The ''Collectanea satis copiosa'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ‘The Sufficiently Abundant Collections’) was a collection of scriptural, historical, and patristic texts that was compiled to provide royal propagandists with arguments justifying Henry VIII's personal and England's provincial independence from Rome. Likely compiled around 1530-1531 by a group of men including

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...

and

Edward Foxe Edward Foxe (c. 1496 – 8 May 1538) was an English churchman, Bishop of Hereford. He played a major role in Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and he assisted in drafting the ''Ten Articles'' of 1536. Early life He was born at Durs ...

, the ''Collectanea'' supplied the ideology behind the Royal Supremacy. As evidence that Kings of England historically had no superior on Earth—including the Pope—the ''Collectanea'' cited scripture, conciliar decrees, Anglo-Saxon laws, and numerous historical works, including texts by

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...

, and

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...

. Henry VIII's numerous annotations in the surviving manuscript show his direct engagement with the text and the arguments contained therein. By asserting England's imperial status, the ''Collectanea'' served a twofold purpose in asserting England's imperial status. First, it enabled Henry VIII to have his marriage to

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...

without first obtaining the Pope's permission. More importantly, it allowed for Henry VIII's break with Rome. In the preamble to the

Act in Restraint of Appeals The Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532 (24 Hen 8 c 12), also called the Statute in Restraint of Appeals, the Act of Appeals and The Act of Restraints in Appeals, was an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of England. It w ...

, the claims of the ''Collectanea'' were forcibly echoed:

Where by divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this realm of England is an empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one supreme head and king having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial crown of the same, unto whom a body politic, compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spiritualty and temporalty, be bounded and owe to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience; he being also institute and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary, whole and entire power, preeminence, authority, prerogative and jurisdiction to render and yield justice and final determination to all manner of folk resiants or subjects within this realm, in all causes, matters, debates and contentions happening to occur, insurge or begin within the limits thereof, without restraint or provocation to any foreign princes or potentates of the world.Most scholarship depends upon the unpublished Ph.D. dissertation of Graham Nicholson, “The Nature and Function of Historical Argument in the Henrician Reformation” (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1977), and his article “The Act of Appeals and the English Reformation,” in ''Law and Government under the Tudors : Essays Presented to Sir Geoffrey Elton on the Occasion of His Retirement,'' ed. D. M. Loades, Claire M. Cross, and J. J. Scarisbrick (Cambridge, 1988), 19–30.

Notes

External links

* The "Collectanea" can be accessed via th
State Papers Online
“Collectanea satis copiosa, ex sacris scriptis et authoribus Catholicis de regia et ecclesiastica potestate,” B.L., Cotton MS, Cleopatra E.VI. fols. 16-135. (Subscription required.)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collectanea Satis Copiosa English Reformation 1530 books