Papal Authority and the Limits of the Law in Tudor England

This volume brings together contributions from two separate editors. The first is a collection of texts edited by Peter Clarke that evidence Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's legatine powers to grant dispensations and other papal graces and his exercise of these powers during the 1520s in Henry VIII's realm; these papal favours released Henry's subjects from the rules of canon law in certain instances. The second is a text edited by Michael Questier comprising glosses on and suggested readings of the Elizabethan statute law which imposed treason penalties on Catholic clergy who exercised their office in reconciling to Rome (i.e. absolving from schism and heresy) and on those who availed themselves of this sacramental power. Both contributions illuminate the limits of the law and flexibility in interpreting and applying it and regard the role of Catholic clergy as agents of papal authority in Tudor England before and after the break with Rome.

Part I. Rivalling Rome: Cardinal Wolsey and Dispensations: 1. Introduction; 2. A note on editorial method; Appendix 1A. Enregistered copy of Pope Leo X's letter to Cardinal Wolsey, 27 June 1521; Appendix 1B. Purported 'Breve' of Pope Clement VII to Cardinal Wolsey, c.1527; Appendix 2. List of Wolsey's graces issued between 10 July 1525 and 4 July 1526; Appendix 3. List of Wolsey's graces issued in the three years preceding 23 October 1529 and in arrears; Appendix 4. Calendar of letters of dispensation of Cardinal Wolsey; Part II. The Limits of Conformity in Late Elizabethan England: A Plea for a Priest: 1. Historical introduction; 2. The present document and its origins; 3. A plee for a Prieste; 4. Index of personal and place names to appendices 2-4.

Peter Clarke specialises in medieval religious history, in particular the papacy and canon law. He is author of the monograph The Interdict in the Thirteenth Century: A Question of Collective Guilt (2007) and of numerous articles. His most recent key publication (co-edited with Patrick N. R. Zutshi) is Supplications from England and Wales in the Registers of the Apostolic Penitentiary, 1410–1503, 3 volumes, Canterbury and York Society Series 103-105 (2013–15). He has also co-edited volumes 45-49 in the series Studies in Church History and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Michael Questier's research interests include the politics of religion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and Tudor and Stuart government and administration. He has been a Professor of History at Queen Mary University of London since 2007. His publications include The Trials of Margaret Clitherow: Persecution, Martyrdom and the Politics of Sanctity in Elizabethan England (2011) and Catholicism and Community in Early Modern England: Politics, Aristocratic Patronage and Religion, c.1550–1640 (Cambridge, 2006).