In the years 1515-1540, King Henry VIII had two chief ministers, Wolsey and Cromwell, who were very powerful in the sense that they took care of daily management of the government and its policies for the King. One interpretation of this would be that policy was indeed decided by ministers rather than by the the monarch, and the evidence to support this claim would be that many policies that were made by the chief ministers wasn’t precisely aligned with the King’s ambition for war and glory. However, another interpretation would be the King was constantly in charge of policy making, and evidence to support this would be Henry’s direct involvement in his divorce which eventually led to the sacking of Thomas Wolsey. This essay will be arguing that in the years 1515 to 1540, policy was indeed decided by ministers rather than by the monarch. This is because of the far reaching and extensive impacts of policies focusing on change and sustainability such as the Treaty of London, the Reformation Parliament and the Break with Rome drafted by Wolsey and Cromwell that Henry wouldn’t have initiated by himself. These important Acts which contradict Henry’s ambitions and the reality of their deployment underpins the essay’s assertion that in the years 1515 to 1540, policy was decided by Wolsey and Cromwell rather than by the King.

Firstly, the Treaty of London was drafted after the initial success of the First French War from 1512-1514. During this period, Europe was in a time of power transition, a lot of European nations underwent the succession of the throne to a younger monarch. These monarchs like Henry are ambitious, and they very much adored the same things as Henry, war and glory. If Henry himself was to draft the policies, he would likely have continued to wage wars after the success of the Battle of the Spurs, and competed against military mights such as the Holy Roman Empire or France. However, the Treaty of London was a series of peace deals initiated by Thomas Wolsey, Henry’s chief minister. Wolsey assembled delegates from more than 20 nations to London to draw separate peace treaties with England. These peace treaties prevented England from going to war with these countries. This directly went against Henry’s will of conquering more land and obtaining the title of the “glorious king” or “Henry the Great”. In fact, the Treaty of London was more similar to Henry VII’s way of governance, which is to create peace and stability among the realm. Given the tense relationship between Henry VIII and his father, as well as Henry’s ambition to outlive his father, these policies of sustainability would not have been initiated without the power of Wolsey. This shows the significance of Wolsey in Henry’s government, because he decided on the most essential part of England’s foreign policy, which is to seek peace with the European powers. Through the Treaty of London, not only did Thomas Wolsey went against Henry’s ambition, he stayed in power for nearly a decade longer, which demonstrate the trust Henry had given Wolsey to help him run the country and decide on government policies for him.

However, Wolsey’s luck does run out in 1529 as he couldn’t secure a divorce with Henry. This event to some extent demonstrate that Henry was in charge of policy making from 1515-1540 because he sacked the most important minister in his government as soon as he failed to achieve what he asked of him. When Catherine of Aragon failed to give Henry a son after almost 25 years of marriage, he lost patience. He demanded Wolsey to negotiate with the Pope to grant him a divorce. Henry sent Wolsey to Rome as the Papal Legate, and had him act as a negotiator and a messenger for him. One of the King’s most important affairs is to produce a male heir, and through this event we can see that Wolsey acted as a worker rather than the decision maker. Even though Wolsey did take the liberty of trying to get the divorce trials held in London therefore he could manage them personally, this was seen as a method he used to make Henry’s policy happen, rather than a policy he initiated on himself without consulting with Henry. Therefore people could argue that even though Wolsey did make some policies on his own, but nothing that Henry doesn’t approve of. However, the divorce of Henry extends beyond Wolsey’s term in office, and the person that took over from Wolsey to handle Henry’s divorce also assumed the office of the chief minister and decided on more radical policies that made important changes for England.

After Wolsey was sacked, his apprentice Cromwell took over the role of the Chief Minister. This appointment would further demonstrate why policies from 1515 - 1540 was decided by the King’s ministers rather than the King himself. One of the very few similarities Henry VIII share with his father is the little of use of Parliament. Henry only called parliament once before Cromwell assumed office. However, to get Henry the divorce he wanted, Cromwell wanted to exploit the Anti Clerical emotions of the parliament to pass a series of reformist laws that would make Henry the head of the church. This is significant because Henry, like his father did not call parliament unless they needed a lot of money very quickly, and Cromwell fundamentally reformed the Parliament, giving it more power than ever before. The parliament under Cromwell is known as the “Reformation Government” for the radical reform laws it was passing and the increased number of meeting it held since Cromwell’s takeover in 1529. This would not have happened if Henry himself was in charge of policy making in the government, because he never would’ve considered using the parliament for something else other than getting fund. Furthermore, Cromwell decided to go through the “Break with Rome” by a series of laws passed by the “Reformation Parliament”. The “Submission of the Clergy” in 1531 and the “Convocation of Canterbury” of 1532 made Henry the head of the Anglican Church, and now the Church of England is officially out of influence by the Roman Catholic Church, therefore giving Henry the divorce he always wanted. This is significant in proving that policies were made by Henry’s minister Cromwell instead of himself because Henry was a faithful Catholic before Cromwell took over. He remained loyal to the Catholic Church throughout his life, he wasn’t even Anti Clerical like the members of parliament. He was named “Defender of the Faith” by the Pope because of his written works that went against Reformist ideas in his earlier years, and he tried to seek divorce through the Pope in Rome before Cromwell took over. The “Break with Rome” was arguably the most important religious change in English history, and it would never have happened without Henry’s chief minister Cromwell. Such an important change in English history that deeply affected English culture and tradition was not the original intention of the King, and this reality testify that policies were indeed made by the King’s ministers instead of the King himself.

In conclusion, this essay demonstrated why in the years 1515-1540, policy was decide by ministers rather than the monarch through the events of the Treaty of London, the Reformation parliament, and the Break with Rome. These events served important historical meanings and they were important aspects of Foreign, Domestic and Religious policies in the English government at the time. The Break with Rome in particular changed the English Religion once and for all, and none of these policies were the King’s intentions, rather they were those of his ministers, Wolsey and Cromwell. Even though the King did decide on some policies such as his divorce, and he did have power over his ministers as proven by the sacking of Wolsey in 1529, but the reality was the King entrusted his ministers to decide his policies for him. Therefore, the essay’s assertion - in the years 1515-1540, policy was decided by minister rather than the monarch - is proven