Annates, Acts in Restraint of

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Annates, Acts in Restraint of, 1532, 1534. These formed part of the campaign by Henry VIII's government, designed either to cajole the papacy into granting an annulment of the king's first marriage, or to give statutory authority for the English church to act independently of Rome. ‘Annates’ were taxes levied by the papacy on recently appointed, mostly senior, clergy. The Act in Conditional Restraint of Annates (23 Hen. VIII c. 20), passed in spring 1532, required that these payments be suspended; any papal retaliation was to be ignored. This legislation passed both Houses of Parliament with much opposition. Henry VIII at once suspended the Act: Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was consecrated with papal approval in 1533. In the November–December 1534 session, after the pope had excommunicated Henry, the Act in Absolute Restraint of Annates (25 Hen. VIII c. 20) abolished annates entirely and ordered that bishops be elected by deans and chapters acting on royal nomination. Both statutes were repealed by 1 & 2 P. & M. c. 8 in 1554–5.

Euan Cameron

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