ABSTRACT
When Henry decided that co-operatlon?w~~~·.RQmemust be replaced by hostile pressure on Rome, he r~~'i,$~9.tJiatto this end he had to have allies in England. The sUIIlIll~g:·ita parliament for 3 November 1529 was a very significant ·9tep.~~No parliament had met since 1523, and none had met since Wolsey rose to po\ver without causing trouble to the government. In falling back on parliament, Henry therefore showed that he understood the. nation he governed. He remembered the anti-clerical temper of 1515 and
saw that it could be turned to advantage against the independence of the Church. We may take it from \vhat followed that Henry had two lines of attack· in mind when he assumed the direction of affairs himself: he wished to reduce the Church to absolute obedience to himself, so as to prevent their natural allegiance to the papacy from \veakening his case, and he wished to use parliamentary anti-clericalism to make the pope's fear of what n1ight happen in England greater than his fear of what Charles V might do. Since Charles ,vas near at hand and England far away, this policy \vas from the first without hope of success.
