Stephen Gardner was a senior Catholic cleric and was the Bishop of Winchester between 1531 and 1551. His career in the Church spanned the reigns of Henry VIII and who supported the Reformation under Henry. It is thought that Gardner, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, was born in 1490 and from 1525 on, Gardner gained a number of prestigious positions in the English political set-up.
In 1525 he became Cardinal Wolsey’s secretary and served as the King’s Secretary between 1529 and 1534. In this position he became involved in the King’s move to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. After the fall of Wolsey, it was only Thomas and Thomas Cranmer who stopped Gardner advancing even further than he had already done. Gardiner supported Henry’s divorce and royal supremacy over Rome but it is possible that Gardner was simply being careful as he would have been very aware of the consequences of failing to support Henry. It is also more than possible that as a Catholic he could justify to himself what had happened in England even within his Catholic beliefs. However he was against Protestantism and therefore when the conservative Act of Six Articles was introduced in 1539, he supported it. The six and final wife of Henry led to a drop in Gardner’s influence as Catherine Parr had Protestant sympathies.
In June 1548, Gardner was placed in the Tower of London and he remained in this forbidding fortress/prison for the rest of Edward’s reign. He was stripped of his bishopric in 1551 but was released when Mary I succeeded to the throne.
Gardiner was significant to Henry’s reign as he was an important factor in achieving the reformation of the church. He also was a key individual in achieving the kings divorce from Catherine in which was the main reason for the reformation of the church.
Jasmine Amos
In 1525 he became Cardinal Wolsey’s secretary and served as the King’s Secretary between 1529 and 1534. In this position he became involved in the King’s move to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. After the fall of Wolsey, it was only Thomas and Thomas Cranmer who stopped Gardner advancing even further than he had already done. Gardiner supported Henry’s divorce and royal supremacy over Rome but it is possible that Gardner was simply being careful as he would have been very aware of the consequences of failing to support Henry. It is also more than possible that as a Catholic he could justify to himself what had happened in England even within his Catholic beliefs. However he was against Protestantism and therefore when the conservative Act of Six Articles was introduced in 1539, he supported it. The six and final wife of Henry led to a drop in Gardner’s influence as Catherine Parr had Protestant sympathies.
In June 1548, Gardner was placed in the Tower of London and he remained in this forbidding fortress/prison for the rest of Edward’s reign. He was stripped of his bishopric in 1551 but was released when Mary I succeeded to the throne.
Gardiner was significant to Henry’s reign as he was an important factor in achieving the reformation of the church. He also was a key individual in achieving the kings divorce from Catherine in which was the main reason for the reformation of the church.
Jasmine Amos