November 16

Friday, November 16, 2007

There are many pictures I could post for today, but I chose my favorite, Paul Delaroche's Execution of Lady Jane Grey. It was painted in 1833, and is at the London Portrait Gallery. It perfectly captures the poignancy and tragedy of the young girl's death, as depicted in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, England had recently emerged from a period of upheaval and civil war known as the War of the Roses. Henry VII, the first of the Tudor dynasty, emerged victorious from that conflict, and when his son, Henry VIII, found himself without an heir, he wished to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. While there is no doubt that the king was an imperious and self-indulgent bully, his desire to produce legitimate male offspring is understandable, in light of the dynastic upheaval that could result from his failure to do so. Thus we come to the king's "Great Matter." Yet the evolution of a real Protestant Reformation in England is by no means the natural outcome of Henry's political and dynastic designs. Here are some questions to help you clarify the process:

What was the evolution of Henry's religious position? The career and fate of Robert Barnes dovetails with this question in interesting ways.
What beliefs characterized the Lollards? What was their role in England prior to Henry's break with the Roman church?
Who was William Tyndale, and what was the source of his controversy with Cuthbert Tunstall? What was the basis for Tunstall's position?

Identify:

Thomas Cromwell
Thomas More
Thomas Cranmer
1534 Act of Supremacy
Erastianism
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