Category Social Sciences

Sir Thomas More was an advisor to King Henry VIII. He disapproved of the king divorcing his first wife Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn, without the approval of the Pope. Moore was a devout Catholic, and believed deeply in the supremacy of the Pope. In 1532, when he saw that King Henry was determined to marry Anne Boleyn and that divorce was in the air, he claimed ill health and retired, rather than stay in the king’s cabinet.

Things became worse when the king invited him to his marriage with Boleyn, and More declined to attend. He was summoned to the court to answer an obscure charge of accepting a bribe, which was later dropped. Henry then passed a law which declared him supreme ruler of the world, baring none, including the Pope. All citizens were to take an oath recognizing this, but More refused.

Henry VIII threw him into the Tower of London, where for a whole year, he was locked up. His wife and children visited him and begged him to take the oath, but More refused on principle. He was tried for treason, found guilty, and beheaded. 

            Henry VII’s son, Henry VIII demanded enormous sums of money from parliament to renew the wars with France. The House of Commons refused, and finally, after much debate, Henry got only half of what he asked for. This proved that the Commons was still in control of taxation, even during the reign of a powerful monarch. Henry also had to work closely with parliament, in order to lead England away from the Catholic Church which had refused to grant him a divorce from his wife Catherine.

 Henry VII became King of England in 1485. One of the main goals of Henry VII was to restore royal authority while England recovered from the War of the Roses. His biggest problem was that there were too many nobles in England, and he needed to check their power. To do this, he used the parliament to pass an act called the Star Chamber Act. This act set up a special court to try the wealthy and the powerful for offences, since ordinary courts be afraid to punish them.

Henry also realized that to have control over the government, he had to have control over parliament. Henry had already shown the nobility that loyalty to him would be rewarded, and this gave him control over the House of Lords. The Commons – primarily made up of rich merchants – was gaining in power around the time of Henry. Henry was smart enough to recognize their importance to the growth of England’s economy. He took good care to maintain a good relationship with the representatives of the middle classes in Parliament, and to get them on his side. By protecting of interests of the middle classes and merchants, he began to make England a centre for trade and commerce.

 Henry rarely needed parliament to grant him money for wars abroad as he avoided expensive overseas military campaigns. Parliament was used to support Henry’s drive to increase the king’s power, and to some extent, parliament became a rubber stamp for Henry.

 Big Ben is possibly London’s most famous landmark. The 98 metres high clock tower is named after the largest bell weighing over 13 tonnes. The clock tower was completed in 1859 and the great clock started on 31st May, with the great bell’s strike heard for the first time on 11th July the quarter bells first chimed on 7th September. Each clock face is over 7 metres in diameter. Old pennies act as counter- weights to ensure Big Ben keeps time to the nearest second.

 The Palace of Westminster is the seat of Britain’s two houses of parliament, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, and so it is more commonly known as the House of Parliament. It is located on the left bank of the River Thames in the borough of Westminster, London. The building, now considered one of the finest gothic structures in the world, has had a turbulent history which has included destruction by fire and bombing.

 Westminster was originally a royal residence. In 1512, the palace suffered greatly from fire. It was rebuilt, and in 1530, when King Henry moved his residence to Whitehall Palace, the House of Lords continued to meet in Westminster Palace. In 1547, the House of Commons also moved here, and Westminster Palace became the seat of government.

 Westminster was destroyed by a fire in 1834, but was rebuilt again, and work was finished by 1860. The Commons Chamber was burned out in one of the numerous air raids that targeted London during World War II, but it was restored and reopened in 1950. 

 Edward IV became King of England with the support of parliament. He is respected for bringing stability back to government after a decade of civil strife during the initial Wars of the Roses. Since the war with France was also over, Edward IV had gained many estates, and he was a very rich man indeed. As a result, he began to become more and more independent of parliament. In fact, during the twenty two years of his reign, parliament was called only seven times.

Most people were happy with this arrangement at that time, since Edward lived on the revenue produced by his own lands. He did not over tax his subjects, and the people who were tired of the burdens of war, were content to let him reign independent of parliament.