RICHARD PATE, THE ROYAL SUPREMACY, AND REFORMATION DIPLOMACY

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
TRACEY A. SOWERBY
Keyword(s):  
Henry Viii ◽  
English Reformation ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Royal Supremacy ◽  
Early English ◽  
Church Policy

ABSTRACTIn December 1540 one of Henry VIII's clerical diplomats defected to the papacy. As contemporaries believed that a king could be judged by the ambassadors he sent to represent him abroad, Pate's defection caused the English king considerable embarrassment. His acceptance of the bishopric of Worcester from the pope in July 1541 made Pate a figure of symbolic importance to opponents of Henry VIII's royal supremacy. This article examines Pate's diplomatic career, paying particular attention to how Pate negotiated the competing claims on his loyalty of the pope and Henry VIII. Although Pate was expected to represent Henry's church policy, his experiences in embassy also provided opportunities for conservatism, as Henry sought to maintain amicable relations with the emperor and deny charges of heresy. Pate's case raises important questions about the religious sympathies of those chosen by Henry to represent him abroad and had important consequences for the practice of diplomacy in the early English Reformation. Pate also offers important insights into the motivations of Henrician Catholic exiles, their views of the Henrician church, and their political opposition to it.

From A Man for All Seasons to Wolf Hall (c. 1960–present)

2019 ◽  
pp. 157-190
Author(s):  
J. Patrick Hornbeck
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
English Reformation ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Early English ◽  
Historical Play ◽  
Past Half

Chapter 5 takes as its starting point the premiere of Robert Bolt’s historical play about the life of Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons. It goes on to consider Wolsey’s representation in academic writings and influential historical fictions in the second half of the twentieth century and the first decades of the twenty-first. The chapter explores the five biographies of the cardinal that appeared during this period, discussing at the same time how Wolsey has been represented in the broader historiography of the early reign of Henry VIII. While revisionists of the 1980s and 1990s demonstrated little interest in Wolsey, their discoveries about the early English Reformation have shaped the most recent academic representations of the cardinal. At the same time, however, some of the most influential representations of Wolsey in the past half-century have been fictional. Therefore, the chapter also analyzes Bolt’s play, the controversial television drama The Tudors, and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall novels.

English Reformation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Elizabeth I ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
English Reformation ◽  
Royal Supremacy ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Church ◽  
Political Decisions

Fifteenth-century England was solidly Catholic, 17th-century England predominantly Protestant: the difference between them constituted the English Reformation. Scholarly opinion is divided about the nature of the changes that happened in the 16th century, the rate at which they occurred in town and country and from region to region, and whether they came about because of a series of political decisions imposed “from above” by the Tudor monarchs from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I or as the expression of popular religious fervor welling up “from below.” Henry’s reign (1509–1547) witnessed the formal break with Rome, the declaration of royal supremacy over the church in England, and the plundering of the nation’s monastic wealth, but official promotion of more overt expressions of Protestantism had to wait for the brief reign of Edward VI (1547–1553). Mary I (reigned 1553–1558) reversed the policies of her father and brother, thereby placing England at the forefront of Catholic attempts to stem the Protestant tide. The long reign of Elizabeth (1558–1603) witnessed the emergence of an Anglican via media between the Catholic and Puritan extremes on the English ecclesiastical spectrum.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document