Fisher's biographer, Richard Rex, claims he was assiduous in pastoral work. "Unlike many bishops, he personally carried out almost all the ordinations in his diocese, besides presiding regularly in person at abbatial elections and personally performing many of the special sacramental and ceremonial functions which his fellow bishops often delegated to suffragans. He had a high regard for the priestly office, and his vigilance in the matter of clerical appointments is suggested by the facts that his diocese had a higher than average proportion of graduate clergy and that the clergy he himself collated within the diocese were almost all scholars, usually from Cambridge and mostly from colleges with which Fisher himself was associated." (4)

John Fisher was one of the strongest opponents of Martin Luther. He preached at the first burning of Luther's books in England carried out by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in May 1521. It was already too late to staunch the flow of the new doctrines. Thomas More complained that the heretics were "busily" at work in every alehouse and tavern, where they expounded their doctrines. More had pointed out that he had seen young lawyers were "wont to resort to their readings in a chamber at midnight". (5)

John Fisher also took part in the proceedings against Robert Barnes in 1526. His sermons against Lutherism were printed in Latin and English and were described as a "massive contribution" to the defence of orthodoxy. (6) David Starkey has claimed that his sermons had a limited impact on its audience: "Fisher was, escapably, a cleric. And he wrote and thought like a cleric, even in English and even in his works that were intended primarily for a lay audience, such as his sermons. These are peppered with Latin quotations, admittedly translated. And their whole structure of argument depends on analogy, similitude and authority." (7) Others are more sympathetic: "All his sermons combine the tripartite structure favoured by the scholastics with a concern for the appropriate exegesis of scripture which was becoming more fashionable, thanks to the influence of humanism. Although his prose is somewhat excessively decorated and elaborate for modern taste, it was clearly to the taste of his time, and his apt and effective images testify to a genuinely creative intellect." (8)

For several years Henry VIII had been thinking of divorcing Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was in a difficult position. Now aged 44, she found it difficult to compete with Henry's mistress, Anne Boleyn. "Now her once slender figure was thickened with repeated child-bearing, and her lovely hair had darkened to a muddy brown, but visiting ambassadors still remarked on the excellence of her complexion. A dumpy little woman with a soft, sweet voice which had never lost its trace of foreign accent, and the imperturbable dignity which comes from generations of pride of caste, she faced the enemy armoured by an utter inward conviction of right and truth, and her own unbreakable will." (9)

It was suggested that Catherine should agree to annul the marriage. Alison Weir, the author of The Six Wives of Henry VIII (2007) believes that if she agreed to this measure Henry would have treated her well. "Yet time and again she had opposed him, seemingly blind to the very real dilemma he was in with regard to the succession, and when thwarted Henry could, and frequently did, became cruel." (10)

Alison Plowden argues that for Catherine it was impossible to accept the deal being put forward: "Henry's partisans have accused his first wife of spiritual arrogance, of bigotry and bloody-mindedness, and undoubtedly she was one of those uncomfortable people who would literally rather die than compromise over a moral issue. There's also no doubt that she was an uncommonly proud and stubborn woman. But to have yielded would have meant admitting to the world that she had lived all her married life in incestuous adultery, that she had been no more than 'the King's harlot', the Princess her daughter worth no more than any man's casually begotten bastard; and it would have meant seeing another woman occupying her place. The meekest of wives might well have jibbed at such self-sacrifice; for one of Catherine's background and temperament it was unthinkable." (11)

John Fisher was consulted about this matter as early as 1527. He was initially sympathetic to the wishes of the King. "Although he conceded that the scriptural evidence regarding marriage to a deceased brother's wife was ambiguous, he was unshakeable in his confidence in the scope of papal authority both to resolve doubts about scripture and also to grant matrimonial dispensations from all but the most fundamental of kinship restrictions... Fisher devoted more and more effort to the scholarly questions it raised about scriptural interpretation, divine and natural law, and papal power." (12)

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Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was given the task of arranging the divorce. Henry sent a message to the Pope Clement VII arguing that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon had been invalid as she had previously been married to his brother Arthur. Henry relied on Wolsey to sort the situation out. During negotiations the Pope forbade Henry to contract a new marriage until a decision was reached in Rome.

After two years of careful diplomatic negotiation a trial opened at Blackfriars on 18th June 1529 to prove the illegality of the marriage, presided over by Wolsey and Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio. Catherine made a spirited defence of her position. George Cavendish was an eyewitness in the court. He quotes her saying: "Sir, I beseech you, for all the loves that hath been betrayed us, and for the love of God, let me have justice and right. Take of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman and a stranger born out of your dominion. I have here no assured friend, and much less indifferent counsel. I flee to you as the head of justice within this realm. Alas, Sir, where have I offended you? Or what occasion have you of displeasure, that you intend to put me from you? I take God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure. I have been pleased and contented with all things wherein you had delight and dalliance. I never grudged a word or countenance, or showed a spark of discontent. I loved all those whom you loved only for your sake, whether I had cause or no, and whether they were my friends or enemies. This twenty years and more I have been your true wife, and by me you have had many children, though it hath pleased God to call them out of this world, which hath been no fault in me." (13)

Bishop John Fisher was impressed by Catherine of Aragon during the trial at Blackfriars and now became a strong opponent of Henry VIII's attempts to obtain a divorce. The King applied pressure on Fisher and his supporters to "get into line over his matrimonial affairs". Thomas Cromwell introduced a series of bills in Parliament to regulate various clerical malpractices. Fisher argued against this legislation, claiming that it was a case of "lack of faith" (heresy). Members of the House of Commons were outraged by these comments and after the intervention of the King, Fisher was forced to apologise. Along with John Clerk (bishop of Bath and Wells) and Nicholas West (bishop of Ely), appealed to the pope against them. "All three bishops were promptly gaoled, albeit briefly." (14)

Catherine Aragon's trial was adjourned by Lorenzo Campeggio on 30th July to allow her petition to reach Rome. This caused serious problems for Wolsey: "This instantly and considerably weakened Wolsey's position, giving the hostile coterie of courtiers who flocked around Anne the leverage they needed to topple him. Nevertheless he fought hard to retain office, and the king's evident reluctance to lose his services enabled him to cling to power until the autumn. It was not until 18th October that Wolsey resigned the great seal, and even then Henry protected him against complete ruin." (15)

With the encouragement of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII became convinced that Wolsey's loyalties lay with the Pope, not England, and in October 1529 he was dismissed from office. (16) He was replaced as Lord Chancellor by Fisher's old friend, Thomas More. According to Peter Ackroyd, this was a shrewd political move. "Since More was known to be an avid hunter of heretics, it was evident proof that Henry did not wish to disavow the orthodox Church. In fact, More started his pursuit within a month of taking his position he arrested a citizen of London, Thomas Phillips, on suspicion of heresy... It was the beginning of the new chancellor's campaign of terror against the heretics." (17)

More now concentrated his energies on persecuting Heretics. In 1530 he issued two proclamations proscribing a number of publications and banned the importation of any foreign imprints of English works. More imprisoned a number of men for owning banned books. More also ordered the execution of three heretics and publicly approved of the execution of others. "The vigour with which More pursued heretics through the courts was mirrored by the relentlessness with which he fought them... The times demanded strictness, he repeatedly argued, because the stakes were so high. No other aspect of More's life has engendered greater controversy than his persecution of heretics. Critics argue that as one of Europe's leading intellectuals, and one with particularly strong humanist leanings, More should have rejected capital punishment of heretics. His supporters point out that he was a product of his times, and that those men he most admired... lamented but accepted as necessary the practice of executing heretics." (18)

Bishop John Fisher remained a strong opponent of Henry VIII. An attempt was made in February 1531 to poison the bishop's soup, but it misfired. "The ascetic Fisher passed the entire meal straight to his servants and to the poor who were accustomed to be fed at his gates, leaving two dead and the rest sick. On another occasion, an unknown assailant took an optimistic potshot at him in his Lambeth house from across the Thames. There is no reason to believe that Henry was involved in these plots. His own horror of poisoning was such that in response he passed a law making poisoning punishable by boiling alive, a mode of execution inflicted upon Fisher's unfortunate cook, who had been unwittingly tricked into the deed." (19)

Henry discovered that Anne Boleyn was pregnant. As it was important that the child should not be classed as illegitimate, arrangements were made for Henry and Anne to get married. King Charles V of Spain threatened to invade England if the marriage took place, but Henry ignored his threats and the marriage went ahead on 25th January, 1533. It was very important to Henry that his wife should give birth to a male child. Without a son to take over from him when he died, Henry feared that the Tudor family would lose control of England. Thomas More was careful to make it clear that despite his growing opposition to the King's church policies, he accepted Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn as being part of God's providence, and would neither "murmur at it nor dispute upon it", since "this noble woman" was "royally anointed queen". (20)

Elizabeth was born on 7th September, 1533. Henry expected a son and selected the names of Edward and Henry. While Henry was furious about having another daughter, the supporters of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon were delighted and claimed that it proved God was punishing Henry for his illegal marriage to Anne. (21) Retha M. Warnicke, the author of The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn (1989) has pointed out: "As the king's only legitimate child, Elizabeth was, until the birth of a prince, his heir and was to be treated with all the respect that a female of her rank deserved. Regardless of her child's sex, the queen's safe delivery could still be used to argue that God had blessed the marriage. Everything that was proper was done to herald the infant's arrival." (22)

In December 1533 Henry VIII gave Thomas Cromwell permission to unleash all the resources of the state in discrediting the papacy. "In one of the fiercest and ugliest smear campaigns in English history the minister showed his mastery of propaganda techniques as the pope was attacked throughout the nation in sermons and pamphlets. In the new year another session of parliament was summoned to enact the necessary legislation to break formally the remaining ties which bound England to Rome, again under Cromwell's meticulous supervision." (23)

During this period Bishop Fisher was in close communication with Katherine of Aragon's most determined political supporter, Eustace Chapuys, the ambassador in England of her nephew, King Charles V of Spain. He managed to smuggle out of England, Fisher's literary enterprises on the divorce. Fisher also supported Elizabeth Barton granting her an audience. Barton was prophesying the King's death within a month if he married Anne Boleyn. (24).

In March 1534 Pope Clement VII eventually made his decision. He announced that Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn was invalid. Henry reacted by declaring that the Pope no longer had authority in England. In November 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy. This gave Henry the title of the "Supreme head of the Church of England". A Treason Act was also passed that made it an offence to attempt by any means, including writing and speaking, to accuse the King and his heirs of heresy or tyranny. All subjects were ordered to take an oath accepting this. (25)

John Fisher and Sir Thomas More refused to take the oath and were imprisoned in the Tower of London. In May 1535, Pope Paul III created Fisher a Cardinal. This infuriated Henry VIII and on 11th June he appeared before a jury at Westminster Hall. This included Thomas Cromwell, Charles Brandon and Thomas Audley. To test their loyalty, Gertrude Courtenay and her husband, Henry Courtenay, were placed on the jury. They both agreed that he should be executed. (26)

On Tuesday 22nd June, 1535, the seventy-six year old Fisher was decapitated on Tower Hill. A shocked public blamed Queen Anne Boleyn for his death, and it was partly for this reason that news of the stillbirth of her child was suppressed as people might have seen this as a sign of God's will. Anne herself suffered pangs of conscience on the day of Fisher's execution and attended a mass for the "repose of his soul". (27)

Henry VIII (Answer Commentary)

Henry VII: A Wise or Wicked Ruler? (Answer Commentary)

Henry VIII: Catherine of Aragon or Anne Boleyn?

Was Henry VIII's son, Henry FitzRoy, murdered?

Hans Holbein and Henry VIII (Answer Commentary)

The Marriage of Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon (Answer Commentary)

Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves (Answer Commentary)

Was Queen Catherine Howard guilty of treason? (Answer Commentary)

Anne Boleyn - Religious Reformer (Answer Commentary)

Did Anne Boleyn have six fingers on her right hand? A Study in Catholic Propaganda (Answer Commentary)

Why were women hostile to Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn? (Answer Commentary)

Catherine Parr and Women's Rights (Answer Commentary)

Women, Politics and Henry VIII (Answer Commentary)

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (Answer Commentary)

Historians and Novelists on Thomas Cromwell (Answer Commentary)

Martin Luther and Thomas Müntzer (Answer Commentary)

Martin Luther and Hitler's Anti-Semitism (Answer Commentary)

Martin Luther and the Reformation (Answer Commentary)

Mary Tudor and Heretics (Answer Commentary)

Joan Bocher - Anabaptist (Answer Commentary)

Anne Askew – Burnt at the Stake (Answer Commentary)

Elizabeth Barton and Henry VIII (Answer Commentary)

Execution of Margaret Cheyney (Answer Commentary)

Robert Aske (Answer Commentary)

Dissolution of the Monasteries (Answer Commentary)

Pilgrimage of Grace (Answer Commentary)

Poverty in Tudor England (Answer Commentary)

Why did Queen Elizabeth not get married? (Answer Commentary)

Francis Walsingham - Codes & Codebreaking (Answer Commentary)

Codes and Codebreaking (Answer Commentary)

Sir Thomas More: Saint or Sinner? (Answer Commentary)

Hans Holbein's Art and Religious Propaganda (Answer Commentary)

1517 May Day Riots: How do historians know what happened? (Answer Commentary)

(1) Richard Rex, John Fisher : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(2) Roger Lockyer, Tudor and Stuart Britain (1985) page 128

(3) Jasper Ridley, The Statesman and the Fanatic (1982) page 60

(4) Richard Rex, John Fisher : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(5) Peter Ackroyd, Tudors (2012) page 29

(6) Nabil Samman, The Henrician Court during Cardinal Worsley's Ascendancy (1989) page 386

(7) David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (2003) page 378

(8) Richard Rex, John Fisher : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(9) Alison Plowden, Tudor Women (2002) page 54

(10) Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (2007) page 228

(11) Alison Plowden, Tudor Women (2002) page 54

(12) Richard Rex, John Fisher : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(13) Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (2007) page 200

(14) Richard Rex, John Fisher : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(15) David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (2003) pages 430-433

(16) Howard Leithead, Thomas Cromwell : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(17) Peter Ackroyd, Tudors (2012) page 56

(18) Seymour Baker House, Thomas More : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(19) Richard Rex, John Fisher : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(20) Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1992) page 190

(21) Patrick Collinson, Queen Elizabeth I : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(22) Retha M. Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn (1989) page 168

(23) Howard Leithead, Thomas Cromwell : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(24) Richard Rex, John Fisher : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(25) Roger Lockyer, Tudor and Stuart Britain (1985) pages 43-44

(26) Jasper Ridley, Henry VIII (1984) page 231

(27) Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (2007) page 281