Church and Crown

Abstract

The royal supremacy represented the extension of full royal authority over the church. Its most immediate application was in relation to the administration, finances, and personnel of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The influence of the king over the church in this restricted sense (which will remain its sense throughout this chapter) had already been considerable even before the break with Rome. The king had wide powers of patronage within the church, and was accustomed to rely on it as a source of revenue. Through the common law, the kings of England had in addition established some control over the temporalities of the church, and had set limits on papal intervention in matters of patronage. But they could not touch the endowments of the church, which were sacrosanct, and the internal government of the church continued to enjoy the autonomy guaranteed under Magna Carta. With the establishment of the royal supremacy, all this changed. The personnel of the church found themselves under the royal thumb. The government of the church found itself subject to crown, Parliament, and common law. The endowments of the church were suddenly within reach.