Catherine Fletcher’s The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold
Story from Inside the Vatican has received enthusiastic praise from the British
cultural scene. The compliments are typical: described as a “brilliant feat of
original research,” an “eye-opening” look at Tudor diplomacy, and a fresh
contribution to a period thought to be overstudied after centuries of
scholarship. However, these praises say more about the current intellectual
climate than about the true historical importance of Fletcher’s work.
Fletcher is undoubtedly a skilled historian. Her discovery
of Gregorio Casali — a mostly overlooked diplomatic agent working in Rome for
Henry VIII — is a significant archival achievement. She writes clearly and with
narrative flair, and her depiction of Casali’s environment, from papal court
intrigues to the shady dealings of bribery and influence-peddling, is both
engaging and insightful. However, the book’s strengths are closely tied to its
limitations. Despite its detailed micro-history, it does not provide a broader
historical explanation. It vividly describes Henry’s efforts to secure his
divorce but offers little about why the English Reformation happened or the
social forces behind it.
The Liberal Fetish for the “Untold Story”
The book’s premise—telling the divorce crisis from the
perspective of a minor diplomatic figure—embodies a common trend in modern
liberal historiography. This trend has moved away from viewing history
primarily as shaped by social forces. Instead, it emphasises the “untold
story,” focusing on forgotten individuals and marginal actors. This perspective
is not politically neutral; it mirrors an ideological fatigue among the ruling
class, which now tends to see history as a series of personal dramas, bureaucratic
manoeuvres, and chance episodes rather than a broader social process.
Casali is a fascinating figure: a young Italian nobleman,
well-connected, resourceful, and skilled at navigating the corrupt intricacies
of the papal court. Fletcher provides a detailed account of his
activities—covering bribes, gifts, thefts, and negotiations—building on her
earlier research about gift-giving and corruption in early modern Rome.
However, this narrow focus on Casali limits the broader perspective. The book
ultimately becomes a study of diplomatic techniques rather than a deeper
exploration of the significant transformations taking place across Europe.
Tudor England & The Birth of Capitalist Social
Relations
Karl Marx did not produce a single comprehensive treatise on
Tudor England. However, in his economic writings and historical notes, he
consistently regarded the sixteenth century as a pivotal moment — when the old
feudal system started to break down, and the roots of capitalism were
established. To Marx, the Tudors were more than just vibrant monarchs or
figures in a national story; they oversaw a social revolution.
Marx’s key insight is that feudalism fell not due to
political schemes or royal personalities, but because the expansion of
commodity production undermined its economic base, the monetisation of labour
duties, and the rise of a rural bourgeoisie. In Capital, Marx straightforwardly
characterises the late medieval crisis as: “The expropriation of the
agricultural producer, of the peasant, from the soil is the basis of the whole
process.” (Capital, Vol. I)
This expropriation—the violent
detachment of the peasantry from their land—lies at the core of Marx’s analysis
of Tudor England. It serves as the foundation for the formation of a
proletariat. During the Tudor period, particularly under Henry VII and Henry
VIII, the traditional feudal relations were already in rapid decline: feudal
dues were increasingly converted into cash payments, lords depended more on
paid retainers than on feudal levies, and commercial agriculture grew, fuelled
by rising wool prices. A new class of “improving landlords” appeared, focused
on profit rather than feudal duties. Marx regarded these changes not as mere
isolated reforms but as the initial phases of capitalist accumulation.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries: Primitive
Accumulation in Action
Marx’s detailed analysis of
Tudor England focuses on the dissolution of the monasteries, viewing it as a
prime example of primitive accumulation. This violent, state-led process laid
the groundwork for capitalism. These monasteries were more than religious
sites; they were significant landowners, employers, and social welfare centres.
Their dissolution between 1536 and 1541 led to a major transfer of property
from the church to secular authority, the emergence of a new landowning class
that became the backbone of the English bourgeoisie, and the eviction of tens
of thousands of tenants, which sped up the rise of a landless workforce. Marx
stated, “The Reformation in England was a gigantic process of spoliation.”
(Capital, Vol. I)
This “spoliation” was integral
to Henry’s divorce and served as the driving force behind the English
Reformation. Marx highlights that the Tudor monarchy had a paradoxical role,
simultaneously acting as: the dismantler of feudal chaos by suppressing noble
private armies; the catalyst of capitalist development through enclosure,
expropriation, and market enforcement; and the protector of absolutism by
resisting the political demands of the emerging bourgeoisie. This contradiction
clarifies why Tudor support from the commercial classes persisted in the 15th
and 16th centuries, while the Stuart monarchy—bearing the same absolutist
framework—was ultimately overthrown by those same classes in the 17th century.
Although Marx did not live to document the complete history
of this transition, Christopher Hill later posed the question in explicitly
Marxian terms: why did the alliance between Crown and Parliament break down?
The explanation is rooted in the very process Marx described — the expansion of
capitalist forces that clashed with monarchical absolutism.
Enclosure: The Creation of the Proletariat
Marx’s most striking
descriptions of Tudor England focus on the enclosure movement. He vividly
portrays the forced eviction of peasants, using language that foreshadows the
WSWS’s commentary on modern social devastation: “The history of this
expropriation is written in the annals of mankind in letters of blood and
fire.” (Capital, Vol. I) During the Tudor era: common lands were enclosed,
peasants were forcibly ousted, vagabondage laws criminalised the displaced, and
labour discipline was enforced through whipping, branding, and execution. Marx
viewed these harsh measures as the tumultuous birth of capitalism—marking the
rise of a class compelled to sell their labour.
Henry VIII and the Reformation: A Social, Not Personal,
Crisis
Marx rejected the idea, still
upheld by revisionists, that Henry’s split from Rome was merely personal or
theological. Instead, he saw it as a political act reflecting a deeper social
change: the English state asserting its sovereignty over the Church’s universal
authority. This move stopped the flow of wealth to Rome and broke the Catholic
Church’s ideological dominance, allowing space for bourgeois religious
movements like Calvinism and Puritanism. Additionally, property relations
across the nation were reshaped. According to Marx, Henry VIII was not just a
tyrant motivated by sexual frustration but a complex agent of historical
change—a king whose personal motives intersected with larger structural forces
he could neither fully grasp nor control.
The Long Arc Toward Revolution
Marx’s scattered observations
on Tudor England suggest a broader conclusion: the 1640s English Revolution was
not an unpredictable outburst but the result of a long-standing historical
process. The Tudors dismantled feudalism, while the Stuarts aimed to uphold
absolutism. As the bourgeoisie grew stronger through the very processes Marx
describes, it ultimately challenged and overthrew the state that had
facilitated its emergence. Scholars like Hill, Dobb, and Tawney expanded this
idea into a comprehensive Marxist view of English history. However, the core
remains Marx’s: the Reformation and Tudor revolution marked key phases in the
shift from feudalism to capitalism.
What Fletcher Cannot See
Henry VIII's divorce was part of a larger social upheaval
that had been unfolding over centuries. The late medieval system—often called
“bastard feudalism”—was in decline. The emergence of market economy, the rise
of the bourgeoisie, and the increased monetisation of feudal duties all chipped
away at the old societal structure. Events like the Black Death, the Peasants’
Revolt, and the centralisation of royal power under the Tudors mark stages in a
prolonged shift from feudalism to capitalism.
This transition was neither smooth nor merely the result of
monarchs' whims. Instead, it was fuelled by the clash between rising economic
powers and the political-religious institutions of medieval Europe. Luther’s
1517 revolt was more than a theological dispute; it embodied a social
revolution’s ideological core. Similarly, the English Reformation cannot be reduced—despite
revisionist historians' claims—to Henry’s sexual frustrations or the supposed
"deficiencies of his reproductive system.” Such explanations, still
popular in some academic circles, are fundamentally flawed. They ignore the
roles of class forces, economic interests, and political conflicts.
David Walsh, writing on the WSWS, highlighted that Henry’s
split from Rome signalled the rise of economic forces incompatible with feudal
society and the growth of a national identity. The Act of Supremacy in 1534 was
more than just a legal move; it formally established a new political order. The
dissolution of the monasteries was not merely a consequence of Henry’s marital
issues but a significant transfer of property that sped up the development of
capitalist relations in England.
None of this is covered in Fletcher’s book. The Reformation
serves as a backdrop, a distant rumble behind diplomatic scenes. The reader
might think history is shaped by clever agents, secret negotiations, and the
personal worries of kings — exactly the perspective the WSWS has always
challenged.
The Historical Question Fletcher Cannot Pose.
Christopher Hill, a renowned Marxist historian, posed a key
question: why did the Tudor monarchy, once backed by the emerging merchant
classes, turn into a tyrannical regime? Why did the alliance between Crown and
Parliament—created to oppose the feudal nobility and the authority of
Rome—break down so dramatically in the 1640s? This question cannot be answered
by examining Casali’s letters or the protocol of papal gift-giving. Instead, it
demands an understanding of broad historical trends in England: the rise of
capitalist relations, the conflicts within the early modern state, and the
eventual outbreak of civil war and revolution. Fletcher’s book, limited to a
very narrow narrative scope, cannot address these issues. This is not a lack of
research but a flaw in the choice of historical approach.
The Divorce of Henry VIII is a well‑written, thoroughly researched, and often engaging work of micro‑history. It succeeds on its own terms. But those terms are inadequate. The book offers a detailed account of diplomatic manoeuvring while leaving untouched the social forces that shaped the Reformation and the modern world. Readers seeking to understand the historical significance of Henry’s break with Rome — not merely its bureaucratic mechanics — must turn to the Marxist tradition: Hill, Tawney, and the analyses published on the WSWS. Fletcher has recovered a forgotten man. But the history that matters remains elsewhere.
Tudor England: Sources and Bibliography
I. Primary Marx & Engels Sources
Karl Marx
- Capital:
A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. I. (Especially Part VIII: “So‑Called
Primitive Accumulation.”)
- Capital,
Vol. III.
- Grundrisse:
Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy.
- Pre‑Capitalist
Economic Formations.
- Theories
of Surplus Value, Vols. I–III.
- The
German Ideology (with Engels).
- Critique
of the Gotha Programme.
- Letters
to Vera Zasulich (for Marx’s reflections on communal property and
historical transitions).
Friedrich Engels
- The
Peasant War in Germany.
- Anti‑Dühring.
- Socialism:
Utopian and Scientific.
- The
Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
- England
in 1845 and 1885: The Condition of the Working Class in England (for
later consequences of Tudor-era transformations).
II. Marxist Historians on Feudalism → Capitalism
Christopher Hill
- The
English Revolution 1640.
- Society
and Puritanism in Pre‑Revolutionary England.
- The
Century of Revolution, 1603–1714.
- The
World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution.
- Economic
Problems of the Church: From Archbishop Whitgift to the Long Parliament.
- Puritanism
and Revolution.
- Intellectual
Origins of the English Revolution.
- Change
and Continuity in Seventeenth‑Century England.
- Reformation
to Industrial Revolution (with R. H. Tawney).
R. H. Tawney
- The
Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century.
- Religion
and the Rise of Capitalism.
- The
Rise of the Gentry, 1558–1640 (classic debate with Trevor‑Roper).
Maurice Dobb
- Studies
in the Development of Capitalism.
- The
Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism (Dobb–Sweezy debate).
Eric Hobsbawm
- The
Age of Revolution.
- Industry
and Empire.
- Labouring
Men (essays on class formation).
E. P. Thompson
- The
Making of the English Working Class.
- Customs
in Common (especially essays on enclosure and moral economy).
Rodney Hilton
- Bond
Men Made Free: Medieval Peasant Movements and the English Rising of 1381.
- The
English Peasantry in the Later Middle Ages.
- Class
Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism.
III. Marxist and Materialist Studies of Tudor England
On the Tudor State, Reformation, and Social
Transformation
- Lawrence
Stone, The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558–1641.
- G.
R. Elton, The Tudor Revolution in Government (not Marxist, but
essential for state formation).
- A.
G. Dickens, The English Reformation.
- Jack
Scarisbrick, Henry VIII.
- Diarmaid
MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History (broad but indispensable).
- Peter
Linebaugh, The London Hanged (on law, labour discipline, and early
capitalism).
- Robert
Brenner, Merchants and Revolution (on class conflict and the
English bourgeoisie).
On Enclosure, Primitive Accumulation, and Agrarian Change
- J.
A. Yelling, Common Field and Enclosure in England, 1450–1850.
- Joan
Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Vols. IV–V.
- E.
Kerridge, Agrarian Problems in the Sixteenth Century and After.
- W.
G. Hoskins, The Age of Plunder: The England of Henry VIII.
- Karl
Polanyi, The Great Transformation (for enclosure as social
catastrophe).
IV. WSWS and Contemporary Marxist Analysis
David Walsh (WSWS)
- “Elizabeth
and a Weakened Historical Sense,” World Socialist Web Site, 3
December 1998.
- “Christopher
Hill and the English Revolution,” WSWS essays and obituaries.
- “The
English Revolution and the Development of Historical Materialism” (WSWS
commentary).
Nick Beams (WSWS)
- Essays
on primitive accumulation, capitalism’s origins, and Marx’s method.
Tom Mackaman (WSWS)
- Articles
on early modern class formation and historical method.
WSWS Cultural & Historical Analysis
- Reviews
of Hill, Tawney, and debates on the transition from feudalism to
capitalism.
- WSWS
coverage of contemporary attacks on materialist historiography.
V. Tudor Political, Social, and Economic History (Non‑Marxist
but Essential)
General Tudor Studies
- John
Guy, Tudor England.
- Susan
Brigden, New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors.
- Steven
Gunn, Henry VII’s New Men and the Making of Tudor England.
- Eamon
Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars (Catholic England before the
Reformation).
- Ethan
Shagan, Popular Politics and the English Reformation.
Diplomacy, Rome, and Henry’s Divorce
- Catherine
Fletcher, The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the
Vatican.
- Catherine
Fletcher, Diplomatic Renaissance: The Papal Court and Early Modern
Politics.
- G.
W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation (revisionist counterpoint).
VI. Primary Sources for Tudor England
- Letters
and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII (21
volumes).
- State
Papers Online: Early Modern Government.
- The
Acts of the Privy Council.
- The
Statutes of the Realm (for enclosure laws, vagrancy acts, and
Reformation legislation).
- The
Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London.
- The
Zurich Letters (Reformation correspondence).
- The
Pilgrimage of Grace and the Exeter Conspiracy
