Reform of church and state: English humanist pamphlets and letters, 1529-1547

Previous to the problems raised by King Henry VIII's divorce, the English humanist community had been primarily academic. While humanism was recognized as a useful and prestigious part of the princely court, there were more foreigners than Englishmen patronized by the king and his courtiers for their skill in letters and rhetoric. Both the king's pressing need for a divorce demanded innovations in the English church and state and English humanists such as Simon Fish, Christopher Saint German, Thomas Cranmer and Edward Fox made the first steps linking pamphleteering, already well-practiced by Protestant writers, with the royal interests. The rewards of such service could include church appointments, well-paid clerical positions at court or grants of money, land or favour and were eagerly sought by the often-impoverished writers. A wealth of reform writings advocating changes in the church, the study and practice of law, education, and poor relief followed and many were printed under the patronage of Thomas Cromwell, Henry's chief minister. During the conservative Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, Richard Morison, a new client of Cromwell's, further demonstrated the utility of humanist pamphleteers as he produced popular tracts prescribing obedience. Morison, who achieved his patronage through the intervention of Thomas Starkey, another humanist, became in his turn an object of supplicating letters from less fortunate humanists, many of whom he tried to help.;Problems of obedience and loyalty became increasingly important questions when England faced the threat of foreign invasions, possibly led by the expatriate Cardinal Reginald Pole and Henrician humanist pamphlets and manuscripts increasing stressed the virtues of loyalty and obedience, themes that would become increasingly important in Tudor political thought. While Cromwell's fall in 1540 certainly had an impact upon the patronage networks that English humanists had relied upon in the 1530s, by courting other patrons at court most reform-minded humanist writers were able to continue writing with proposals for change in the church, law, the Council, and the military. Exploiting the factional court of Henry's last years, both conservative and radical writers continued to write humanist tracts advocating their ideas of reform and seeking the patronage of the king or his courtiers.