2D - The reformist and conservative factions: aims, influence and the reaction of the King
Between 1536 and 1547, England's Church changed through a struggle over what royal supremacy should permit. Learn how religious aims, access to Henry VIII and shifting foreign alliances interacted, and why neither reformers nor conservatives could determine policy without the King.
Factions and religious aims
Henry's rejection of papal jurisdiction left unanswered a different question: which beliefs and practices should the English Church retain? Reformers and conservatives competed to give an answer, but these were networks of churchmen, courtiers and patrons rather than modern political parties with fixed membership.
Faction
A group linked by patronage, shared interests or beliefs that seeks influence over a ruler and decisions. Religious agreement could strengthen a faction without making all its members agree on every doctrine.
Thomas Cromwell, Henry's chief minister and vicegerent in spiritual matters, used royal authority to promote the English Bible, attack pilgrimage and supposedly superstitious images, and dissolve religious houses. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, sought reform through preaching, scripture and changes in doctrine. Bishops such as Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Shaxton also favoured reform. Their positions were developing: an evangelical in 1536 did not necessarily hold every belief later expressed in the Edwardian Church.
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, were important conservative figures. They defended traditional sacramental doctrine and opposed what they considered heresy. Nevertheless, both accepted royal supremacy. Being conservative did not automatically mean seeking the restoration of papal rule, just as benefiting from monastic land did not prove a person was doctrinally Protestant.
Court access mattered because Henry appointed ministers, authorised religious statements and could protect or destroy individuals. A reformer with the King's favour could achieve more than a theologian with a persuasive book alone. Marriage and kinship connected religion to patronage, but reducing every marriage to a factional victory hides Henry's personal choices and the fluidity of alliances.
Henry controls the balance
Henry wanted obedience and religious unity, but his own beliefs limited the reformers he employed. He retained belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and defended clerical celibacy. His willingness to remove monasteries and shrines therefore coexisted with resistance to a fully Protestant sacramental settlement.
Reformers achieved major practical changes in 1536–1538: the Dissolution developed, the 1538 injunctions attacked abuses surrounding images and pilgrimage, and an English Bible was to be available in churches. Yet the Six Articles of 1539 reaffirmed conservative beliefs, including transubstantiation and opposition to priests marrying. Latimer and Shaxton resigned their bishoprics. Cranmer, himself married, survived through royal protection. The lesson is that a law's doctrinal direction and a minister's survival are separate measures of influence.
Cromwell's destruction in 1540 illustrates the interaction of religious hostility and political vulnerability. Conservatives attacked him, but Henry's unhappiness with the Anne of Cleves marriage and doubts about Cromwell's management made their attack effective. Cromwell was executed in July. Henry's marriage to Katherine Howard strengthened conservative court connections, although her fall and execution in 1542 prevented those connections from becoming secure control of the monarchy.
The struggle continued. Conservatives tried to discredit Cranmer in the Prebendaries' Plot of 1543, involving clergy and lay figures in Kent as well as wider court rivalry. Henry allowed Cranmer to survive and investigate the accusations. Catherine Parr, whom Henry married in 1543, encouraged reforming learning, but her position did not prevent the prosecution and burning of the evangelical Anne Askew in 1546. Henry could protect a reforming adviser while punishing another reformer's beliefs.
This pattern is more intelligible than a pendulum that moves automatically whenever one faction wins. Factions framed opportunities and accusations; Henry decided which individuals and doctrines served his authority. His choices could be inconsistent from a reformer's perspective while remaining consistent with his insistence on obedience.
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