Henry VIII’s daughter takes her mother’s side!

This is about:

• • the Act of Supremacy

• • the Irish Act of Supremacy

• • the repealing of the Act of Supremacy

• • the Second Act of Supremacy. 

It all happened because a daughter was unhappy because her dad left her mum!

The Acts of Supremacy

On the 3^rd November 1534 the First Act of Supremacy was passed.  It was meant to be the only one, but it wasn’t. It was followed in 1537 when the Irish Act of Supremacy was passed by Ireland’s Parliament.  That was meant to be the end of it.  It wasn’t!

In 1554 it was repealed. So, in 1558 a Second Act of Supremacy was passed.

 As they say it was a right mess.

First Act of Supremacy 1534

The First Act of Supremacy was passed on 3 November 1534 by Parliament. It granted King Henry VIII of England and subsequent monarchs, Royal Supremacy, declaring him the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Royal Supremacy was the authority of the civil laws over religious  laws, it was this act that started what is called “The English Reformation”.

With the Act of Supremacy Henry discarded Rome and its influences completely. It really was a true Tudor Brexit.  The King had appointed himself and his successors the supreme rulers of the English church.  Then in 1544 Parliament conferred upon Henry the title “Defender of the Faith”.

The Educational Musical HenryVIII – The Break with Rome, tells the story up to this point.

The problem was that the act didn’t last. When a daughter is on her mother’s side in a divorce, and that daughter gets into a position of power, sparks fly!!!

They did when Henry VIII died, and his daughter Mary became Queen.  

The Act of Supremacy is repealed in 1554!

By this time the new Queen Mary had become a fanatical Catholic, intent on correcting all the religious turmoil her father had created. Especially as he had only done it so that he could leave her mother for some floosy who he got rid of within three years for another.   She intended to correct the situation and make England a Catholic Country again.  So, in 1554 she repealed the Act of Supremacy.

There was a problem, you see the people quite liked not being ruled from Rome, which meant that she couldn’t carry Parliament with her.

She then tried to return confiscated property back to the church.

Parliament wouldn’t let her. 

The Heresy Laws led to the label “Bloody Mary”

However, Queen Mary had become a religious fanatic, then she learnt that the heresy laws were still in place.  So, she used these laws to punish anyone guilty of heresy against Catholicism. She intended to take the world back to where it was before her father.  She was ruthless, she had the guilty ones arrested, then burnt at the stake, she had 300 protestants burnt at the stake.

This is how she got the nickname “Bloody” Mary, which has stuck with her.

When she died, her half-sister, Elizabeth, became Queen and her first act of Parliament was the Act of Supremacy 1558, declaring her the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. She then added an Oath of Supremacy, requiring anyone taking public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and State. You guessed it, anyone refusing to take the oath could be charged with treason under the heresy laws. Yes, she used the same law as her sister, Mary!

Finally, the Church of England was secure, well so they thought.

The moral of this story has to be that there is nothing worse than a woman wronged!

Isn’t history interesting?

10 questions to discuss:

1. 1. 1. What was the significance of the First Act of Supremacy passed in 1534?
      2. How did the Irish Act of Supremacy of 1537 contribute to the broader religious landscape?
      3. Why was the First Act of Supremacy repealed in 1554?
      4. What prompted the passing of the Second Act of Supremacy in 1558?
      5. How did King Henry VIII’s personal life influence the enactment of the Acts of Supremacy?
      6. What role did Queen Mary’s religious convictions play in the repeal of the Act of Supremacy in 1554?
      7. How did Queen Mary’s enforcement of the heresy laws contribute to her nickname “Bloody Mary”?
      8. What measures did Queen Elizabeth I take to solidify the Church of England’s authority?
      9. How did the Act of Supremacy 1558 differ from its predecessors?
      10. What lessons can be drawn from the tumultuous period of the Acts of Supremacy regarding power, religion, and personal grievances?

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