Submission of the Clergy
On the 16th of May 1532, representatives of the English clergy signed a document that surrendered one of the Church's most ancient powers: the right to make its own laws. The Submission of the Clergy, as it became known, stripped the Convocation of Canterbury of its authority to formulate church canons without the King's personal licence and assent. It was a transfer of power that had never happened before in England. What drove the clergy to sign? How had a proud institution that answered to Rome been brought to this point in a matter of weeks? And who, if anyone, actually resisted?
The Convocation of Canterbury had barely reconvened when, on the 10th of May 1532, Edward Foxe, the Bishop of Hereford, walked into the chamber and placed before the assembly a schedule of three articles sent directly by King Henry VIII. The demands were precise and sweeping. The Church of England was to renounce its authority to make church law without royal licence. All existing canons were to be submitted to a review committee, half drawn from Parliament and half from the clergy, with eight members from each house of Parliament. That committee would have the power to declare void any canon it found offensive. Whatever survived review would remain only with the King's explicit consent.
Archbishop William Warham of Canterbury, faced with this ultimatum, moved immediately to adjourn the session. He led the prelates away from the main chamber and into the remote chapel of St. Catherine, part of the infirmary of Westminster Abbey, where the articles were read again. He then prorogued the formal session for three days and gathered the bishops privately at St. Dunstan's chapel to work out a response. John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, was absent that day. A delegation was dispatched to Rochester to seek his opinion, and given his previous views, Fisher almost certainly counselled firm resistance to the King's demands.
Warham and the Convocation eventually proposed a compromise: the Church would not make new canons without the King's consent, and all previous canons would go to the King himself for review rather than to any committee. Crucially, they added a limit: their legislative power would be surrendered only for the duration of the King's natural life.
Henry VIII did not wait for the Convocation to deliberate. On the 11th of May he appeared before Parliament with his councillors and delivered a speech that the chronicler Edward Hall recorded in full. The King told Parliament that he had thought the clergy were wholly his subjects, but he had come to see that they were only half his subjects, or scarcely subjects at all. His charge was specific: every prelate, at their consecration, swore an oath to the Pope that ran directly contrary to the oath they swore to the King. He handed copies of both oaths to Parliament and demanded that some remedy be found.
When the Convocation met again, the King's response to their compromise was blunt: Warham was told to end the session. On the 15th of May, the final meeting of the Convocation took place. Warham informed the assembly of the King's decision and prorogued them until the 4th of November. Before the bishops could leave, five of the King's most prominent councillors arrived to press for complete, unamended acceptance: the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquess of Exeter, the Earl of Oxford, the Earl of Wiltshire, and William Sandys.
The confrontation lasted about an hour. When the nobles left, the inferior clergy voted on the three articles. Eighteen voted against renouncing legislative authority, and nineteen voted against the canons committee and against the third article. Warham, fearing the councillors might return, advised the inferior clergy to leave. The Duke of Norfolk did return a few hours later with a small group, but departed after speaking with Warham.
The Upper House of the Convocation voted on the three articles separately. John Longland, the Bishop of Lincoln, Henry Standish, the Bishop of St. Asaph, and John Stokesley, the Bishop of London spoke in favour, though with stated reservations. John Clerk, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, was strongly opposed. A majority of the Upper House voted in favour, and the Convocation was prorogued.
The historian Michael Kelly later noted the thin attendance that characterised the decisive vote. Kelly's assessment was pointed: the Submission was enacted by what he called a "rump Convocation". The submission that reshaped the relationship between the English Church and the Crown was ratified by a body that was far from fully assembled, pressed into acceptance by a combination of royal pressure and the departure of resisters.
Two years after the signing, Parliament gave the Submission the force of statute. In 1534 it was confirmed by the Act for the Submission of the Clergy and Restraint of Appeals, numbered 25 Hen. 8 c. 19. The historian Stanford Lehmberg has argued that the impetus for parliamentary legislation may have originated in a proposal from the Commons rather than from Thomas Cromwell, which would make this a case where Parliament itself drove the formalisation.
The parliamentary procedure produced a notable ceremony: a conference between the King and Parliament in which the Speaker addressed the King directly. The act sat on the statute book without an expiry clause, yet in 1536 Parliament was asked to re-enact the Submission a second time. The reasoning behind that request is not recorded, leaving historians with a gap the sources cannot fill. Alongside the other acts that Parliament passed during those years, the Submission contributed to a broader separation of the English Church from Rome.
Common questions
What was the Submission of the Clergy and when did it happen?
The Submission of the Clergy was the process by which the Catholic Church in England gave up its authority to make church laws without the King's licence and assent. It was first passed by the Convocation of Canterbury on the 16th of May 1532 and then confirmed by Parliament in 1534.
What were the three articles Henry VIII sent to the Convocation in 1532?
Henry VIII's three articles required the Church of England to renounce its power to make canons without royal licence, to submit all existing canons to a joint clergy-Parliament review committee, and to retain only those canons approved by the King. Edward Foxe, the Bishop of Hereford, presented them to the Convocation on the 10th of May 1532.
Who opposed the Submission of the Clergy?
John Clerk, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, was strongly opposed in the Upper House of the Convocation. John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, was absent but was consulted by delegation and almost certainly counselled firm resistance. Among the inferior clergy, eighteen voted against renouncing legislative authority.
What did Henry VIII say about the clergy's oaths to the Pope?
In a speech on the 11th of May 1532, recorded by the chronicler Edward Hall, Henry VIII declared that every prelate at their consecration swore an oath to the Pope that was directly contrary to the oath they swore to the King. He handed copies of both oaths to Parliament and demanded a remedy.
How did Parliament confirm the Submission of the Clergy?
Parliament confirmed the Submission in 1534 through the Act for the Submission of the Clergy and Restraint of Appeals (25 Hen. 8 c. 19). Stanford Lehmberg has argued the push for parliamentary legislation may have come from the Commons rather than from Thomas Cromwell.
Why was the Submission of the Clergy re-enacted by Parliament in 1536?
Parliament was asked to re-enact the Submission of the Clergy in 1536, but the reasoning behind that decision is not known. The 1534 act did not include an expiration date, making the second re-enactment historically unexplained.