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"The end of Anne Boleyn marks the more sinister transformation in Henry's kingship which underlay his solemn protestations of spiritual headship and godly reform. Nobody could now call him to account in the sacred or secular realm, and although it goes too far to say that his will was law, since some respect was still due to the judicial process, the legal travesty of Anne's trial and execution shows what his unchecked authority could achieve. It also illustrated the forces which Henry had unleashed by breaking with Rome. From this point onwards, political division would be matched by a level of ideological division previously unknown. Anne had been backed by those who supported religious reform and sneered at papal pretension; her fall was hastened by the efforts of those whose loyalties lay with Princess Mary and the Catholic past. Cromwell had slipped adeptly (and temporarily) from the former group to the latter, and such political reinventions were to remain common, but many continued to be fired by strong religious convictions, allowing religious division to exacerbate political tensions to a dangerous extent." (Henry VIII, Lucy Wooding)
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"For all Henry's protestations of the contrary, the atmosphere at his court in his final years was almost as unsettled and claustrophobic as during the Wars of the Roses. John Husee answered the charge that he no longer sent reports of state affairs to the Lisles by explaining, 'I thereby might put myself in danger of my life...for there is divers here that hath been punished for reading and copying with publishing abroad of news; yea, some of them are at this hour in the Tower.' Civil order was maintained, but only because Henry sold the bulk of the confiscated monastic lands at rock-bottom prices to willing purchasers to create a whole new class of property-owners with a vested interest in the status quo. Spies and informers stalked the country, safe-conducts were needed to travel abroad and the posts were intercepted-- no one felt completely safe." (Hunting the Falcon, Fox&Guy).
#yeah...this was the watershed moment#this is why these three are the tudor historians i tend to reccomend the most; they have the clearest vision of tudor politics imo#it wasn't the gm which was the turning point that made court divisions worse than ever before. it was may 1536- which made this a reality#things that make you go hmmm.#and i do agree with fox/guy here but i think they argued this better with different examples in different sections#(the atmosphere which led to rebellion; etc.#the Lisle quote is a good piece to support this argument#but spies and informers in the country and safe conducts needed is...slippery#this was also the case during his father's reign. and edward iv's. and many abroad. so . like... )#and i do think the 'almost' is also key here. i wouldn't agree with this at certain points . or 'as much' which has been argued.#bcus for all the conflict hviii did avoid civil war. so...#it isn't to say all was or would be rosy had anne remained queen either. but it is to say as wooding argued...#that this shattered his image and credibility and no one escaped. like...i think it's just interesting to think about#how the exeter conspiracy would've shaped out in the context of the boleyn faction's survival. and how interesting it is#that all their enemies perished at the expense of this man's paranoia . that they had to face the fate they believed their own#enemies deserved...the same scaffold. the same terror .#also some of the jury who condemned them facing execution soon themselves#all just very indicative of how cutthroat courtier ambition was#you could hack and hack and hack away at all the vines but it still might not prevent them from growing back and strangling you instead
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