Chapter X
Reading edition
THE KING AND HIS PARLIAMENT.
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · In the closing days of July, 1529, a courier came posting from Rome with despatches announcing the alliance of Clement and Charles, and the Note 2 · To summon a Parliament at such a conjuncture seemed to be courting certain ruin. In reality, it was the first and most striking instance of Note 3 · It was thus with some confidence that Henry appealed from the Pope to his people. He could do so all the more surely, if, as is alleged, theNote 4 · But these nominations were not royal, and there is no reason to suppose that the nominees were any more likely to be subservient to the CrowNote 5 · The creation of boroughs was also unnecessary. Parliaments packed themselves quite well enough to suit Henry's purpose, without any interferNote 6 · For the time being, in fact, the interests of the King and of the lay middle classes coincided, both in secular and ecclesiastical affairs. Note 7 · But, while Parliament was neither packed nor terrorised to any great extent, the harmony which prevailed between it and the King has naturalNote 8 · The general harmony between King and Parliament was based on a fundamental similarity of interests; the harmony in detail was worked out, noNote 9 · The fact that the legislation of Henry's reign was initiated almost entirely by Government is not, however, a conclusive proof of the servilNote 10 · Henry's greatest advantage lay, however, in a circumstance which constitutes the chief real difference between the Parliaments of the sixteeNote 11 · This anti-ecclesiastical bias on the part of the laity was the dominant factor in the Reformation under Henry VIII. But the word in its modeNote 12 · The revolution was inevitably effected through the action of the State rather than that of the Church. The Church, which, like religion itseNote 13 · Hence, too, the agency employed was Parliament and not Convocation.[745] The representatives of the clergy met of course as frequently as thNote 14 · These infinite clamours and grudging were not the result of the conscientious rejection of any Catholic or papal doctrine. Englishmen are siNote 15 · In this, as in other respects, the King and his Parliament were in the fullest agreement. Henry had already given proof of his anti-clericalNote 16 · But, however Lutheran Anne Boleyn may have been, Henry was still true to the orthodox faith. If he dallied with German princes, and held outNote 17 · All these phenomena, the Reformation in Germany, heresy at home, and the anti-sacerdotal prejudices of his subjects, were regarded by Henry