March 30, 1534

Submission of the Clergy Act 1533

Submission of the Clergy Act receives royal assent

A promise extracted from the clergy in 1532 became an enforceable statute: no Convocation, and no new canon, without the king's permission.

30 March 1534, at the close of the fifth session

At the close of the Reformation Parliament's fifth session on 30 March 1534, royal assent made 25 Henry VIII chapter 19 — the Submission of the Clergy Act — law.

In May 1532 the English clergy had submitted to Henry's demand that they neither meet nor legislate without royal permission. The statute converted that concession into parliamentary law.

The short title says "1533" because early statutes are conventionally assigned to their parliamentary session and regnal year. Royal assent came on 30 March 1534.

What Convocation lost

Convocation could now be assembled only by royal writ, and could not enact or execute new canons without the king's assent and licence.

It was also barred from making or enforcing canons contrary to the royal prerogative or to England's customs, laws and statutes, with the Crown's veto backed by fines and imprisonment.

The act further restrained appeals outside the realm in ecclesiastical causes. A commission of 32 people — 16 clergy and 16 temporal members — was proposed to review existing canon law.

Not the Act of Supremacy

This was a different statute from the Act of Supremacy, which came later in 1534. The Submission Act did not declare Henry Supreme Head of the Church of England.

It is sometimes called the Submission of the Clergy and Restraint of Appeals, because its contents extended beyond canon-making.

What it did on 30 March was remove specific areas of clerical legislative and appellate independence — not create a new church in a day.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date 30 March 1534 is solid. The short title says “1533” because early statutes are conventionally assigned to their parliamentary session and regnal year; it does not mean royal assent occurred on 30 March 1533.
The act is sometimes called the Submission of the Clergy and Restraint of Appeals because its contents extended beyond canon-making.