Excommunicated! Henry VIII is excommunicated by the Pope!

Unknown Artist © The National Portrait Gallery

Ex·com·mu·ni·ca·tion: The action of officially excluding someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Catholic Church.

Henry VIII was awarded the title Fidei Defensor or ‘Defender of the Faith’ by Pope Leo X after Henry defended the Catholic church against Martin Luther’s grievances in 1517. Martin Luther was an essential figure in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther had written Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. Luther had written the Catholic church which he believed to be corrupt. This is what is thought to have launched the Protestant Reformation. Pope Leo X issued a Papal Bull excommunicating Luther as a heretic in January of 1521.

Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben. In 1505 decided to join a monastic order and became an Augustinian friar. Luther became angry about the clergy selling 'indulgences.' These were promises of freedom for those believed to be in Purgatory. They could be for someone still living or someone who had passed away. This was the basis for his 95 theses. This meant his work could not be printed, sold, or distributed. No one was allowed to house him or provide him with any assistance.

Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon had been married for over twenty years. Katherine was older than Henry as she had to wait for him to come of age before they married. She had been pregnant several times but their only living child was a daughter, Mary. Henry did not believe a daughter could succeed him as his heir and obsessively longed for a son.

Once it was clear Katherine would be unable to bear more children, Henry sought to annul their marriage. He wished to marry again in an attempt to have a son. This would be no easy feat. Henry’s annulment proceedings began known as the King’s ‘Great Matter.’

On May 6th, 1527 Charles V sacked Rome and the Pope was forced to flee. Several cardinals including Cardinal Thomas Wolsey wrote to the Pope expressing concern over his imprisonment. It was known that the Pope could not be trusted while under the capture of Charles V.

Pope Clement VII forbade Henry from remarrying under threat of excommunication. He was the one to make the decision on Henry’s annulment case, but there was a problem. Pope Clement had just been released from the captivity of Emperor Charles V, who was Katherine of Aragon’s nephew. Emperor Charles V likely would not allow his aunt to be treated in such a way. Pope Clement passed away before the excommunication materialized.

Katherine of Aragon stood before Henry VIII, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, and Italian Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio at Blackfriars. She pleaded her case against Henry’s proposed annulment. Part of the reason Henry sought an annulment was because he was convinced, albeit without evidence, that Katherine lied about not consummating her marriage to his brother Arthur. An excerpt of Katherine’s impassioned speech:

Sir, quoth she, I beseech you, do me Justice and Right, and take some pity upon me, for I am a poor Woman and a Stranger, born out of your Dominions, having here no indifferent Counsel, and less Assurance of Friendship. Alas! Sir, how have I offended you, what Offence have I given you, intending to abridge me of Life in this Sort? I take God to witness, I have been to you a true and loyall Wife… I have been your wife these 20 Years, by whom you have had many Children; And when I first came to your Bed, I take God to witness, I was a Virgin…

Katherine was a very pious woman and would have known the implications for lying. Arthur had also been very sick and eventually passed away not long into their marriage.

Due to Cardinal Wolsey’s inability to secure Henry an annulment after appealing to the Pope, he was dismissed in 1529. Wolsey was exiled to northern England, somewhere he had never been. Thomas Cromwell, as a key figure in the Reformation, served as his lawyer and confidant. Wolsey was accused of secret communications with the Pope and was summoned for trial. He passed away before he could stand trial.

The fallout of Henry’s excommunication and the subsequent Protestant Reformation not only shook England, but the greater Europe. Other European monarchs were encouraged to sever ties with England in order to isolate the king. Martin Luther had already been excommunicated and Henry had been warned by Pope Clement VII before Pope Paul III went forward with the excommunication. This began a domino effect of major and lasting events that would forever change England.

Pope Paul III (Titan, Museo di Capodimonte, 1543).

The 1533 Act of Restraint of Appeals declared that the English monarch was the highest authority on all legal matters and not the Pope. With this, Henry would be permitted to grant himself an annulment. Thomas Cranmer was appointed the first Protestant Bishop of Canterbury. On May 23rd, 1533 he annulled Henry and Katherine’s marriage. Henry had already been married to Anne Boleyn since January, but this made his previous marriage officially null.

A year later in 1534, Henry declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy. England’s link with Rome was officially severed. The Pope no longer had authority over England. Henry was not one to take no for an answer, even if it came from the head of the Catholic church.

Similar to the Act of Supremacy, Henry also passed the Oath of Supremacy. Swearing to the Oath of Supremacy meant it was understood that the Pope no longer had authority over England and Henry was the Supreme Head of the Church. For those not involved in the ongoing Protestant Reformation, this was a blasphemous request.

Swearing the Oath was required for most men in positions of power. Thomas More initially refused to swear the Oath and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He did not waiver in his allegiance to the Pope. More was executed in 1535 due to his refusal to swear the Oath.

An absolutely tragic casualty from the Protestant Reformation was the dissolution of the monasteries. Thomas Cromwell played a large role in this process. With the split from Rome and the creation of the Church of England, Henry saw the monasteries unnecessary and costly. Cromwell thought the money from the monasteries would be good to line the royal coffers. In 1536 the lesser monastic houses were dissolved and the greater houses unfortunately followed in 1539. Henry VIII approved the first authorized English translation of the Bible around this time.

Sources:

1. Bainton, Roland H. Women of the Reformation in France and England. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.

2. “Katherine of Aragon | Hampton Court Palace.” Historic Royal Palaces.  https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/katherine-of-aragon/

3. “History - Historic Figures: Martin Luther (1483-1546).” BBC.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/luther_martin.shtml

4. “1521 Papal Bull.” National Library of Scotland. https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/the-reformation/1521-papal-bull/#:~:text=In%201521%2C%20Pope%20Leo%20X,at%20Worms%20in%20April%201521

5. McGovern, Jonathan. The Little History of England. London: The History Press, 2024.