December 17, 1538: Henry VIII of England is Excommunicated for a second time.

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Alessandro Farnese, Anne Boleyn, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Rome, Church of England, Emperor Charles V, Excommunication, Giulio de' Medici, King François I of France, King Henry VIII of England, Papal Bull, Pope Clement VII, Pope Paul III, Protestant Reformation, Thomas Cranmer

When Pope Paul III excommunicated King Henry VIII of England on December 17 this was the second time the King had been excommunicated. I will begin by giving some background information on Pope Clement VII and the first excommunication of the King.

King Henry VIII of England and Lord of Ireland

Pope Clement VII (May 26, 1478 – September 25, 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from November 19, 1523 to his death on September 25, 1534.

Born Giulio de’ Medici, his life began under tragic circumstances. On April 26, 1478—exactly one month before his birth—his father, Giuliano de Medici (brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent) was murdered in the Florence Cathedral by enemies of his family, in what is now known as “The Pazzi Conspiracy”.

The future Pope was born illegitimately on May 26, 1478, in Florence; the exact identity of his mother remains unknown, although a plurality of scholars contend that it was Fioretta Gorini, the daughter of a university professor. Giulio spent the first seven years of life with his godfather, the architect Antonio da Sangallo the Elder.

Thereafter, Lorenzo the Magnificent raised him as one of his own sons, alongside his children Giovanni (the future Pope Leo X), Piero, and Giuliano. Educated at the Palazzo Medici in Florence by humanists like Angelo Poliziano, and alongside prodigies like Michelangelo, Giulio became an accomplished musician. In personality he was reputed to be shy, and in physical appearance, handsome

Following Adrian VI’s death on September 14, 1523, Cardinal Giulio overcame the opposition of the French King and finally succeeded in being elected Pope Clement VII in the next conclave (November 19, 1523).

Elected in 1523 at the end of the Italian Renaissance. Pope Clement VII was deemed “the most unfortunate of the popes”, Clement VII’s reign was marked by a rapid succession of political, military, and religious struggles—many long in the making—which had far-reaching consequences for Christianity and world politics.

Pope Clement VII came to the papacy with a high reputation as a statesman. He had served with distinction as chief advisor to Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523), and commendably as gran maestro of Florence (1519–1523).

Pope Clement VII, Bishop of Rome

Assuming leadership at a time of crisis, with the Protestant Reformation spreading; the Church nearing bankruptcy; and large, foreign armies invading Italy, Clement VII initially tried to unite Christendom by making peace among the many Christian leaders then at odds. He later attempted to liberate Italy from foreign occupation, believing that it threatened the Church’s freedom.

The complex political situation of the 1520s thwarted Clement’s efforts. Inheriting unprecedented challenges, including Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe; a vast power struggle in Italy between Europe’s two most powerful kings, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and King François I of France, each of whom demanded that the Pope choose a side; and Turkish invasions of Eastern Europe led by Suleiman the Magnificent.

Clement’s problems were exacerbated by King Henry VIII of England’s contentious divorce, resulting in England breaking away from the Catholic Church; and in 1527, souring relations with Emperor Charles V, leading to the violent Sack of Rome, during which Clement was imprisoned.

After escaping confinement in the Castel Sant’Angelo, Clement—with few economic, military, or political options remaining—compromised the Church’s and Italy’s independence by allying with his former jailer, Charles V.

First Excommunication

King Henry VIII himself, at least in the early part of his reign, was a devout and well-informed Catholic to the extent that his 1521 publication Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (“Defence of the Seven Sacraments”) earned him the title of Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X. The work represented a staunch defence of papal supremacy, albeit one couched in somewhat contingent terms.

It is not clear exactly when Henry changed his mind on the issue of papal supremacy as he grew more intent on a second marriage. Certainly, by 1527, he had convinced himself that Catherine had produced no male heir because their union was “blighted in the eyes of God”.

Indeed, in marrying Catherine, his brother’s wife, he had acted contrary to Leviticus 20:21, a justification Thomas Cranmer used to declare the marriage null. Martin Luther, on the other hand, had initially argued against the annulment, stating that Henry VIII could take a second wife in accordance with his teaching that the Bible allowed for polygamy but not divorce.

Henry VIII now believed the Pope had lacked the authority to grant a dispensation from this impediment. It was this argument Henry VIII took to Pope Clement VII in the hope of having his marriage to Catherine annulled, forgoing at least one less openly defiant line of attack.

In 1527 Henry VIII asked Clement to annul the marriage, but the Pope, possibly acting under pressure from Catherine’s nephew, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, whose effective prisoner he was, refused.

According to Catholic teaching, a validly contracted marriage is indivisible until death, and thus the pope cannot annul a marriage on the basis of an impediment previously dispensed.

Many people close to Henry VIII wished simply to ignore Clement, but in October 1530 a meeting of clergy and lawyers advised that the English Parliament could not empower the Archbishop of Canterbury to act against the Pope’s prohibition. In Parliament, Bishop John Fisher was the Pope’s champion

In response, to Clement VII ‘s refusal to grant the anulment the Reformation Parliament (1532–1534) passed laws abolishing papal authority in England and declared Henry VIII to be head of the Church of England. Final authority in doctrinal disputes now rested with the monarch. Though a religious traditionalist himself, Henry relied on Protestants to support and implement his religious agenda.

Henry subsequently underwent a marriage ceremony with Anne Boleyn, in either late 1532 or early 1533. The marriage was made easier by the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury William Warham, a stalwart friend of the Pope, after which Henry VIII persuaded Clement VII to appoint Thomas Cranmer, a friend of the Boleyn family, as his successor.

Pope Clement VII granted the papal bulls necessary for Cranmer’s promotion to Archbishop of Canterbury, and also demanded that Cranmer take the customary oath of allegiance to the pope before his consecration.

However, as mentioned, laws made under Henry VIII already declared that bishops would be consecrated even without papal approval. Cranmer was consecrated, while declaring beforehand that he did not agree with the oath he would take. Cranmer was prepared to grant the annulment of the marriage to Catherine as Henry VIII required. The Pope responded to the marriage by excommunicating both Henry VIII and Cranmer from the Catholic Church.

Second Excommunication

I will begin this section with some background information on Pope Paul III.

Pope Paul III, Bishop of Rome

Pope Paul III (February 28, 1468 – November 10, 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from October 13, 1534 to his death in November 1549.

Born in 1468 at Canino, Latium (then part of the Papal States), Alessandro Farnese was the oldest son of Pier Luigi I Farnese, Signore di Montalto (1435–1487) and his wife Giovanna Caetani, a member of the Caetani family which had also produced Pope Gelasius II and Pope Boniface VIII.

The Farnese family had prospered over the centuries but it was Alessandro’s ascendency to the papacy and his dedication to family interests which brought about the most significant increase in the family’s wealth and power.

As a young cleric, Alessandro lived a notably dissolute life, taking a mistress, Silvia Ruffini. Between about 1500 and 1510 she gave birth to at least four children: Costanza, Pier Luigi (who was later created Duke of Parma), Paolo, and Ranuccio. In July 1505, Pope Julius II legitimated the two eldest sons so that they could inherit the Farnese family estates. On June 23, 1513, Pope Leo X published a second legitimation of Pier Luigi, and also legitimated Ranuccio (the second son Paolo had already died).

On March 28, 1509 Alessandro was named Bishop of Parma – although he was not ordained a priest until June 26, 1519 and not consecrated a bishop until 2 July 2,1519. As Bishop of Parma, he came under the influence of his vicar-general, Bartolomeo Guidiccioni. This led to Alessandro breaking off the relationship with his mistress and committing himself to reform in his diocese. Under Pope Clement VII (1523–34) he was named Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Dean of the College of Cardinals.

Pontificate

On the death of Clement VII in 1534, he was elected as Pope Paul III on October 13, 1534. Farnese, who did not fall within any of the factions, was considered a very good choice by the cardinals since his age (66) and state of health denoted a short papacy which would give those cardinals time to select a proper candidate for a future conclave. On November 3rd Paul III was formally crowned by the protodeacon Innocenzo Cybo.

Pope Paul III came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation. His pontificate initiated the Counter-Reformation with the Council of Trent in 1545, as well as the wars of religion with Emperor Charles V’s military campaigns against the Protestants in Germany.

Pope Paul III recognized new Catholic religious orders and societies such as the Jesuits, the Barnabites, and the Congregation of the Oratory. His efforts were distracted by nepotism to advance the power and fortunes of his family, including his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese.

In 1538, the chief minister Thomas Cromwell pursued an extensive campaign against what the government termed “idolatry” practised under the old religion, culminating in September with the dismantling of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

Paul III proved unable to suppress the Protestant Reformation, although it was during his pontificate that the foundation was laid for the Counter-Reformation.

As a consequence of the extensive campaign against “idolatry” in England, and also Pope Paul III upset over the dismantling of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury, decreed the second and final excommunication of Henry VIII of England on December 17, 1538.

Excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland

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 Act of Supremacy of 1559, Church of England, Church of Ireland, Duke of Norfolk, Irish Catholics, Mary I of Scotland, Papal Bull, Pope Gregory XIII, Pope Pius V, Pope Sixtus V, Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, Regnans in Excelsis, Ridolfi Plot, Thomas Howard

The other day I wrote about how Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk was arested for his role in the Ridolfi Plot. The Ridolfi Plot was the plan to murder Queen Elizabeth I, and replace her on the English throne with Mary I of Scotland. The historical event that paved the way for this plot was the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I.

Regnans in Excelsis (“Reigning on High”) was a Papal Bull that Pope Pius V issued on February 25, 1570. The Bull excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England, referring to her as “the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime”, declared her a heretic, and released her subjects from allegiance to her, even those who had “sworn oaths to her”, and excommunicated any who obeyed her orders: “We charge and command all and singular the nobles, subjects, peoples and others afore said that they do not dare obey her orders, mandates and laws. Those who shall act to the contrary we include in the like sentence of excommunication.” Among the queen’s alleged offences, “She has removed the royal Council, composed of the nobility of England, and has filled it with obscure men, being heretics.

The Bull, written in Latin, is named from its incipit, the first three words of its text.

Background

The Papacy had previously reconciled with Mary I, who returned the Church of England and Church of Ireland to Catholicism. After Mary I of England’s death in November 1558, Elizabeth’s Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy of 1559, which re-established the Church of England and Church of Ireland’s independence from papal authority. This bull can be seen as an act of retaliation for the religious settlement, but as it was delayed by eleven years, caused in part by a number of royal Catholic suitors who hoped to marry Elizabeth, and because she had tolerated Catholic worship in private.

Content

Pius V issued the bull in support of, but following, the failed Rising of the North of 1569, by which Catholic nobles attempted to depose Elizabeth and replace her with Mary I of Scotland, and the first Desmond Rebellion in Ireland, which broke out in June 1569. Although the Desmond Rebellion’s main goal was to preserve the independence of feudal lords from the English throne, it developed religious overtones as James FitzMaurice FitzGerald sought support from Catholic Europe.

The bull declared Queen Elizabeth excommunicated and absolved her subjects from any allegiance to her. It also excommunicated any that obeyed her orders. Its argument drew on the hierocratic theory of the papacy established by medieval canonists.

Pius did not consult any Catholic rulers. Both Felipe II of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II disagreed with his approach. Felipe thought, correctly, that it would only harden the Crown’s treatment of English Catholics. According to Evelyn Waugh, It provided a convenient pretext for those in Elizabeth’s court, looking for an excuse to do so, to persecute Roman Catholics, and they took full advantage of it. To take effect in church law the bull had to be promulgated. This logistical effort relied on individuals such as John Felton.

Aftermath

The Bull provoked the English government into taking more repressive actions against the Jesuits, whom they feared to be acting in the interests of Spain and the papacy. This reaction soon seemed justified: it was the publication in England of Pius’s exhortation that gave the impetus in 1571 to the Ridolfi Plot, in which the Duke of Norfolk was to kidnap or murder Queen Elizabeth, install Mary I of Scotland, on the English throne, and then become de facto king by marrying her. Heinrich Bullinger of Zurich published a critique of the bull in 1571.

Suspension from 1580–84

At the request of the Jesuits and to relieve the pressures on Catholics in England, Pope Gregory XIII issued a clarification or suspension in 1580, explaining that Catholics should obey the queen outwardly in all civil matters, until such time as a suitable opportunity presented itself for her overthrow. How widely this was communicated to, and understood by, Catholics in England and Ireland is unknown. Later that year Pope Gregory XIII sponsored an abortive expedition to Ireland in support of the Second Desmond Rebellion that ended in the Siege of Smerwick, so the suggestion that the Bull was suspended earlier in 1580 cannot be taken seriously. Soon after the start of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), an English Act “against Jesuits, seminary priests and other such like disobedient persons” was passed into law.

Renewal in 1588

In 1588, Pope Sixtus V, in support of the Spanish Armada, renewed the solemn bull of excommunication against Queen Elizabeth I, for the regicide of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587 as well as the previously catalogued offences against the Catholic Church. During the threat of invasion by the Spanish Armada, it transpired that most of the Catholic residents in England remained loyal, and that those who were a real threat to the throne, like William, Cardinal Allen and Robert Persons, were already exiles.

While the bull had little impact in England, it caused a rift in Elizabeth’s Kingdom of Ireland where most of the population remained Roman Catholic; Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, had used the bull as justification for the Second Desmond Rebellion. While divisions had existed before 1570, after the bull the official world based in Dublin conformed to Anglicanism while the majority of the Parliament of Ireland were Catholics until 1613.

March 24, 1603: Death of Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland

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Anne Boleyn, Church of England, Elizabeth I of England, Henry VIII of England, House of Tudor, James VI of Scotland, Mary I of England, Mary I of Scotland, Queen of England

Elizabeth I (September 7, 1533 – March 24, 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from November 17, 1558 until her death in 1603. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor.

Elizabeth was the daughter Toof Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two-and-a-half years after Elizabeth’s birth. Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her half-brother, Edward VI, ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, the Roman Catholic Mary and the younger Elizabeth, in spite of statute law to the contrary. Edward’s will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Mary’s reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.

Upon her half-sister’s death in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant Church, of which she became the supreme governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir; however, despite numerous courtships, she never did. She was eventually succeeded by her first-cousin twice-removed, James VI of Scotland, laying the foundation for the Kingdom of Great Britain. She had earlier been responsible for the imprisonment and execution of James’s mother, Mary I, Queen of Scots.

In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was “video et taceo” (“I see and keep silent”). In religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. After the pope declared her illegitimate in 1570 and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies threatened her life, all of which were defeated with the help of her ministers’ secret service. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the major powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. By the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. England’s victory against the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history.

As she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult of personality grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day. Elizabeth’s reign became known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, who enjoyed more than her share of luck.

Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor in an era when government was ramshackle and limited, and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones. After the short reigns of her half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.

The Queen’s health remained fair until the autumn of 1602, when a series of deaths among her friends plunged her into a severe depression. In February 1603, the death of Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham, the niece of her cousin and close friend Lady Knollys, came as a particular blow. In March, Elizabeth fell sick and remained in a “settled and unremovable melancholy”, and sat motionless on a cushion for hours on end. When Robert Cecil told her that she must go to bed, she snapped: “Must is not a word to use to princes, little man.” She died on March 24, 1603 at Richmond Palace, between two and three in the morning. A few hours later, Cecil and the council set their plans in motion and proclaimed James VI of Scotland, King of England.

While it has become normative to record the death of the Queen as occurring in 1603, following English calendar reform in the 1750s, at the time of her death England observed New Year’s Day on March 25, commonly known as Lady Day. Thus Elizabeth died on the last day of the year 1602 in the old calendar. The modern convention is to use the old calendar for the date and month while using the new calendar for the year.

Kingdom of Ireland: Part II.

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Catherine of Aragon, Church of England, Crown of Ireland Act 1542, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, James VI-I of England, King Henry VIII of England, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Ireland, Pope Clement VII, Pope Paul III, Roman Catholic Church

Part II

Ireland in 1500 had been shaped by the Norman conquest, initiated by Anglo-Norman barons in the 12th century. Ireland was not formally a realm, but rather a lordship; the title was assumed by the English monarch upon coronation. Many of the native Gaelic Irish had been expelled from various parts of the country (mainly the east and southeast) and replaced with English peasants and labourers. The Gaelic Irish were, for the most part, outside English jurisdiction, maintaining their own language, social system, customs and laws. The English referred to them as “His Majesty’s Irish enemies”. In legal terms, they had never been admitted as subjects of the Crown.

The rise of Gaelic influence resulted in the passing in 1366 of the Statutes of Kilkenny, which outlawed many social practices that had been developing apace (e.g. intermarriage, use of the Irish language and Irish dress). By the end of the 15th century, central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared, and a renewed Irish culture and language, albeit with Norman influences, was dominant again. English Crown control remained relatively unshaken in an amorphous foothold around Dublin known as The Pale, and under the provisions of Poynings’ Law of 1494, the Irish Parliamentary legislation was subject to the approval of the English Privy Council.

When Pope Clement VII excommunicated the King Henry VIII of England in 1533, the constitutional position of the Lordship in Ireland became uncertain since the title originated with the authority of the Papacy. Henry VIII had broken away from the Holy See and declared himself the head of the Church in England. He had petitioned Rome to procure an annulment of his marriage to Queen Catherine. Pope Clement VII, a puppet of Emperor Charles V the nephew of Queen Catherine, refused Henry’s request. Henry VII subsequently also refused to recognise the Roman Catholic Church’s vestigial sovereignty over Ireland, and was excommunicated again in late 1538 by Pope Paul III. The Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 was passed to counteract this.

Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland

Henry VIII was proclaimed King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, an Act of the Irish Parliament. The new kingdom was not recognised by the Catholic monarchies in Europe. After the death of King Edward VI, Henry’s son, the papal bull of 1555 recognised the Roman Catholic Queen Mary I as Queen of Ireland. The link of “personal union” of the Crown of Ireland to the Crown of England became enshrined in Catholic canon law. In this fashion, the Kingdom of Ireland was ruled by the reigning monarch of England. This placed the new Kingdom of Ireland in personal union with the Kingdom of England. Then in 1558 the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne, survived the 1570 bull Regnans in Excelsis, and all but one of the following monarchs were Anglican. Contrary to the official plan, the substantial majority of the population remained strongly Roman Catholic, despite the political and economic advantages of membership in the state church.

In 1603 James VI King of Scots became James I of England and Ireland, uniting the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland in a personal union. The political order of the kingdom was interrupted by the Wars of the Three Kingdoms starting in 1639. During the subsequent interregnum period of Cromwell’s Commonwealth, England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled as a republic until 1660. This period saw the rise of the loyalist Irish Catholic Confederation within the kingdom and, from 1653, the creation of the republican Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. The kingdom’s order was restored 1660 with the restoration of Charles II, without any public dissent. Charles II’s reign was backdated to his father’s execution in 1649.

Although Ireland had legislative independence, executive administration remained under the control of the executive of the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1788–89 a Regency crisis arose when King George III became ill. Henry Grattan, principal Irish leader of the period, wanted to appoint the Prince of Wales, later George IV, as Regent of Ireland. The king recovered before this could be enacted.

The road to political union with Great Britain was paved with the Irish Rebellion of 1798 which was an uprising against British rule in Ireland. The United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced by the ideas of the American and French revolutions, were the main organising force behind the rebellion, led by Presbyterians angry at being shut out of power by the Anglican establishment and joined by Catholics, who made up the majority of the population. A French army which landed in County Mayo in support of the rebels was overwhelmed by British and loyalist forces. The uprising was suppressed by British Crown forces with a death toll of between 10,000 and 30,000.

The Irish Rebellion of 1798, and the rebels’ alliance with Great Britain’s longtime enemy the French, led to a push to bring Ireland formally into the British Union. By the Acts of Union 1800, voted for by both Irish and British Parliaments, the Kingdom of Ireland merged on 1 January 1801 with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish Parliament ceased to exist, though the executive, presided over by the Lord Lieutenant, remained in place until 1922. The union was later the subject of much controversy.