks of the London Charterhouse and Sir Thomas More (HVIII’s former friend and Lord Chancellor) are famous examples of those who were executed for refusing to declare Henry’s Supremacy.
Comments
Post a Comment