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The Crown Imperial
was commissioned by Henry VII

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to celebrate the arrival
of the new Tudor dynasty.

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But by the last years of his reign,
Henry had debased both crown

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and monarchy with his avarice
and, many thought, his tyranny.

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On 24th June 1509,
Henry VII's son, Henry VIII,

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was crowned in front of
the high altar at Westminster Abbey.

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His personality -
sunny and romantic,

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was the opposite of his father's
and it promised a fresh start.

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But no-one then could have guessed
how radical,

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even revolutionary,
it would prove to be.

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Above all, he was no miser.

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Shortly after his accession,
a contemporary wrote,

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"Our new King doesn't want gold and
silver like his miserly old father.

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"Instead, he aims and thirsts
for nobler goals -

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"virtue, glory, immortality."

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He was right. And Henry's reign
turned into a quest

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for fame as obsessive
as any modern celebrity's.

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It took many different forms
and it led Henry into territory

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where no English King
had dared venture before.

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And, above all, it threatened
to upset the traditional balance

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between freedom and authority
and to turn English kingship

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into an untrammelled despotism
that claimed power over men's souls

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as well as their bodies.

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At the time of Henry's birth
in 1491, the Tudors were

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a new, not very secure, dynasty.

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His father had failed to reconcile
the defeated Yorkist nobility,

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was about to embark on an
unsuccessful war in France,

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and would steadily reduce
the role of the crown

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to that of a greedy landlord.

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This dubious inheritance, however,

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was not destined for Henry
but for his elder brother Arthur,

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Prince of Wales
and heir to the throne.

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Henry, as the second son, wasn't
expected to be king and as a result,

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he received a rather modern,
un-kingly kind of upbringing.

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Instead of having the rigorous
demands of kingship knocked into him

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by male tutors and role models,
he was brought up here

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at Eltham Palace by his mother and
with his sisters who idolised him.

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This early experience of women's
love made Henry a romantic

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and paved the way
to the great passions

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and crimes of his adult life.

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Henry's mother also made sure
that his education was of the best

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and a succession of distinguished
tutors gave him a thorough grounding

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in the latest Latin Scholarship.

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Even the super-learned Erasmus
was impressed and when he met Henry,

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aged only eight, in this very
great hall, he was bowled over

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by the boy's confidence, precocious
learning and star quality.

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But when he was only 11, Henry's
life was struck by family tragedy.

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His brother, Arthur,
died suddenly of a fever,

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followed soon after
by his beloved mother.

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Henry was now the sole heir
to the Tudor dynasty.

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For the boy, his new status
was a double-edged sword.

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He might be the Prince of Wales,

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but the carefree life he'd known
was gone forever.

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There wasn't much love lost either

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between Prince Henry
and his father, King Henry VII.

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Henry was growing up fast
and he was already taller

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and broader than his father.

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But the King, aware that the whole
future of the Tudor dynasty depended

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on the life of his only surviving
son, was fiercely protective.

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The conflict came over participation
in extreme sports.

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Henry wanted to take part

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in the manly, aristocratic sport
of jousting.

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But because it was so dangerous,
his father allowed him to ride

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only in unarmed training exercises.

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When, in contrast, the real thing
took place, Henry had to sit it out

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chafing on the sidelines whilst
his friends slugged it out like men.

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The result was a clash,
not only of arms but of values

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between father and son
about what it meant to be a King.

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On 21st April 1509,
Henry VII died.

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and the 17-year-old Henry
was proclaimed King

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amidst wild scenes
of popular rejoicing.

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The most impressive tribute came
from Thomas More,

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the great scholar and lawyer,

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whose life and death were to be
inextricably linked with Henry's.

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"This day," More wrote,
"is the end of our slavery,

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"the fount of liberty, the end of
sadness, the beginning of joy."

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Fired with the idealism of youth,

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Henry had strong ideas
about kingship.

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He'd been brought up
on the myths of King Arthur

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and the exploits of his ancestor
Henry V and, like them,

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he believed in the traditional idea

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that a great king
should be a great warlord.

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This is the round table
of King Arthur at Winchester,

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then believed to have been
Arthur's capital.

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Henry had first seen the table

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as an impressionable 14-year-old
and now that he was King,

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he seems to have decided to take
Arthur as his model of kingship.

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Like Arthur, he would be
a great jouster,

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he would have a brilliant court
and, above all, he would

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follow in the footsteps of the once
and future King and conquer France.

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To this end,

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one of Henry's first acts as King
was to marry his brother's widow,

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the Spanish princess,
Catherine of Aragon,

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who was six years his senior.

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The marriage would sow the seeds of
upheaval and revolutionary change

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in the English monarchy.

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At the time, however,
it was much simpler.

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Henry loved Catherine,
but the marriage was also

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cementing England's alliance
with Spain against France.

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Henry was re-arming England,

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and in 1511, he got
the council's agreement for war.

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On 28 June 1513, the English
army crossed the Channel to France.

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For the first time
in almost a century,

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Parliament had proved willing
to vote serious war taxation.

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The result was the largest
and best organised English army

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since Agincourt.

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Henry, like his great hero, Henry V,
led the English army in person.

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He even came under fire
occasionally.

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He defeated the French
in the Battle of the Spurs,

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so called because the French knights
ran away so quickly,

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captured important prisoners

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and took two French cities
after set-piece sieges.

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Henry hadn't conquered
all of France, of course,

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but otherwise he'd done everything
he'd set out to do.

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He'd restored the reputation
of English arms.

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He'd made England once more
one of the big three European powers

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alongside France
and the Hapsburg empire.

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Above all, he'd covered himself
in glory.

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At the same time, however, Henry,
or rather Catherine - since it was

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always the woman who was blamed -
had failed to produce an heir.

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She gave birth to a short-lived son
in 1511,

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but then followed miscarriage
after miscarriage.

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Henry was surprisingly
understanding.

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But how long could
he wait for a son?

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King Henry VIII had triumphed
in France,

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and had covered himself in glory,
but he hadn't done it alone.

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The architect of his victories
was Thomas Wolsey.

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A butcher's son from Ipswich,

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Wolsey had risen from nothing through
his intelligence, drive and ambition.

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Though nominally only a royal
chaplain, it was he who'd organised

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the whole French campaign.

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His rewards were to be commensurate -
in quick succession he became Bishop,

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Archbishop and Cardinal.

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As Papal Legate, he was the Pope's
personal representative in England,

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and as Lord Chancellor
he was the King's indispensable

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friend and counsellor.

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Wolsey was now supreme in Church
and State, but as much as his power,

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contemporaries were impressed by
his overweening flamboyant character,

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by his taste, his magnificence
and his sense of display

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whose supreme monument is his great
palace here at Hampton Court.

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But we should not let
this outward display deceive us

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about the reality of Wolsey's power.

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Wolsey had risen only because
he was able to deliver what

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Henry yearned for - glory and war,
and he would survive only if he were

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able to continue to deliver what
Henry wanted, whatever it might be.

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But Wolsey and Henry had a problem.

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The gains of the French war proved
fleeting, and by 1519 Henry was

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no longer the teenage star of Europe.

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There was a new, young, warlike King
of France, Francis I, and a new, even

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younger Hapsburg Emperor, Charles V,
Queen Catherine's nephew, who ruled

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in his own right Spain, Germany,
the Netherlands, and most of Italy.

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Both commanded much larger resources
than Henry,

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which meant that glory in war
was no longer a realistic option.

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But for the moment, England
seemed to hold the balance of power

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between Francis and Charles,
and was courted by both sides.

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Wolsey, dextrous and inventive
as usual turned the situation to

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England's advantage by organising the
Field of Cloth of Gold, which took

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place in a dusty, windswept plain
in the north-east of France.

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It centred on a personal meeting
between Henry VIII and Francis I.

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In another first for Wolsey,

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it was one of the earliest
modern summit conferences.

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But the jamboree
was much more than that.

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It was also an Olympic Games with
an international jousting competition

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and an Expo-cum-Euro Disney
with competitive displays

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of lavish cloth of gold tents and

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fantastic pavilions which the English
were generally reckoned to have won.

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It was also fantastically expensive,
but still it was cheaper than war,

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and it re-enforced the image of Henry
and Wolsey as the arbiters of Europe.

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But the image, like the Field
of Cloth of Gold itself,

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proved to be a mirage.

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England's role as arbiter of Europe,

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depended on the
continuing balance of power.

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But sooner or later
Francis and Charles would fight,

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and one of them would win.

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What would Wolsey and Henry do then?

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The moment came in 1525, when Charles
V's forces crushed the French armies

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and captured Francis I himself.

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But instead of trying
to maintain the balance of power,

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Henry reverted to his early, warlike,

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dreams of conquest, and proposed
a partition of France with Charles.

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Charles called Henry's bluff -
if Henry wanted his share of France,

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he must conquer it for himself.

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But that required money.

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Parliament wouldn't have voted for
taxation, instead Wolsey suggested

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an extra parliamentary levy, to
which, as spin doctor in chief,

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he gave the emollient name
of "Amicable Grant".

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It made no difference.

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All taxes are unpopular.

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This one caused riots, and the
worst one of all took place here

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in Lavenham in Suffolk, which was
then a prosperous wool weaving town.

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On 4th May, 4,000 protesters poured
through the streets, the church bells

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rang the alarm and the rioters swore
that they would die in their quarrel.

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Other smaller protests took place
throughout the South East.

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In Lavenham,
the rioters pleaded poverty.

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But in London, sophisticated
constitutional objections were raised

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to a tax which hadn't been voted
in Parliament.

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In the face of the protest,
the government abandoned

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the Amicable Grant and with it
Henry's projected invasion of France.

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Both Wolsey and Henry
put a brave face on the climb-down.

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But it was a terrible humiliation.

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Henry had failed
in both peace and war,

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and his dreams of glory were dashed.

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But there was a ray of sunshine -
Henry had fallen in love again.

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He'd also begun seriously to fall

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out of love with his wife,
Catherine of Aragon.

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He'd had mistresses, even
an acknowledged son by one of them.

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The real problem, instead,
came from Catherine's own situation.

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The age difference
between Henry and Catherine

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is now really beginning to tell, as
this pair of miniatures also shows.

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Henry himself here, then aged 34,
has kept his youthful looks

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but Catherine,
already 40, is wearing badly.

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As the massive neck and shoulders
in the portrait show,

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her once trim figure
is fat, whilst her face,

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which
used to be so pretty is now round

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and blotched and bloated.

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Catherine had been more or less
continuously pregnant in the first

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ten years of her marriage and it
had played havoc with her figure.

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If they'd had been sons, none of
this would have mattered, but of

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all those pregnancies only a single
child had survived, a daughter, Mary.

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And a woman who'd lost her looks,
was past child bearing age

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and hadn't produced an heir
was vulnerable indeed.

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Henry and Catherine's marriage
wasn't the first royal union

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to get into difficulties.

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The man who's responsibility it was

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to sort out such problems
was the Pope in Rome,

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head of the Catholic Church
to which England,

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like all the rest of
western Europe, belonged.

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But at just this moment,

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the Pope's position was under
greater threat than ever before.

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The attack was led by a young German
academic, Martin Luther, who in 1517

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launched a furious assault on the
corruption of the Roman church,

232
00:17:52,380 --> 00:17:56,019
which began the Protestant
Reformation.

233
00:17:56,020 --> 00:18:00,519
Henry and his minister Cardinal
Wolsey were united in their horror

234
00:18:00,820 --> 00:18:04,259
at Luther's heretical attack
on the Church.

235
00:18:04,260 --> 00:18:08,859
In May 1521, Wolsey condemned
Luther's works

236
00:18:09,140 --> 00:18:12,419
in a great book burning
at St Paul's Cathedral

237
00:18:12,420 --> 00:18:15,619
whilst Henry wrote a
reply to Luther called

238
00:18:15,620 --> 00:18:21,619
the "Assertio Septum Sacramentorum"
or "Defence of the Seven Sacraments".

239
00:18:22,060 --> 00:18:24,339
It's the first book
to be written by an

240
00:18:24,340 --> 00:18:26,939
English King since Alfred the Great.

241
00:18:26,940 --> 00:18:30,939
It's written in Latin
and set in the latest roman type for

242
00:18:31,140 --> 00:18:35,739
circulation to a sophisticated,
select European audience.

243
00:18:36,540 --> 00:18:39,419
But above all, Henry's book

244
00:18:39,420 --> 00:18:43,419
was loud in its defence of the
papal monarchy over the church.

245
00:18:43,700 --> 00:18:47,999
So much so that Thomas More,
then Henry's friend and intimate

246
00:18:48,500 --> 00:18:53,499
counsellor warned the King that since
his present good relations with Rome

247
00:18:53,740 --> 00:18:55,779
might change in the course of time,

248
00:18:55,780 --> 00:18:59,979
he should "leave that point out
or else touch it more slenderly".

249
00:19:01,180 --> 00:19:05,779
But Henry was adamant in his
championship of Rome and his reward

250
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,139
was the title of "Defender of
the Faith" from a grateful Pope.

251
00:19:11,100 --> 00:19:15,099
Henry never wavered
in his detestation of Luther

252
00:19:15,540 --> 00:19:17,179
and all his works.

253
00:19:17,180 --> 00:19:20,819
But his attitude to Rome,
just as Thomas More predicted,

254
00:19:20,820 --> 00:19:23,139
underwent a revolution.

255
00:19:23,140 --> 00:19:27,139
The reasons were
Henry's need for a son and heir,

256
00:19:28,060 --> 00:19:30,339
and love.

257
00:19:30,340 --> 00:19:34,339
And the woman he'd fallen
in love with was Anne Boleyn,

258
00:19:34,820 --> 00:19:38,819
sister of one of his
former mistresses.

259
00:19:39,780 --> 00:19:43,979
Sexy rather than beautiful,
Anne behaved as no mistress had

260
00:19:44,500 --> 00:19:46,259
dared to before,

261
00:19:46,260 --> 00:19:50,259
and with consequences
that no-one could have imagined.

262
00:19:59,540 --> 00:20:04,539
By the mid 1520s,
Henry's reign had hit the buffers.

263
00:20:04,740 --> 00:20:08,739
He'd failed in his quest for glory
in both peace and war.

264
00:20:08,740 --> 00:20:11,299
He'd failed to
father a son and heir.

265
00:20:11,300 --> 00:20:15,299
He'd even failed to persuade Anne
to sleep with him.

266
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,979
For Anne, supremely confident
in her hold over Henry,

267
00:20:22,980 --> 00:20:26,979
refused him sexual relations
unless he agreed to marry her.

268
00:20:30,940 --> 00:20:33,259
The difficulty, of course,
was that Henry

269
00:20:33,260 --> 00:20:37,259
was already married to Catherine,
who would never agree to a divorce.

270
00:20:37,860 --> 00:20:41,219
So Henry and Anne tried
to find legal grounds

271
00:20:41,220 --> 00:20:43,899
for dissolving Henry's marriage.

272
00:20:43,900 --> 00:20:46,979
Their best hope lay in the Bible,

273
00:20:46,980 --> 00:20:49,419
where the Book of Leviticus
forbade a man

274
00:20:49,420 --> 00:20:54,419
to marry his dead brother's widow,
on pain of childlessness.

275
00:20:59,620 --> 00:21:02,139
It was for this reason
that Henry had received

276
00:21:02,140 --> 00:21:06,739
a special dispensation from Rome
to permit him to marry Catherine.

277
00:21:07,060 --> 00:21:09,419
But now Henry's lawyers argued that,

278
00:21:09,420 --> 00:21:12,259
since the marriage
broke Biblical law,

279
00:21:12,260 --> 00:21:16,959
Rome had exceeded its powers
and the marriage was invalid.

280
00:21:17,260 --> 00:21:21,259
The case was submitted for decision
to the man who was both the Pope's

281
00:21:21,580 --> 00:21:25,579
personal representative in England
and Henry's own chief minister,

282
00:21:26,580 --> 00:21:30,079
Cardinal Wolsey.

283
00:21:31,740 --> 00:21:35,739
Here in the subterranean bowels
of the Ministry of Defence building

284
00:21:36,140 --> 00:21:42,139
in Whitehall in London, amidst the
ducting, the central heating pipes,

285
00:21:42,260 --> 00:21:46,959
and the spooks, there is
an extraordinary survivor

286
00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:52,299
of the Tudor world, and here it is.

287
00:21:55,100 --> 00:21:58,739
It's the wine cellar of the
town palace of Cardinal Wolsey,

288
00:21:58,740 --> 00:22:02,739
known as York Place,
that once stood on this site.

289
00:22:03,180 --> 00:22:07,099
And actually, above where I'm
standing here, on the first floor,

290
00:22:07,100 --> 00:22:10,499
there was the principal
reception room of the palace,

291
00:22:10,500 --> 00:22:12,739
known as the great chamber.

292
00:22:12,740 --> 00:22:19,739
It was, almost certainly, in this
great chamber on 17th May 1527

293
00:22:19,900 --> 00:22:24,899
that there opened the first trial
of the marriage of Henry VIII.

294
00:22:28,580 --> 00:22:32,579
It's known as the secret trial,
since Catherine was told nothing.

295
00:22:33,420 --> 00:22:37,419
Henry was confident that Wolsey
would rule his marriage invalid.

296
00:22:37,820 --> 00:22:42,719
Instead, to enormous surprise,
on 31st May, Wolsey adjourned

297
00:22:42,900 --> 00:22:47,899
the court indefinitely, on grounds
of the difficulty of the case.

298
00:22:48,740 --> 00:22:53,739
Why did Wolsey, who owed everything
to Henry, defy the King's wishes?

299
00:22:54,460 --> 00:22:58,259
Was it because of the
reluctance of his fellow judge?

300
00:22:58,260 --> 00:23:01,939
Did Wolsey fear
Anne Boleyn's power as Queen?

301
00:23:01,940 --> 00:23:04,299
Were his legal doubts genuine?

302
00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:08,899
Or was it, above all, because he
felt that in a matter of such moment

303
00:23:09,140 --> 00:23:12,499
the Pope himself must be involved?

304
00:23:12,500 --> 00:23:16,499
Whatever his reasons,
the delay was crucial.

305
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,659
For, at exactly the same moment,

306
00:23:21,660 --> 00:23:25,659
events were unfolding in Rome
which would make it impossible

307
00:23:25,900 --> 00:23:31,899
for the Pope, even if he'd wished,
to come down on Henry's side.

308
00:23:33,020 --> 00:23:35,739
Two days after Wolsey
adjourned the court,

309
00:23:35,740 --> 00:23:39,939
news reached England that the troops
of Emperor Charles V had taken Rome,

310
00:23:40,620 --> 00:23:44,619
sacked and pillaged the city,
and driven the Pope to take refuge

311
00:23:45,140 --> 00:23:48,019
in the Castel Sant'Angelo here.

312
00:23:48,020 --> 00:23:51,859
The Pope was now
in the power of Catherine's nephew,

313
00:23:51,860 --> 00:23:55,179
and he would remain so
for the foreseeable future.

314
00:23:55,180 --> 00:23:59,979
This meant that Henry's hopes
of a quickie divorce were at an end.

315
00:24:00,580 --> 00:24:04,539
Henry and Anne had thought
to be married in months.

316
00:24:04,540 --> 00:24:08,939
Instead, the months stretched into
years as the Pope strung out Henry

317
00:24:09,500 --> 00:24:13,179
with legal manoeuvres
and diplomatic subtleties.

318
00:24:13,380 --> 00:24:17,379
But, with the failure of the
second divorce trial in 1529,

319
00:24:17,700 --> 00:24:20,899
Henry's patience was at an end.

320
00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:24,899
So, just as importantly, was Anne's.

321
00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:29,299
Wolsey knew his power
and his life were at stake.

322
00:24:29,300 --> 00:24:33,299
Desperate to find his way back into
Henry's favour, he wrote the King

323
00:24:33,460 --> 00:24:37,959
a long letter, setting out the case
for his own approach to the divorce.

324
00:24:38,460 --> 00:24:41,139
He sat down at his desk
at four in the morning,

325
00:24:41,140 --> 00:24:45,139
"never" his valet noted, "rising
once to piss, nor yet to eat

326
00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:49,499
"any meat, but continually wrote
his letters with his own hand."

327
00:24:50,100 --> 00:24:56,099
But not even Wolsey could change the
reality of European power politics.

328
00:24:58,620 --> 00:25:01,099
Faced with the brute fact
of Charles V's power,

329
00:25:01,100 --> 00:25:05,019
Wolsey, for all his cleverness
and confidence, was unable

330
00:25:05,020 --> 00:25:09,419
to persuade the Pope to disavow
his predecessor's dispensation.

331
00:25:09,740 --> 00:25:13,179
This failure cost him his job
as the King's minister,

332
00:25:13,180 --> 00:25:16,339
and it would have cost him his head,
if he'd lived longer.

333
00:25:16,340 --> 00:25:20,339
Wolsey died cursing Anne
for causing his downfall,

334
00:25:20,380 --> 00:25:24,379
and predicting the ruin
of the Church of England.

335
00:25:27,820 --> 00:25:32,819
So, blocked in Rome, Anne Boleyn,
who was a Lutheran sympathiser,

336
00:25:33,180 --> 00:25:37,179
encouraged Henry to turn
to Rome's English opponents,

337
00:25:37,340 --> 00:25:41,099
who were concentrated in Cambridge.

338
00:25:41,100 --> 00:25:45,099
It's not what you know
but who you know, we're told.

339
00:25:45,780 --> 00:25:49,459
In the case of Thomas Cranmer
it was both.

340
00:25:49,460 --> 00:25:54,459
When the divorce crisis began,
Cranmer was an obscure theology don

341
00:25:54,700 --> 00:25:58,699
at Cambridge where, along with
his colleagues in the faculty,

342
00:25:58,820 --> 00:26:03,819
he probably preached from this very
pulpit here in St Edward's Church.

343
00:26:04,180 --> 00:26:08,879
But, in the summer of 1529,
a chance meeting with two Cambridge

344
00:26:09,180 --> 00:26:14,179
acquaintances brought Cranmer
to the notice of Henry and Anne.

345
00:26:14,860 --> 00:26:21,859
The consequences transformed
Cranmer, his world and ours.

346
00:26:22,620 --> 00:26:26,219
For Henry, Cranmer said,
had been going about the divorce

347
00:26:26,220 --> 00:26:27,859
in the wrong way.

348
00:26:27,860 --> 00:26:30,779
He'd been treating it
as a legal matter.

349
00:26:30,780 --> 00:26:33,299
But it wasn't - it was moral.

350
00:26:33,300 --> 00:26:39,299
And in morals, the Bible supplied
absolute answers of what was right

351
00:26:39,420 --> 00:26:40,979
and what was wrong.

352
00:26:40,980 --> 00:26:43,739
And there were experts
who knew which was which.

353
00:26:43,740 --> 00:26:47,739
They were university theologians,
like Cranmer himself.

354
00:26:48,260 --> 00:26:51,139
Only therefore,
let Henry consult the universities

355
00:26:51,140 --> 00:26:55,539
and he would have a clear,
unambiguous verdict in favour

356
00:26:55,780 --> 00:27:00,779
of the divorce which even Rome and
the Pope would have to recognise.

357
00:27:02,940 --> 00:27:06,939
The argument was music
to Henry's ears, and the canvass

358
00:27:07,100 --> 00:27:11,099
of university opinion began,
starting in Cambridge itself.

359
00:27:12,420 --> 00:27:16,919
This courtyard was the centre of the
medieval University of Cambridge.

360
00:27:17,420 --> 00:27:21,419
Up there, on the first floor,
is the room where the Regent House,

361
00:27:21,820 --> 00:27:23,979
then the governing body
of the University,

362
00:27:23,980 --> 00:27:27,259
debated its verdict
on Henry's divorce.

363
00:27:27,260 --> 00:27:31,959
Cranmer had thought that it would be
high-minded and straight forward.

364
00:27:32,220 --> 00:27:36,219
In fact, both sides played dirty
and used every device

365
00:27:36,540 --> 00:27:39,179
of the academic politician -
rigged committees,

366
00:27:39,180 --> 00:27:41,099
selective terms of reference,

367
00:27:41,100 --> 00:27:44,619
and straightforward bullying
and bribing.

368
00:27:44,620 --> 00:27:48,919
But after two days toing and
froing, the university delivered

369
00:27:49,380 --> 00:27:51,579
the verdict that Henry wanted.

370
00:27:51,580 --> 00:27:55,979
Cambridge would be on the side
of the winners in Tudor England.

371
00:28:00,060 --> 00:28:03,819
And now, Henry's envoys set out
for the continent

372
00:28:03,820 --> 00:28:06,379
to pit the arguments
of the king of England

373
00:28:06,380 --> 00:28:08,899
against the authority of the Pope.

374
00:28:08,900 --> 00:28:12,579
In universities across Europe
they bribed, cajoled

375
00:28:12,580 --> 00:28:16,579
and threatened theologians
to give a verdict in Henry's favour.

376
00:28:19,340 --> 00:28:23,539
Over the next few years,
the whole power of the Tudor state

377
00:28:24,060 --> 00:28:26,939
was to be thrown
against Rome and Catherine.

378
00:28:26,940 --> 00:28:29,779
But Catherine wasn't
without her defendants.

379
00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:33,419
One of the boldest was her chaplain,
Thomas Abell,

380
00:28:33,420 --> 00:28:38,419
who combined the very different
roles of scholar and man of action.

381
00:28:38,580 --> 00:28:43,579
In the winter of 1528,
Henry sent Abell on a mission

382
00:28:43,860 --> 00:28:47,739
to Catherine's nephew,
the Emperor Charles V, in Spain,

383
00:28:47,740 --> 00:28:51,939
where Abell played the desperately
dangerous game of double agent.

384
00:28:52,660 --> 00:28:55,019
Outwardly, he was working for Henry.

385
00:28:55,020 --> 00:28:58,899
Secretly, he was undermining
the king's whole strategy

386
00:28:58,900 --> 00:29:01,099
on Catherine's behalf.

387
00:29:01,100 --> 00:29:05,099
Mission accomplished, Abell returned
to England where he quickly emerged

388
00:29:05,740 --> 00:29:10,739
as Catherine's most effective and
outspoken scholarly propagandist,

389
00:29:11,660 --> 00:29:14,459
as this book shows.

390
00:29:14,460 --> 00:29:20,459
Abell called it, with magnificent
defiance, Invicta Veritas -

391
00:29:21,460 --> 00:29:24,899
Truth Unconquered And Unconquerable.

392
00:29:24,900 --> 00:29:28,179
In it he attacked the
verdict of the universities

393
00:29:28,180 --> 00:29:32,579
which provided the whole
intellectual basis of Henry's case.

394
00:29:32,780 --> 00:29:36,779
The attack went home
as the King's infuriated scribbles

395
00:29:36,940 --> 00:29:39,419
throughout the book show.

396
00:29:40,020 --> 00:29:44,419
Here, Henry's irritation
actually overcomes his scholarship

397
00:29:44,820 --> 00:29:48,179
and he scribbles in the margin
in mere English,

398
00:29:48,180 --> 00:29:50,699
"It is false."

399
00:29:50,700 --> 00:29:52,579
But by the time he'd finished,

400
00:29:52,580 --> 00:29:55,699
Henry's composure
had recovered sufficiently

401
00:29:55,700 --> 00:29:58,779
for him to deliver his damning
verdict on the book

402
00:29:58,780 --> 00:30:02,779
in portentous Latin,
here on the title page.

403
00:30:03,740 --> 00:30:07,739
"The whole basis
of this book is false.

404
00:30:08,300 --> 00:30:14,299
"Therefore the papal authority
is empty save in its own seat."

405
00:30:14,860 --> 00:30:20,859
Not even that magisterial royal
rebuke was enough to shut Abell up.

406
00:30:21,140 --> 00:30:24,459
Instead, it took
the full weight of the law.

407
00:30:24,460 --> 00:30:26,819
He was twice imprisoned in the Tower

408
00:30:26,820 --> 00:30:30,819
where he carved his name and bell
symbol on the wall of his cell,

409
00:30:31,060 --> 00:30:35,059
and eventually executed
as a traitor in 1540.

410
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,299
But even Abell's courage
proved fruitless.

411
00:30:41,300 --> 00:30:45,799
As learned opinion swung in his
direction, Henry became bolder.

412
00:30:46,060 --> 00:30:49,859
He now asserted that,
by virtue of his God-given office,

413
00:30:49,860 --> 00:30:53,339
the king of England was an
"Emperor".

414
00:30:53,340 --> 00:30:57,179
As such, he was subject
to no authority on earth,

415
00:30:57,180 --> 00:31:00,019
especially that of the Pope.

416
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:05,019
Once Henry had been the stoutest
defender of papal authority

417
00:31:05,220 --> 00:31:08,739
but that had changed
with the problem of his divorce.

418
00:31:08,740 --> 00:31:12,739
Now, the achievement of his
most fervent hopes for Anne

419
00:31:12,780 --> 00:31:15,219
and for an heir depended on the idea

420
00:31:15,220 --> 00:31:20,219
that religious truth was to be
found not in Rome but in the Bible.

421
00:31:21,020 --> 00:31:24,699
Rome instead was the obstacle
that had delayed his divorce

422
00:31:24,700 --> 00:31:26,939
for five long years.

423
00:31:26,940 --> 00:31:31,939
It was the enemy
that stood between him and Anne.

424
00:31:32,140 --> 00:31:34,379
But what of the Pope?

425
00:31:34,380 --> 00:31:36,899
Here again, the Bible spoke.

426
00:31:36,900 --> 00:31:41,899
For there were no popes in
scripture, but there were kings.

427
00:31:42,020 --> 00:31:45,659
And it was kings, Cranmer and
his radical colleagues argued,

428
00:31:45,660 --> 00:31:50,659
who were God's anointed, ordained
by Him to rule His church on Earth.

429
00:31:51,540 --> 00:31:55,539
The idea appealed
to Henry's thirst for glory.

430
00:31:55,540 --> 00:31:59,539
It offered a means to cut
the Gordian knot of the divorce

431
00:31:59,780 --> 00:32:04,779
and it even promised to make Henry,
not the Pope, heir to the power

432
00:32:05,380 --> 00:32:09,379
and status
of the ancient Roman emperors.

433
00:32:19,540 --> 00:32:22,459
It was intoxicating.

434
00:32:22,460 --> 00:32:26,099
Henry now stood
on the threshold of a decision

435
00:32:26,100 --> 00:32:32,099
that would transform the monarchy
and England utterly, and forever.

436
00:32:41,900 --> 00:32:46,899
On 19th January 1531,
Convocation, the parliament of

437
00:32:46,900 --> 00:32:51,899
the English Church, met here in the
Chapter House at Westminster Abbey.

438
00:32:52,180 --> 00:32:58,179
They faced an unprecedented demand -
to acknowledge that the King was

439
00:32:58,460 --> 00:33:02,459
the only protector and supreme
head of the English Church.

440
00:33:03,100 --> 00:33:07,099
Over the next two weeks
they fought that demand

441
00:33:07,100 --> 00:33:11,419
word by word and letter by letter.

442
00:33:11,820 --> 00:33:15,419
Finally, the Archbishop of
Canterbury proposed Henry

443
00:33:15,460 --> 00:33:20,459
should be accepted as Supreme Head
in Earth of the Church of England,

444
00:33:20,780 --> 00:33:23,779
as far as the law of Christ allows.

445
00:33:23,780 --> 00:33:26,739
His announcement was
greeted with a stunned silence,

446
00:33:26,740 --> 00:33:30,739
which the Archbishop
ingeniously took to mean consent.

447
00:33:31,300 --> 00:33:35,299
The weasel words, "as far as the
law of Christ allows", meant what

448
00:33:35,580 --> 00:33:40,579
anybody wanted them to mean and
the next year they were dropped.

449
00:33:40,740 --> 00:33:45,739
Henry was now Supreme Head
without qualification.

450
00:33:46,180 --> 00:33:50,179
He'd also, by his actions,
broken Magna Carta

451
00:33:50,220 --> 00:33:54,459
and the first clause of his own
coronation oath,

452
00:33:54,460 --> 00:33:58,459
by which he'd sworn that the Church
in England should be free.

453
00:33:59,860 --> 00:34:02,859
And he'd become a bigamist as well.

454
00:34:03,100 --> 00:34:08,099
In October 1532, Anne finally
gave in and slept with Henry.

455
00:34:08,540 --> 00:34:10,499
By Christmas she was pregnant.

456
00:34:10,500 --> 00:34:15,499
In January 1533, in strictest
secrecy, Henry married Anne,

457
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:20,139
despite the fact that Catherine
was still legally his wife.

458
00:34:21,940 --> 00:34:24,059
The next month Cranmer was made

459
00:34:24,060 --> 00:34:27,859
Archbishop of Canterbury, with the
mission to implement

460
00:34:27,860 --> 00:34:31,499
Henry's royal supremacy over the
Church of England.

461
00:34:31,500 --> 00:34:36,499
Cranmer's first and most momentous
step came a few weeks later when

462
00:34:37,420 --> 00:34:41,419
he declared Henry's marriage to
Catherine unlawful,

463
00:34:41,420 --> 00:34:45,019
and Anne instead to be his true
wife.

464
00:34:48,580 --> 00:34:52,579
After seven years Henry had
the woman and Queen he wanted.

465
00:34:52,980 --> 00:34:54,779
The London crowds grumbled.

466
00:34:54,780 --> 00:34:58,779
Charles V was furious and the
Pope excommunicated the King.

467
00:34:59,140 --> 00:35:03,139
But Henry and Anne defied them all.

468
00:35:09,460 --> 00:35:13,459
Henry's second marriage and the
royal supremacy,

469
00:35:13,660 --> 00:35:17,659
its intellectual foundation, were
profoundly divisive.

470
00:35:18,180 --> 00:35:20,459
Some opposed them viscerally

471
00:35:20,460 --> 00:35:24,419
because they hated Anne
or loved the old church.

472
00:35:24,420 --> 00:35:26,699
Others were more nuanced.

473
00:35:26,700 --> 00:35:30,699
And subtlest of all, as befits
the man who'd warned Henry about

474
00:35:31,140 --> 00:35:35,139
exaggerating the Pope's powers
when the King wrote the Assertio,

475
00:35:35,580 --> 00:35:39,979
was Henry's old friend and
counsellor Sir Thomas More.

476
00:35:40,380 --> 00:35:46,379
But opponents were whipped into line
by laws which required them to swear

477
00:35:46,660 --> 00:35:50,959
a double oath - to accept the
King's second marriage

478
00:35:51,820 --> 00:35:54,179
and to reject the papal supremacy.

479
00:35:54,180 --> 00:35:58,179
To refuse the oath
was treason and death.

480
00:36:00,220 --> 00:36:02,979
More refused the oath and was
imprisoned,

481
00:36:02,980 --> 00:36:06,339
in steadily worsening conditions, in
this cell

482
00:36:06,340 --> 00:36:08,379
inthe Tower for over a year.

483
00:36:08,380 --> 00:36:12,979
But, when on 1st July 1535
he was removed from here for

484
00:36:13,340 --> 00:36:17,939
his trial at Westminster Hall, it
looked as though he might escape.

485
00:36:18,220 --> 00:36:21,259
More now did what hitherto

486
00:36:21,260 --> 00:36:25,259
he'd steadfastly refused to
do and spoke his mind.

487
00:36:25,620 --> 00:36:29,619
He said he couldn't be guilty,
because the English Parliament

488
00:36:30,020 --> 00:36:33,579
couldn't make Henry VIII
Supreme Head of the Church.

489
00:36:33,580 --> 00:36:37,179
For the common consent
of Christendom, of which

490
00:36:37,180 --> 00:36:41,179
England was only a tiny part,
gave that title to the Pope

491
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,659
and had done for over 1,000 years.

492
00:36:44,660 --> 00:36:46,259
Consternation in Court.

493
00:36:46,260 --> 00:36:50,759
But the Lord Chief Justice recovered
the situation with a characteristic

494
00:36:51,180 --> 00:36:53,579
piece of English legal positivism.

495
00:36:53,580 --> 00:36:58,579
English law was what the English
parliament said it was, he asserted.

496
00:36:58,820 --> 00:37:03,819
More was condemned and
beheaded on 6th July.

497
00:37:08,700 --> 00:37:12,019
Working with parliament rather than
against it

498
00:37:12,020 --> 00:37:14,699
Henry had hugely outdone his father.

499
00:37:14,700 --> 00:37:18,219
He'd invested the so-called Imperial
Crown

500
00:37:18,220 --> 00:37:22,219
with a truly Imperial
authority over church and state.

501
00:37:22,660 --> 00:37:26,659
He'd even get his hands on more
land and money than the miserly

502
00:37:26,820 --> 00:37:28,899
Henry VII could have dreamt of.

503
00:37:28,900 --> 00:37:32,899
He got it by plundering
the wealth of the church.

504
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:39,179
There were about 500
monasteries scattered over England.

505
00:37:39,180 --> 00:37:42,019
Some were desperately poor.

506
00:37:42,020 --> 00:37:44,299
But many were rich and well run,

507
00:37:44,300 --> 00:37:47,579
andmaintained a 1,000-year-old
tradition

508
00:37:47,580 --> 00:37:50,019
of prayer, work and learning.

509
00:37:50,020 --> 00:37:53,419
But a change of intellectual fashion
away from monasticism

510
00:37:53,980 --> 00:37:55,899
made them vulnerable,

511
00:37:55,900 --> 00:38:00,199
and their collective wealth made
them tempting.

512
00:38:03,020 --> 00:38:08,019
So, in 1536 the process of
dissolving the monasteries began.

513
00:38:08,220 --> 00:38:11,179
At first the objective
was presented as reform.

514
00:38:11,380 --> 00:38:14,459
But it soon turned
to outright abolition.

515
00:38:14,460 --> 00:38:17,419
By 1540 the last abbey had gone.

516
00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:21,419
The monks were pensioned off
and their land, buildings

517
00:38:21,700 --> 00:38:24,259
and treasures confiscated.

518
00:38:24,260 --> 00:38:26,259
A few were retained
as Parish churches

519
00:38:26,260 --> 00:38:27,939
or cathedrals, but most were not.

520
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:32,939
They were stripped of the lead on
their roofs, the gold and jewels

521
00:38:33,220 --> 00:38:35,859
on their shrines, and left to rot.

522
00:38:35,860 --> 00:38:39,859
It was desecration and
sacrilege on the grandest scale.

523
00:38:43,620 --> 00:38:47,619
It provoked shock,
outrage and open revolt.

524
00:38:47,780 --> 00:38:53,779
The result was that, in the autumn
of 1536, Henry faced the worst

525
00:38:54,060 --> 00:38:59,059
crisis of his reign - the rebellion
known as "The Pilgrimage of Grace".

526
00:39:02,940 --> 00:39:05,659
The first uprising was
in Lincolnshire and spread

527
00:39:05,660 --> 00:39:07,699
quickly across the North of England.

528
00:39:07,700 --> 00:39:10,899
Under their banner of the Five
Wounds of Christ,

529
00:39:10,900 --> 00:39:14,859
noblemen and peasants joined
together, demanding

530
00:39:14,860 --> 00:39:18,959
the restoration of the monasteries
and the return of the old religion.

531
00:39:25,180 --> 00:39:28,459
Some monks and priests
played a leading part in

532
00:39:28,460 --> 00:39:32,459
the revolt - preaching incendiary
sermons and even wearing armour.

533
00:39:33,020 --> 00:39:37,519
Adam Sedbar, Abbot at Jervaulx
Abbey here, wasn't one of them.

534
00:39:37,820 --> 00:39:40,379
Instead, when the
rebel hoards turned up

535
00:39:40,380 --> 00:39:44,379
at the gates of his monastery, he
fled to the surrounding moor land.

536
00:39:44,700 --> 00:39:48,699
But the threat to burn down his
monastery forced him to return,

537
00:39:50,420 --> 00:39:53,419
however reluctantly,
and join the revolt.

538
00:39:53,420 --> 00:39:56,179
Secure in their control of the
north,

539
00:39:56,180 --> 00:39:59,859
the well disciplined
rebel army marched south.

540
00:39:59,860 --> 00:40:03,859
By the time they reached Doncaster
only the King's much smaller forces

541
00:40:04,500 --> 00:40:08,499
stood between them and London
and, perhaps, Henry's throne.

542
00:40:08,660 --> 00:40:12,179
This area is known as Scawsby Leys.

543
00:40:12,180 --> 00:40:18,179
This tract in a field was once
the line of the Great North Road,

544
00:40:18,700 --> 00:40:22,999
where it crosses the broad plain on
the northern bank of the river Don.

545
00:40:23,780 --> 00:40:29,779
It was all around here, at dawn
on the morning of 26th October,

546
00:40:29,900 --> 00:40:33,899
that the rebels called a general
muster of their troops.

547
00:40:36,020 --> 00:40:38,499
All the
flower of the north was there.

548
00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:42,999
When the final count was taken they
numbered 30,000 men

549
00:40:43,300 --> 00:40:47,299
with another
12,000 in reserve at Pontefract.

550
00:40:47,500 --> 00:40:50,419
It was the largest army that England

551
00:40:51,020 --> 00:40:55,019
had seen since the Wars of the
Roses, and it wasn't the King's.

552
00:40:56,620 --> 00:41:01,919
But, even though the rebels faced
only 8,000 of Henry's forces,

553
00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:04,539
they chose to negotiate.

554
00:41:04,540 --> 00:41:08,379
They persuaded themselves that the
attack on the church was the work,

555
00:41:08,380 --> 00:41:12,379
not of the King, but of his
wicked advisors like Cranmer.

556
00:41:12,620 --> 00:41:16,619
They were also double-crossed
by the King's representative.

557
00:41:16,780 --> 00:41:20,779
He promised them pardon
and, believing him,

558
00:41:20,980 --> 00:41:25,459
the huge rebel army disbursed.

559
00:41:26,460 --> 00:41:30,459
But, a few months later, a new minor
revolt in the north gave Henry

560
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:35,979
the excuse he wanted to break his
promises and exact revenge.

561
00:41:36,420 --> 00:41:38,939
The leaders of the
revolt were arrested

562
00:41:38,940 --> 00:41:40,859
and sent to London for trial.

563
00:41:40,860 --> 00:41:44,859
Henry was especially severe
on clerics who'd been involved,

564
00:41:45,220 --> 00:41:48,539
even when, like Abbot Sedbar of
Jervaulx,

565
00:41:48,540 --> 00:41:52,259
they'd been
coerced into joining the revolt.

566
00:41:52,260 --> 00:41:56,259
Sedbar was arrested with the
rest and sent to the tower.

567
00:41:59,060 --> 00:42:04,059
Then he was tried, condemned
and saw Jervaulx confiscated.

568
00:42:04,460 --> 00:42:08,339
The aristocratic leaders
of the revolt were beheaded.

569
00:42:08,340 --> 00:42:13,339
The rest, including Sedbar himself,
suffered the full horrors

570
00:42:13,500 --> 00:42:16,539
of hanging, drawing and quartering.

571
00:42:16,540 --> 00:42:21,539
Henry's supreme headship of the
church, which had begun in the name

572
00:42:21,740 --> 00:42:25,739
of freeing England from the papal
yoke,

573
00:42:26,140 --> 00:42:31,139
was turning into a new royal
tyranny, to be enforced in blood.

574
00:42:37,980 --> 00:42:40,699
And no-one was exempt.

575
00:42:40,700 --> 00:42:45,699
In May 1536, after only three years
of marriage, Anne was executed

576
00:42:46,340 --> 00:42:50,939
on trumped up charges of adultery,
incest and sexual perversion.

577
00:42:51,220 --> 00:42:53,979
But her real crimes
were less exotic.

578
00:42:53,980 --> 00:42:57,979
She'd failed to adjust from the
dominant role of mistress

579
00:42:58,100 --> 00:42:59,619
to the submissive one of wife.

580
00:42:59,620 --> 00:43:02,619
And, above all, like Catherine
before her,

581
00:43:02,620 --> 00:43:06,619
she'dfailed to give Henry a son.

582
00:43:09,940 --> 00:43:14,439
Within 24 hours of Anne's
execution Henry was betrothed again.

583
00:43:14,820 --> 00:43:19,819
On 30th May he married his
third wife - Jane Seymour.

584
00:43:21,020 --> 00:43:22,659
Demure and submissive,

585
00:43:22,660 --> 00:43:26,659
conservative in religion, Jane
was everything that Anne was not.

586
00:43:27,260 --> 00:43:31,859
And in October 1537 she did
what Anne and Catherine had

587
00:43:32,220 --> 00:43:37,219
both failed to do - gave birth
to a healthy son and heir, Edward.

588
00:43:38,100 --> 00:43:40,859
Jane died a few days later.

589
00:43:40,860 --> 00:43:45,859
But the boy lived and
became Henry's pride and joy.

590
00:43:47,420 --> 00:43:50,499
All of the problems which
had led to the break

591
00:43:50,500 --> 00:43:54,339
with Rome, the King's first two
disputed marriages,

592
00:43:54,340 --> 00:43:57,299
his lack
of a male heir, were now solved.

593
00:43:57,300 --> 00:44:01,299
With the occasions of the dispute
out of the way, why didn't

594
00:44:01,820 --> 00:44:04,939
the naturally conservative Henry
return

595
00:44:04,940 --> 00:44:07,339
to the bosom of the Roman Church?

596
00:44:08,340 --> 00:44:11,839
The answer lies in
this painting here.

597
00:44:12,540 --> 00:44:16,299
The original, of which
it's a copy, was sited

598
00:44:16,500 --> 00:44:21,499
in the King's private apartments
and takes us into his very mind.

599
00:44:22,220 --> 00:44:27,219
The date, 1537, is the year
of Prince Edward's birth.

600
00:44:27,820 --> 00:44:31,779
In the foreground is the
proud father Henry VIII,

601
00:44:31,780 --> 00:44:35,699
together with the recently
deceased mother Jane Seymour.

602
00:44:35,700 --> 00:44:40,699
Behind are Henry's own parents -
Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

603
00:44:41,340 --> 00:44:45,339
While, in the middle, there are
inscribed Latin verses

604
00:44:45,580 --> 00:44:48,979
which
explain the meaning of the painting.

605
00:44:48,980 --> 00:44:53,979
"Which is the greater?", the
verses ask, "the father or the son".

606
00:44:54,580 --> 00:44:57,419
"Henry VII was great", they
reply,

607
00:44:57,420 --> 00:45:01,179
"for he brought to an end the Wars
of the Roses."

608
00:45:01,180 --> 00:45:05,179
But Henry VIII was
greater, indeed the greatest.

609
00:45:05,460 --> 00:45:10,459
For while he was King true religion
was restored and the power of Popes

610
00:45:10,980 --> 00:45:15,979
trodden under foot. This then is
why Henry refused to return to Rome.

611
00:45:17,620 --> 00:45:21,919
The supremacy may have begun as a
mere convenient device to facilitate

612
00:45:22,500 --> 00:45:24,539
his marriage to Anne Boleyn.

613
00:45:24,540 --> 00:45:28,539
But it had quickly taken on a life
of its own as Henry had persuaded

614
00:45:29,020 --> 00:45:31,659
himself that it was his birthright.

615
00:45:31,660 --> 00:45:36,659
His raison d'etre and above all
his passport to fame, not only

616
00:45:36,980 --> 00:45:41,979
vis-a-vis his father, but in
the eyes of posterity as well.

617
00:45:42,900 --> 00:45:46,859
Henry had got what he wanted.

618
00:45:46,860 --> 00:45:50,019
But to do so he'd had to
use ideas like Luther's

619
00:45:50,020 --> 00:45:53,659
biblically based approach to
religion, which he detested.

620
00:45:53,660 --> 00:45:56,179
The symbol of these compromises

621
00:45:56,380 --> 00:46:00,079
was the new English translation of
the Bible.

622
00:46:00,180 --> 00:46:04,979
The title page shows how literally
Henry took his new grand title

623
00:46:05,380 --> 00:46:09,379
of "Supreme Head in Earth
of the Church of England".

624
00:46:09,580 --> 00:46:13,579
At the top of the page, of course,
appears Christ as God the Son.

625
00:46:14,060 --> 00:46:16,419
But he's very small.

626
00:46:16,420 --> 00:46:20,259
Instead, the composition
is dominated by the huge

627
00:46:20,260 --> 00:46:23,139
fleshly presence of Henry the VIII.

628
00:46:23,140 --> 00:46:28,139
As King come Supreme Head, he
sits enthroned in the centre

629
00:46:28,780 --> 00:46:33,779
with on the left, the bishops
representing the clergy and church,

630
00:46:34,180 --> 00:46:37,859
and on the right, the privy
council representing

631
00:46:37,860 --> 00:46:39,619
the laity and the state.

632
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:45,619
Below there are the people,
who all join together

633
00:46:46,020 --> 00:46:49,179
in the grateful, obedient cry of

634
00:46:49,180 --> 00:46:53,179
"Vivat, vivat Rex" - "Long live the
King",

635
00:46:53,260 --> 00:46:55,779
God Save the King.

636
00:46:55,780 --> 00:46:59,419
The title page of the
great Bible represents,

637
00:46:59,420 --> 00:47:03,419
in microcosm, the extraordinary
achievement of Henry's reign.

638
00:47:03,580 --> 00:47:07,579
He'd broken the power of the Pope,
dissolved the monasteries,

639
00:47:07,620 --> 00:47:11,539
defeated rebellion, beheaded
traitors

640
00:47:11,540 --> 00:47:15,339
and made himself supreme over Church
and state.

641
00:47:15,340 --> 00:47:19,339
All the powers and all
the passions of a ferocious

642
00:47:19,500 --> 00:47:24,899
nationalism were contained in
his person and at his command.

643
00:47:25,260 --> 00:47:29,259
But the royal supremacy
also contained the seeds

644
00:47:29,620 --> 00:47:32,019
of its own destruction.

645
00:47:32,020 --> 00:47:36,019
For, in employing the new
biblically based theology,

646
00:47:36,340 --> 00:47:40,939
Henry had allowed into England those
very subversive religious ideas

647
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:44,459
he'd once tried so hard to suppress.

648
00:47:44,460 --> 00:47:48,459
The genie of Protestantism
was out of the bottle.

649
00:47:48,540 --> 00:47:50,539
And it was Protestantism,

650
00:47:50,740 --> 00:47:54,739
which only 100 years later, would
first challenge the powers

651
00:47:55,060 --> 00:47:56,699
of the monarchy,

652
00:47:56,900 --> 00:48:00,899
and finally dethrone and behead a
King of England.

653
00:48:01,700 --> 00:48:05,699
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